The Peace Corps bureaucrats have every incentive to minimize the danger.
The Peace Corps bureaucrats have every incentive to minimize the danger.
Neighbor is a female college grad. Did peace corp over in Cameroon and lived rural. She was constantly robbed, made fun of and had stuff thrown at her. She would leave her place during the day and be ransacked. Don't bring valuables if I'm her. I personally would strongly advise against. Neighbor was supposed to be there for a couple years, ended up only lasting 3 weeks
Why would you send your daughter to a country where a genocide is going on? If she has the wrong skin color (not black), she will be targeted.
RPCV2018 wrote:
Hi, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa and was recently evacuated from there. The program is honestly atrocious. While the safety and security personnel try their best, volunteers continue to be placed in unsafe areas with organizations that are barely functioning and are forced to take minibus taxis to Park station, Johannesburg. Much of the crime is due to Peace Corps absurd public transit policies that do not match the realities of living in south Africa.
None of my friends from South Africa had been victimized as many times as PCVs were. People in my Peace Corps group were robbed at gun and knife point multiple times, some were shot at and stabbed, several rapes, and many have been assaulted. I would not recommend the program to anyone, the staff are mostly atrocouius and do not care about the safety of volunteers or productivity. Many of the volunteers who claim they are having a great time are in deep denial.
Also, Peace Corps left all the volunteers in the North West province this year when it became ungovernable and didnt even know where most of their sites were. PCVs had to find their own ways out, luckily none were killed.
Your daughter will most likely be going to KwaZulu Natal if she is leaving in January.
If you can, try to encourage her to postpone and apply for Botswana or Namibia. I've heard they are much better programs. Peace corps south Africa is sadly notorious for being the bottom of the barrel.
She is scheduled to leave in January.
I am hoping to go to dinner with her this week to talk about this. Thanks for your input.
She'll be fine. Her chances of being hurt are less than that of a black man who walks around with a legally registered gun in an Alabama shopping mall.
I wouldn't let my daughters anywhere near South Africa. The rape statistics there are extremely unsettling.
No problem! Happy to answer any more questions if you have any. A bunch of my friends were evacuated from South Africa around the same time as me so it was a bit turbulent as we were all leaving.
Also, strongly consider that your daughter will be going at the height of canvassing for the upcoming 2019 general elections. While the rural areas are normally safe, a lot of the political canvassing occurs there, particularly in the rural KZN area. Some of my friends were placed in contentious ANC/Inkatha faction areas and violent uprisings occurred once or twice a year. There was never a great safety plan in place for any of my friends who got caught up in these. Some of my other friends were placed in very contentious rural areas where local ANC councilors are frequently assassinated for attempting to expose corruption.
I really do want to stress that these safety incidents were NOT because of being in South Africa (yes, it is obviously a dangerous country, but yes there are ways to minimize danger). Safety incidents were directly because of Peace Corps policies.
Some of the rural sites are very safe, but it's complete chance where you end up. And even for the people at safe sites, the perils are that we have to take long-distance public minibus taxis from our rural sites, to Johannesburg (near Hillbrow, JHB CBD) and then to Pretoria where the Peace Corps office is. Not only are these taxis unroadworthy and dangerous (the taxi routes are lucrative, so there were frequent gun battles over the long distance JHB routes), but it was also incredibly dangerous walking around downtown JHB trying to connect transit to get to training events for Peace Corps.
If they were only willing to offer safe transport alternatives, the program could be so much better. But they aren't interested in improvements, it's been a disaster for years. Some of the old blogs and reports from volunteers even 10 years are horrifying - same staff, same problems, same lack of accountability. It's really a shame - again, I don't regret my time and I made a lot of great friends and enjoyed living in such a beautiful country - I just wish I had done so with a different program.
Yay! White saviors!
RPCV2018 wrote:
, the perils are that we have to take long-distgance public minibus taxis from our rural sites, to Johannesburg (near Hillbrow, JHB CBD) and then to Pretoria where the Peace Corps office is. Not only are these taxis unroadworthy and dangerous (the taxi routes are lucrative, so there were frequent gun battles over the long distance JHB routes), but it was also incredibly dangerous walking around downtown JHB trying to connect transit to get to training events for Peace Corps.
If they were only willing to offer safe transport alternatives, the program could be so much better.
Could the dad give the daughter like $500 so she could just rent a private car or taxi? Or would that make her more of a target?
Why not just avoid the minibuses?
Peace Corps in general isn't all it's cracked up to be. And it's a 27month assignment. 3 months of integration/training, then 22months or so of living/working, then kind of a 2month (give or take) phase out. After one year you get some 'off' time to travel local, and you can come 'home' for major emergencies (family problems, death, major sickness or surgery, etc.) I did a stint in central Africa. It wasn't 'bad' (most native citizens were helpful; more modern than you'd think) but it wasn't great. So I'd say to your daughter, 'Don't believe all the hype about it. It's still work.' They also have a lot of those 'diversity' training sessions. Come to think of it, I had to sit through several hours of 'diversity/inclusion' training for weeks. There was almost as much of that as actual hands on sessions about how to 'help' the locals. Sheesh. Government has no sense of priority sometimes.
I'd say for safety issues, traveling via small car/bus/truck in Africa is crazy and more likely where serious problems could arise; heck, it's almost an adrenaline rush. As far as person on person crime goes, yes, obviously more females in Peace Corps have to worry as they are seen as a potentially 'weaker' victim. It wouldn't hurt for Peace Corps to actually hold basic self-defense scenario training, mainly in avoidance techniques...but the best advice I'd give your daughter would be to always be on hyper awareness mode and never carry any more money on her than she actually needs for that day. If something doesn't look right, feel right, etc, then stay away and seek safety in crowds. More difficult when out in the 'bush', but needed. Most local citizens that are hosting or are affiliated will try to help because it is a sense of shame in most African cultures not to be overly-hospitable, especially to the perceived 'rich Americans'. They are more 'community' and 'tribal' based, than individual based and thus look upon you as a sort of temporary family member. I just hope Peace Corps didn't stick her into some program she knows nothing about. That happens a lot because like all government agencies they have to justify their budget every year by recruiting willing young skulls of mush to 'make a difference' and 'see the world' without really taking the time to properly place people where they would make the biggest impact.
Just tell her not to tweet about getting or not getting AIDS...
As someone who just spent a year in South Africa (and also a solo female), she will be fine. Before leaving, I was freaked out because of all of the crazy stuff I was hearing from family members or viewing on the internet. I arrived there on high alert but, over the course of say, a month, quickly realized I was perfectly fine. I never felt threatened and the locals are so eager to help! I can't stress enough how kind everyone is. The crime statistics appear high because the townships near the major cities are dangerous, but they are very easily avoidable. Just be smart and nice and you'll be fine. I can't wait to go back, honestly.
rainbownation wrote:
As someone who just spent a year in South Africa (and also a solo female), she will be fine. Before leaving, I was freaked out because of all of the crazy stuff I was hearing from family members or viewing on the internet. I arrived there on high alert but, over the course of say, a month, quickly realized I was perfectly fine. I never felt threatened and the locals are so eager to help! I can't stress enough how kind everyone is. The crime statistics appear high because the townships near the major cities are dangerous, but they are very easily avoidable. Just be smart and nice and you'll be fine. I can't wait to go back, honestly.
But there are black men there!
Midwest Dad wrote:
My daughter has accepted a position in the Peace Corp and is being sent to South Africa. She does not know much about where she is going, only that it will be rural.
She spent almost her entire jr year in college at the University of Cape Town and spent about 3 months in Uganda during the summer last year.
My family is from south Africa, though most emigrated out in the 1960s.
I am not excited about this assignment given the very high crime rate as well as country that seems to be in a state of chaos.
Any thoughts on the Peace Corp or safety in SA?
Hey man, RPCV Uganda 2015-17 here. There are all kinds of resources you should be able to find to help get a better perspective of what your daughter is getting into. Lots of Facebook groups (for prospective PCVs and other for their friends/family), Peace Corps subreddit, etc. Definitely listen to the ZA Peace Corps person that posted, there's no substitute for experience.
ZA has some seriously high crime and unemployment rates. During my training a few years ago, I remember it being listed as having the highest crime rate among PC countries. Although Uganda was also top (bottom?) three or five. I myself was mugged and held at knifepoint during my time there. Part of that was my own fault, for not taking some of the security advice that we were given as seriously as I should have. Security is obviously a paramount issue and something that a lot of time is spent on during training -- how to avoid trouble, deescalate situations, plan escape routes, countrywide evacuations if necessary, etc.
If she's in a rural area, the crime rates and concerns will likely be a lot lower than if she was in a place like Cape Town or Johannesburg. I had a rural placement and never had any problems at home outside of some petty theft (clothes and gardening tools). The incident I mentioned occurred in Kampala, the capital and largest city. Full disclosure, I did have several friends who were attacked either in their own homes or while traveling. Two were burglarized, stabbed and had to be sent via helicopter to ZA and ultimately back to the US for treatment.
Mostly unrelated, but a woman who began her Peace Corps service one year after me went to Cape Town for a gall bladder surgery and died from complications post-surgery.
I realize this doesn't paint a super rosy picture, but if she is vigilant and smart, crime can be a relatively small concern during PC service. She's much more likely to be driven crazy by the amount of sexual harassment (and assault) that plagues female PCVs. I would also say disease (dysentary, giardia, schistosomiasis, malaria if it's in ZA) is also a much bigger concern for many PCVs.
Overall, despite all of the issues I and people in my cohort faced there, I still strongly recommend PC as a program overall. But as others have already said, find as many RPCVs from ZA as you can and pick their brains for the good, bad, and ugly. If anyone is telling you only good or bad things, they're probably not being honest. There is a lot of all three when doing international development of any kind.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Hope this helps!
Midwest Dad wrote:
My daughter has accepted a position in the Peace Corp and is being sent to South Africa. She does not know much about where she is going, only that it will be rural.
She spent almost her entire jr year in college at the University of Cape Town and spent about 3 months in Uganda during the summer last year.
My family is from south Africa, though most emigrated out in the 1960s.
I am not excited about this assignment given the very high crime rate as well as country that seems to be in a state of chaos.
Any thoughts on the Peace Corp or safety in SA?
This is probably the softest possible Peace Corps deployment.
Relax, idiot.
Karl Hungus wrote:
Midwest Dad wrote:
Any thoughts on the Peace Corp or safety in SA?
If she's pretty and blonde, then you're screwed. Does she know how to fight?
Pics?
Also from MW wrote:
Also from a MW city was my high school GF who ran well in college. We broke up before frosh year in college.
She went to South Africa her soph year (study abroad) and got pregnant (bbc). At this point I am comfortable saying she was a good girl but fell in love while abroad. Who can blame her? It was all situational.
Had a black baby and completely abandoned it at birth due to her parents. Pressure. Kept hush hush. Now she is remarried and nobody knows.
Your high school girlfriend and her family sound like truly revolting people.
Is the PC still around? WTF?
Amazing Duh wrote:
It’s amazing what guilt, college professors and a stupidity can convince a person to say in 2018.
It’s amazing what never having left the Midwest for any significant amount of time will make a person believe in 2018.
black person wrote:
Also from MW wrote:
Also from a MW city was my high school GF who ran well in college. We broke up before frosh year in college.
She went to South Africa her soph year (study abroad) and got pregnant (bbc). At this point I am comfortable saying she was a good girl but fell in love while abroad. Who can blame her? It was all situational.
Had a black baby and completely abandoned it at birth due to her parents. Pressure. Kept hush hush. Now she is remarried and nobody knows.
Your high school girlfriend and her family sound like truly revolting people.
This is why many black men are leary of Me Too Movement. Black men in US know many white women have been liars for 400 years. When black men have been lynched, usually it was based on statements made by a white woman. See Emmett Till.