The Hill News

Tomorrow, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs will vote on the “Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011.” It is a long time coming. 

In 2007, Kate Puzey, a valedictorian from Georgia, arrived in Benin as a Peace Corps volunteer to teach local children English. When she discovered that girls in her class were being sexually assaulted by another teacher, she notified Peace Corps staff in Benin’s capital. While Peace Corps decided to fire the predator, they never told Kate. Kate was now in serious danger. This man was dangerous, and Peace Corps knew that Kate specifically told them how to contact her in the event they took any disciplinary action because she feared retribution. Days later, Kate Puzey, at the tender age of 24, was found on her front porch with her throat slit. Her fear became an unfortunate reality.

Three years earlier, the Peace Corps sent “Jane” a 23-year-old bright eyed and innocent woman to Bangladesh. It w! as not long before six local men began following her home. One day they surrounded her, grabbed her, shoved her to the ground, and began touching and kissing her before eventually leaving. When she reported the attack to Peace Corps staff, they ignored her. Then, on December 6, 2004, these same men dragged her into an abandoned courtyard, raped her, and beat her until she begged for them to just kill her. In response, Peace Corps took away her cell phone, told her not to tell any of her fellow Volunteers, and sent her back to Washington, D.C. where she was subsequently blamed for the attack.

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