The Great Debate

     What is community development? What is the goal of a Peace Corps Volunteer? What are we supposed to be doing here after all?
     This is something that we discuss frequently in our PCV circles. Officially, the PC would respond by saying that we have 3 goals:

• Helping people in interested countries to meet their need for trained men and women.
• Helping to promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
• Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

     But what does that all mean? How does that play out practically? Okay, admittedly, goals 2 and 3 are a little easier to define than goal 1. So for goal 1, what exactly are those trained men and women supposed to do?  And how the heck do you make it -the million dollar word- sustainable? What really is development?       For me as complicated as it can be, it's also very simple... I'm doing what I can to become a community member just like I would be back home, to actively share what I can, no matter how large or small that may seem. Sometimes I feel that as PCVs, we get caught up in the “Big Project syndrome”. We want to make the “Big Impact”. We want to solve the waste management issue, or bring in piped water for the first time, or eradicate illiteracy. So we come in, full throttle ready to use our skills.
     But why did I join the PC? Was it to make that Big Impact? Was it to be someone's hero? To inflate my ego? Or did I join the PC simply because it was the right thing to do? Because even if I'm not able to “make a difference” it's worth my best shot anyway. Plus, even if I don't have anything to offer them, surely the people here have loads to teach me. And that should be life everywhere, right? People living together, sharing, and learning from one another?
      Days before leaving the States, I had a conversation with my current PC supervisor in which she asked me what I hoped to accomplish while serving in Jamaica. I told her that for me, I just want to live and operate in a community (preferably a small one :)) in such a way that the community starts to see me as one of them. I hope to be happy with simply being part of a community -a positive and active part-, but just a part nonetheless. So my goal, isn't to eradicate illiteracy, or solve the waste management issue, or bring in piped water for the first time -surely all noble feats. But rather, my hope is that when there's a party in town, people expect to see us there, or that when they have leftover vegetables on their farm, they send them our way, or they don't look at us funny when we join the local shop debate on who should win Digicel Rising Stars this year, because they assume we've been watching it too.
     Besides, PCVs all across the world can tell of development projects that turned out to be a complete waste of energy and resources, many of which were even done by other PCVs. They weren't sustainable; natural disasters took a toll; the people who did care, left, etc. So then what really matters anyway?
Ann, one of our favorite PC staff, has been working with PCJ for a number of years. She once told us that the most sustainable thing she ever saw done was when an adult police officer wanted to do a safety lesson with Jamaican PCVs all because of the impact a former PCV had on him as a child. Which would lead me to argue that the most sustainable thing we'll ever do here has nothing to do with what we build, create, or bring in. It's the relationships we make.
     So I don't want to get caught up in this Big Project Syndrome. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't view these two years as simply a vacation, if that's what you're thinking. Nor do I have any problems whatsoever with having real goals. And if while we're here, some of those Big Projects happen to fall into place, well so be it. We can feel great about that too. I just want to be perfectly content if, even despite my best efforts, the only person who has changed as a result of my Peace Corps service is me.