Safety

The Peace Corps Safety Officer for Albania sent out an email to the volunteers advising us that there was a program scheduled to air on ABC television that would feature a story on murder and sexual assault of Peace Corps volunteers. She warned it might elicit concerned messages from home. My service group had already been touched by the story of the murder of a volunteer in Africa when three days after arriving in Albania one young woman left for home. The explanation was that her parents were concerned about her safety after hearing the news from Benin. Her befuddled host family worried if it was something they did or said.

I was able to watch the video at ABC online. It showed a group of young women, interviewed Oprah style while they sat on white stools of varying height. They tearfully related their stories of assaults and the callousness of the PC response. Then there were snippets of an interview with the current deputy director of the Peace Corps. She came across as defensive and uncaring. I am certain she had no say in how the broadcast was edited.

Now, I have pretty low expectations of the Peace Corps bureaucracy. It is an agency of the federal government, after all. I also have low expectations of television. ABC exposing a story on risks of mistreatment of Americans, especially young woman, in the third world is like NASCAR doing an expose about how high school driver’s ed doesn’t do enough to educate young people about the dangers of speeding.

The Peace Corps does have a safety officer for each country (ours is an Albanian national) and a regional safety director (an American, who happens to be based in Tirana). Sometimes their advice isn’t the most useful, but I don’t think they are unconcerned or uncaring. We have had safety lectures at all of our conferences, including videos on risks of sexual assault and robbery. They have pulled volunteers from uncomfortable situations and reassigned them, either in their community or in another location within the country. We were advised from the outset that most of our security comes from local friends and neighbors who look out for us. Most of us also have site mates who can be called upon to help. Is that so different from many places in the US? Can we rely on quick and effective response from authorities in cases of harassment or domestic disputes at home?

The ABC story, of course, didn’t mention any of that. It didn’t talk about safety programs or staff. It didn’t mention site mates as potential help. It didn’t provide any perspective as to the length of time that was included in their story or the number of volunteers at risk. I have read that one in four women reports a history of sexual assault at college. Is serving in a community in a developing country riskier than that?

ABC should see how American media portrays our culture to the third world. Excessive sex and violence must seem like the norm in America. The media is quick to blame intemperate speech when a madman shoots innocent people outside a store in Tucson, but doesn’t recognize the risk of its own intemperance influencing the behavior of people abroad. Countering that impression is one of the good, and, unfortunately, sometimes brave things that Peace Corps volunteers do.

Does it really require the investigative might of ABC News to show that federal bureaucracy is insensitive and inept, or that young women tear up when they relate details of sexual assault? Did the ABC newsperson think, as he rode in his limo from his tony suburban enclave through neighborhoods much more dangerous than a third world slum, that a thorough investigation would include going to Bangladesh to interview young men on the street who would rape a young American Peace Corps volunteer or condone those who did? Did he think about meeting their families or learning about their culture and community? Did he think about what he or ABC News could do to change that?

That doesn’t excuse the PC for a lack of sensitivity and compassion in dealing with the women in the story. I have not been impressed with what I have personally seen of how the bureaucrats deal with volunteers with physical injuries, but, as I said, having seen bureaucrats in “action” over the years, I am not surprised. I would think a better response from the deputy director of the Peace Corps would have been to acknowledge the problem and to cite investigations and remedies that had been undertaken. Perhaps she did, but ABC edited it out.

My general impression is that the Peace Corps is well intentioned, but often confused and misdirected. Yet it is almost unique among American institutions in its approach to the world. It is not trying to convert or pacify. It does not spread American largesse. It is simply an effort to meet the larger world on a one-to-one basis, a world where there are incredible inequities and challenges, to get to know them and they us, and to help, a bit, if we can. It sends mostly young people with the time, education and inclination to volunteer, and, a few oldsters, as well.

I think the ABC News story, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary year of the founding of the Peace Corps, was a cheap shot. But it does not take an investigative team to figure out that television is superficial and self-serving. Maybe the problem is not that Big Brother is watching us, but that so many people around the world are watching “Big Brother”.

ADDENDUM: The Friday after I posted this, a large protest was held by the opposition party in the capital, Tirane. The Country Director of Peace Corps, Albania, arrived in Korce Thursday evening on a tour to videotape volunteers in my group and their counterparts, talking about volunteer activities and the impact on their communities. This is a project he is doing as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps to show incoming volunteers at Pre-Service Training for Group 14. So far, 45 have accepted and are due to arrive mid March. He was traveling with the regional Peace Corps Safety Officer, who covers the Mediterranean and the Middle East. There was also a college freshman from Ohio who was doing a short term internship in Tirane. She was acting as the camera person. It was hard for me to pick among my various counterparts, but Isufi was eager to talk and Jani showed up to talk, as well. We had dinner with another volunteer on Thursday and they asked me if I wanted to come along as they visited other volunteers in the region. It was a chance to visit others in my region and see what they were doing as well as spend the weekend with friends. Also, they were buying meals and coffee at each stop. We even got to stop at a couple of tourist sites along the way which I had previously only seen from the window of a bus. It seemed like a good deal to me.

They were aware of the protest and were concerned about possible violence and further escalation. They made sure all the volunteers were out of Tirane, except the one who was there at a meeting related to a project. They phoned him to make sure he was safe. They closed the office early to make sure all the staff was able to get home before the protest began in the early afternoon.

It was estimated that about 20,000 people took part in the protest. Almost as soon as it started there were conflicts between both sides with rocks and sticks thrown by the protesters at the police who stood in a line behind plastic shields around government buildings and responded with rubber bullets, stun and smoke grenades. Live bullets were fired by someone identified as a security guard for one building. A protester from Gjirokaster was killed. Video of this was shown repeatedly on television. Two others also died and many injured protesters and police were taken to hospitals. The Prime Minister announced an investigation. The opposition party leader condemned the government response. The President appealed for restraint and calm.

Throughout the drive, the Country Director and the Safety Officer stayed in frequent contact with volunteers and staff. Emails and SMS messages were sent to all members of the Peace Corps in Albania. Reports were filed with the "country desk" at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington. Things seemed to have settled down in the capital and unrest has not spread to other parts of the country. We hope it stays that way.

It turned colder and rained throughout the night. Snow closed the road back to Korce and the bus home was canceled. Few roads are plowed in Albania so I am planning on an early start in the morning to take a series of buses and furgons for the long, circuitous alternative route through Elbasan. Since I am the warden for our region, I made sure the alternate knew my status. He has a key to my apartment where we keep extra water and food in case we need to gather there for potential evacuation as they had to do during general anarchy in 1997. Isufi also offered his home as a refuge, if needed. I think we are taken care of.