Sunday December 28th, 2003
Have I written about our Peace Corps volunteer down the road? I think he joined the Peace Corps and shipped over with some very distinct notions of going to show these people the right way to do things. I think he was under the impression that no one had properly explained the situation to the locals, and once they understood the situation things would straighten right out. I think he is far braver than I. He speaks little french, and has never left the US before. He is also my age, or a bit older, so this isn’t a starry eyed youth. He is working, part time in health, and part time for the John’s Hopkins project. Carey is the first white person to live in N’goyla. Carey has yet to take his shoes off and have his feet touch African soil. Carey asks lots and lots of questions, because he thinks there is ‘an answer’ to Africa. Carey would be shocked and saddened to find out that I eat bushmeat. We had a long discussion about the finer points of Star Trek. Carey, for lack of a better term, and I say this with affection, is a queen. He is Carey the Jungle Queen, and I think he would find that funny. Carey is the progeny of a southern, deeply religious (well, the american version of religious) and conservative familly. He has a strong and distinct personality, that I’m sure that helped him survive growing up. He has many of the same traits as conservative religious folks I’ve met (fixed view of the world, moral absolutism, etc) except his are on the liberal side. I’ve actually never really met someone who followed a liberal agenda the same way that the conservatives follow theirs. Well, he is either going to change, or leave. Both of those worldviews are equally anacronistic, simplistic, and useless here. I’m not sure if I am doing him justice. I like Carey, but that might be because I like people with strong personalities. I mean, that he even came is testemony to his spirit, that he is throwing himself into this full on is brave… and a bit suicidal. Anyway, Carey stopped by again today, and has been by a few times. I haven’t really wanted to talk about him much, as homosexuality is a very big taboo here, and I’m not sure what Peace Corps policy; and I don’t want to get him in trouble, even by accident.