🚀 go-pugleaf

Jessica and Randy:

If you can a find a Peace Corps country without a fading local culture,
sexual harassment, rampant crime and cities without elites who control the
resources and power, please let me know.  I think much more important is
how volunteers fit into local development plans.

Mike

with 01:53 PM 1/18/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Randy,
>
>I was thinking of volunteering with the Peace Corps in Gabon and I
>received several responses.  Though I have no first hand experience, I
>can tell you what people said.  Based on their comments, I decided not
>to volunteer there.  Unfortunately, they were quite negative.  It is
>the most wealthy country in Africa, with a per capita income I think
>of about $4,000.  It is rife with foreigners and oil drillers and the
>local culture has largely been lost.  The crime rate is extremely
>high, especially in the capital, as is harrassment.  I assume this is
>more of a problem for females than for males, but I heard from several
>males of being mugged.  The volunteers who lived in the small villages
>seemed to have much better experiences than those in the cities.  I'm
>in India right now, but when i return to the states in February, I'll
>see if I still have any of the messages and forward them to you.
>
>Jessica

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Mike Kelleher
Director
Unit for Community and Economic Development
 at Illinois State University
Campus Box 4200
Normal, IL  61790-4200

Phone: 309-438-8685
Fax:   309-438-5228
Email: fmkelle@ilstu.edu
Web:   http://www.econ.ilstu.edu/Peace_Corps/PCorps.html

RPCV Sierra Leone '85-'88

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