"I cannot make any generalizations about the problems created by our image abroad because North Americans in foreign lands vary from the “let’s-go-native” variety to the “we-live-in-an-ivory-tower” type. Several U.S. Consulate people visited our beach house. They usually brought their own food and ate it exclusively. I saw Embassy people on similar occasions refuse good food carefully prepared by Bob Carpenter’s Ecuadorian wife. The North American’s caution can be extreme and sometimes harmful. We knew North Americans whose overprotective concern for themselves strained their personal relationships with Ecuadorians to the point of little or no social contact. They were too stiff to be able to relax enough to enjoy the simplicity and friendliness of the life around them.
Rhoda told me about the comments of two U.S. government people who came to visit our house. “Do you always have so many people around?” they said, referring to the many, always present, neighbors. “I’ve seen them on the street but they never come into my house.”
“I respect these people for the fine and necessary work they do for the U.S. in Ecuador,” Rhoda said, “but I also feel sorry for many of them because they are missing out on so much fun.
Work is being done by foreign service people, technical assistance personnel, and volunteers in the Peace Corps who live in everything from lean—to shacks to homes swarming with servants. Accomplishments seem to be based on personal associations with the nationals, which in turn is based on appreciation, interest, and respect. Adherence to a specific standard of living is not the most important factor, though it is the feeling of many responsible Peace Corps volunteers that an extremely high standard of living in poor countries almost automatically limits contact with the vast majority of people."
(The Barrios Of Manta. Rhoda & Earle Brooks)
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