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A Note From Jay Allison
Jake Warga has made three radio pieces in his life… #1 “When Brian
Took His Life,” #2 “Street Dogs” with Matt Perry , and
this one, #3 “Home From Africa: 13 Symptoms of Peace Corps
Withdrawal.” We’re partial to Jake’s work. Not just because he’s got good
story sense, snappy rhythm, and rare sensibility… but also, in a
fit of our own self-centeredness, because he got some of his chops from
resources at Transom.org.
This piece is filled with surprising heart and thought. Jake will
give you the background…
From Jake Warga
Intro
One of the most amazing moments in my life was sitting
in a small house in a mud village in West Africa. No
electricity. The night incredibly hot. The crickets
deafening. The only illumination coming from an oil
lantern–and a little red blinking light from my audio
recorder as it, and I, listened to the person who
lived in this house in Benin: Jenafir.
Chronology
It started with a fun idea: record my college friend
before she left for the Peace Corps, ask her what she
expects, then give her the tape on her return 2+ years
later. It grew from there.
We were both graduating from college: I was off to LA
to make movies, she was off to Benin. We had to go to
a book store so she could show me where this tiny
country was. With my lecture cassette recorder I
asked her, in a super market aisle, what she expected.
 Hanging out in Jen’s village, near Allada. |
A year later she came back to California for a
half-way visit. For it I borrowed a friend’s fancy
DAT and stereo mic–I had little idea how to use
either. She put the headsets on and we figured it out
together.
Then came a mini-disc recorder, a clip on mic, and a
promise: Before she left, I said I would come and
visit her in Africa during her second year. After a
big job in LA, I took the money and ran. And that’s
how I found myself in Africa and having the most
painful and wonderful experiences, as yet, of my life.
 Ominous view from outside Jen’s house, a tropical storm opened soon after. A shower in the heat. |
Lastly, with more audio experience, I met Jen on her
way out, when she was done. When we met, she clipped
the mic on herself while I asked: How was it?
 The way to carry babies: use a pagne (fabric). |
The List
The Peace Corps gives volunteers a small booklet when
they complete their service–to help them with
re-adjusting and potential culture shocks. An actual
government publication, it includes a list titled:
Symptoms of Chronic Peace Corps Withdrawal. I wanted
to stay out of the story as narrator–I’m still not
keen on hearing myself speak. It was an exercise in
telling a story with only the subject speaking. When
I saw the list, I knew I had the frame structure. I
had her read it to me, thus allowing, in editing, her
to introduce the main acts: Disease, Dirt, Work,
Culture Clashes, and Leaving America/leaving Africa.
Notes on Sources
Sometimes I spliced in sections of tapes that Jen
would record and send me from Africa. In response to
dust, heat, temperament, and a crappy recorder, the
tapes were of poor quality, and often at odd speeds
which I sped up on the computer to sound normal. But
those are some of the best moments in the piece.
Music
The African experience is incomplete without music.
Angelique Kudjo, the female vocalist, is from Benin.
She sings in Fon, the local language, and Jen, and her
PC friends, can actually make out what she is saying.
Most all the other artists are from West Africa. Jen
warned me, in one of her tapes, that a really popular
song is played to death there. Over and over for
months–everywhere. So I thought I would include
them… one last time Jen.
 Jake in Africa |
About Jake Warga
Jake Warga is currently in graduate school for
Anthropology…for reasons unknown to him. His
careers have included: photographer, feature film
focus-puller, traveler, writer and, recently, radio
producer. His next? He’s not sure. But hopes to
focus on his writing. When not dissentary-struck,
limply chasing his friends around with a microphone,
Jake can be found surfing the internet while taking
breaks to study or watch The Simpsons and pondering
what he should do tonight.
Jake’s Other Works on Transom
- When Brian Took His Life
- Street Dogs
Support for a broadcast version of this
story for “Savvy Traveler” comes from HearingVoices.com.
Just as an experiment Jake, I cut your show down to 30 seconds, while maintaining the original structure. You can hear it on my wesite in the Solomon Islands- oh wait…..I hear it just melted.
…since i am now worker on the 6hr vers. in this one Jen gets tried in a military tribunal for conspiracy to sweep dirt.
Jake (and anybody else), I’m curious about your experience with clip-on mics. How’s the sound? Can you move around, or do you get too much mic noise? Do they stand up to use in the out-of-doors?
I would love to be able to record while walking, using a clip-on mic. It would keep my hands free, and it would be so much lighter than a hand-held mic. But I worry that so much movement would inevitably get picked up by the cable, and that a more fragile mic wouldn’t last long on, say, an extended backpacking trip. Also that it wouldn’t pick up enough of the background sounds – birds singing, diesel trucks bearing down on you from behind, etc.
Abner
you might read the discussion on clip-on (lavalier, or lavs) mics in the "Microphones & MiniDiscs" section here (at Transom Talk>Tools>Tips and Opportunities>Field Work & Recording). try starting with:
Barbara Bernstein "Microphones and MiniDiscs" June 13, 2001 01:34am
in sum, Transom Tools Editor, Jeff Towne, says they suck, but Transom Jefe Jay A. sez they only suck most of the time.
Jake, maybe the mic question was prompted by your comment that you’ve learned to not use a hand held microphone !?? (Did you write that here? I didn’t find it just now; maybe I dreamed it. If not,) what are you using? a stand? did you have handling noise?
Yea, a technical discussion! Us radio-shack geeks love it. You did read it here, I used a contriversial clip-on (PSC-professional sound corp) for all of jen. It helps being in a quite place, and not playing with jewelry (that’s you Jen!). I also did all the field recording with it in Africa, it was my only mic. I love it. There was a lot of handling noise, so I tried not to handle it. In the field, I had it clipped outside my fanny-pack, it attracted no attention. All the actualities were therefor in mono.
I also used the same one with "Brian" It’s great because they forget it’s there–that’s the key–and just talk to ME, not the mic.
Mind when they cough if you have headphones on!
I like the lav-handheld combo Jay recommends so you get environment and the person you are interviewing can kind of be in their own space. But some interviews I find the person wants to be in your space. Or that they drop some wall to let you into theirs a little. Everybody’s different.
Yeah, but Jake, I’m wondering what you think about the ethical issues of recording people and them not knowing it. In California, you could be put in jail for that.
I think after hearing all the audio you’ve recorded in this story, I’d still agree with Jay’s assessment of lav mics. Listen to some of Barrett’s sound from the Lewis and Clark pieces and you’ll see a huge, huge difference (granted, you won’t hear it over crappy realaudio, however). I think actually, that this piece would have much better had the audio been up to snuff. That’s its weakest point for me. Your audio in the suicide piece was also pretty bad, but what he was saying was compelling enough that I didn’t notice it.
Ben
Ben-
Ah, the sacrifice of message over medium. As most people are in their cars, stuck in traffic, chewing gun stuck on the left speaker, the right one not working, or on RealAudio which is essentially the left back speaker in the car with laundry on top…all you have left is the message. But that’s a lame excuse for poor audio. I was certainly not professional at the time, maybe I am now after ST? I should be able to answer for low quality from here on.
The person wearing the mic has implied consent. A lot of the rules in California are even further than Africa geographically. I hear you can’t drive and talk on the cell phone in CA anymore. Benin: cell phone? I have discretion in editing, and would never conceal recording in the West. Jen asked that it not be known I was recording. I’ll happily sacrifice quality for content…plus my arm gets tired holding a mic for hours. I would prefer the higher quality also, and do so with the projects I’m playing around with now–not to fear. I’d really like a directional mic next…I think. I do need mic help (please privately e-mail me your favorites).
The problem with "Brian" too was I imported the audio too hot into the computer…plus being on a park bench off of a busy road…I’m just grateful for what I got and wonder what how it would have been different if I held a mic to him instead.
As most people are in their cars, stuck in traffic, chewing gun stuck on the left speaker
a great argument for hi-quality sound. the extra hi&lo end, and lower noise level, of quality mics is precisely what makes sound easier to hear in less-than-optimum listening conditions. in general, the crisper (higher-Q) the sound, the greater the apparent loudness of the sound (aka, it’s got more balls). the more muffled (lo-Q) the sound, the less likely it is to be heard, in same sitch at same volume level compared to hi-Q sound. (aka, it’s can’t cut thru cars, chewing gum, and other distractions.)
jake, seems to me (please, correct me if I’m wrong) like Jen didn’t want people to know you were recording because they wouldn’t want to be recorded. And it also seems to me that if that’s the case, recording covertly isn’t the answer. Part of the reason *to* use big mics is so that people know exactly what you’re doing — the implied consent thing you’re talking about. And nervous people need extra time. Apprehensive people need extra time. Strangers need extra time. Everybody’s got to get comfortable with the microphones and the idea of being recorded. Producers, too. (I still need extra time myself, not whenever I go out, but a lot of the time.) Scott Carrier wrote an interesting thing on this very issue in his comments about doing his first radio piece. Something like, *you’ve* got to forget about the microphone in order for *them* to forget about the microphone because only after that happens will they (and you) turn back from interviewer/interviewee to regular humans. I guess that’s a pretty good argument for you lavs. But. There’s something else. Also, and this is more important than the rest of it. There’s something that happens when you record someone really well. They really come alive through the radio. The difference between a good recording and a great recording is sometimes a matter of inches and I don’t know why this is. I want to say it has something to do with physics — the frequencies being recorded, or the resonance in the chest and throat or something like that. But the fact of the matter is if you record someone with the mic ten to 14 inches away from their mouth, it sounds good. It’s a good recording. BUT, if you put that same mic about six inches from their mouth, oh man. The person is talking *to you*. To the listener. It stops being a radio interview and becomes a conversation. Just like regular people. It’s really amazing and I have no idea why this is the case. You stories are really good. The bad audio doesn’t really detract. But better audio — if Brian had been actually talking TO ME, instead of to you — man, that would have been something absolutely incredible. Anyway, that’s just something I was thinking about instead of what I’m supposed to be doing. hee hee.
Ben: Quite right about the intimacy, I’ve been trying to find it with the mic, but get popping instead. Tried it with the narration in "Brian" Then I was told about a pop-filter. Cool thing. I would like to go to mic boot camp, run around point it at people, bonk them on the head and run away, what ever it takes.
The reason, as I see it, that Jen didn’t want notice taken of us was because her years there were spent trying to fit in to a place where she stood out. If I recorded people with obviousness, then that would draw attention to Jen, making her stand out even more–maybe defeat a lot of her efforts in becoming a part of the community. She fought for acceptance and membership, and didn’t want to BE that different, that special. I let my little camera, filtered water bottle, alcohol wipes take care of my alienation. You can see with the photos that I made no effort to conceal the lens. When I took it out, so many kids would clamor around to get in the shot, that we went through elaborate distractions to get one alone. I didn’t want that attention to a mic all the time. Though now I do wish I had a better one, and did intentional interviews with people in Jen’s life. I’ll put it in the overflowing bucket of regrets.
When I was in Papua New Guinea noone paid much attention to my mics, though they knew what they were; sometimes people would come up and ask to be taped when they were working on a new song, so they could check out their performance. The culture, I guess, was so isolated that taping was no stranger than any of the other strange things I did. You could say people "consented" to being taped. There was no way, however, to explain what a radio was, or a radio program. It would have been like asking "so, how ’bout if we fribigated your atolimetericky, would that be okay?" Medical researchers tell me this is big ethical problem when they want to get "informed consent" for a research project……
Now to fall off the 10sec of discrete mic actually used in the story…
Is there a next step for "Africa"? I trust the last resting place is not the frozen tundra of MN. All you professionals, what is to become of the ‘peace’? Where do all these special moments I’ve heard in radio go to? I was walking around Greenwich today listening to Jay’s "Life Stories" again, and was touched by them still (I don’t have a TV here, would have been Simpson’s night back home).
Basically, What do I do with 500mb of someone’s life? Keep capturing more? Other lives? Turn the mic inside? I really like radio–for one thing, it’s a medium where you can make funny faces and get away with it (there’s a quote for transom).
It’s nearly three in the morning where I am, and I’m still wiping my eyes and recovering from "13 symptoms." I finally got up the nerve to listen to it – for personal reasons I’d been avoiding it – but Jake and Jen really blew me away.
A close friend of mine is a returned PCV (back from the Gambia 14 months ago, and still very much adjusting) – and this reminded me so much of her, her tales, her songs, her culture shock, and her big heart.
At times, I felt like I was right there, looking over Jen’s shoulder, as she carried on a series of snippet-like conversations with someone in her village, or danced to Aisha. If this has been on the radio, and I’d been driving my non-existent car (non-existent SUV), it would have turned into a hell of a long driveway moment. I probably would have looked suspicious, waiting in my car for tje end.
The gluttony metaphor/story was right on the money. In the near future I will listen to it again, to this version, and to SavTrav and Jay’s edited version – and then have some more comments, perhaps more of the helpful/constructive kind.
For now I can only offer effusive praise and say that I was moved, mesmerized and captivated. Thank you, Jake, you are a gem.
ok I work with a mic snob, many of you pride yourselves on the same…but SOMETIMES fuzziness works. Some phonecall sounds, if it’s not too fuzzy, are more intimate, it feels like the deepest part of the night. I know that it was often difficult to hear Jen, but I didn’t mind, didn’t mind ducking down for a closer "look", didn’t mind not moving a muscle – it made the listening more intense. Like Carmen’s Off the Bus, or some of her other recordings – the grittiness isn’t professional, at all. Sometimes that’s a good thing. So Jake, I think you can leave this one out of your bucket of regrets.
"Where do all these special moments I’ve heard in radio go to?" Jake wonders.
Some are sprinkled around the web here and there; some are traded back and forth, like baseball cards, among afficiandos. Some have disappeared for good.
Obviously someone (and you know who you are, don’t you?) needs to get a humongeous grant from the National Endowment for Excellent Things and start an archival collection that would really mean something to producers.
I was a peace corps volunteer in Kenya 10 years ago. Thanks for the wonderous imagery. Welcome home to Jenafir and thanks for the piece. The music, her allusions to a world so initimately familiar even ten years out, sent shivers up my nostalgic self. All the best to Jenafir and cheers to the evocative power of radio.
Larry says: "….someone (and you know who you are, don’t you?) needs to get a humongeous grant from the National Endowment for Excellent Things and start an archival collection that would really mean something to producers."
isn’t this the radio exchange? see http://www.radioexchange.org
Yeah, Helen, could be- thanks for point this out
I had a colleague at a job once — it was a live nightly news broadcast — who everyday after the show was over would turn to me and say, "Well, it’s on its way to Mars now." Meaning, despite all that’s happened, despite all the good or all the bad, everything was over and the signals were now headed for Parts Unknown. Sometimes that sucks. But then other times you’re pretty grateful. Alternatively, you could try turning the story around for print …..
the nature of the radio work – kind of like making an incomparably splendid meal – gone, in a burp. Except not, because you can put the tape back on, you can share the cd.
So we all need to beat the drum for the Radio Exchange – radio hounds, producers and programmers alike.
I lived oversees for about 15 years of public radio and since I came back am bit by bit stumbling upon works that I missed and many of them timeless and still engaging.
ANYBODY visiting this site that works with or somehow connected to a radio station needs to hammer the idea of weekly wildcat programming. Offer to help raise funds for an hour or two a week. Be a revolutionary. Be the host and producer if you have to. By the time you achieve this, the radio exchange ought to be alive. Gods willing.
It’s a dual good thing. Spread the good work and give it a long life.
I was moved by Jenafir’s realistic description of life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin. Having returned to America in 1998 after serving my own two year stint in Benin, I realized that I have spent alot of time NOT remembering the small details of my experience. Hearing this piece, brought it all back. I am grateful. Is there anyway I can get a copy of the tape?
I was listening to jenny story about Africa. It was beuatifull the recordings of the crickets and the sounds of the night. sometimes I am so caught up with work and everyday activities that I forget about the rest of the world. it is amazing that people who live so far away are so similar to us. thank you for sharing you’re experience.
This show was played on a college radio station in VA. I heard it and was transported back to teaching school in Africa and Asia. The sounds and thoughts are so real to the experience of what it is like to get outside of USA and to experience life from a totally different focus. You are never the same. I loved hearing another person describing it so well. Thanks. Mark
If anyone happens on this message, ‘Africa’ has won the ‘Assoc for Women in Communications’ best one-time public radio award…Jen: ‘you go girl!’
http://www.womcom.org/clarionwin2002.html#Radio
Utterly deserved.
it’s So nice when the nice guys win.
I’m glad more people will be able to hear it and its messages.
are you still in England Jake? Did it get on the air there?
I found your story and photos in Peace Corps newsclips from July 19. Great shots and terrific publicity for Benin and the Peace Corps.
I am President of the National Peace Corps Association, which represents RPCVs, former Staff and other friends of the Peace Corps. We do programs of global education, service, advocacy, and conflict reconciliation. We are always looking for RPCVs with special talents.
Could you provide me with your e-mail, address, phone number and years of service in Benin? Good luck and many thanks. Dane
Dane Smith
Ethiopia-Eritrea 1963-65
President
National Peace Corps Association
1900 L Street N.W. #205
Washington DC 20036
http://www.rpcv.org
202-293-7728 x19
Drop me a line, I am feeling nostalgic.
Trent
I just heard it on KQED in San Francisco at 1 AM.
Very nice.
I am now a Jake Warga fan.
What a great piece.
That was the most interesting thing I’ve heard on the radio in a long time. Thank you so much for producing such an excellent piece (and Jen for the captivating descriptions of her experiences!).
I heard this March 19 on 89.5 in Norfolk, VA. It kept me captivated! Rarely do I hear something so interesting on the radio (or the television, for that matter). I contacted NPR to find out where I could hear it again and they had no idea what I was talking about. I was so excited to find this website. Jake and Jen, you did a wonderful job.
I really was breathless at a few points in Home from Africa which I just heard today. I have a friend who did a couple of years of anthro grad research in Africa. I felt many times his alienation and pain on abandoning the people he loved there, his guilt, confusion…but mostly the emptiness he felt in life here where things are far too easy, greedy, fat…
Also I want to say that my own life, in the past few years, has come closer to the life of poor Aficans (or anyone) than most Americans of my class. This is due to my severe chemical and electromagnetic sensitivities…which have gotten a bit less drastic, and now (outdoors only) I can be near a laptop for a while, hence this note.
Hearing about Jen’s love of sweeping the dirt yard…god, I laughed and laughed into tears…I do almost everything outside too…the land means so much more to you when you do…
There were several other moments in that piece that had me near tears, and this was far and away the best program I’ve heard in a long time (Her Stories). Thank you Jake for a terrific, wonderful piece.
I love this program. I came across it while exploring links from the This American Life Web page. Every little while I come back and listen to it again. I’ve never had a similar experience, or known anyone who has, and I’m not sure why this story captivates me, but it just does. Thanks so much for making it available.
Hi Jen,
I just stumbled upon this wonderful radio piece you and Jake put together. I absolutely loved it! I knew you when you were in training in Allada. I was a SBD volunteer in Allada from 95-97 and I remember hanging out with you a bit at Jame’s place. You may not remember me as I COS’d shortly after you arrived.
I don’t know why this piece has been out for over 2 years and I’m just finding it now. Everything you said resonated with me and I cried listening to it. I was so ready to come home at the end of my two years but when the Peace Corps vehicle came to pick me up, while I was standing there with all my Beninese friends, a tidal wave of tears welled up inside of me starting from my toes. I never cried so hard in my life. It has been 7 years since I left and your radio piece made me feel like I was there again. It also made me miss it tremendously.
Luckily I’m planning on going back for a visit this summer. I’m anticapting a lot of strong emotions when I get there but I’m not sure what exactly they will be.
I have put a website together dedicated to my PC experiences and teaching people Fon. It is http://www.geocities.com/fon_is_fun . Drop me a line.
Chris Starace
While searching for information on Benin, I came across this wonderful montage. Like the star of this story, I am off to Benin to serve with the Peace Corps in June. Thanks to Jen and Jake for putting into words the reasons I’m driven to return to Africa.
hi,
i just thought i’d say something in the hopes that jen would read this. i just happened to hear your story, caught the end of it… and just had to say that i found it incredibly moving and had the effect of, at least momentarily, opening my eyes.
/rebecca
As an RPCV from up-country Ivory Coast ’64-’66,I was very impressed with Jen’s story and insights. To this day, 44 years later, I am overwhelmed and freak out in the cereal aisle of American supermarkets, perhaps that’s why I have settled in France after a Foreign Service career,
I am sorry,Jen,you got so sick over there despite the Peace Corps’s great health program.
Your exchange of greetings in the local language was OUTSTANDING and brought it all back.
The experience really did change us, didn’t it?
Thank you.
Chris Henze