US Peace Corps Turkey Group Memoirs

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The Online Journal & Network of ASPA’s
Section for Public Management Practice

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Public Administration

THE EXCHANGE PROGRAM EXPERIENCE

US Peace Corps-Turkey Group Memoir – Part 1
by Warren Master

OVERVIEW

For all contributors to this “group memoir,” it’s been more than 46 years since taking the first major step on our Peace Corps journey – traveling out to Portland, Oregon to attend PC training in summer 1965. Perusing the trainee brochure we were given upon arrival at Portland State College, all but eight of the 114 invitees were in their early- to mid- 20s; the group split exactly down the middle by gender (57 males, 57 females); and trainees were distributed across 33 states and selected broadly from all regions of the country (30 from the east, 39 from the mid- west, 14 from the south, and 30 from the west). One lone outlier joined us from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, presumably because his dad was working for Aramco in Ras Tanura. So, while we were a diverse group in terms of gender, regional geography, college majors and even age (with five trainees ranging from 52 to 70), our numbers included only two African- Americans and nary a single Asian- , Hispanic- or Native American. Another interesting statistic is that roughly 20 percent of our prospective PCVs arrived at training as married couples. One of the 12 pairs included Liz Kligerman and her husband Dr. Marty Kligerman – a good sport who, assisted by Liz, would often serve as a pin cushion teaching us how to give shots and was attending training as a prospective PC Turkey staff member.

So what was this project that would increase the Peace Corps’ presence in Turkey by more than 20 percent designed to do? Well, as the official training prospectus for Turkey- 12 noted: “The Government of Turkey has requested that the Peace Corps send volunteers with skills in health, teaching, social work and urban community development to work at the Hacettepe Medical Center and in the slums of Ankara.” In this respect, Dr. Kligerman expected to serve in Turkey as a liaison between the medical center and its work in the squatter settlements ( gecekondu ) in and around Ankara, Turkey’s capital city.

This group memoir of the twelfth cohort of volunteers to be sent over to Turkey (aka Turkey- 12) was inspired by the 50th anniversary of the US Peace Corps, which was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Composed by a widely- dispersed, loosely- affiliated network of returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) who became re- acquainted more than 46 years after setting out on their 2- year journey in summer 1965, it offers an intimate glimpse into what was to become for most of us a game- changing, cultural (and even psychological) awakening and a remarkable influence on the years that followed. Actually, there are two stories here. One is the many personal memoirs (some contributed by couples) that share truly singular experiences – arriving at training in Portland, Oregon from all across the States, from urban and rural communities, with different educational exposures, ranging in age from 19 to 70 – and being assigned to sites from one end of Turkey to the other. The second offers a group perspective – the story of how we bonded in training and came to share so many common experiences, not only in Turkey but in the decades that followed our return to the States in 1967.

Clearly, this sojourn, this window of shared time left its stamp on all of us. The imprint is apparent in the RPCV’s colorful narratives and in the scores of images that many of the amateur photographers among us contributed that help put a face on both their own personal memoirs and collectively paint a picture of what it was like to have lived this story. That said, the authors (and editor) have tried not to pull many punches. While we have accentuated the positive – which is mainly the taste that lingers after more than four decades – we have also stoked memories of the less exhilarating aspects of life as PCVs, albeit passed along sans vitriol, snarkiness or meanness of spirit (we hope). The memoir consists of:

1. an editor's preface which sets the stage and shares a personal note on how this ensemble effort came about and, miraculously, managed to cross the finish line with reasonable coherence;

2. an introduction that captures the demographics of T- 12, gives an in- depth feel for the rigorous, yet fun- filled 4- month training we received and outlines some of the problems that became apparent in the program’s design and implementation – even before volunteers from this cohort arrived in Turkey to report to their respective assignments;

3. separate personal memoirs contributed by roughly a third of the group that made it through training (some of whom chose to re- train for a PC assignment in another country or left Turkey early after their assignment either crumbled or failed to materialize);

4. a retrospective, which recaps our work and international living experiences against the program’s formal goals and highlights PCV travel both throughout Turkey as well as within the region (which due to Peace Corps policy at the time, precluded us from traveling to Greece or any other European country that would likely make for awkward explaining back in Washington DC.); And

5. an epilogue that explores how the Peace Corps experience influenced our lives over the ensuing 45 years – a self- discovery that may not have been fully revealed had it not been for the reunion weekend we spent together in late September 2011.

Part 1 includes items 1-3; Part 2 will include items 4-5 and is expected to be completed by April 1 – April Fools Day

Warren Master, Editor

* This online content includes both original material submitted for publication directly to ASPA's Section on Certified Public Management and/or Good Governance Worldwide web site as well as items published/posted earlier by other good governance affiliates and sources (e.g., The Public Manager, Public Administration Review, university presses, etc.). For non-original works, attribution is provided as part of the annotated link - including author's name and source (e.g., Improving Educational Accountability in Colorado, Richard Wenning and Damian Betebenner, The Public Manager- Winter 2010, v. 39:4).