Issue: Summer 2004

Postcards from the Peace Corps - About the Peace Corps

The Peace Corps has deployed more than 170,000 Americans to more than 137 countries worldwide since its creation in 1961. Volunteers live modestly and work at the grass-roots level in education, health care and AIDS awareness, the environment, business development, agriculture and other fields. In addition, volunteers take on secondary projects of their choice, based on community needs. Some examples: adult literacy, water sanitation, basic first aid, starting a community garden, leading a youth group or organizing a sports league. “Really, the sky’s the limit,” says recruiter and returned volunteer Jason Rothbard.

History
The Peace Corps was born at a late-night University of Michigan campaign rally when Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, in an unscripted moment, asked how many in the audience would be willing to serve their country and the cause of peace by living and working in the developing world. Ten thousand students roared their consent.

A few days before his election, Kennedy gave another speech at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, referencing The Ugly American – a 1958 bestseller about an incompetent U.S. diplomatic corps and the ex-pat who puts them to shame digging roads and building bridges alongside the local people. Seventy percent of new foreign service officers, Kennedy charged in 1960, had no foreign language skills. Only three of the 44 embassy staffers in Belgrade spoke Yugoslavian; not a single diplomat in New Delhi knew any Indian dialects. On March 1, 1961, little more than a month after his inauguration, JFK issued an executive order establishing the Peace Corps.The agency’s three-fold mission was (and still is):

• helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women;
• helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and
• helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.

The idea wasn’t entirely without precedent. In 1901, 540 American teachers had set sail for the Philippines to prepare the war-torn colony for nationhood. Named for their ship, the S.S. Thomas, these “Thomasites” were the first volunteers to go abroad at the government’s behest.

Ten years later, author William James wrote an essay urging “our gilded youths” to serve as volunteers for the greater good of society. In the 1950s, Sargent Shriver proposed sending three-man teams of volunteers to Asia, Africa and Latin America to “offer their services at a grassroots level and work directly with the people, contributing to the growth of the economies, to the democratic organization of the societies and the peaceful outcome of the social revolutions underway.”

In June 1960, a few months before Kennedy’s famous speech, Sen. Hubert Humphrey proposed Senate bill 3675, expressly using the name “Peace Corps” for the first time.

Budget
The 2004 Peace Corps budget is $325 million, including $15 million to fight AIDS. The Bush Administration proposes to double the size of the agency over five years. At present, approximately 7,500 volunteers are serving in 71 countries.

Compensation and Benefits
Depending on cost of living in their host nation, volunteers receive an allowance of $100 to $300 a month – enough to live like their neighbors. Fringe benefits include medical and dental care, travel expenses and modest vacation stipends. On returning home, Peace Corps volunteers receive a one-time re-adjustment allowance of $6,000, plus other perks, such as non-competitive eligibility for federal jobs and special graduate fellowships.

Joining Up
Unlike the French Foreign Legion, not just anyone can join the Peace Corps. “On average, 30 percent of those who apply actually end up going overseas,” says Rothbard. Candidates, whether couples or individuals, must go through a rigorous application process requiring essays, letters of recommendation and a resumé preferably demonstrating prior volunteerism. This is followed by in-person interviews, a medical examination and government background checks. If “nominated” by the recruiter, candidates may specify a preferred region. They then wait to be “invited” to join a specific program – which they may decline, though country-shopping is a no-no. From filling out the forms to traveling oversees can take six months to a year. “The application process itself is a test of someone’s flexibility and commitment,” says Rothbard. “If you can’t stick out the application process, what chance is there that you’ll stick out your two-year commitment in a foreign country?”

Once Placed
Volunteers arrive in their country of service in groups of 15 to 40. Temporarily placed with host families, they receive three months of language instruction, technical skills training, health education and cross-cultural orientation, usually in a central city. At the end of this period, most go to a new location where they’ll live independently. Says Rothbard: “They’re in charge of their own food, shopping and cooking, paying bills, taking care of daily necessities, such as boiling and filtering drinking water.” – Diane Krieger