Friday, March 4. I966 SCARLET AND BLACK Page Five Grime/lion Describes Peace [0 5 Experiences ED. NOTE: This year ls the Peace Corps’ iiith anniversary and tomorrow the Peace Corps place- ‘ment exam will be administered on Campus. Henly Wilhelm, a sophomore and co-editor of the Cyclone, was a volunteer. He joined the Peace Corps arter grad- uating from high school and served a year in Bolivia belore he was injured in a jeep accident. Below ‘is an interview between Wilhelm and John Wolf about Wilhelm’s year in the Peace Corps. By JOHN WOLF Q: Where did you work and what was your job there? A: I worked on a colonization project (financed by the us. Agen< cy for international Development) that resettled tin miners and others from the highlands of Bolivia to previously uninhabited areas which are potentially very productive ag- riculturaily. This new area was lo- cated in the jungles in the eastern foothills ot the Andes, My job was that of a “Community developer," which is the Peace Corps’ term for a person who goes into a com- munity, learns to understand it, . and then tries to work with the people in any way that he thinks may beneiit them. This may be helping build roads — as We did — teaching in schools, helping the people organize politically, and in some Cases, even working in coach- ing or recreation programs. al~ though there is some doubt about how much real good this type of activity does. Q: Exactly what did this en- tail for you? n: i was sent there to help in- .stall electrical systems in the vil- lages, since i had had several sum- merS’ experience in that line, But upon arriving, it was quickly ap- parent that there was not going to be electricity in this area for years to come, This just as well because they would prob- . ably have had very little use ior it anyway. So alter a frustrating month of trying to figure out what to do, I turned my attention to helping people earn more money from their Crops. This included various activities such as intro- ducing tomatoes as a cash crop, setting up a tomato-box coopera- tive, and experimenting with var- SPECIAL THONG _ SANDALS FROM INDIA of wonderfully wearing water buffalo $4.98 lilo: 5-l3, for men and women TOWN and COUNTRY [Your "round the world" chop) E. 4th Ava—inst East of Sr. Francis Hospital Open 9:30-5:30. Friday; to 1 ious tomato varieties to find which kinds were best for that region, and helping build roads. Q: What did the Bolivians think of you and your fellow workers? A: Most of them had previously had little if any Contact with Amer- icans. Generally, though, they did have some ideas about them. such as “All Americans are rich” (which they are, relatively speak. ing), “President Kennedy and Jackie are good people." and "America has racial problems." Initially the villagers were some what aloof from us. However, they soon got used to us and we to them. _ For the most part they were sim- 2 ply a very nice people, perhaps a bit more honest and straightforr Iagers' help we built about eight miles of much-needed road. The first road was named John F. Ken- nedy Avenue by the villagers. The villagers threw uS a huge, drunken brawl when the first road was fin- ished, and the chief of one of the villages offered his Wife to one of the volunteers ior the night. He didn't accept — it Wouldn’t have been the strategic thing to do. Q: Some people say the Peace Corps is just a tool for bettering the U.S. image abroad. How do you react to this? A: I’d say in many cases that's ward than most Americans. Most ‘ , of the minor Bolivian government officials that we worked with were, however, often not so nice, We Vole unteers had numerous disagree- ments with them, and one volun- teer, who, by the way, is now Peace Corps administrator in Ed Iivia, got in such a heated argu- ment with his village government chief that the government man said he would quit if the volunteer didn't leave. He didn’t leave, and the man quit. The volunteer was then appointed village chief. Q: What were some other in- teresting incidents? A: wheu the iarmers began growing more tomatoes than they could carry out on their backs, it became apparent that they needed some roads built. Therefore, an- other volunteer and I set out try- ing to get a bulldozer. We asked U.S.-A.T.D. in LaPaz for the loan ” of a bulldozer, but they weren‘t very hot on the idea or on us. one of the AID. men later Said that his group was angry that the Peace Corps was getting all the publicity from the press while his group was having a hard time getting money irom Congress for what he considered more important work. About a month later, still with- out a bulldozer, I got mad and sent a letter to Sargent Shriver asking for help. However. the letter never got out of Bolivia because our proj- ect administrator intercepted it. He said it didn’t reflect well on the group. We had a lot of trouble with him; however, he was eventually "cal d to Washington for consul- tation" and never seen again. Meanwhile. the American am- oassador heard about our plight and instructed U.S.-A.I.D. to lend us a bulldozer. We didn't know how to operate it other than how to make it go in a straight line, out we soon learned. With the vil- ONE oF THE PROJECTS that Henry Wilhelm worked on as a Peace Car 3 volunteer was growing and marketing iis't shown discussing the construction of the shipping boxes for those tomatoes. Tomatoes. Here a valid statement. However, to like to emphasize that a volunteer is almost always free to assert himself in any way that he feels is tnlly most beneficial to the people he iS working with. A lot of the Peace Corps administrative per— sonnel that I knew were in'fact quite concerned about furthering the 11.8. image. For example, one volunteer who worked in Bolivia spent most of his time going from village to village with a portable movie projection outfit showing Bfi'ddhga‘l‘ 64TH ANNIVERSARY! Men’s Penn-Pres! Slacks Big Boy Sizes 29 to 36 . All Easy Core Slacks 3-99 Women’s Penn-Pres! Slaclis this Week Only! Sixes a to 18. Asst. Colors. 2 7.09 films for entertainment. These films, more often than not, were dubbed-in American illms showing the better aspects of Us. life, or at least the wealthier aspects. Q: What did you think of the training program for the Peace Corps? A: For my Bolivian group, the training program was probably less a training program than it was a selection process. Eventual- ly, we lost 40 per cent of our group, mainly ior psychological reasons, They didn't try to teach us any specific skill; instead most «out of the time was spent learning Spanish and some general things about Bolivia, the 11.5., and health problems we would encounter in Bolivia. These health hazards in- clude dysentery, snakebites, ven- ereal disease, and insect-home diseases — including Chagas dis- ease, which is contracted from beatles biting the victim on the lip while asleep causing sudden death from heart paralysis some years later. We also had several anthro ins structors, who ”told us about Bo- livian people." They were so con— cerned with the oddities of the cul- ture, social sou-systems, history oi. the people that even the people didn’t know about, and the like, that we ended up with a very dis- l torted picture that the Bolivian people were really different from us; they weren‘t. These days. the Peace Corps is putting less stress on anthropological training. This is not to say that a detailed know- ledge of the culture is not helpful, only that things must be kept in proper perspective. Q: What did you like about the Peace Corps? Al For a young person, the Peace Corps is probably an unpar— alleled opportunity to be out on your own in an oft-times difficult situation. it is a chance to really apply yourseli in a practical way, dealing with practical problems and working with real people in a real world. For someone who has been in a college such as Grinnell, it may at first be somewhat of a _ shock to be totally responsible for * yourselt and what you do, and ior the people with whom you work: much may he at stake. Several years from now, when a Bolivian is carrying tomatoes to market on the road from his Vil- loge, he may not remember much about you or the US, but his fam- ily will be better fed because you were there, and you will probably be better off, too. Headquarters For: ' View his or u...- BLOUSES - SKIRTS SWEATERS - DRESSESV M11 , APPAR EL GRINNELL GLASSES Made and Repaired in Our Laboratory Contact Lenses Cases and Solutions Eyes Examined Phone 235-3779 E. J.Jensen, O.D. OPTOMETRIST Across from Post Office Closed riturs PM and Sat. . TASTY PASTRY for all p sorts of