It Takes a Village

It isn’t news, but I have to say that volunteering with Peace Corps is no walk in the park. Every day poses a myriad of social miscues, slow work, and feelings of isolation. I often take comfort and encouragement in messages from friends and family who appreciate my service. They remind me of the reasons why I chose this job, that I easily overlook the advantages of service, and why service outshines the entry-level office alternative I could have chosen. These messages -and the comments I received from strangers while on home leave- often emphasize the “do-gooder” nature of Peace Corps service. People imagine Volunteers as examples, paragons even, of virtue and self-sacrifice in the humanitarian struggle for a better tomorrow. We are imagined teaching earth-shattering lessons, feeding the hungry, and kissing the babies we vaccinate.

Thinking of Volunteers as perfect do-gooders poses several problems. First, life is much muddier and the details of service more boring than people imagine. In fact, Volunteers spend a substantial amount of time off the clock or just waiting for work to happen. Second, thinking of us as do-gooders obscures when we actually “do badly” because we’re under-resourced, incompetent, or have just plain failed. Finally, the do-gooder image often ignores the work partners and community members that do most of the work that makes our service effective. This is the subject I’d like to discuss: when it comes to doing good and doing it well, it takes a village. 

The first week of March was one of my most active as a Volunteer, and every one of its activities demonstrates the ways in which my service depends heavily on others to have any impact whatsoever. Throughout the week my counterpart Brice and I hosted public showings of nutrition videos produced in the local language Fon. Brice led pre- and post-discussions that set up and digested the material presented. I couldn’t do this because of my poor local language skills, but his facilitation made the video’s lessons more applicable and general to viewers. Later, Brice and I ran training sessions for women’s groups, first on avocado production and nutrition and then the same for moringa. (Moringa is a tree originating from India with leaves that, gram per gram, have more protein than eggs, more vitamins than oranges and carrots, and more calcium than milk.) Brice taught half of each session and translated the other (my) half. The women also made these sessions possible by providing containers for tree nurseries while I provided the avocados, moringa seeds, and moringa leaf powder.

The largest example of the week came on Friday with the first-ever Lac Ahémé International Women’s Day march. Six women’s groups marched and chanted through a village and then discussed how women immeasurably contribute to community welfare, led by guest Peace Corps staff and a female Volunteer. It was a celebration of their work made possible by donations of money, food, and decorations from community members and the tireless work of Brice crisscrossing the community to manage logistics. Sure, I helped design the event and secured substantial funding from Peace Corps through our Gender-Specific Project Small Grant program, but the event itself would never have happened or accomplished anything without the initiative and diligence of Brice, community authorities, visiting Peace Corps staff, and the women’s groups.

The short of it is that most of my work is hands-off as a designer, planner, and occasional financier. Sometimes I get more involved as a teacher, but it’s often easier to prepare lessons where Brice does most of the presenting if we’re working with women who don’t speak French. These March activities were some of my most hands-on. Other teaching moments like training new members of a village savings and loan association (VSLA) and teaching improved goat raising techniques hardly featured me in front of a group at all. At events, I’m more often support staff. If this were Hollywood, I’d be the producer and boom operator while Brice and community members would be the directors, actors, writers, editors, and costumers.

This is the way it should be. My technical assistance builds not only the capacity of those being taught but also my colleagues who end up doing the teaching. That being said, let’s get back to the main point. I can only take credit for so much even in the most ideal cases. The most tangible, detailed, and hardest work is done by my colleagues at CRIPADD ONG, local women’s groups, and all other local work partners. From teaching and logistics to gardening and errand-running, they do most of the work in the activities I claim when I report to Peace Corps. That’s why the do-gooder image of the Peace Corps Volunteer is so incomplete: the more effective and lasting work is being done by countless other do-gooders like Brice, Solange, Josephine, Virginie, Pauline, Romeo, Felix, Vakpanu, Aline… I could go on.

Next time you think about the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice of a Volunteer, consider that more can be said of dozens of do-gooders behind the scenes we sculpt on social media. These do-gooders rarely get the spotlight, let alone the amount their contributions merit. Throw a prayer, word of appreciation, or project donation their way. I promise you they deserve it.