American Ambassador's Remarks at Reception for Peace Corps Volunteers in Moscow
Read and comment on this story from the US Embassy in Moscow on U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow for Peace Corps volunteers currently serving in Russia, returned volunteers who had served in previous years, Peace Corps staff, U.S. Embassy staff and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education. His words to volunteers included "You have been wonderful ambassadors for the U.S. in your own right, and I am confident that, as cooperation between Russia and the United States strengthens over the years to come, it will become increasingly evident that you, and all the other Peace Corps volunteers who came before you, have helped to open the door to mutual understanding." Read the speech at:
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Reception for Peace Corps Volunteers Spaso House February 13, 2003
Good evening. Tonight, it is my pleasure to host a reception to thank and bid farewell to the last group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Russia. I would like to begin by welcoming the many individuals who have supported the Peace Corps program over the years, including the community leaders who hosted volunteers in cities and towns throughout Russia, and our colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education.
I also want to recognize former Peace Corps volunteers from the Embassy and Moscow area, Peace Corps staff, and, of course, the volunteers themselves. I would additionally like to offer an especially warm welcome to Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez, Regional Director Judy Van Rest and Special Assistant Amanda Host, who traveled all the way from Washington just to join us this evening.
As chief of the U.S. Mission to the Russian Federation, one of my main efforts has been to promote public outreach. Russians are bombarded by a multitude of images of the United States from many different sources, not all of them accurate or representative of America and its people.
Our Mission aims to expose Russians not only to the U.S. government's point of view on matters of foreign policy, but to various aspects of the U.S. often overlooked by news and entertainment media - its civil society, its culture of debate, its sometimes quirky form of democracy and the diversity of its people who live and work together in relative harmony, with only occasional sour notes.
I have been able to travel to many cities throughout Russia, along with colleagues from the Embassy, to try to give our Russian friends a better sense of who Americans are, to promote the work of the U.S. Embassy, to highlight the resources we make available to Russian citizens, and to experience Russian life outside of the MKAD.
The trips I have taken, from Kaliningrad to Saratov, from Volgograd to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, have been greatly satisfying, on a personal as well as professional level, and I wish I had more time to be on the road, to have more chances to talk to your average Russian. In this way I envy the Peace Corps volunteers. And I'd now like to address the Peace Corps volunteers who are here tonight directly.
You have been able to meet Russians at a level not always available to me or others in the Embassy community, conferring as we do most often with leaders of the federal and regional governments, biznesmeny, university rektors, heads of NGOs. You are invited into the communities and homes of your Russian hosts, and, in turn, share their work and lives.
For the last ten years, volunteers like you have lived all over Russia and taught English, business and environmental courses, promoted entrepreneurship, education and community development. Just as important, the more than 700 Peace Corps volunteers and their Russian hosts have sat across tables from one another, shared meals, celebrated holidays, discussed their lives, debated ideas and offered windows into the cultures of both countries.
You Peace Corps volunteers represent the diversity of background, opinion and ideas of the United States in a way that no outreach program could hope to match. You all offered to give several years of your lives to serve in Russia, displaying a typically American sense of adventure, willing to leave your families and friends to live as a member of the Russian community, finding, I am sure, new families and new friends in the process.
You have helped achieve one of the main goals established by our two Presidents last May, to "strengthen contacts between our societies and citizens." I am impressed constantly by your dedication, focus and energy, and I admire your generosity of spirit.
Of course, the last year has not been an easy one. But as you complete your service, I want to impress upon you that you have served with dignity, that your work has made a difference in Russia, and that you should depart with a sense of pride in what you have accomplished.
You have been wonderful ambassadors for the U.S. in your own right, and I am confident that, as cooperation between Russia and the United States strengthens over the years to come, it will become increasingly evident that you, and all the other Peace Corps volunteers who came before you, have helped to open the door to mutual understanding.
Thank you, Peace Corps volunteers. We wish you nothing but success in all your future endeavors. And thank you all again for coming tonight.
At this time, I would like to invite Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez to the podium to say a few words. More about Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Russia
Despite the way that the Russia Program ended, let's finish up the story of the Peace Corps in Russia on a happy and hopeful note by reading about Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in Russia and some of the stories they have to tell at:
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