Jason Pearce

It’s nice to know I’m still missed. For those of you still in Guyana, I miss you too. In fact I played cards this weekend for the first time since returning to the states and it just wasn’t the same. But how could it be? After all, the cards weren’t sticking to my fingers due to the Diet (insect repellant), a few rounds of Banks beers weren’t scattered over the table, strangers weren’t coming up to us asking for money or giving us advice on how to play our hand, and the stereo wasn’t at full volume. Oh, I almost forgot, I wasn’t sweating my b*lls off in a plastic lawn chair.

Thanks for the great email.

Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 21:31:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: “hidden”
Subject: Gone but not forgotten, Guy 10.1
To: [email protected]

Just tonight, some of us had a chance to get together. Of course your name got brought up and we again rehashed the circumstances surrounding this unfathomable situation. This is my first time at a computer since swearing in, and by the time you reply, I’ll be back in the bush, and won’t see a computer again for at least six weeks.

I wish this whole thing didn’t happen, and I peruse all the information on your website with the same level of shock and dismay I had when I first found out you were sent home (I found out about a week after you left the country… information doesn’t get to me very quickly). I just remember our discussion over Chinese food (remember? It was like we were seniors who had just graduated from high school, still hanging out in town… :) ) thinking that we’ll all enjoy a nice chuckle over this many times over the next two years, and beyond.

I hate knowing that you are missing everything going on here because of Earl the SOB (he hasn’t been winning many friends since you’ve left anyway, from what I hear) and his unilateral decision to deprive you of a really great experience. It’s so frustrating to have to be nice to him, just so I stay off the “radar”. I just want to tell him to f- off every time I see him, and I don’t even see him all that often.

On another note, the crime situation in Georgetown and on the East Coast is horrifying so you should feel a bit lucky to be where it’s safe. The rate of violent crimes here is truly fearsome… Four people were shot on one volunteer’s street about two weeks back. The volunteers in G-town don’t feel very safe here, and I am feeling very lucky that I don’t live here in town.

Well, I’m getting along in the bush just fine. The school is an absolute zoo (the students don’t learn and the teachers don’t teach). Hey, if it were a good school, I wouldn’t be there, right? :) One volunteer near me got dengue fever, but is now OK; although he and another volunteer were robbed just a few weeks ago, but I suppose they are both OK now.

I hate to sound so somber, because I am guessing that you are getting over this, but I just wanted to tell you that the folks down here aren’t going to forget you any time soon. I might sound like an old man (or as the Guyanese say a “Big” man) but please don’t forget that everything happens for a reason.

Apparently, the Peace Corps office in Georgetown was evacuated about a week ago because of a possible bomb threat. According to one volunteer, the information came from a guy whose friend had been planning to bomb the U.S. embassy or one of the U.S.-related buildings (like the Peace Corps office) on the anniversary of September 11th, but couldn’t get the parts he needed on time. The threat has since passed, for the state of alert they had been placed on has since been lifted.

I received a wonderful email today from one of the current volunteers. This individual is a member of the Volunteer Action Committee. VAC acts on behalf of the 50 or so volunteers by providing feedback, suggestions, requests, and complaints to the Guyana Peace Corps staff. While VAC’s powers are rather limited (suggestions only), its influence seems to have grown. Here is the email:

Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 11:55:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: “hidden”
Subject: Re: Condolences
To: [email protected]

Jason,

Here’s what VAC’s been up to. We recently had a visit from an admin guy from the IAP region, and the opportunity was not missed to dump on Earl. Your departure has caused some serious waves that have resounded all the way to Washington; you may have heard that one volunteer wrote a letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Guyana that detailed Earl’s attitude and behavior, and sent copies to IAP and Washington.

Earl was on the point of sending another volunteer (GUY-9) home for a reason even more ridiculous than yours, and it was only because he was slow enough in his paperwork that the rest of us were able to find out about it and threatened a petition in the form of a survey of volunteer confidence in the staff being sent to the powers that be. The volunteer is still here. If we’d had more warning, maybe the same tactic would’ve worked in your case.

Let me ask you a question to get your side of it: Earl is saying he sent you home for the sole reason that there wasn’t a site available (which is pretty ridiculous, considering it was less than a week after training), or was it that Earl had a bone to pick with you, personally?

So, what are your plans now? Try Peace Corps again? Re-enter the corporate world? How have you found the reaction from friends and family who didn’t expect to see you for two years?

I’m pleased that VAC was able to a) voice complaints about staff management and b) successfully petition to keep a volunteer in Guyana that was about to be sent home. These are great accomplishments in unfair conditions.

To answer your questions, yes, I was officially sent home because the Guyana Peace Corps staff couldn’t find a site that could use my web development skills. Earl’s August 21 memo reads, “Jason is being given an Early Termination/Interrupted Service per MS 284, 5.0. ‘The host country (or other cooperating agency to which the volunteer is assigned) requests that the volunteer be removed from service for reasons that would not consist grounds for administrative separation.’ The best and only site available, which requires web site knowledge and skills, was the WWF-Guiana’s placement. The decision by the cooperating agency not to accept Jason Pearce, therefore, removes this site from consideration, has resulted in this action.

You are correct to observe that I was sent home less than five days after loosing my assignment with the WWF. According to Earl and a WWF email, the WWF decided that they no longer wanted to have me serve as a volunteer on August 19. Two days later, Earl had already made plans to send me home. I was back in the states on August 23.

Earl’s hasty action to send me home shows that he had little interest in finding me a replacement site. When I proposed a backup site that I had already found (the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana), Earl was not willing to take my proposal seriously. While he did call THAG’s director of August 21 to learn more about their needs, I was prohibited from talking or meeting with THAG until after I had signed and completed all of Earl’s Close of Service paperwork. So what was the point?

Obviously, Earl felt threatened by me and was eager to find a way to send me home. On Thursday, August 22, Earl confirmed his distaste for me by saying that I was cocky and that I should be pleased to receive a non-disciplinary early termination (i.e. Interruption of Service), for it was the best he could do in light of the circumstances. He said that he really should have administratively separated me due to my personal website and audio files.

Since returning to the states, I have requested reassignment or re-enrollment per my rights as an Early Termination/Interruption of Service RPCV. So far, I have not received a response from DC regarding this request. Thankfully, I’ve had a lot of support from US friends and folks like you back in Guyana.