The library is still going, I hope–there’s another volunteer who replaced me, a dude who seems pretty cool from what I’ve heard about him (hopefully he isn’t KurrentPCV! That would actually make me feel awful) and I hear that there’s a waiting list for the Russian Harry Potter books. Pretty much entirely due to the help I got from other people, we had all the books in and organized before I was sent home. Recently, my counterpart actually came to America for a US Embassy fellowship (after which I promptly flew her to Texas and took her to the rodeo) and she told me that the English center has expanded to the point where it’s taking over a second room in the school!

Anyway, thanks for everything you said. I agree about your summary of the heinous exchange above–particularly the hyperbolic nature of the word “flooded.” You rock.

I am thankful I came across this article. You are a class act for not trying to make yourself look “good” despite this comment thread. I remember liking your writing style precisely because it was honest and refreshing. It’s ironic because you liked to make fun of yourself and it was like the opposite of making yourself look “good”. Don’t ever stop writing. Some volunteer may think he is doing the world a favor by writing about his opinion. I am not a good writer like you, but I think if I translate KurrentPCV’s words, he is saying this:

“Do not write a positive article about your Peace Corps experience. It surprises me. Don’t do that.”

“Do not stay on topic because you leave out certain facts even if they are irrelevant. That is frustrating. That is misleading. Don’t do that.”

“Your flooded the internet with 2 articles and that is irresponsible.”

“I try to establish the truth out of facts and rumors by not asking you but by reposting my thoughts that are based on rumors.”

“I don’t know how hard you had it but no, not asking.”

“I have so many relevant things to say about sexual harassment and money. I didn’t really understand your New York times article and the point of this billfold article.”

I think that’s what KurrentPCV was trying to say.

1. Why not just take @j-i-a up on her offer? I’d sure like to know the story now that I know there are juicy details outside of this article and might just e-mail her myself.

2. She’s clearly a writer and after reading her responses here and both articles (had to find the Times one), it’s pretty clear that they both had specific agendas (the Times about the dangers specifically for women which are clearly real and this one at the Billfold about money…ya know since that’s what this site is about). These agendas had little to do with “I did Peace Corps and am better than you all,” which it seems that you want to write yourself.

3. Did you ever consider that she may have done some great stuff at her site before her interruption of service? While no guarantee, why not ask her, or ask people at her site?

4. Clearly you’re allowing gossip (read: unsubstantiated rumors) to dictate your reaction to the author. That seems like a clear indication once again that you know nothing about writing or journalism.

5. I may again have no clue about the workings of Peace Corps, but if “finding your stride” happens at the year mark, does that mean that everything you did before then was totally irrelevant? If so, then the site change might have made sense. If not, then wouldn’t a site change then resulted in a restart of her “Peace Corps Service Clock” to 0? And what if the connections and projects she started had JUST started to gain traction after working on them for a long time? Wouldn’t it be that much more difficult to start up the same ones or similar ones elsewhere?

6. It seems you’re really focused on lengths, designations, and titles. That seems pretty anti-Peace Corps. Isn’t the whole point of Peace Corps to try and do whatever positive you can possibly do while you’re there? I read your comments as suggesting that it’s more about will power to stay as long as possible and never relenting. Odd sentiment that sounds a lot more like masochism than altruism.

7. In conclusion, stop worrying about gossip mills, internet articles, and what people are saying after they are forced out of the country. Focus on what you can do while you are there. Life’s too short.

So you say I am “irresponsible” and “misleading.” First of all, no one cares about this except for you and the assumed handful of volunteers in country who, two weeks ago, found a brief moment of pleasure in feeling misrepresented by my small-time pieces about Kyrgyzstan.

But okay, the Times article was written with an explicit statement that I’d gotten sent home early because of sexual harassment (again–that was why they approached me to write the article). This Billfold article was about money and perspective and not being an asshole. The terms of my interrupted service had nothing to do with it. Had I written two articles entitled, “How to Have a Fulfilling, Productive, Complete 2 Years in Peace Corps and Avoid Rape Threats Entirely,” then yes, I would certainly have been misleading. Do you even know how writing works? Do you know about editors?

I was there, and I totally gossiped; I get it; gossip makes you feel normal and gives you something to think about other than the desperate poverty all around you. I am actually a lifelong fan of rumors, and it took me until Christmas to realize that there weren’t actually snow monkeys in Naryn. But no one other than my close friends in country knew what went on in my village, and I doubt they made it a habit to hang around with anyone AWESOME enough to waste their time doing this sort of stuff–so perhaps you can believe me when I say you don’t know the half of it.

So okay! Maybe it’s time for you to move onto bigger and better things. Again, if you’d actually like to know any of the details–why I didn’t take my site change or why I told people I was planning to leave during summer 2011–you are welcome to email me and I’ll tell you. Or you could literally take a hike. The summer in Kyrgyzstan is so beautiful, isn’t it?

I’m just trying to establish the truth out of the facts and rumors I do have. I don’t claim to know what statements, if any, you made a year before my service even started. All I can say is, multiple volunteers from your group attest to the same thing; that you didn’t plan on spending more than a year in service. I even acknowledged that it was a rumor that could be baseless. It was just another thing to add to the list that made this article frustrating for current volunteers.

I agree that no matter the outcome, anyone who steps on a plane and manages to scrounge up the courage to go to a foreign country with noble intentions deserves some praise. The problem is, I honestly don’t believe 2 months of training and 7 months of site service is enough to put clear, honest, and unbiased information out there in the world wide web that future volunteers could potentially stumble on and affect their decisions in applying for or accepting an invitation.

Like I said, I was surprised at how positive your article was. It just seems so misleading though. Two years of volunteer service isn’t exactly a long time when compared to other types of service (maybe military for example). If someone was discharged out of the army at year four of an eight year contract you could make the argument that they still experienced enough to get a valid opinion on it. That said, I think PCVs across the world generally come into their stride at about the one year mark. Projects start coming together, students start showing more motivation, committees are filled with new volunteers, and staff relationships become more profound. Straight to the point, I think flooding the internet with articles about a service that didn’t even reach the year mark is irresponsible.

I don’t know how hard you had it, and I do know some that some women have it incredibly rough. Someone in our group was sexually assaulted, forced to move Oblasts, and then insisted that she be moved back to her previous Oblast where she was happier.
no one would have faulted her for leaving early if that’s what she chose to do. She probably wouldn’t have written articles about her very short experience in country though.

Maybe its good you got out before a year. Maybe that’s the jaded asshole point.