Peace Corps tour to aid Soldier's medical career

FORT SILL, Okla. (Sept, 18, 2014) -- Spc. Evan Franklin, graduated Basic Combat Training here Sept. 12, his first step in an Army career in medicine, a field that keeps popping up in his life.

Before enlisting in the Army and choosing the health care specialist military occupational speciality (MOS), the former D Battery, 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery Soldier majored in sports medicine at San Diego State University. Although he changed majors and graduated with a philosophy degree, he remained focused on the medical career field.

Franklin said a desire to make a difference in the world led him to serve in the Peace Corps for nearly three years. He chose Morocco and settled in to his duties as a health care provider in a small remote town of about 15,000 people. Unlike the Army's extensive support systems, he was one of four Americans in the immediate area, and the closest, over two hours away, was someone he only saw about twice a month.

Compounding this limited availability of help, his health care provider title got lost in translation to the locals, who understood him to be a doctor. Believing that, they brought their children with cuts and scrapes, and a variety of ailments to his home for treatment.

The first few months were spent learning customs and courtesies, and being shown around town gradually learning the language. Many people didn't know what to make of the African American man at first.

"They thought I was from sub-Saharan Africa and that I already spoke some form of Arabic or French but was just slow," said Franklin. "Knowing an American was living in their town, they expected that person to be white."

In time word got around the black man was the American, who was new to their language.

"Everyone spoke slowly to me, which helped a lot," he said.

Franklin said the locals were pleasant to him, hospitable to the point of treating him like an honored guest and were extremely honest. Briefings he'd received before his arrival suggested to keep his valuables locked up. In contrast, four times he lost his passport only to have someone stop him on the street and hand it to him.

Franklin's Peace Corps training gave him the skills to do AIDS testing and education; vaccination drives and eyeglass fittings of glasses Americans donated.

Then an event happened for which he wasn't trained.

Late one night an aggitated young man came to his house talking loudly and pounding on the door. At first Franklin thought the visitor had the wrong house, but then he went out to see what the commotion was about. The spirited man urged him to come with him while frequently repeating girl and baby. Franklin followed him to a woman lying down, But he still wasn't sure what the man wanted of him.

"I saw the girl and asked, 'Where's the baby?' He kept pointing to the girl and said, 'It's there, it's there ... not yet,'" said Franklin, who finally realized the young woman was likely in labor.

The two men managed to get her back to his house, but Muslim customs, which protected her honor, prevented him from placing her inside; instead they unrolled a mat in the courtyard where the woman could lie down. At that point the young man ran off and Franklin resorted to memories of movie clips of the hero cowboy heating water for an expectant mother. Not knowing what else to do, he sat and waited until he had to do something. Then, three midwives showed up and took care of the entire birthing process.

"Thank God they showed up," recalled Franklin exhaling a still audible sigh of relief. "They delivered the baby then took it and the mother, and just left without saying a word."

Thinking the ordeal was over, a visitor surprised him a few days later with a goat. He understood it to be a way of saying thanks. Franklin said that was a big deal to the villagers as not everyone had a goat.

Ultimately, the goat "stayed for dinner," an event attended by many members of the mother's family who prepared, cooked and served it in the home of their honored American friend. Interspersed in conversations he kept hearing himself referred to as the "doctor." Although he feared his house might become the place women brought their babies or other pregnant women came to, that didn't happen again.

Franklin said the Peace Corps taught him he could endure anything -- from extreme hot and cold, to language barriers to little assistance in getting any of his projects done. He found within the self-motivation and patience to keep pushing on and to wait when necessary when the wheels of progress no longer moved forward.

"All the programs I did came from my own ideas; I was able to get things done and realized that was a trait I could carry forward into any profession I chose," he said.

Franklin knew the Peace Corps would take him no further -- that he would continue to serve in the village he was at with no options for change. Because of that, when his service ended, Franklin returned home and began looking into enlisting in the Army. With its many career fields and global reach, he expected it would better way to further develop as a person.

"I saw the Army and its abundant resources in what it could do to get first aid and help people promptly instead of the weeks it took me in the Peace Corps to get supplies for a vaccination drive," he said. "I could keep my 'want to save the world' mission in place and enjoy a prosperous career."

As for his selection of the health care specialist MOS, he said his mom keeps telling him someday he will become a doctor.

"That may happen as I'd like to become an officer and may apply for the Green-to-Gold program after Advanced Individual Training," he said.