PC in a Nutshell

I just had an extremely honest conversation with my host family, in light of the fact that apparently people in my community don’t have a clear understanding of what my role here is as a Peace Corps Volunteer for these 2 years. Many volunteers say that they feel that people in their town see them as being there exclusively to find funding for projects. Luckily, I haven’t felt that pressure, I think as a result of my way of integrating into the community— from the beginning, I’ve explained that I am here to help in community development, but haven’t necessarily mentioned the idea of fundraising, though it is certainly coming into play as things progress. This is, in theory, the natural sequence of events. It is for this reason (among many others!) that it is so necessary to be here for the 2 years: to make at least a dent in the organizational development of the existing organizations to then work on fundraising of projects deemed necessary as a result of the very same organizational development— something one would not be able to do in a few weeks, or even a few months.

The point is that I really need to make a more concerted effort to explain to people the 3 goals of the rural community development program (organizational development, economic opportunities, and education). However, there is another aspect of Peace Corps as an institution which led to the most interesting part of the conversation. A lot of times with Peace Corps, I think that volunteers loose sight of the 3 founding principles of the organization. While one of the goals is to “help people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women” (ie the concepts listed above), the other 2 goals have nothing to do with community development:
-help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served (aka my community)
-help promote a better understanding of other peoples (aka Ticos) on the part of Americans (aka my family and friends).
(fyi: these goals come directly from the Peace Corps handbook)

So, really Peace Corps is about this exchange and mutual understanding of cultures. Doing Peace Corps in Costa Rica, a country that sees a disproportionate number of Americans as compared to other Peace Corps countries due to the tourism industry, creates an interesting dynamic when it comes to these other goals. Ticos have a lot of interaction with “gringos” (I’ll call Americans gringos from here on out because that’s how they refer to us here. I personally don’t take offense to the term—something people are constantly asking me—because I know they aren’t using it in an offensive manner at least when referring to me, although I imagine that in other situations, that may not be the case). These interactions lead to generalizations and stereotyped that all gringos are extremely wealthy and spend their money on anything (the other day my host brother was joking around trying to convince me to buy “authentic” Costa Rican products of random things lying around the house, because supposedly all gringos will by anything if it’s “made in Costa Rica”). Gringos also exclusively eat hamburgers and junk food all the time. Also, from all the backpackers there’s the idea that gringos don’t bathe very often and live in sandals.


So my host mom, host dad and I are having this conversation and I said that this idea of breaking stereotypes is a part of the Peace Corps experience and that now people in my town at least know that all gringos aren’t blonde hair and blue eyes and my host mom says, “Yea but Tes, I wouldn’t call you gringa!” And I said, “Why not? I was born in the US, my parents were born in the US, my grandparents were born in the US.” And she says, “Yes, but you have different habits then most gringos—you don’t eat hamburgers and junk food, you have good morals and values”--- basically alluding to the fact that I am somehow an exception to the rule and that, in reality, most gringos are like those in the movies and those that they see here in CR (who, I may add, are on vacation and therefore perhaps the fact that they are wearing sandals and not bathing as often as usual, doesn’t mean that they are like that in the US!). I could not believe that my own host mom who obviously knows me extremely well still believes that I am not “gringa” because I do not adhere to the stereotypes. However it was simultaneously fascinating to realize that these stereotypes are truly ingrained into the culture here.

To say the least, it was an extremely telling conversation that revealed the need to have these conversations more often, in addition to the importance of this aspect of the Peace Corps experience, perhaps even more so in Costa Rica than in other parts of the world. If there is something that this experience has taught me (among so many other things, of course) it is the harm in making generalizations about groups of people. It always cracks me up when people make generalizations about people in the US because I then explain to that person: how can you say that all Americans are alike in any given way when we are however many million people living in a country that is varied in every possible way, minus language (and even that is disputable!). And while these stereotypes are more or less harmless, the concept of generalizing and making stereotypes about any group, whether it be the people of a country, religion, etc. can become dangerous and is the root of many of the problems facing us on a global level.

Another aspect of the conversation was me telling my host family how lucky I feel to get to experience a part of Costa Rica that most tourists never get to experience, being a part of an “authentic” rural town for 2 years. I told them that was a huge part of my motivation in joining Peace Corps, to be able to really become a part of a community outside of the US and I feel that I have been able to do that here. In turn, I am then able to impart what I’m learning about life here to people in the states. It is satisfying to know that my blog has been a wonderful way to fulfill this goal--- I am able to tell you (my readers) about my experiences so that you can learn more about Tico culture, or at least my perception of it. I appreciate you all for reading about my experiences and for helping, in turn, to expand the conceptions of Costa Rica that you may have, which are hopefully changing for the better as a result!

Ok, on that note, I’m off to bed as it’s 9:30pm right now, ya tarde!
Buenas noches!
Tesa