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UNCP Today
Fall 2011
University News
Peace Corps
Tribute
A
short story by Janette Hopper has been published in
"Gather the Fruit One by One: 50 Years of Amazing
Peace Corps Stories: Volume II: The Americas," a
collection of works commemorating its 50th year.
A painter and member of the Art Department faculty,
Hopper's story is titled "The Bus Ride" and describes
her experience on March 15, 1967, in Columbia, South
America. It was a day she'll never forget.
"When I received a copy of the book, I read the story
out loud, and cried," Hopper said. "It was a moving
experience, which is a common theme of the stories in
the book."
An Idaho native, Hopper married a week before
beginning Peace Corp training. She had completed two
years at the University of Idaho, but there was a war in
Southeast Asia. The newlyweds volunteered for the Peace
Corps.
"Idaho was not a diverse place, and I was quite naïve,"
Hopper said. "The important part of the Peace Corp was
the people-to-people relationship and learning from the
values of other people."
Hopper and her husband worked in nutrition,
agriculture and public health. They planted gardens,
started a hot lunch program in the school and promoted a
poultry program. Janette often traveled with family health
nurses.
"I was already an artist," she said. "I made a few
drawings and a painting, but we were very busy."
The story is about the bus ride from their country
outpost in Maria La Baja to the city to meet with other
Peace Corp volunteers. It's a journey of discovery about
culture and mortality.
"Gather the Fruit" is the second of a four-part Peace
Corp books series. This edition is written by volunteers
who worked in South America. The first edition, "One
Hand Does Not Catch a Buffalo," contains stories about
Africa, and the third, "A Small Key Opens Big Doors," is
set in central Eurasia.
"The books are quite nice," Hopper said. "It's a perfect
way to celebrate 50 years of the Peace Corps and my
experience."
When she was offered the opportunity to submit a story
for the book, Hopper looked through old files for the story
she wrote long ago.
"It was awful, but it rekindled old feelings," she said.
"Writing is like painting; I let it flow, then work on it. I
hoped to bring a poetic quality.
"I like writing that doesn't tell you something directly,"
she said. "I tried to show the genuine caring of a naïve,
young Peace Corps volunteer. I had no idea of people's
suffering."
"Gather the Fruit One by One" was published on May
24, 2011, and was edited by Pat and Bernie Alter.
The Bus Ride
By Janette K. Hopper
Early in the morning, the roosters begin
to crow before first light comes. This is
the madrugada: the time of day when the
men with their machetes head out for
the campo. And on this day the Peace
Corps Volunteers will also head out of the
village, to the city, going to a meeting and
to check on the town's only refrigerator
for keeping medicine at the hospital.
Somehow, though absolutely essential, it
has never been repaired nor made it back
to the village.
Thinking about a good meal in the city,
the Volunteers rise early at the first hint
of morning light and eat a little day-old
bread with a black cup of coffee and walk
holding hands toward the outskirts of town
to catch the bus to the coast. (The villagers
who don't know think they are brother
and sister because they have no children.)
As they first pass the cement houses with
backyard stick fences and then the mud
huts along the main road away from the
center of town, the world comes alive
with sound: children's voices and babies'
cries, the soft tones of lowered voices and
the cumbia that will be blaring loudly on
the radio out of every door later on. As
they continue out of town, the sounds and
smells of the fields and jungle fill their
lungs and ears. They remember how they
learned in training that Colombia had
two seasons: one hot and dry, the other
hot and wet. Soon it will be hot, but for
now it is the coolest part of the day. She is
wearing a simple flowered cotton shift and
sandals, he his Levis and cowboy boots.
Anticipating insects, the two have light
long-sleeve shirts covering their arms.
They walk towering over the few people
they pass on the way. The road surface
alternates between thick dust and hard
clay ruts. The mosquitoes aren't bad but
the no-see-ums are the worst, and this
is their season: quietly they make their
burning presence felt on any bare spot of
skin.
Upon reaching the stop, they see a few
others have already gathered, waiting.
A lady with a baby and small child
constantly bats at the invisible but real
tormenters with a small white scrap of
sheet blanket. A man whom they visited
about a family garden walks up and greets
them patting them on the shoulders.
Another villager they don't know joins
the group and offers everyone cigarettes.
They decline with apology. Another
These black and white
photos were taken by Robert
E. Higgins, Janette Hopper's
father, who visited South
America while she was in the
Peace Corps.