Why are there so many white people interested in somalis

[Grant]

The initial invitation was between governments

However, you claimed you were personally invited.

You are putting a rather tighter spin on things than you allow yourself in your polls.

Ok, the Volunteers were invited by the Somali government. I was a Volunteer. I was personally invited by the Peace Corps, at the request of the Somali Government. The Somali Government wanted an English teacher. They didn't know me personally from Adam.

[Anab]

The initial invitation was between governments

However, you claimed you were personally invited.

You are putting a rather tighter spin on things than you allow yourself in your polls.

Ok, the Volunteers were invited by the Somali government. I was a Volunteer. I was personally invited by the Peace Corps, at the request of the Somali Government. The Somali Government wanted an English teacher. They didn't know me personally from Adam.

Grant

I find it hard to believe u r white. U dont carry that aloofness that white people seem to posses. Maybe because u were exposed to africa or spent time among somalis- but u strike me as a gaaljecl qabil rather than a gaal.

[Grant]

Basra,

I have the unfortunate disability of knowing first-hand that Somalis are human beings. There are few others today who can say that.

[Anab]

Basra,

I have the unfortunate disability of knowing first-hand that Somalis are human beings. There are few others today who can say that.

Now there-- the fact that u post somalia star flag on your post clearly tells u r NOT white. Waar nagaa tek --idiot waxiid. U r no doubt Cawar.

[Grant]

But I'm definitely not Geeljecel. Cumar Maxamuuud, maybe.

[AbuShabab]

You are putting a rather tighter spin on things than you allow yourself in your polls.

Ok, the Volunteers were invited by the Somali government. I was a Volunteer. I was personally invited by the Peace Corps, at the request of the Somali Government. The Somali Government wanted an English teacher. They didn't know me personally from Adam.

I think it's the US government that offered the Peace Corps' services. I don't think the Somali government requested it (unless there's proof in the form of documentations). So, this appears to me as something forced on Somalis.

[Grant]

You are putting a rather tighter spin on things than you allow yourself in your polls.

Ok, the Volunteers were invited by the Somali government. I was a Volunteer. I was personally invited by the Peace Corps, at the request of the Somali Government. The Somali Government wanted an English teacher. They didn't know me personally from Adam.

I think it's the US government that offered the Peace Corps' services. I don't think the Somali government requested it (unless there's proof in the form of documentations). So, this appears to me as something forced on Somalis.

______________________________________________

That would, of course, be the Qutbist interpretation. I have not been able to find the documention that would satisfy you. However, I will say, that an invitation was required, and that when MSB asked the Volunteers to leave in 1969, they left.

The legislation establishing the Peace Corps gives it the mandate to: "promote world peace and friendship" through three goals: (1) To help the people of interested countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained workers; (2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and (3) To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans." Note the interested part.

Here is the general home page for PC Somalia. You can get a pretty good idea of what the program was about.

http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/me ... /4074.html

And here is what x-Volunteers and Somalis are doing today. Ever heard of Amoud U?

http://www.somalieducation.org/history.htm

[AbuShabab]

Early controversy

The organization experienced major controversy in its first year of operation. On October 13, 1961, a postcard was written by a volunteer named Margery Jane Michelmore in Nigeria to a friend in the U.S. She described her situation in Nigeria as "squalor and [of] absolutely primitive living conditions." However, this postcard never made it out of the country. The Ibadan University College Students Union demanded deportation and accused the volunteers of being "America's international spies" and the project as "a scheme designed to foster neocolonialism." Soon the international press picked up the story, leading several people in the U.S. administration to question the future of the program as a whole. Nigerian students protested the program, and the American volunteers sequestered themselves and eventually began a hunger strike. After several days, the Nigerian students agreed to open a dialogue with the Americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corp ... ontroversy

I wonder if the Nigerians students were right. I'm not surprised by Margery Jane Michelmore and her racist views of blacks, given most white Americans were racists in that era. That was the era of segregation, lynching and hardships suffered by "colored" people. My thinking is, the Peace Corps was formed to plant and extend America's influence in Africa and other parts of the world. Of course, it was given a humanitarian/benevolent mask.

[Gedo_Boy]

It's wrong to blanket all white people as being unhelpful and I personally see that as a BIG error.

Knowledge is knowledge, and this world is interconnected and you must work with non-Muslims AND whites.

You just can't say all whites are agent provocateurs, it must be proven FIRST. Except, maybe for the Brits & Israelis


To Grant and any other foreigner who has the best interests of Somalia at heart
But be aware that as of yet there is no cure for xenophobic schizophrenia

[Grant]

"squalor and [of] absolutely primitive living conditions."

-----------------------------------------

My group trained at Columbia. We were all college grads from relatively well-off families. I was the only one in my group that had ever used an outhouse or had some idea of what happened on a farm.

We got dropped off, one by one, at places like Arabsiyo and Odweina, Bossaso, Bulobuurte, Kismayo, Jamaame, Jilib. I had an arish with a long drop. Try describing that to your mother in California. Imagine how we could have done it if we had not had the full support of the Somali people? Up until the Kacaan we all thought we were engaged in the same project, nation building.

The only rice in the North when I was there was flavored by rat leavings from the ship it sailed in on from India. That doesn't make a very nice tale either.

Personally, I suffered culture shock going BOTH ways. It was a rough go that required other positive input to keep going. Fewer that half of the Volunteers finished the two year assignment, but most of us believed in what we were doing. The suspicion and rejection I hear everyday here is not something I ever experienced in Somalia during the Sixties.

You recall the upset in the Sudan over the toy named Mohammed? I consider the postcard in that same light. It was miscommunication over a matter of very different cultural perceptions. It was something the Peace Corps was intended to eliminate.

As you may know, the Peace Corps has a long and illustrious history in Nigeria. Here is the rest of the story of Marjorie's post card:

http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/ ... chist.html

[shaamboo]

Grant knows more somali and things about Somalia than Abu shabab , no kidding !

gaal jecel .com
grant ha kuu nuuriyo amiin dheh

[AbuShabab]

A. Peace Corps: The Urban Front

The Peace Corps is a perfect structure for the CIA. It provides a point of contact with the working class which is so necessary for information gathering. And, because of the Peace Corps structure, the CIA does not have to control it in order to use it successfully. The Peace Corps entered Latin America as the "person-to-person" of the Alliance for Progress. Working out of the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, the first head of the Peace Corps in Chile was Nathaniel Davis, promoted to Ambassador by the time of the September 1973 coup. Under the skillful guidance of Davis, many of the youthful volunteers headed straight for the poblaciones which housed the poorest sectors of the Chilean working class and unemployed. Fresh out of Swarthmore, Bennington and Berkeley, the volunteers invaded the poblaciones, lived with the people and came to know them -- politically and socially. They worked with them, observed their customs, their way of life, their traditions. And then they drew up work reports describing their experiences.

It was not necessary to have many agents in the Peace Corps -- just in the right places and with access to all the information which was generated. Unknowingly, thousands of U.S. youths, most thinking that they were helping the Chileans, were instead gathering data for the now undercover Project Camelot.

Those agents in the Peace Corps who were conscious of their role had several tasks. As they mingled with the people, they were identifying future leftist leaders as well as those right-wingers who in the future would work for U.S. interests. They were assessing consciousness, evaluating reactions to reforms. And they were selecting and training future agents. It was at this point that Michael Townley, Peace Corpsman in the sixties, was recruited to enter the Agency. Townley returned to Chile in 1970 as one of the agency's closest contacts with Patria y Libertad.

Finally, the Peace Corps was used as a front to get paramilitary equipment into the country. Ellis Carrasco, who succeeded Davis as head of the Peace Corps, was himself accused of gun-running. Later, the U.S. Army donated and installed radio receivers in all Peace Corps regional offices to facilitate communications. These same receivers were used during the coup to facilitate coordination of the Junta's bloody activities.

http://www.cia-on-campus.org/social/camelot.html

[James Dahl]

Well, as a Canadian I can attest to the fact that while most Americans are trustworthy, count your fingers after shaking hands with the US Government.

[LOVE-PEACE]

THE WORLD WILL BE SO MIXED UP... WOULD BE NO SUCH THING AS RACE.....<< WISH I LIVE TO SEE THAT DAY

[AbuShabab]

Well, as a Canadian I can attest to the fact that while most Americans are trustworthy, count your fingers after shaking hands with the US Government.

What about the Canadian government? I believe it's a dependable ally of the war on terror.