Another cover story

In September 1981, Jeanette and Marius Schoon were hired as co-directors of the Botswana branch of the (UK-based) International Voluntary Service. The IVS developed as a pacifist response to world war, enabling people from different nations and backgrounds to work together as an antidote to militarism and patriotism. For example, in the aftermath of World War 2, British volunteers went to Germany and worked alongside volunteers from all over the continent helping to rebuild war-torn cities. The organisation also responded to natural disasters and initiatives that would now fall under the broad umbrella of ‘development’ work. IVS in Britain had joined with other UK agencies as part of the British Volunteer Programme, funded mainly by the government, and it had ‘overseas programmes’ in several other, mainly African, countries. In fact, according to Nigel Watt, who was the general secretary of IVS at the time, ‘budget wise, the overseas programme was the biggest because we got 75 per cent, sometimes more, from the government for this programme. It was kind of like the British Peace Corps in a way.’ Much of the overseas work had a strong emphasis on development, such as digging wells, building schools, and teaching and working at orphanages. There was, since the organisation's founding, a strong focus on the value of hard work on improving society. However, IVS staff would have resented being lumped together with NGOs and charities that are paternalistic, who simply provide ‘service’ without a sense of mutual humanity:

In fact, the situation in Botswana for IVS was substantially different from how one might imagine the Peace Corps operating in Africa. First, the organisation did not pretend to be politically neutral, but rather, ‘we thought we were supporting anti-apartheid in a way by demonstrating that racial harmony can exist in the neighbouring countries [to South Africa]. I suppose that was the kind of motivation, you could say, for IVS as an organisation to be there.