Peace Corps Seeks Strong and Lasting Connections in Central Asia

Washington - Peace Corp volunteers in Kazakhstan can face physical and cultural challenges, but they also can earn great personal satisfaction from doing work they know is needed and valued, according to Peace Corps Country Director John Sasser.

"This is a great country for volunteers not because it's perfect, but because our programs fit perfectly with what the government wants, especially in English teaching and youth assistance," Sasser said.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, too, the Peace Corps ( http://www.peacecorps.gov/ ) has focused on three key areas identified by the government: teaching English, assistance to nongovernmental and community organizations, and health education.

Claudia Kuric, Peace Corps country director for Kyrgyzstan, points to another critical facet of the Peace Corps experience. "The volunteers do important, productive work," she said. "They also build relations with the Kyrgyz people that can last a lifetime."

PEACE CORPS IN CENTRAL ASIA

The Peace Corps, one of the signature initiatives of President John F. Kennedy, was founded in 1961, and since has sent more than 195,000 volunteers to 139 countries.

The Peace Corps arrived in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan more than 30 years later, in 1993. Although the three governments set different priorities, one common denominator has been assigning volunteers to teach English and health education and assistance. There are now 165 volunteers serving in Kazakhstan and 98 in the Kyrgyz Republic, with 38 serving in Turkmenistan.

The Kazakh government has established a national policy of supporting a "trinity" of languages: Kazakh as the official language, Russian for internal commerce and English for international commerce.

As a result, 70 percent of the education volunteers have been sent, as the English translation of a Kazakh phrase puts it, "deep in the woods," to teach at rural primary and secondary schools. A smaller group is assigned to teacher training in the country's colleges and universities.

Peace Corps Kazakhstan ( http://kazakhstan.usembassy.gov/peace_corps.html ) has recently been phasing out its broad but diffuse assistance to volunteer and community organizations, focusing instead on another government priority - the nation's youth.

The Kazakh youth assistance program has three elements, according to Sasser. One is leadership - showing what volunteerism is and how it works. Another is teaching basic work and office skills. Third is promoting healthy lifestyles - from preventing HIV/AIDS to dealing with alcohol abuse and promoting maternal health.

Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan ( http://bishkek.usembassy.gov/peace_corps2.html ), too, is placing a heavy emphasis on health education. "Last year, we conducted 39 winter and summer youth camps for over 800 children on the themes of youth leadership, healthy lifestyles and HIV/AIDS prevention," Kuric said.

Peace Corps Turkmenistan says it is the only large development organization operating in the country, with volunteers often the only foreigners in their villages and cities. Such cross-cultural experiences are a key aspect of the Peace Corps, where volunteers live with host families at times during their service to learn language, customs and cultures.

In Turkmenistan, the Peace Corps concentrates on health education and on teaching English. Health volunteers work in health clinics or make home visits to promote child, newborn and maternal health, healthy lifestyles and exercise and sports clubs.

In alignment with the Turkmenistan government's goals to open the country to greater levels of international cooperation and commerce, Peace Corps volunteers teach English as a second language and work with teachers to improve instruction methodologies. Volunteers teach in rural areas and secondary cities in primary and second schools, with a few teaching in the capital Ashgabat at universities, other teaching institutions and even the government's civil aviation department, Peace Corps Turkmenistan says.

LIVING THE VOLUNTEER LIFE

For volunteers, the Peace Corps experience is as varied as the locations in which they serve. Still, several common themes run through almost any account of life in the Peace Corps in parts of Central Asia.

One is the inevitable cultural adjustment to a new environment and culture, whether learning to light a coal-fired stove at minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), or being honored with a sheep's head at a special meal.

"To be honest, a year in and I still wake up on certain mornings and look out at the foggy mountains and I feel like I am living someone else's life," said Thomas Greene, a Peace Corps volunteer who works with a Kyrgyz organization for the rehabilitation of disabled children.

In his blog, "Two Stops Past Siberia ( http://kyrgycarl.com/ )," volunteer Carl Beien wrote a short essay on his efforts to understand the Kyrgyz economy during his quest to buy a traditional sheepskin coat.

Another consistent theme is the sheer intensity of the personal experiences and friendships that Peace Corps volunteers make in the course of their two-year tours.

"Kazakhs can seem reserved, even stern on first meeting," said Ryan Morris, a former volunteer who taught school in a small Kazakh town. "But once the veil is lifted, the level of hospitality is so moving, it's incredible."

In Kyrgyzstan, a local official who was hosting a volunteer in his home related that when the volunteer moved to an assignment in Talas, a day's drive away, the official's wife insisted he go there and make sure their friend was well and eating right, just as she would for her own children.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

One question that all volunteers must wrestle with during their tours is: "Am I making a difference?" For country directors like Sasser in Kazakhstan and Kuric in Kyrgyzstan, who are able to take the long view, the answer is clearly yes.

"We are building lasting relationships between the American and Kyrgyz people," Kuric said.

But the perspective of an individual volunteer working in an isolated village can be different. "Sometimes it can feel like you're chipping away at a redwood [tree] with a spatula," Greene said.

For many, the key is accepting that meaningful change can be measured on an individual scale. It could be helping fellow teachers become more fluent in English, ensuring that promising students pass their examinations and go on to a university, or finding the international contacts necessary to sustain a community organization.

Shannon Huett, a volunteer working at a children's rehabilitation center in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, points to the vital connection between friendship and commitment to achieve personal and professional success in the Peace Corps.

"My [Kazakh] counterpart is an amazing woman," she said, "and with as much energy as I want to put forth - that is the amount of satisfaction and joy I will derive from this journey."

Lauren Brauer, finishing three years with an English language teachers' association in the Kyrgyz Republic, said, "I think the most rewarding aspect of my work is realizing that projects I worked on will not end when I leave."

Whatever the lasting impact of an individual's assignment, it is no secret that the Peace Corp experience often has a powerful and lasting effect on the volunteers themselves.

"I came to Kazakhstan to help me build a foundation of work ethics, language and a love of other cultures," Huett said.

Brauer observed, "I feel that I have helped people to make positive changes in their lives. But mostly, I feel like the people I've worked with have made a big difference in my life."

CONTINUING INVOLVEMENT

Many former volunteers continue to be active long after they have left the country. Peace Corps Connect ( http://peacecorpsconnect.org/ ), sponsored by the National Peace Corps Association, comprises more than 300 different organizations of former Peace Corps volunteers.

Some are geographic (Iowa Peace Corps Association, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of New Jersey). Others are organized by country of service, from Friends of Afghanistan to Friends of Zimbabwe.

The organization of former volunteers for Kazakhstan, for example, has 27 active members, and Friends of Kyrgyzstan, 16. Former volunteers are active on social media as well, with 269 members on the Friends of Turkmenistan Facebook page and 319 on the Friends of Kyrgyzstan Facebook page.

On the occasion of Peace Corps Week (March 1-7), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "For many, the Peace Corps has been the start of a lifelong commitment to service and engagement with the world ( http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/March/20100301183126eaifas0.469505.html )."

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

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