this is an article from the latest nepali times. it's incredibly painful and really personal to me. i hope some of you are also moved by it and realize how significant and sad this is.


?We shall return?
Peace Corps volunteers leave Nepal with heavy hearts
NARESH NEWAR

This is their last week here. The US Peace Corps is packing up to leave Nepal after nearly 42 years of service.

Only a handful of senior managers are busy emptying their offices. The library, artistically designed by the volunteers, is now a cold empty room. On the top floor, a large number of Nepali personnel are attending the employment-counselling program for job prospects in other organisations. Several have worked here for nearly three decades certain that the most dedicated American social organisation in Nepal would never close down.


for the rest of the article, here's the link-


http://www.nepalnews.com/ntimes/issue221/nation.htm

WOAH- i really suck when it comes to computers. sorry about that, but at least the link is there....

that didn't work either?! sh*t, i give up....

hey pg.
was wondering, is this a sign that things are totally fubar'd or that things are really going to get bad soon. i don't know much about the recent activities of the Peace Corps,
but i do respect and cherish the good they have done 4 the country. they represent the other side of an america that is so hard to know, through this mire of yellow tape, that is constantly revealed or fed us. an america that actually means well.
i hope situations don't get too bad and they return soon.

the only reason i post this is the fact that when the americans pull out, u know somethings going to hit the fan, and soon. they're in the know if u know what i mean.

we should be worried now ppl.

yellow tape= b/shit
stop with the smirks, already :-)

thanks for your post, kdee. and for your kind words about the work pc volunteers have done in nepal.

i think it means both- that things have gotten really bad in nepal and that they can potentially get even worse. i don't think pc left nepal because they are aware of something that's going to happen. i believe that growing anti-americanism on the part of the maoists (which is a direct result of the american government fueling the nepali gov't with money, arms, and military training....if i was a maoist, i'd be pissed off too!) has created a situation such that pc can no longer justify the risks of staying there.

one of the most amazing things about pc, that sets it apart from so many other "development organizations", is that the work is done on a human to human basis. the volunteers immerse themselves in their communities, learning the language, the culture, the mindset, and living as equals in their communities. they aren't all in kathmandu in comfortable offices and living in fancy homes with servants. maile pani dindinai dal bhat khanuparthie yaar! pc shows that the most meaningful changes come from human interaction and relationships. the day pc returns to nepal will be a glorious day indeed, as it means nepal has once again become a peaceful country.

Dear Palpali Gaunle:

I am sorry this has come to pass.

Although, American Peace Corps started in the Phillipines with the main objective of influencing the school structure and modelling it in the American way, almost an academic colonization, Peace Corps has always remained a symbol of peaceful cooperation and cultural exchange. The dismantling of any such organization tells a bigger story about the state of the host country.

I have met many PC volunteers from around the world and I have been impressed by their sincerity and dedication. I have one friend in particular who worked in Laos, who keeps going back. He confesses, he left his heart in S. E. Asia; it was difficult for him to adjust in Vermont.

Palpali Gaunle; I hope you get other opportunities to visit Nepal. Your love and dedication for this frail country of strong people is obvious.

Peace!

This is bad. PC volunters are the best Americans i have evern seen. I call them Angles. They are actually angels in the face of humans who go help poor and needy people around the world. Stupid maoists made those angels pack up and leave. Now you can guess that worse is at the door like a big monaster and its gonna kill every Nepali in the house-maobadi, kahobadai -everyone...

whoever removed that huge post i made, thank you!!! you are amazing!

sitara didi, thank you also for your generous words. yeah, i feel like i left my heart in palpa (hence, my sign-in name) in paricular and nepal in general. and i can totally appreciate what your friend was/is going through in vermont. coming back to this world is not easy. i know i will have opportunities to return to nepal, but i don't know in what capacity. in all honesty, i still haven't accepted that i will never be able to live and teach in chirtungdhara, palpa again.

with regards to pc, though, my understanding is the first program went to ghana in 1961. i don't know if i agree with the phrase "academic colonization", especially since, as you pointed out, so much of what pc is about is cultural exchange. it's about mutual understanding and respect and about crossing divides between people. i really appreciate your post, thank you.

dyamn, wow- those are some powerful words! thanks for your strong feelings about pc volunteers. but you should realize that often times pc volunteers get so much more out of their experience than what they give to the communities in which they live. this was certainly the case for me and most of my other friends who were in nepal.

and while you blame the maoists for pc leaving, i blame the ignorant american government, as they blindly provided the nepali government with more money, more weapons, and more military training. that is what fueled the maoists' anti-americanism. to think the american government thought it was helping the people of nepal by providing those things....and now pc has left as a result of it. the officials in dc that made those decisions are most likely very unfamiliar with the realities of life in nepal. and let's not forget the army is just as guilty as the maoists in terms of violence, brutality, and kidnappings against their own nepali brothers and sisters.

Palpali Gaunle:

If you don't mind, just "Sitara" will suffice. I prefer to be on "first" name basis and will not refer to anyone with a "dai/ didi /bha/bahinii". I know you mean well.

On "educational colonization" you will have to read the history of educational colonization throughout the world; I happened to take a course on the subject and came to study about the Japanese colonization of Taiwan; America's of Phillipenes; France's of Vietnam.... and the list goes on. Peace Corp was originally set up for the change in educational structure in Phillipenes. However, I know the philosophy has changed overtime. It is the people of Peace Corps who make it so special.

Gotta run............. class time again!

Peace!!!

I don't know what happened in Phillipines, but I think the first volunteers of the Peace Corps went to Ghana and other African countries.

Maria Shriver's father, Sargent Shriver deserves the credit for most of what the PC stands for today. I admire him and his wife for having true compassion towards other human beings in an era of conflict and segregation. Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver is known for founding the Special Olympic games. Sargent Shriver is also the founder of Head Start and the National Center on Poverty law. Incredible man. One of the few Democrats I truly admire.

There are both good and bad to the Peace Corps system. I don't
mean it is inherently bad, I mean bad in the sense that it shows
how dependent we are on the largesse of others, it points up the
failure of our education system, and also creates dependency. Good
side, well many Sajhaites have already written about that above. I
agree with it all. True, that they are leaving is an indication of
the worsening situations in Nepal. I have known only a handful of
pc friends (one of whom is my boss right now). But, frankly I have
seen a number of countries do well without PC volunteers. Eg.
India, Bhutan. Also somebody wrote in the Nation weekly (in
Letters to the Editor section) pointing this out, which somehow
stuck me. The gist of the letter was: Peace corps is fine and all,
but it should not go on forever. The gradual phase out plan has to
be there also. Somehow, to even initiate this phase out plan, the
Nepali government needs to take up the slack, invest in targeted
human development and harvest enough homegrown teachers for the
country's education sector. Certainly peace corps has contributed
to harvesting home grown teachers. But the irony is all this
largesse allows our govt to neglect or cop out
of rural education sector altogether. Which became clear to me through my
hikes in and around the valley rim. Oh just visiting the
Chhapakharka school, sorely under-funded, above Sundari jal made me
realize that. It is likely that the inhabitants there will be
relocated (with or without compensation), and the school closed,
since it falls in the Shivapuri National Park. Investing in rural
education in remote place would, I assume, prepare teachers (some
at least) in the next generation exactly where they are needed the
most. But this is not happening, which is why I am saddened that
the Peace Corps are leaving now, leaving certain pockets of the
rural education sector in a limbo. As per the letter in Nation
Weekly, in Bhutan, there are no peace corps, no Jesuit volunteers,
all English teachers are homegrown. All students learn in English
from grade 1 onward and are on average better speaker and writer
of English than Nepali. Literacy is up, gender gap narrowed,
national pride is up because of self-sufficiency in the
primary/secondary education sector. True and sad that the idea of
self-sufficiency is underestimated in today's Nepal (as is
indicated by the letters from the Sajhaites above) because
everybody loves philanthropy (not all of which have good motives)
these days. Well, if America is involved, well it can't be wrong,
right?

Well you can have peace corps, jesuit volunteers, youth
ambassadors, christian missionaries and a host of others in Nepal
teaching our primary/secondary school children, or you can have
properly educated home-grown Nepali teachers teaching our
students, if you get the policies and implementation right.

Bhutan, being Bhutan, is however following a different model. It
is doing without peace corps and indian teachers in primary and
high schools with flying colors, showing it can be done because
the government is aggressively taking the lead. In our case, govt
has copped out of everything save for bribes, corruption, and
obediently following the dictates of India, and other countries,
and the power that be that hand-picked them. Bhutan is clever in
one respect: although it is dependent on foreign aid, it typically
uses its own home-grown human resources to utilise the foreign
aid. In the case of Nepal, well you have peace corps,
missionaries, youth ambassador and VSOs come riding on the aid.

Having said enough, I leave it up to you to decide which country,
whether Bhutan or Nepal, is following a better model and,
therefore, setting a better example.

I myself am still debating this.

la, from now on, only....sitara. but i think republican's background info about pc is more accurate. it was started during jfk's presidency and was a collaborative effort between he and sargent shriver.

karmapa, i can appreciate what you have written. and you are right, that the ideal is to have "home-grown" teachers and that some development organizations can increase a country's sense of dependency. but when the government is too busy stuffing its own pockets and sending its own children abroad for education, the majority of its country's people suffer. and as people teach what they are taught, how can nepal raise effective "home-grown" teachers without breaking the cycle of some apathetic, lazy teacher standing in front of the classroom, reading directly from the book and not challenging the students to think or question anything?!

and pc does have a "phase-out" philosophy. they clearly state that their goal is to work themselves out of a job. and there have been a number of countries in which they have been able to do this. india being one of them, as pc used to work there too in the 60s and 70s. but with a government as corrupt as nepal's, the majority of the country is still far behind in basic needs such as water, health and medical facilities, and education.

one last thing i would like to point out is pc is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like jesuit volunteers or missionaries. i find some of those people to be incredibly scary and i wouldn't hesitate to say hardcore missionaries, whose main goal is conversion of the local people, are commiting cultural genocide. since i lived in palpa, i had contact with some missionaries at tansen's hospital and most of those interactions were very positive and most of those people were human beings first, doctors second, and christians third. but there are some people who are so blinded by their own faith that all they care about is "spreading the gospel." just imagine if someone like dubya was ever a pc volunteer....
luckily, he doesn't have a big enough heart to ever do that.

Thank you Palpali.

Palpali and Republican, sorry about the ambiguity in my statement:

"Although, American Peace Corps started in the Phillipines with the main objective of influencing the school structure"

I did not mean for it to translate as "PC having operated first in the Phillipines". I meant when it did operate in the Phillipines, it was immersed in the American agenda of creating an American curricullum, there.