To fear, or not to fear

I'm aware of this xenophobia thing but I don't identify with it at all.

I've never been misunderstood in such a way that I felt threatened, either emotionally or physically. I've never had a serious, violating crime perpetrated against me. Perhaps either are possibilities while serving, perhaps not. Those kinds of situations seem to be the scariest thing about new places and new people.

This problem is not minute, however: I find myself in the position of addressing the concerns/fears/anxieties of my parents. The Peace Corps itself tries to do this, but since this is my undertaking, my parents seem to feel answering the question thoroughly falls on me.
I don't think that I can satisfy my parents' peace of mind. But I can help with my own.

So, I ask the internets: What scary things have happened previously to volunteers serving abroad?

The Peace Corps has made available, in report form, statistics on crime incidents [1 & 2] , stratified by all kinds of important variables like nature of the crime, victim's gender, world region, etcetera. Just looking at the categories themselves individually, you could draw the following conclusions:
- women are usually the victims of sexual assaults.
- sexual or physical assault victims are young: most frequently 20-29.
that might imply the perpetrators are young (unless there's some unpredicted ageism going on).

Jumped conclusions aside, some of the more serious incidents are presented also as "profiles" that take into account a variety of situational factors. Reading this, it seems very apparent that the choices a volunteer makes have a huge impact on the amount of risk they subject themselves to -- not the region they live in, not their age. Pragmatic correlations actually show that, too:
- actual rape incidences are highly correlated with both a. alcohol consumption by the volunteer and b. occurrence in the volunteer's residence. about half are strangers, half acquaintances, but most victims don't press charges.
- aggravated assault often has more than one person involved, and is usually a robbery by a stranger. moneybelt, anyone?

There's also the threat of in-service deaths. With the evacuation of Kenya volunteers recently, I have heard some related statements in the U.S. media, which fit right in with its typical sensationalism. Things like this: An average of four volunteers die in service each year. Every year. Out of some 6000 people abroad.

Does that number scare me? A little maybe. But that knowledge can lead to empowerment. The power to motivate better community involvement, wiser choices for travel. This is not going to be some kind of flying by the seat of my pants adventure, as cool as the stories would be.

The number also loses its edge if you start to talk about U.S. health or car crash statistics. Or any other kind of real and present danger that we manage to ignore on a daily basis.

Though I could talk around the two risks of death and rape, they aren't things I want to face. But avoidance and sheltering are not the answer, either. Those problems won't go away, whether I'm in Africa or not.

The third 'big risk' my parents have communicated to me is HIV infection. I don't know how realistic that is or will ever be for me, but it sure as hell scares the bejeesus out of them. I e-mailed a returned volunteer [who probably wonders how much free time we have with all this hand-wringing] who sent me a pretty convincing paragraph from the CDC for travelers on the topic:

Occurrence

AIDS and HIV infection occur worldwide. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that, as of the end of 2005, nearly 40 million persons were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Although the most globally affected part of the world remains sub-Saharan Africa, in recent years, the steepest increases in HIV infection have occurred in Eastern Europe, Northern, Central, and East Asia (see map 4-5). Many countries lack comprehensive surveillance systems, and despite improvements, the true number of cases is likely greater than officially reported, particularly in developing countries. Because HIV infection and AIDS are distributed globally, the risk for international travelers is determined less by geographic destination and more by behaviors that put them at risk for becoming infected, such as sexual (1) and drug-using behaviors (2).

Well, that's easy. I'll continue to not use heroin, and when I'm serving, I'll abstain from alcohol. Shouldn't be that hard - and if I'm tempted, I think moderation will be the key.

Again, my carry-out messages here are a. realistic expectations b. good choices and c. all risk is relative. Though you are certainly free to take away what you like!
Share your thoughts here, I'm always up for feedback.