Review | Patrick Shea’s PEACE CORPS VICTIM: A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER STORY OF TRAUMA AND BETRAYAL
I've read about and have spoken to dozens of volunteers who have suffered serious misfortunes while serving in the Peace…
Peace Corps Victim: A Peace Corps Volunteer Story of Trauma and Betrayal
Patrick Shea (Georgia 2016-17 — Medically Separated)
Friesen Press
258 pages
$21.99 (Paperback); $ 9.99 (Kindle); $35.99 (Hardcover)
Patrick Shea
Patrick Shea had a terrible time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Georgia, and he wants the world to know it. To get his message out, he has self-published a book called, Peace Corps Victim, subtitled, a Peace Corps Volunteer Story of Trauma and Betrayal. In addition, Shea has added the initials RPCV after his name. In the Forward, he excuses the many typos and grammatical errors throughout the book, by stating that he wrote it during the COVID-19 years and that he wanted to have it published as soon as possible because of what he feels is the book’s importance. He has spent thousands of his own dollars to do this but any way you slice it, the book is vanity publishing.
Patrick Shea has an axe to grind. He feels betrayed by the Peace Corps organization both in Georgia and in the United States, by PC staff and former volunteers. He sees himself as a whistle blower who has been unreasonably persecuted for “revealing” what he calls the “truth” about the Peace Corps.
It is more like his truth.
In the last paragraph of the forward, Shea sums up his assertions:
The Peace Corps’ main priority is their image, and they bury reports to the point volunteers are afraid to report anything. The Peace Corps will continue to do everything they did to me, to others, they will continue to hide the truth, abuse victims and victim blame. They will break their own laws and hide it behind closed door threats…”
Shea then goes on to chronicle his experiences, first during orientation and training, then in a small village as a teacher, and finally with Peace Corps staff in Tbilisi and back home in the U.S.
Patrick Shea is not without talent, the book has some very well written descriptions and moving moments, mostly having to do with Georgian females whom he befriended platonically. But the rest of the book dissolves into rants about the people of Georgia that he encountered as well as other volunteers and PC staff. He blames his host family for his getting sick and severely undernourished. He’s convinced one of his students tried to drown him. Peace Corps staff were not only not supportive, they were under orders to prioritize not embarrassing the Peace Corps over helping volunteers with their issues. This latter policy is carried out by expelling volunteers rather than resolving their problems. Shea is most vindictive when it comes to whoever was the Peace Corps Country Director in Georgia while Shea was there. Shea claims the man was an ex-civilian contractor in Afghanistan before joining the Peace Corps and was most likely still working for the CIA. This is the man who single handedly ruined what was left of Shea’s life by manipulating him out of the country because of his illnesses and obstinacy, refusing to tow the PC line. Once Shea returned to the US, PC staff in DC were equally dismissive and refused to pay for his medical issues.
I have no idea how much of what Shea says is fact or fiction. I do know that he offers no evidence whatsoever for his accusations, and he does not mention any names, including the Director’s. My own exhilarating experience in Ethiopia, albeit, 50 years ago, was radically different. Of course, even then, we were occasionally accused of being CIA agents by some of the students protesting the Haile Selassie regime.
Is Shea paranoid or are some parts of his story accurate? If even only a small portion is accurate then he has raised some highly concerning issues which should be investigated. However, I seriously doubt it will happen because of the publication of this book.
I understand that Patrick Shea has returned to Georgia on his own. I wish him luck and peace of mind and body.
. . .
Reviewer Andy Martin (Ethiopia 1965-68) taught ESL, supervised, and trained ESL teachers in NYC, NJ and Algeria, 1968-1986. Sold, managed sales, directed Marketing of ES/EFL books for 8 publishing companies, 1986-2010. He has sung professionally with Doo-Wop, a cappella groups, 2012-2023. He creates and manages the weekly illustrated idiom quiz game, “Rolls off the Tongue,” on Facebook and Tumblr.
My younger son joined the PC a while back and before he left for Panama I told him, “Make it through training and I’ll come to your swearing in.” He made it and I flew down for five days, wandering through the PC office with my mouth open. It was in a brand-new building and furnished like a stock brokers office on Wall Street! Everything was computerized.
I met my son’s boss who was dressed in a very expensive suit and shiny new Italian shoes. He reminded me of an insurance salesman but I didn’t mention this to my son. Sure enough, the bossman visited my son on-site once over a two year period. He drove up in a brand new car, got out and dusted his shoes. He was there for minutes.
The PC has changed.
Of course the Peace Corps has changed and is always changing sometimes for the good, sometimes not. I don’t think we need to presume that every example we can unearth about Peace Corps’ mistakes and failures should reflect on the entire agency and its history. My first country director was a Reagan appointment whose politics were ridiculous–but she was a terrific country director who put her volunteers’ first with all the support she could give us, without giving up standards and discipline. Our second country director could not put a sentence together and was finally removed by headquarters for, shall we say….poor performance? Scores of countries, thousands of country directors and hundreds of thousands of volunteers serving in all manor of cultures and circumstances. There will continue to be screw ups…but the mission and work remain important at home and abroad.
I don’t think the conspiracy-laden story of one volunteers who suffers from mental illness and paranoia should be our guide.
Sweeping under the rug is always a dirty, nasty business.
After 60 years, Peace Corps Volunteers still have the legal status of “employee at will” which means they can be fired without reason. The people who managed their lives and hold
power over them are federal employees with the full range of civil rights and federal benefits. It is an incredible unbalance of power. It is not fair.
Volunteers should have the status of federal employees. The job description could contain all that Volunteers do now and there could
be a special salary. Volunteers would have access to the EEOC and federal health care benefits. When a Volunteer had problems, medical or othewise, the Volunteer would have options. It would make transition after service easier.
Some staff members are excellent, but not all. We did not have a good one. One of our site partners had major medical issues and was told
to report new symptoms, which he did. Dr. King was on vacation and
so the Assistant Rep came to our site and “interregated” the Volunteer.
The Rep called him a coward and said he was just trying to find a way
to quit. Then the Rep drove away in his green jeep. When the Peace
Corps came home, he read the reports. The Volunteer was medevac
to a hospital stateside. My understanding is he suffered a major disability
because of the delay. This was in 1964.
I’ve read about and have spoken to dozens of volunteers who have suffered serious misfortunes while serving in the Peace Corps. Each example is disturbing and they cover the globe. Many of these men and women never fully recover. In the book Peasants Come Last, the author outlines how the Peace Corps administration has evolved into a very bureaucratic agency. This certainly does not help.
If the agency is to continue, more emphasis should be given to caring for volunteers. I do not recall the disregard being reported during my service in Honduras. There were problems but I remember volunteers being sent home for medical treatment. Maybe I am naïve. I certainly do not consider myself some kind of expert or an exemplary volunteer.
In those nations where assault and rape are common place, the program should be shut down. Russia and its neighbors (former members of the Soviet Union) are examples of this. I remember reading that the rape rate in Russia was 90% for female PCVs. There were some African countries where the early termination rate was above 90%. Data on problems should be available to anyone so informed decisions can be made about service.
All volunteers should be trained in martial arts as part of their training. This can be accomplished by utilizing marine embassy guards as instructors. All volunteers should be given shrill campers’ whistles and neck-worn canisters of pepper spray. Females should not be assigned to isolated, dangerous areas. Even so, they may be susceptible to rape. One woman’s story involved violent rape by a gang in Guatemala City. Maybe we should not have even been there.
I have no suggestions about diet. If volunteers do not eat the same food as their hosts, the idea of service is diminished.
Mental health is also ambiguous. During my stay in Honduras, we had psychological medivacs for trainees and seasoned volunteers. It didn’t seem to relate to rural or urban assignments, sex or age. Maybe the Peace Corps needs to be more sensitive to this possibility and flexible about moving volunteers to different sites and/or offering some sort of Rest and Relaxation periods (days or weeks) like they do for soldiers during war. In my case, I suffered from extreme depression near the end of service. A fellow PCV forced me to accompany him to La Ceiba for the carnival and the five-day R & R restored my sanity. Mt friend, who later became a licensed psychologist, saved me.
Please note that my wife disagrees. “You’re still loco, Lorenzo.”
I do not favor character assassination for anyone who returns with woeful tales. We wouldn’t even be aware of these problems if it were not for alternative publishing. It’s healthy to listen to all stories during any decision-making.