[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 33 (Thursday, March 1, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E293-E294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TANZANIA MISSION FULFILLS DREAM FOR CARMEL COUPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 1, 2012

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following.

               [From the Monterey Herald, Jan. 22, 2012]

   Dave and Wendy Banks Teach Villagers During Peace Corps Experience

                            (By Amy E. West)

       When Carmel's Dave and Wendy Banks met in the 1960s, they 
     talked about joining the Peace Corps. What they didn't 
     realize was it would take them more than four decades to make 
     it happen.
       After marrying, raising kids and retiring, they said to 
     each other, ``You know what we talked about long ago? Maybe 
     we should try it.''
       The retired couple returned to Carmel in 2010 after 
     spending more than two years in Tanzania, educating villagers 
     about HIV prevention, biology and English.
       Surprisingly, they integrated well into the Tanzanian 
     culture.
       ``If you have gray hair, you're in,'' said Dave Banks, 70, 
     a retired pharmacist.
       Their Tanzanian village of about 1,000 people not only 
     respected their elders, but also respected the customs of one 
     another. The village, Maringo, had two major tribes, and 
     Catholic, Muslim and Lutheran faiths lived and celebrated 
     traditions together, which impressed the Bankses.
       ``I think a lot of places in the world could take an 
     example from Tanzania,'' said Wendy Banks, 69, a retired 
     teacher.
       Tanzanians subsist on less than a dollar a day, and at 
     least 10 percent of the population lives with HIV. The stigma 
     of the disease, especially with women, inspired the Bankses 
     to start a life skills club to teach how to prevent the 
     spread of HIV and brainstorm ways for HIV-inflicted villagers 
     to support their families.
       High school students from the club performed skits and raps 
     for the younger school kids, and persuaded even Muslim girls 
     to do condom demonstrations.
       Primary education, required in Tanzania, is free, but 
     tuition for high school costs about $100 a year. Educating 
     boys takes priority over girls, but the headmaster in Maringo 
     worked hard to keep the ratio at 50 percent.
       To stay in school, girls commonly find older men to finance 
     their education in exchange for sexual favors. ``Babu'' Dave 
     and

[[Page E294]]

     ``Bibi'' Wendy worked to teach the women to say, ``No, not 
     without a condom.''
       ``You just don't know if you get through,'' Wendy said.
       The headmaster also requested their help teaching in a high 
     school with 500 students and only two teachers. Dave taught 
     biology and Wendy taught English to 80 freshmen each.
       To start the school's first library, the couple called for 
     donations from Monterey Peninsula residents, who mailed 
     nearly 3,000 books. To cover shipping costs of nearly $55 a 
     box, the community raised $5,000.
       The couple's family also offered support. A ganddaughter 
     requested soccer balls--used or new--instead of gifts for her 
     10th birthday, and shipped them with pumps to Tanzania. One 
     of the couple's daughters raised money to finance two girls' 
     education for three years.
       The couple brought with them a laptop, printer, solar 
     charger, shortwave radio and a power strip, which proved 
     especially useful in a village that had just one room with 
     electricity and many villagers with cellphones that needed 
     charging.
       Wendy Banks was struck by villagers' resourcefulness. 
     ``They can do so much with so little,'' she said.
       One memorable side trip seems to bear this out. To get to a 
     larger city a few hours away, the couple rode in trucks 
     called dala-dalas, which were crammed with livestock, people 
     and bags and had ``already lived their life and died,'' Dave 
     Banks said. On one trip, the truck got a flat tire. The 
     driver used a pile of rocks to jack up the truck, but jammed 
     on the wrong size spare tire. Soon after starting up again, 
     the truck ran out of gas. After the driver borrowed a bike to 
     travel to the only village with gas, he returned and swished 
     gasoline in his mouth, spit it on the carburetor, and they 
     were finally on their way.
       ``Traveling was just so awful,'' Wendy said.
       ``When we got off the bus, we were always real happy,'' 
     Dave said. The average age of a Peace Corps volunteer is 28, 
     and only 7 percent of volunteers are older than 50 or 
     married. The organization is trying to change that. In 
     November it teamed up with AARP to reach out to volunteers 
     with a lifetime of skills and professional experience.
       The oldest volunteer currently serving in the Peace Corps 
     is 82, just five years younger than the oldest volunteer ever 
     to serve.
       But the Peace Corps' rigorous medical background may stymie 
     the process for older Americans, who must provide thorough 
     documentation to show a clean bill of health. Though both 
     Wendy and Dave were in excellent physical health, the Peace 
     Corps still requested medical records dating back to their 
     20s. Applicants with diseases like diabetes can serve, but 
     may be placed closer to medical facilities instead of in 
     remote villages.
       For Dave and Wendy, 18 months passed from the time they 
     submitted the application until they left for Tanzania. 
     Though they returned a year and a half ago, the couple still 
     uphold one of the three Peace Corps goals--promoting a better 
     understanding of Tanzanians to Americans. They've given 
     numerous talks around the San Francisco Bay Area and don't 
     seem to tire of telling their stories.
       In an African culture that respects their elders, but also 
     depends on an extended family for support, the Tanzanians 
     thought it odd for two people to leave their home and family 
     of four children and 10 grandchildren.
       Wendy's response: ``We'll go back to our family . . . and 
     maybe our family will be better, because we had this 
     experience to share.''

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