Page 58 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Road Kill

scams he can dream up with other Americans or Jolibanans of similar
disposition. People like him put me in an awkward position: I am
assisting the police of this country in law enforcement, but it would
jeopardize my Peace Corps position if I were to inform on my
fellow-volunteers.”
I frowned. “But you can notify our own authorities here, Harry
Hofbrauer or anyone in the embassy.”
“It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. Until and unless a PCV is caught
red-handed in a criminal activity, the Corps looks the other way. It is
difficult enough to keep people here under these conditions without
imposing a sort of ‘Big Brother is watching you’ atmosphere. For
most volunteers life here means being thrown on your own resources
at the same time all the social restraints you grew up with are
removed. It’s different for you in the Foreign Service: you are older
and better screened for your jobs; you have higher status and pay;
and you are not expected to “go native” in any significant way. For a
PCV, a large gray area exists between any pre-existing code of
behavior and maximum acculturation into the local scene. And some
respond by taking license, abusing the freedom to redefine their lives.
You can see all sorts of adaptations here, from total embrace of
Jolibanan culture to self-isolating rejection of anything foreign. The
Peace Corps tolerates this diversity in a way the Embassy or USAID
cannot. It has to, don’t you see? A volunteer can chuck the whole
thing and go home any time, starting or restarting his or her life in
the States with no harm done. If you did that, your career would be
finished.”
“But you people—you volunteers—are supposed to immerse
yourselves in the local culture in order to do your job. We will never
have the insight you do. We can’t speak the language, observe the
customs, establish relationships with people out in the villages. I can’t
look at what you’re doing and determine if it is appropriate in
another culture. That is for your own director and project managers
to decide.”
She shook her head sadly. “Remember,” she said, “it is in their
interest to maintain the body count. And the host country
government also permits considerable latitude of deviance—they
don’t know what’s acceptable in our culture, and there is often a
reticence to crack down on Americans, the source of a lot of hard

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