National Peace Corps Week

43 years ago, President Kennedy stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” A month and a half later, on March 1, President Kennedy signed the bill establishing the Peace Corps. Since that day, 170,000 Americans have heeded President Kennedy’s call and have worked in 137 different countries. Today, more than 7,500 volunteers live and work in more than 70 nations around the globe. Peace Corps volunteers work in such diverse fields as education, health, HIV/AIDS education and awareness, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture.
President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Three simple goals comprise the Peace Corps mission:
1. Helping the people of interested countries meet their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.
From March 1 through March 7, 2004, thousands of former Peace Corps volunteers, representing more than 100 countries of service, will share their overseas experience in communities around the United States. Through these presentations during Peace Corps week, former volunteers help raise awareness of the Peace Corps. These volunteers also highlight the opportunity to serve as a volunteer and the many benefits of Peace Corps service.
During Peace Corps week, if you know a Peace Corps volunteer, thank him or her for going overseas and representing the very best the United States has to offer. Peace Corps volunteers are on the frontlines for promoting peace. These are selfless and determined people who are trying to make a difference in the lives of others. They live in far away lands and village with exotic names. They live in places with out basic services like running water and electricity. They live in places where children go hungry; where children do not go to school; where disease and malnutrition are facts of life. They work in schools without textbooks and in clinics without medicines.
These volunteers are promoting a side of the United States rarely seen or heard about in foreign countries. Most of what host country nationals know about the United States comes from Hollywood movies or from news stories. These volunteers are working to promote the United States as good and peaceful, not the materialistic society it has been portrayed as in the movies. They are working to promote the image of the United States as peaceful, not the go it alone cowboy, the United States has been portrayed as in the foreign press.
Our servicemen and women are heroes for going to far off places to defend our freedoms. Peace Corps volunteers are heroes for going to far off places and promoting peace and friendship. We should remember and thank all our heroes for their sacrifices to freedom and peace.
If you have the opportunity to speak with a volunteer, take advantage of it. They all have interesting stories to tell. They all have had the adventure of a lifetime.
For more information about Peace Corps, visit the Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov.