Episode 6: The Peace Corps (Madagascar)- Beyond Good Intentions Series
Summary
TLDRThe script follows a journey to Madagascar to explore the impact of the US Peace Corps, a renowned development initiative. It questions the skills volunteers bring to empower communities and documents the experience of two volunteers, Sara and Nate, who assist a village in expanding its vanilla export market. Despite language barriers and initial apprehensions, their project significantly boosts farmers' profits. However, the narrative also reveals that such success stories are rare, with many volunteers feeling their impact is limited. The discussion invites reflection on the effectiveness of international aid and the Peace Corps' role in it.
Takeaways
- 🌍 The narrator is in Madagascar to explore the impact of the US Peace Corps, a well-known development initiative.
- 🦄 The Peace Corps volunteers aim to empower local communities by providing them with skills to improve their lives.
- 🤔 The narrator questions the specific skills volunteers have to empower African villagers and is open to discovering the Peace Corps' role.
- 📦 The narrator joins Sara and Nate, two volunteers involved in a vanilla export project, requiring a challenging three-day journey.
- 🏞 The remoteness of the village and the chance placement process highlight the dedication of volunteers to work in diverse communities.
- 🌿 Despite not having expertise in agriculture or international marketing, the volunteers assist the community in exploring new vanilla markets.
- 📈 Sara and Nate's project was successful, increasing farmers' profits by 250% and improving their families' lives.
- 🔄 A new Peace Corps couple is moving to the village to continue the work, indicating a接力 of volunteers maintaining continuity in projects.
- 🗣️ The narrator acknowledges the language and cultural barriers but believes in the potential for a lasting impact despite these challenges.
- 📉 The success of Sara and Nate seems to be an exception, with many volunteers feeling their impact is limited.
- 🤝 The narrator reflects on the importance of relationships and the Peace Corps' potential contribution, even as an outsider.
- 🔍 The script invites further discussion on the effectiveness of the Peace Corps and President Obama's plan to double its size.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the narrator's journey to Madagascar?
-The narrator is in Madagascar to investigate the impact of the US Peace Corps, a well-known development initiative, and to understand what skills Peace Corps volunteers have that enable them to empower African villagers and improve their lives.
What is the specific project that the narrator joins with Sara and Nate for?
-The narrator joins Sara and Nate, who are Peace Corps volunteers, for a vanilla export project that they have been working on in their village.
What challenges did Sara and Nate face when they first arrived in the village?
-Sara and Nate faced challenges such as not knowing the local language, having no prior knowledge about Madagascar, vanilla cultivation, or international marketing, and having no business background related to the project they were assigned to.
How did the community in the village initially approach Sara and Nate about the vanilla markets?
-The community was persistent in their desire to have Sara and Nate help them uncover new vanilla markets, despite the volunteers' lack of expertise in the field.
What was the role of the new Peace Corps couple who moved to the village?
-The new Peace Corps couple moved to the village to replace Sara and Nate, who were finishing their two-year placement, ensuring continuity in the development work initiated by the previous volunteers.
What was the narrator's initial reaction to the idea of working with vanilla markets?
-The narrator's first reaction was apprehension because they knew nothing about Madagascar, the local language, or vanilla, and had no experience with international marketing.
How did Sara and Nate contribute to the community despite their initial lack of expertise in vanilla cultivation and export?
-Sara and Nate conducted research to understand how exporting might work from Madagascar and what paperwork was needed, thus helping the community to tap into new markets for vanilla.
What was the impact of the vanilla export project on the farmers and their families?
-The vanilla export project was successful, increasing the farmers' profits by 250%, which led to noticeable improvements for both the farmers and their families.
What was the narrator's experience with language integration in the village?
-The narrator expected an easy transition to the language but found that it did not happen as expected. They acknowledged their status as an outsider and a non-native speaker, which limited their integration.
What were some common sentiments expressed by other Peace Corps volunteers the narrator spoke with?
-Some common sentiments expressed by other volunteers were feelings of limited impact, working hard without feeling like their efforts were valued or cared for by the local community.
What is the narrator's perspective on the Peace Corps and President Obama's plan to double its size?
-The narrator invites the audience to join the dialogue on the effectiveness of the Peace Corps and to consider the implications of President Obama's plan to double its size, suggesting that there may be a need for further discussion on the matter.
Outlines
🌍 Exploring the Impact of the US Peace Corps in Madagascar
The narrator embarks on a journey to Madagascar to investigate the effectiveness of the US Peace Corps, a well-known development initiative. They join Sara and Nate, two Peace Corps volunteers, on a challenging three-day journey to their village to learn about their vanilla export project. The volunteers, despite having no prior knowledge of vanilla or international marketing, work with the community to research and improve export opportunities. Their efforts result in a 250% increase in farmers' profits, leading to significant improvements for the villagers. However, the narrator also acknowledges that such success stories are rare, and many volunteers feel their impact is limited. The segment ends with a reflection on the Peace Corps' role and President Obama's plan to expand it.
🤔 Contemplating the Role and Impact of the Peace Corps
In this paragraph, the narrator delves into the personal experiences and sentiments of Peace Corps volunteers, highlighting a common feeling of limited impact despite hard work. The volunteers express a sense of apprehension and uncertainty about their contributions to the communities they serve. The narrator also discusses their own first-time experience outside of America, grappling with the challenges of being an outsider and the cultural barriers that come with it. The summary concludes with a prompt for viewers to join a dialogue about the Peace Corps and its potential expansion, as well as a teaser for the next part of the journey, which will explore the intersection of business and aid.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Madagascar
💡Peace Corps
💡Development Initiatives
💡Vanilla Export Project
💡Volunteers
💡International Aid
💡Empowerment
💡Skills
💡Remoteness
💡Integration
💡Profits
💡Impact
Highlights
The narrator embarks on a journey to Madagascar to investigate the impact of the US Peace Corps.
The goal is to understand what skills Peace Corps volunteers possess to empower African villagers.
The narrator joins Sara and Nate, two volunteers working on a vanilla export project in a remote village.
The three-day overland journey to the village is described as a challenging and insane experience.
Sara and Nate's placement in the village was chosen by chance, reflecting the Peace Corps' open approach.
Despite not having expertise in agriculture or international marketing, the volunteers assist in researching new vanilla markets.
The community's desire for help in the vanilla market is persistent despite the volunteers' initial apprehension.
A new Peace Corps couple arrives to replace Sara and Nate, demonstrating the ongoing commitment to the village.
The narrator reflects on the potential for learning and giving back to the community despite cultural and language barriers.
The narrator expresses concerns about the limited integration due to being a foreigner and not a native speaker.
Sara and Nate's vanilla export project is successful, increasing farmers' profits by 250%.
The success of the project led to noticeable improvements for the farmers and their families.
The narrator notes that such success stories are more the exception than the rule among Peace Corps volunteers.
The narrator discusses the challenges of feeling like an outsider and the impact of being white in the village.
There's a common sentiment among volunteers feeling like their work is not impactful or cared for by the community.
The narrator questions the effectiveness of the Peace Corps and President Obama's plan to double its size.
The journey continues to explore the combination of business and aid in international development.
Transcripts
my journey is flying by and I'm already
in Madagascar but I'm not here to hang
out with lemurs although they are very
cute instead I'm here to dig deeper into
one of America's most well known
development initiatives the US Peace
Corps but what impact our Peace Corps
volunteers really having I'm about to
find out come around the world with me
on an epic journey as we investigate
what really works in international aid
it's time to go beyond good intentions
we work with villagers to try to empower
them to give them skills to improve
their lives it had always been a bit
unclear to me exactly what skills Peace
Corps volunteers had that enabled them
to empower African villagers and improve
their lives but I'm here with an open
mind and it's time to discover what the
Peace Corps is all about I join up with
Sara and net two Peace Corps volunteers
who are bringing supplies back to their
village for a vanilla export project
they've been working on but getting
there will require a crazy three-day
overland journey through Madagascar here
we go
we made it my respect for Peace Corps
volunteers has gone up enormously after
surviving that insane journey given the
remoteness of their site I'm not
surprised to hear that Sarah and nad had
left the village placement process up to
total chance this is what do you want
what do you want good work to do and
that's the only requirement we have and
we landed in this wonderful community
and they started talking to us about
vanilla markets and my first reaction
when I heard that was a lot of
apprehension because I'd I don't know
anything about Madagascar we couldn't
speak the language I have never seen
vanilla in my life not even in the store
in the US that I've seen a vanilla bean
apparently they're sold a lot but I
never knew this coming here and I didn't
really know anything about international
marketing I mean it never worked an
important export I've not really got
that type of a business background
despite these challenges the community
was persistent in their desire to have
Sarah and nack help them uncover new
vanilla markets we couldn't tell them
how to better plant vanilla we couldn't
tell them how to do how to process
vanilla better they were already experts
but we could do research and we could
find out how exporting might work from
this country and what they might need in
the way of paperwork to do that a new
piece court couple has just moved to the
village to replace Sarah and NAT who'll
be finishing their two-year placement in
only a few days we found out that we're
coming to Madagascar which I didn't know
existed eight months before I showed up
pretty sheltered when it comes to
geographic regions of the world I'm
probably gonna learn so much more and
gets so much more from the people here
that I'm actually gonna give them and we
got here and I think the third day
we already knew how to make a
traditional better soccer dish you know
that's what am i teaching these people I
haven't taught them anything who knows
what I'll end up having to offer I
expected the easy transition to the
language which hasn't happened I'm
American I'm the white I will never be a
native speaker so my integration can
only go so far and so I shouldn't let
that hinder the influence that I can
make in this community I just hope that
we can make some sort of a lasting
impression mattandsarah succeeded at
that during their two years in this
village thanks to a lot of hard work and
a little bit of luck there vanilla
export project was a success by tapping
into US markets they managed to increase
the farmers profits by two hundred and
fifty percent which produced noticeable
improvements for both the farmers and
their families however as I talked to
more Peace Corps volunteers in
Madagascar it sounded like Sarah and
that success was more the exception than
the rule this is actually my first time
outside of America when I did go to my
sites there's a reluctance for
relationships when people were foreign
so I became more conscious of being an
outsider being white when I was in my
village before I came here I write about
other Peace Corps volunteers experiences
and something that I read kind of
commonly was people saying I don't feel
like I'm doing anything here I'm working
and working and working and I don't feel
like anyone really cares I felt like my
impact you know helping or affecting
people you know was sort of limited but
then again Here I am on yet another
ferry with Sarah net as they head home
from their two years of service feeling
like they've really contributed
so what do you think about the Peace
Corps and what do you think about
President Obama's plans to double its
size become part of the dialogue at the
on good intentions comm and join me next
week as I travel to the other side of
this beautiful country to learn more
about what happens when business and aid
combine
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