Peru RPCV and MSU President M. Peter McPherson meets with RPCVs and Prospective PCVs
McPherson, Peace Corps members meet
By AMY BARTNER
The State News
JASON FIEDLER · The State News
MSU President M. Peter McPherson speaks to former Peace Corps volunteers and current candidates Wednesday night at Cowles House. McPherson volunteered in Lima, Peru, in the early 1960s.
Former Peace Corps members, prospective members and their families gathered in the living room of Cowles House on Wednesday evening listening to MSU President M. Peter McPherson speak about his experience in the organization.
"These were great experiences, they really were," he said proudly of his time organizing credit unions in Lima, Peru, in the early 1960s. "Most of us feel we got as much or more than we were able to give."
Many of the former members had traveled to countries such as Ukraine, Morocco and Paraguay to help struggling citizens in various areas of life.
McPherson said he considers his time in the Peace Corps an important time in his life and encourages other people to join.
"The Peace Corps was a very special time for me," he said. "Those times and those friendships were just wonderful."
And he doesn't just encourage graduating college students to join the organization - people of all ages can do it.
Phyllis Gloden, 75, went to the African nation of Lesotho from 2001 to 2003 working with quilters to help them market their product.
"Look at me," she said. "It doesn't matter how old you are. As long as you pass a physical and you're not a felon, you can go."
Gloden said before she applied for the program, she wondered if there were an age limit. There isn't.
E.J. Buss also went to Lesotho to help quilters but had to cut her trip short because of sickness. Buss, 68, chose to join after she retired and her two children were older.
"It was kind of one of those things that was always an interest," she said But added that the corps isn't for everyone.
"My kids were worried," she said. "It's not for people with families, but I encourage all my grandchildren to do it."
The experience affected her so much, she said, that she wonders how different her life would have been if she had traveled to Lesotho at a younger age.
"If I had had these experiences when I was younger, I probably would've had a different career," she said, adding that she would have wanted to be involved with foreign affairs. "It definitely broadens your life."
