Peace Corps Namibia Project Advisory Committee Meeting

I was recently invited to attend the Peace Corps Namibia Project Advisory Committee meeting. It was a wonderful experience, meeting stakeholders from the teacher and volunteer level up to senior level officials in the Namibian Ministry of Education. The goal of the Project Advisory Committee is for Peace Corps to improve programming via input from all levels of programming. At the meeting, our Acting Country Director gave a nice presentation which provided some interesting facts about Peace Corps worldwide, which I wanted to share.

Since 2007, the Peace Corps Namibia has taught over 60,000 students! Following independence in 1990, the Namibian government invited the Peace Corps to serve in Namibia. The U.S. Peace Corps responded quickly; a new group of volunteers was on the ground in Namibia just 6 months after independence! What an exciting time to live and work in Namibia! Finally, Namibians tasted the sweetness of freedom and independence that so many had died for, and that many had dreamed about. The goal was to provide qualified teachers to teach English as the new Namibian government had made the decision to change the language of instruction from Afrikaans to English, and to reverse the inequalities and injustices that had been wrought on much of the population during apartheid rule. Apartheid was an extremely oppressive regime which denied blacks, mixed nationality and others their right to education. Blacks were only given a very minimal level of education, never such that they were trained to be managers or to think strategically. Education was wielded as a tool of oppression; only those in power (whites) were granted the privilege of education. Today, we are still working to right these wrongs. Unfortunately, the legacy of apartheid is very much apparent both in the education system and in Namibian society in general.

(Historical context: Afrikaans had been the language utilized under the South African apartheid government, which controlled Namibia from 1919 – 1990. South Africa was fighting on the side of Britain during WWI and defeated German troops in Namibia during 1915 and took control of the country. During the Peace Treaty of Versailles, 1919, the League of Nations officially “gave” Namibia to South Africa. It was under apartheid rule until independence in 1990.) Here in Namibia, the Peace Corps serves in 3-4% of all schools outside of Windhoek (Namibia’s capitol city). The Peace Corps always strive to achieve sustainable international development work. The Namibian Ministry of Education and the United States Peace Corps have partnered to help Namibia achieve Vision 2030, the development goals of the country. There are 146 Peace Corps Volunteers in Namibia; they serve in the health, education and community and economic development programs.

Speaking more generally about the Peace Corps internationally, as many of you reading this probably know, the Peace Corps was founded in 1960 by President John F. Kennedy. The Peace Corps was one of his top priorities. What vision he had; thank you JFK! Today, more than 200,000 Americans have served in 139 countries throughout the world. The Peace Corps has 6 sectors: agriculture, environment, youth development, community and economic development, health and education. The Peace Corps operates at the grassroots level with a bottom-up approach, which is where it is believed that the program can have the greatest impact. The Peace Corps focuses on PEOPLE, not things, and developing people’s capacity and personal agency. The aim is to help others develop the capacity to use their OWN resources and skills to resolve their needs and to improve their own lives.

Our Director mentioned that there are many leaders in the developing world who say they were greatly influenced by Peace Corps Volunteers. This includes the Finance Minister of Ghana who had a Peace Corps Volunteer as a teacher and was greatly influenced by her. On a personal level, this has been one of the highlights for me as well. I have met a few Namibians who just light up when they hear that you are a Peace Corps Volunteer. I met a Namibian man in a taxi a while back and he said that today he is an electrician, but it is only because he had encouragement and inspiration from a Peace Corps Volunteer when he was in school. It was this individual which gave him the motivation and courage to pursue further education.

There are many days when I have wanted to give up! Life is challenging for everyone, and as a volunteer, it is challenging due to a mix of factors: culture, poverty, race relations, gender norms and expectations, etc. However, hearing the man I just mentioned speak about the power that his teacher had on him, and hearing our director talk about the positive effect volunteers can have definitely inspired and reassured me.

These daily struggles of life are of course not limited to the Peace Corps! We he good thing is that we ALL have that ability, that chance, that opportunity, every day and every minute to reach out and touch someone. Peace Corps is a mix of highs and lows – it was just earlier in the week that I was telling a friend at home that nothing really matters! But here I find myself sitting down to write this post and I feel in my heart that in fact EVERYTHING matters. Our thoughts, our habits, our ideas, our treatment of others, how we take care of ourselves and others…it all matters, and it all culminates in the future we shape for ourselves and the future of our Earth and human race. Let’s take that perspective, and let’s treat each other with extra love and care.