Raising
money for my school’s library development project was challenging in a number
of ways, one being the lack of communication between Peace Corps and me about
which people or organizations had already donated. In fact, it wasn’t until
after the project was fully funded that I received a list of donors who had
agreed to share their contact information with me. I was surprised to see one
name on the list which I didn’t recognize, so I wrote to the donor to ask about
his connection to Cambodia or literacy work.
The
man responded that he was a representative of a Unitarian Universalist
congregation in Pennsylvania which had decided to donate to my project because
two of their members, Reed and James, had been doing some work in Cambodia, and
their church was interested in social justice projects. After a second read of
the e-mail, it hit me. I know James and Reed! We met at a dinner party hosted
by the then chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in Phnom Penh. I had
collaborated with James to sing at the 4th of July celebration last
year hosted by the embassy, and I had even just run into him again while on a
private tour of the embassy last weekend.
As
far as I know, the congregation knew nothing of my connection to James, but
they still found my project online and donated generously to it. It seems so
mysterious how the events played out. My mom kept telling me throughout the
weeks I was seeking donations that the money would come, and indeed it did.
The
other unexpected connection came in the form of a letter. One of the program
managers of Peace Corps Cambodia called me a couple of weeks ago just as I was
finishing my lessons at the high school. He had recently attended an overseas
staff training in Washington, D.C., and he told me that he had met someone I
know. I thought of my friends currently working in D.C. and wondered how he’d
come into contact with one of them, but I was surprised when he said her name
was Heather. I had no idea who he was talking about. After a few moments of
trying to explain who she was, he said something about a map, and I understood
immediately.
My
first year at Carleton I had an extremely excellent residential assistant on
the second floor of Myers Hall. Heather was fun, friendly, and adorable. She
kept her door open with bricks which we had painted together as a floor bonding
activity around the beginning of the year, and I often snuck around to spy on
her or just say, “Hello.” We shared a few common interests like Spanish and
Hillary Clinton, and at some point I decided to share my affection for her by
giving her a map of the world.
About
a year later, Heather messaged me to let me know that the map was hanging
proudly in a school in Kazakhstan where she was serving as a Peace Corps
Volunteer. Several months later, the Kazakhstan program closed unexpectedly,
and Heather returned home. I hadn’t been in touch with her since then, but I
remembered the map and knew it was her.
The
program manager said he had a letter from her that he would place in my cubby
in the Peace Corps lounge. Last week I was able to retrieve it and find one of
the nicest and most thoughtful letters anyone has sent me. She included a powerful
quote from The Ugly American which I read my sophomore year in high
school in preparation for my youth exchange in Argentina.
“The
simple fact is, Mr. Ambassador, that average Americans, in their natural state,
if you will excuse the phrase, are the best ambassadors a country can have,”
Magsaysay said. “They are not suspicious, they are eager to share their
skills, they are generous. But something happens to most Americans when
they go abroad. Many of them are not average… they are second-raters. Many of
them, against their own judgment, feel that they must live up to their own
commissaries and big cars and cocktail parties. But get an unaffected American,
sir, and you have an asset. And if you get one, treasure him – keep him out of
the cocktail circuit, away from the bureaucrats, and let him work in his own
way.”
The Ugly
American
by Eugene Burdick, The underlining is Heather’s
Heather
continues in her letter:
“For
whatever reason, this was a pretty helpful/inspiring reminder while I was
serving. I think particularly when I felt like I didn’t have much in the way of
concrete skills or substance to give, it was helpful to remember that I was
doing good by being genuine, eager, and generous.”
It
meant so much to get Heather’s letter as a reminder of our friendship, but it
also struck me how timely her message for me was. Nearing the end of my
service, I’ve constantly questioned what good I’ve really done here. My impact
seems so small in a country that appears impossible to change. Yet Heather is
right, us volunteers do make a difference just by being here and being genuine,
eager, and generous. We offer a different perspective, and we challenge the
norm in hopes that our unseen ripples will manifest into greater change in the
years ahead. We’re able to do that because we live humble lives as part of rural
communities and families, not as bureaucrats in the business district of the
capital.
To
put it simply, the State Department, USAID, the embassy – they’re all about
money, but the Peace Corps is about people. Human connections surround us and
give our lives meaning. Although I’ll likely be a cocktail circuiting
bureaucrat someday, I’d like to think that I’ll be a little less affected after
this experience and that I’ll never forget the value of building personal
relationships as a means of peace.
Painting brick doorstops with Heather
*
(Fun Fact: Carleton College Choir Director Lawrence E. Burnett literally
single-handedly changed the definition of the word “literally” to mean its
exact opposite.)
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