2003-01-11 - 11:27 a.m.
Frank Adams. It would not surprise me if the fifty-six year old volunteer from Mass. was related to Hemingway's famous character, Nick. During the Vietnam War, Frank lived in a federal prison, where the United States government sent him after he refused to fight. Later, after his parole on the condition that he would teach inner-city New York kids for two years, he rode his motorcycle across the US. This trip was paid for by the $3,000 an elderly women, whose life he saved giving the Hiemlich Manuever, rewarded him with.
For the past fifteen years, Frank has worked as a systems analyst. In fact, he wrote the Y2K protection software for several companies, outbidding companies well known to we Americans. He is a single man, and would perhaps be quite wealthy, except that he has funded his twin brother's failed inventions over the years, and the education of his neice.
This week Peace Corps Volunteers Uzbekistan gathered in Tashkent for our first service conference, discussing community development, SPA grant applications (I was selected as one of seven PCVs to sit on the decision committee- a budget of $50,000 for 2003) and service experiences. Really, the greatest reward of the week was seeing nearly all 48 volunteers and hearing their expereinces at site. Many mirrored my own, while others were far and away different. Yet the outstanding volunteer of the first two months of service, as I see it, is Frank.
Frank looks like a mad scientist. Following his train of thought is not the easiest task and his transition into Uzbek culture has been difficult, especially learning the language and making connections with high school aged kids. Yet Frank symbolizes what the world would be like if their were 30 hours in a day. He is everywhere. He has singlehandedly written Uzbek-English translation software on his laptop, since November, something that does not exist to anyone's knowledge here, in the world. To save his voice, he adopted a microphone in class using his laptop. He also is in the process of writing English courses on the computer, then transferring them to video for wholesale to all citizens of Uzbekistan. Many have access to a televsion and VCR. During the conference, Frank identified a local video vendor and printed a list of movies, in English, available for purchase to us. This is hige for volunteers who open Enhlish clubs at site and want to show movies. My site is still working on the TV/VCR step, but others already are there.
So this diary is written as a reminder to those Americans of 50 plus years that your example is important and your ability to affect society for the better is great, it's just a matter of trying. 50 more Americans arrive next week, Jan. 18(Uz.15)- look how far they will go to make a difference.
