THE AMERICAN PEACE CORPS IN ASIA IN THE 1960s

(Excerpted from Fallen Leaves, an anthology of memoirs by LC Arulpragasam)

Introduction

The American Peace Corps was instituted by President Kennedy in 1961. Its avowed purpose was to ‘promote the cause of freedom and democracy’ and to enable ‘young Americans to serve the cause of freedom, as servants of peace’. But he also saw it as a useful weapon in a ‘soft war’ against communism, and as a means of extending American influence and free market capitalism to the newly independent countries.

On the other hand, there was an outcry from some developing countries which saw the Peace Corps volunteers as foot soldiers of a new American imperialism. Even the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka accepted the Peace Corps volunteers with great misgivings, while the left-wing parties alleged that they were really CIA agents in disguise! As for the young Peace Corps volunteers themselves, they genuinely wanted (in my opinion) to help the people in the poorer countries while also promoting the cause of peace and freedom.

I did not give much thought to the subject till I left Sri Lanka in 1962 and took up a job with the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok. In this capacity, I was able to see some Peace Corps volunteers at work.

In Nepal

I was sent by FAO in 1962 to investigate a certain land reform problem that had arisen in Nepal. The village selected for the investigation happened to be in the foothills of the Himalayas, which involved a flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara (in the mountains) and a full day’s trek over mountains to reach the village in question. It was an awesome experience to walk in the shadow of the snow-clad Himalayas towering above, and at one point, the thunder of an underground river which shook the ground beneath.

We were approaching a small hamlet at the head of a mountain pass when I saw a young white man trotting across our path with a tee-shirt marked ‘University of Michigan’ (or some such). When I paused to regain my breath, I saw the young man energetically digging a drain across our little path to divert some dirty water that was trickling down from the hamlet. Being quite tired, I halted for a chat.

He said he was from the Peace Corps and had recently taken up habitation in this hamlet to teach them environmental health and sanitation. I asked him why he did not get the villagers to help him to dig the drain. He was shocked at my question, replying ‘No, no, we can’t do that: we are supposed to teach by example. When the villagers see me doing it, they will join me and “learn by doing”’. But when I looked for some reaction from the villagers, they continued to sit around on their haunches, chewing betel leaves and spitting out, no doubt discussing what this foolish white man was doing, and why?

While this was going on, I noticed local women staggering up the hill (usually young girls or quite old women) bearing enormous loads of firewood on their backs. If it never occurred to the men seated around to help their women with their heavy loads, why would they run to help a white man who foolishly wanted to dig a drain (what on earth for?) by himself? As for the white man, he was not going to ask for help, for did not page x of the Peace Corps Handbook (I can only guess that something of that sort existed) say that he ‘should lead by example’ and that the natives should ‘learn by doing’?

Fortunately, reinforcements arrived in the form of a white girl with ginger hair, also from the Peace Corps, who started digging to help her colleague. The onlookers nodded their heads and raised their voices in approval, for should not women share the burdens of their men? Meanwhile, their own women continued to stagger past them with their impossible loads of firewood.

At this point, I again urged the young volunteers to ask the assembled crowd to help them, but they insisted on the instructions on page x of their ‘bible’! The Sri Lankan bureaucrat in me wanted to order the onlookers to help these poor volunteers, but I realized that I had no jurisdiction over ‘these natives’. So I said goodbye to the volunteers and continued on my trek – to a trial of my own, regarding land reform.

In Thailand

My next exposure to the Peace Corps occurred in northeast Thailand around the year 1964, when I visited a land development scheme there. The northeastern region was the poorest and least developed in the country at that time. A large part of the region was still forested, while most people lived from low-paying farming based on cassava and maize cultivation. After finishing my work, I was returning to the regional capital with a jeep full of local officials when I saw a young white man standing by the rugged track, asking for a ride.

Since this was a remote region, it was really surprising to see a white man with no transport of his own, requesting a ride from even poorer people. While I was keen to take him on board, the Thai officials were unabashed in their adamant refusal to do so. Although a white man would normally be treated with great respect in Asian countries, I later came to understand why this particular white man was being spurned. However, I insisted on taking him on board. So the young man had to drape himself over the spare wheel at the back of the jeep, holding on for dear life, as we bumped our way on the rugged track. During our stops along the way, I listened to his story.

He held a degree in Agricultural Engineering and was working for the Peace Corps. He had been posted in this remote village in the poorest region of Thailand to train the local farmers in the use of tractors in their farming. This particular village had been chosen because it had been gifted with a tractor by USAID. The Peace Corps volunteer was supposed to train the farmers in the use, maintenance and repair of the tractor.

In order to simplify matters, the Peace Corps volunteer was housed in the tractor driver’s house, in which he had been living for the past four months. When I asked about his accommodation, he said that because there was only one room in the farmer’s house, he was asked to sleep in the barn. I then asked him what progress he had made in training the driver and others in the use and maintenance of the tractor.

He ruefully admitted that the driver, in whose house he had been living for the past four months, had not yet asked him to drive the tractor. The same applied to training him and others in its mechanics and use! So I asked him what he had been doing for the past few months. He replied that the tractor driver, an illiterate farmer whom he was supposed to help, had allowed him to wash the tractor; and this the Peace Corps volunteer had done on a daily basis!

When asked what else he did with his time, he said that he helped the man’s wife and little daughter to catch small fish in the muddy fieldsin order to feed the family. I could not understand why he did not assert himself more and insist that the farmer should learn from him. But I knew the answer already. For was it not laid down on ‘page x’ of their manual that they should not impose their aid on the natives, but should wait till they were invited to do so?

I flashed back to how the British would have acted in their time in the colonies. Answer: they would have ordered the farmers to follow the training. I fast-forwarded 10 years (till after British times) to think of what I would have done as a bureaucrat in Sri Lanka. Answer: I would have ‘suggested’ to the farmer that he should follow such training – and he jolly well would have done so! But the Peace Corps, inspired by its ideals of equality and democracy, was bending over backwards not to force anything on the natives. ‘Wait till you are asked’. And our young volunteer was still waiting!

I was really sad to leave this young man so far away from his country, living a life of such great hardship in order to achieve – nothing. For I was convinced, first, that it was a fool’s errand to import such highly capital-intensive technology into a primitive farming system whose economics could not sustain such tractor use. Wisely, the farmers never cared or even tried to use the tractor, despite it being a free gift! Secondly, I was upset to know that the Peace Corps’ guidance to this poor volunteer was so unrealistic in terms of existing conditions that it undermined any chance of his success.