Letter from Peru

Inserted below is an excerpt from an email I received from one of my cousins, who is currently in Peru.  I had emailed him a link to a Washington Post article detailing how Chinese interventions in Laos are embroiling that country in an economic debacle similar to what has happened in recent years as a result of their dealings with Africa.  This was his reply:

"I saw the headline in The Post and decided that I really did not want to read it. Only the latest Chinese foreign aid disaster. Someone in Laos ended up with some money, but the Laotians probably didn’t benefit very much. 

 

My father used to say that the only type of foreign aid he thought was useful was volunteer assistance. Having lived outside the United States much of my life, I am coming to the same conclusion. It was unusual to meet employees in USAID or the state Department who spoke the local language, understood the local culture or had a passion for their work. In part, the lack of esprit d’corps was due to the US government bureaucracy that sucked the life out of its employees. They came to understand that their goal was to spend their allocation, so they could justify the same amount or more in the next appropriation. 

 

I am currently in Perú where I have done volunteer work for six years, counting three years during the pandemic in which I was not here. I came to Perú with the Peace Corps as a volunteer in eco-tourism. Keep in mind that I was almost 70 years old, had lived and worked in Colombia, Panamá, and Guatemala outside of the United States. I read, wrote and spoke Spanish. 

 

Peace Corps Perú sent me to a small community that had almost no appeal for eco-tourists. It took me three months to compile a 50-page document containing enough detailed information about the community and the region to convince the Peace Corps Director in Perú, a very good administrator, by the way, that this particular community and region was not a good assignment. His response upon looking at the document was, “In other words, you did the research that my staff should have done!” He asked me where I thought I should work, and I told him that I should work in a region, not a single community, which was economically depressed, and where there was a high concentration of bird species. He agreed, told me to do the necessary research. Ultimately he assigned me to the region I had chosen. 

 

I worked for a year, meeting local hotel owners, restaurant owners and guides and explaining that ecotourism could improve the economy and help protect the environment. These people held regional meetings every three months, each with more than a hundred people in attendance. At the end of a year we were on a roll, there was a lot of interest, a lot of participation and the local business leaders signed a petition to the new Peace Corps drafted by the head of national parks asking Peace Corps to extend my assignment for another year. By this time there was a new Peace Corps Director in Perú, and she did not even acknowledge their request. No response whatsoever. I returned to the United States.  Returned Peace Corps volunteers have a saying: "The Peace Corps is a wonderful … disorganization.”

 

Since then I have returned on my own nickel. I wanted no US government involvement.  In that seven-year period Peru has gone through seven presidents. Corruption is rampant. The current Peruvian government has no credibility - the presidential administration has a 7% approval rating, and the congress has a 10% approval rating. If you were the director of USAID in Colombia, with whom could you work? If you were a Peruvian and had to pay federal income tax, what would be going through your mind? I have come to the conclusion that my dad was probably right. "

I would be delighted to hear responses from readers - especially those with related experiences.