The Foreign Service Journal, October 2008

seas, especially in the Third World, are shocked and upset when the electricity, air conditioning or water goes off. State has done a wonderful job in recent years in minimizing problems for its overseas employees, but they still exist. Many Peace Corps Volunteers have lived with no elec- tricity, running water or indoor plumbing. When I was a volunteer in a small town in northern Dahomey (now Benin) from 1969 to 1970, I had to pay the landlord to build an outdoor pit toilet. Hence, when we join the Foreign Service we tend to be much more tolerant about overseas hardships than many of our colleagues ever are. Another benefit is that a stint with the Peace Corps between college and graduate school can make getting a master’s degree a piece of cake. During my two years in the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, I based most of my term papers on my Peace Corps experiences. Finally, Foreign Service folks should consider getting involved with helping to set up Peace Corps programs. When I was chargé d’affaires in Moroni from 1987 to 1990, I was able to draw on my experience as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer to help in an appropriate manner, and I enjoyed hosting periodic lunches and dinners for the volunteers. Karl Danga FSO, retired St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands usu C ULTURAL I MMERSION If the Foreign Service can be described as insular, bureaucratic and removed from a host culture, then the Peace Corps is expansive and loosely defined, and requires complete cultural immersion. Peace Corps Volunteers are expected to live off the local economy, learn the language and approximate the same standard of living as host-country nationals, all while receiving mini- mal support from headquarters. I spent two tours with the Peace Corps as an English teacher, and that experience more than prepared me for the Foreign Service (particularly extremely undeveloped hardship postings such as Mali). I am now tolerant of procurement delays, differences in cultural work stan- dards, construction problems, and the dozens of minor annoyances that plague life in so many countries. And I’m especially thankful for the great, free Foreign Service housing, the fact that we usually have hot water, our generous shipping allowances, and access to the diplomatic pouch or military mail services. The complete cultural immersion I received in the Peace Corps also instilled knowledge of how other cul- tures see the world and how they see the United States. Although developing nations differ substantially, the infrastructural and procedural challenges they face are often surprisingly similar. Therefore, experience working at a grassroots level in one developing country teaches lessons that can be applied throughout the developing world. It has also afforded me a degree of understanding of, and empathy with, the challenges other countries face, even as it equips me to view them more realistical- ly. My time with the Peace Corps also taught me to truly love America. Ever since, I’ve been acutely apprecia- tive of the extraordinary privileges, rights, opportunities and responsibilities that come with U.S. citizenship. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer taught me to do more with less, to value intangible assets such as freedom and education, and to be patient when the bus broke down. It reminded me to concentrate on what I had, not what I didn’t. Finally, it instilled in me an unquenchable desire for travel and expatriate living, which led me to join the Foreign Service. For that matter, without the Peace Corps, I wouldn’t have even known what the Foreign Service was. Lisa W. Cantonwine Executive Assistant to the Ambassador Embassy Bamako usu T RULY T RANSFORMATIONAL D IPLOMACY Being a Peace Corps Volunteer, as I was in Bulgaria, is all about living in a small community, adopting the local dress, drinking the local wine and using the local toilet paper (if any) — in short, integrating into the local soci- ety, including its sights, sounds, tastes and (sometimes unfortunately) smells. The experience demonstrates how societal and cultural beliefs buried deep below the sur- face can provide insights into how people think and act in particular situations. F O C U S 44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8