"I WANT TO SERVE MY COUNTRY, BUT NOT WITH A GUN"
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA, February 4, 2008: I am a Peace Corps Mom, with an emphasis on the Mom part. Read on.
When my youngest son, Will Romine, was headed for graduation with honors from Florida State University in 2006, he decided to postpone his long-term plan to attend law school to serve as a volunteer in the
Peace Corps for two years.
My reaction: "The Peace Corps! Young Americans are not so welcome around the world post 9/11. Why do you want to do that?" Peace Corps Week 2008 is being celebrated this year from February 25 through March 3. The Corps has appealed to former volunteers and Peace Corps families to share the experience of their volunteer. This is my story.Will countered my first response with what every parent fears, her own words thrown back in her face by her child in defense of what she sees as his dangerous decision. "Mom, you have always told me that people who only think about themselves get depressed, that the true joy is in service to others."
Parent's Dilemma
I had indeed said that to him. Who knew he was listening, let alone taking those words to heart? I had also told him to go make money after college. Maybe he still will.
Then Will added, "I want to serve my country, but not with a gun." Who could disagree with that? In addition, he was over 21 and didn't need my financial help, so I knew in the end I might have to gracefully accept what I no longer had the power to control. Well, still there was a multi-part application for the Peace Corps to assure that candidates would be emotionally and physically ready to take on two years of service in a remote third world country. Surely he would miss some deadline. When he completed every step on time, I was impressed and realized that he had matured during 4 years of college and was prepared to successfully pursue whatever he chose.
I knew about the Peace Corp, of course. I was a college student when President John Kennedy created it in the '60s. While I endorsed its goals, my life and career went in another direction. But I hadn't heard any news about the Corps in the intervening years and I was surprised to find out it was still in existence. Will sent a steady stream of Peace Corps literature my way and it was both comforting and disconcerting to read about the many, many, many efforts to assure the safety of volunteers.
After Will's graduation in 2006, he was posted to Kyrgyzstan, one of the "stans" (meaning land of) in Central Asia including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Like most Americans I knew more about Afghanistan (south of Tajikistan) and because my son was headed that way I was about to learn a lot more about these lesser-known stans.
The Soviet Union Implodes
These countries went from being part of a world superpower to third world status literally overnight when the Soviet Union imploded in 1991. They languished in a decade of economic stagnation, anarchic independence subject to some heavy-handed national rulers, and international isolation until they more or less aligned with the
United States.
Kyrgyzstan is landlocked, slightly smaller than North Dakota, and bordered on the East by China, on the North by Kazakhstan, on the West by Uzbekistan, and on the South by Tajikistan. After a couple of months language training in the Kyrgyz capitol of Bishkek, Will was posted to a remote agrarian village in the western part of the country in Talas State, as a secondary school English teacher. His first year was very challenging. Between mastering the local language and dealing with a clash between his goals and those of his students, Will was changed by the experience.
No Frills Life
He boards with a family in the village. Typical of the general standard of living, there is no running water, nor indoor bath facilities. Winters are severe in the high mountains. The toilet is a seat-less out house and if you want a bath you have to pump well water, carry it through snow and heat it over a wood fire. He was clean shaven and clean cut when he left Florida. His beard and hair have grown longer adjusting to the elements.
Will and I had months in his last year in college to discuss his motives (beyond those he initially offered me) behind his Peace Corps decision. He felt he had grown up with a "soft" childhood. He is a graduate of Del Prado Elementary, Loggers Run Middle and Olympic Heights High Schools in Boca Raton, Florida. He appreciates these advantages but wanted to test himself against rugged conditions (as a mother of three boys, I think that's a guy thing). He also despaired of his peers' general apathy about world politics and human suffering around the globe. I expect that he was also up for some adventure and the fact that it horrified me just added to its appeal.
Will has been tested. He learned how to chop wood with an axe, deal with students generally not interested in learning English (they mostly expect to practice agriculture and sheep herding as their parents have for hundreds of years), and eat lots of mutton and other unfamiliar foods. He is surrounded by an ethnic community defined by Islam their slight physical stature and Asiatic background. I wonder what they make of my blue-eyed six-foot-two son. Perhaps he has achieved some intercultural understanding. In the photos he has sent me, he's always smiling and the villagers surrounding him look comfortable in his presence.
As Will headed into his second year of service he began to notice a few very motivated students and he revised his goals. He sought out special opportunities for them. So far he has guided 3 students through the first round of competitive exams to win a scholarship year at an American High School. He continues to search out projects to advance the productive goals of other individuals motivated to improve.
Will showed me something that I once knew and had forgotten. You can change the world, if you do it just one person at a time. And despite the fact that I am still very concerned for his welfare, I do think, what kind of wonderful world it would be if everyone said, 'let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.'
For Kyrgyzstan map see:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html
Contact: Francine Grace Plaza
561-488-4268, francineplaza@gmail.com
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