16 June 2012

this weekend were Close of Service med checks in Lima.
now that a bit of every liquid in my body has been extracted and processed I feel only mildly abused.

I did meet some incredible people.
Thank you Sarah (property of Libby) and Charlie (property of Jules) for being so flexible and pleasant even through the goopy peruvian food and carrying poop samples around in bags...


Charlie is the tallest man I have ever met, strong, kind, thoughtful, handsome, and one week out of the Marines. He finished his service in Afghanistan only to head to South America to visit his sister, and my good friend, Juliane before she finishes her Peace Corps service in Northern Peru.
What a family, I know.

Can you imagine a Military or a Peace Corps that works together? Instead of armed forces being brute strength and pressure, and instead of Peace Corps being this fluffy 'live the hard life get little development work done'... what if we put our differences aside and worked together?
Charlie expressed severe frustration with the situation in Afghanistan. Their corrupt government forces civilians to fight, we kill them when they attack us, the civilians hate us. We leave, their corrupt government continues to abuse their citizenry (especially women), and the whole world is angry at us for not stepping in to protect. He feels a strong pull to be there to help, but we are stuck in this conundrum of death. They try to build roads and bridges to send a message that Americans aren't bad people and there to kill, but our interests in controlling oil cannot be neglected.
We talked a lot about how the lack of literacy and general access to education for the population of the communities around where he was based affects their understanding of the war and why we are there.
We talked about how the military officials aren't trained in the local dialect, so there is a huge disconnect and inability to explain.
What if, when the military is sent out on a mission, it is paired with Peace Corps volunteers sent to educate and provide health access to civilians? What if Peace Corps became something more intense,  something dangerous and right in the heart of present politics and policies? Would that not carry so much more potential for real progress, change, and success stories?

I can say, I would join.