Peace Corps - Volunteer or CIA?

(Journal transcription from Friday September 5^th 10:54pm)

Tonight, Halley, Scott, Lois and I went Limon (pronounced lime en) in Rodney Bay. We found ourselves roaming around the beaches on Rodney Bay by some of the resorts. We were tickled at the fact that some people were paying to walk the sandy beach and watch the waves lap at the surface while we were watching the tropical sunset from the coast for free!

We decided to take a taxi home since it was dark outside when we left the Bay. We got to talking with the driva and he truly believed that Peace Corps Volunteers are really part of the CIA! He states that many St. Lucians think such things. When we attempted to correct him and tell him what the Peace Corps is really about, the assisting cultures in need and cultural exchange, he stated “OH, you are very intelligent indeed!” Further, he was totally bemused by the fact that we are Obama fans. He wondered how it can be that a white person is so willing to vote for a black man. He said things like, “But he is not your color, how can you vote for him?” We tried to explain to him that the color of his skin is unimportant to us and that it is his political platform that matters to us. This was completely outside his world of understanding. He asked us, “Does racism not exist in America anymore?” We tried to paint a balanced picture of both the progress in America and the progress that still needs to be made in America… all of this in a 5 minute taxi ride! He voiced that he believes the black man is stupid in the eyes of the white man, and we tried to correct his misperceptions. Hopefully we gave him some knowledge on the diversity of American culture. I think he still thinks we are CIA!