University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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volunteers: acceleration to service 25

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peace corps 24 There was a new breed on campus. They were a little older and consider- ably more serious than other students; they were Peace Corps Trainees. They came here from all parts of the nation for a 12 week training program. We only saw them at a distance: across the Haggett dining hall, to and from Health Sciences, or as a tight group carrying shovels under the 45th street viaduct. We met them in elevators, standing in lines, at social softball games, and in locker rooms. We found them to be real people and we envied their opportunity and their adventure. They lived a long day, from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night, six days a week. Sunday was for doing laundry and seeing what the non-training-pro- gram world looked like.

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a study of strain . . . The University sent Volunteers to Thai- land, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Bolivia. They worked in forestry, school construction, community development, marine fisheries, nursing, hospital ad- ministration, and college teaching. This was the third year the University had Volunteers. Handling as many as 73 trainees, aged from 19 to 61, the University ' s training team kept constant psychological tabs on each Volunteer. It was a study of strain. Just as their physical training program was designed to harden any muscle flab, their classes hardened and speci- fied their minds. The Trainees absorbed over 600 class hours in the 12 weeks they were here, nearly half of this time was spent learning the language of their host country. Forbidden, except in class, to speak their native tongue they learned to think and act in another. They took concentrated courses in their technical fields. For many this was a review, for some it was the first time they had ever handled a hypodermic, built a well, or created an economy. They laughed hard and asked each other ' s forgiveness. If was a hard course; they passed it. Thus, gaps in their knowledge were filled and amorphous thoughts were solidified to defensible positions. Their arms were punched full of vaccine to help them fight strange diseases and their heads were rammed full of the facts they would need to fairly repre- sent the United States to peons and aristocrats, to prevent them from being baited by errors and agitators. :s? I ' t -4