Ex-Peace Corps Volunteers Deserve Recognition
Fortunately, the Peace Corps Community will soon have Peace Corps Park, to be established on a National Park Service site…
President John F. Kennedy
June 10, 1963, American University
Candidate John F. Kennedy spoke to a crowd of 10,000 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and challenged the students to work and live overseas. He implored them to learn about other cultures, show others the values and mettle of the American people, and provide needed technical assistance in many aspects of international cooperation. Two weeks later, he proposed “a Peace Corps of talented men and women” who would dedicate their lives to progress and peace in developing countries.
In March of 1961, Kennedy established the Peace Corps via an executive order, and in November 1961, Congress approved legislation to make the Peace Corps a federal agency within the State Department. In 1981, it was made an independent agency.
Kennedy’s 1963 “Peace Speech” emphasized America should embark on a “strategy of peace” for all global citizens. Thus, implying the pursuits of peace and tolerance are key elements in preventing war.
I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1973 to 1975. I taught math, science and English in a rural town 350 miles southwest of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. It took 13 hours to get there by bus. I lived and worked with local teachers, spoke their language, ate local food and lived (and thrived) for over two years without running water or electricity. I learned about things so foreign I cannot even begin to explain them.
All my experiences, good and bad, enriched my life and set me on a path to help others for the rest of my life. I am enormously grateful and proud to have served as a Peace Corps volunteer (and 35 years later as a Peace Corps country director). I reported for duty as President Kennedy requested.
Since 1961, approximately 240,000 Americans have served at least two years in the Peace Corps in 143 countries across the globe. They’ve worked in small villages teaching English, promoting health, agriculture, water and sanitation, youth safety and economic development.
All have lived with health and security risks, hardship and loneliness. All have promoted America and American values. All have spread peace by example. All have been on the front lines of Kennedy’s vision.
Peace Corps volunteers are “soldiers of peace” who have shown millions the fabric and heart of America. All embody the best of America. All should be recognized as patriots and veterans in every sense of those words. All should be on par with our brave members of the military who have served to protect us throughout our history.
Thus, I call on President Joe Biden; Vice President Kamala Harris; National Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn; Sens. Marin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján; U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquéz; the entire 118th Congress; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham; the entire New Mexico Legislature; and other state legislatures to consider specific actions to widely acknowledge all who have served in the U.S. Peace Corps and outwardly thank them for their service.
Acknowledging the duty and service performed by our Peace Corps volunteers will make America stronger and help to further realize President Kennedy’s vision for peace he so eloquently put forth in 1963. As Kennedy said: “Peace is a rational end of rational men.”
Dr. Victor K. Barbiero is an Adjunct Professor of Global Health, at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University (GWU) and an Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the College of Population Health, University of New Mexico. He holds a Doctorate in Pathobiology and a Masters of Health Sciences (focusing on Famine Ecology), both from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University. He was a Fulbright Scholar from 1979-1981 in Liberia. He was appointed as the Peace Corps Country Director in Malawi from February 2009 thru November 2011.
He lives in Placitas
Wow! Nicely said! Thank you!
totally agree!!! I guess I would prefer to be called Returned Volunteers rather than Ex which sounds like we left the relationship, quit, as left the organization prior to formal end of our service period. Maybe bit picky but I don’t ever refer to myself as Ex. Except (!) in personal relationship!
I too served in Ethiopia (1962 to 64) and felt we were true pioneers in this incredible experience and experiment yet to unfold! To fly in on day 1 was overwhelmingly amazing! On a prop plane no less. There really aren’t words to describe it.
I have often wondered how the service impacted the majority of us when it came to making life choices such as work, volunteer efforts in communities at home, how we raised our children, where we donate, what questions we raise. ETC..
So how can we in numbers of thousands have a greater impact in Congress for A department of Peace, We have a Department of War, how about one on how to maintain Peace and actually have a national value placed around that? Years ago someone in Berkeley that I knew tried to get a Peace garden in DC. Don’t think that ever happened. Do we need a garden on the mall as a remembrance of RPCVs and all their accomplishments large and small?
Thanks for moving this conversation forward
Let’s add a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Well articulated, Victor.
Along with many other RPCVs, I’ve asked myself with increasing urgency:
What did Peace Corps volunteers ever do to achieve peace?
My answers are complex, as are the answers of each individual PCV. I taught students English – yet half of my students later died while fighting in liberation wars. I learned an obscure language – yet now I can speak it only with refugees who’ve fled the dictatorial regime that we once called home. After my Peace Corps years, I served local communities as an advocate for the dispossessed – yet the gap between the rich and poor grows larger each year. I’ve embraced the values of globalism and connected humanity – yet wars continue to rage. The Peace Corps remains a marginal agency in America’s vast foreign policy establishment.
There can be no doubt that we are veterans of peace-making, just as America’s soldiers became veterans of combat. 240,000 RPCVs compared to 16.5 million American military veterans may seem insignificant, yet we rightfully belong at the head of any Veterans Day parade on November 11. We fought the good fight, and one day we will win it.
Victor, Debora, Sue and Karl,
I am in support of what each of your suggestions.
I was fortunate enough to serve in Malaysia where there was a well establish medical system with competent physicians.
I came back to the States and had access to excellen low-cost medical care through my employment.
But I was fortunate, but I know fellow PVCs and RPCV’s have had serious medical/financial challenges.
There is already a system in place, the Veterans Administration Health System, that can provide medical care for our fellow RPCV.
RPCVs are veterans. Many (one is too many) have incurred illnesses while in service that continue to complicate their quatity of life and yes several have lost their lives while in service to our country.
On a less serious note, for the past 20 years my wife and I have attended our grandchildren’s musical performances at their school. Invariable the music conductor will play each of our armed services anthem and have our veterans stand to b acknowledged. That is as it should b e. Still it irked me that the Peace Corps dose not have a them and there is no symbolic way to convey to our youth that it is peace and understanding we as a nation should value rather than war and distrust.
Let’s get access to the VA health system for RPCVs and let’s get a Peace Corp Anthem – perhaps Let There Be Peace On Earth.
Jim Wolter, Malaya I
Peace Corps Volunteers are members of a vast army of Americans and peoples from other nations working toward peace. I do not think that PCVs or RPCVs are special. i am embarrassed by the idea that we or any of the members of the RPCV community would demand special recognition or even to march at the head of a Veterans Day parade.
Our work should speak for itself. If anyone wants to acknowledge the work we have done, then it should be the people we served.
To my fellow PCV and RPCV our service to our fellow men, women and children has always been the legacy all mankind, humankind should endeavor to to share. For it states that we are willing to endure the hardships to keep a promise made. Reward often comes in small ways and touches us in the very heart of our soul. Continue the legacy now and forever.
PCVs go where “angels fear to tread” Yes, thousands of peace corps volunteers have served where no other American government person would go without an armed security escort, in fact if American soldiers went to these places they would only come in a multiple armored vehicle convoy with a cluster of at least a dozen soldiers
Yet the respect and recognition of our nation is not there for those who served so alone and so far from security and help.
They are indeed America’s quiet hero’s .
Fortunately, the Peace Corps Community will soon have Peace Corps Park, to be established on a National Park Service site near the National Mall and the Capitol grounds in Washington, DC. Peace Corps Park will honor the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961 and the American ideals and values symbolized by Peace Corps service. I have been given the honor and privilege of working with an outstanding board of directors and advisory board to raise the remaining $8 million of the $10 million needed to complete this legacy initiative. We anticipate breaking ground in 2024. See more at https://www.peacecorpscommemorative.org/ and sign up for my newsletter to stay abreast of exciting developments. Contact me at Glenn@peacecorpscommemorative.org to learn more.