
An
ABC 20/20 special aired Friday night that revealed some deadly secrets about the
Peace Corps that they thought had been long buried and decayed. In 2009, a girl named Kate Puzey was a 24-year old Peace Corps volunteer who was murdered in Benin, a small West African country. What happened was horrendous and unfortunate. But it's what didn't happen, the actions not taken by the organization, that perhaps could have saved her life. It's their attempts to sweep it under the rug that are scrutinized.
The suspect whom Kate's parents and cousin believe slit her throat in the middle of the night while sleeping was a man that she blew the whistle on named Constant Bio, a resident of Benin and her fellow employee. He supposedly assaulted girls sexually (raped them) in the class were Kate was teaching English. Some had even gotten pregnant by him. This man was on staff with the Peace Corps. His brother also so happened to work in the office in Washington, DC. Though Kate asked for her email to Peace Corps authorities about his activities to remain anonymous, her family believes that the brother found out and informed Constant. They also believe Constant lashed out at her after he had been fired.
But that is not the worst part.
When the Peace Corps contacted her parents to inform of her murder, they gave no details of how it happened. The woman who received the email from Kate resigned, and was told not to speak about the matter to anyone.
Now on 20/20 other women who were victims of rape and assaults while volunteering with the Peace Corps came forward to tell their hush stories. I call them "hush" stories because the peace core told them to not speak about the matter to anyone. They did not apologize, and they made some of them feel like it was their own fault. One girl who was gang raped in a back alley in Bangladesh and sent back to the states said that a peace corps staff told her to lie--tell her other fellow volunteers that she was getting her wisdom teeth pulled, and that was why she came back. Another was only offered three sessions of counseling and sent away.
This was simply unacceptable.
And the worst part about it is, the spokesperson from the organization said that she wasn't able to speak on the matter until after the Peace Corps investigation was over. It is two years after Kate died. Some of those rape incidents happened in the late 90's. She was new to the organization and said she had no knowledge of these incidents, until now. She followed this by a half-hearted apology at the end of the interview after being prompted several times by the reporter.
How can such a notable organization started by John F Kennedy one of America's greatest public servants, keep such dirty little secrets?
Stonewalling is not the answer.