The whole wide world, an endless universe
Yet we keep looking through the eyeglass in reverse
Don´t feed the people, but we feed the machines
Can´t really feel what international means
George W. Bush´s bumbling, deceptive, wasteful war on Iraq is not only bad for the planet, but it´s also damaging to the Peace Corps. The community that I serve has directly experienced the repercussions of the U.S. Administration´s $1 billion per week expenditure on its no-good, utterly foul, “bring ‘em on” imperialist sham.
Having collaborated with an Indigenous women´s association, we worked arduously over the last 7 months on a feasibility study and grant proposal for a clothing design and manufacturing project. I had high hopes for obtaining the grant, given that in October of last year a Peace Corps employee announced at a workshop that tens of thousands of US AID (Agency for International Development) dollars were available to Peace Corps volunteers for income generation projects in our communities.
My heart skipped a beat when I realized I would be able to apply for up to $10,000 for such a project. It would be the crown jewel of my Peace Corps career, as well as a tremendous opportunity for me to leave something positive behind in my community.
From November 2003 through May 2004 I worked on a proposal with Alli Pakarina, an organization of Quichua women who want to be the first in the province to own and operate their own indigenous clothing business. Nonetheless, 2 weeks after turning in the proposal to the Peace Corps, I received e-mails from the Quito office informing me that the grant money had been slashed in half, due to military expenditures, and that I would not be able to obtain the US AID $10,000 I was looking for.
As one Peace Corps employee explained to me over the phone, “George Bush cut the US AID budget so he could attack Iraq.”
I was profoundly disappointed to receive this news, and utterly embarrassed to have to tell the women´s organization that according to our President, attacking other nations is far sexier and more urgent than the peace time poverty alleviation efforts of the Peace Corps.
This week I submitted a revised proposal to the Peace Corps, hoping that an alternative pot of grant money might be made available to my project. I´ve got my fingers crossed that I will receive the $10,000 I´m asking for because if not, I don´t think I´ll be able to face the women´s organization again without bowing my head down in shame for the havoc that George W. and cronies are wreaking on the world.
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