RPCVs George and Dee Gamble say Peace Corps encourages Americans to reach out to their brothers and sisters across the globe
Missed opportunity
Your patriotic prompt in Q on July 4, echoing the words of JFK to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" was appropriate and inspirational, but your failure to prominently include the Peace Corps both as a part of that history and a current opportunity was a disappointment.
In the midst of the Cold War in 1961, President Kennedy articulated a new humanitarian initiative in the form of the Peace Corps, which encouraged Americans to reach out to their brothers and sisters across the globe in a people-to-people understanding of cultures around the world. Since that date in 1961, over 170,000 Americans -- my wife and I among them -- have joined the Peace Corps and spent two years working in some 136 countries around the world, teaching, building, organizing and learning. All for the purpose of reaching out to our brothers and sisters and building a better understanding of our peoples and cultures, laying the groundwork for a more peaceful, cooperative future.
Here in the Triangle, we have a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer organization with several hundred members who continue to serve their country by supporting efforts that promote global understanding by sharing our international knowledge, experience and commitment with others (e.g., providing speakers for local schools and raising funds for international health and educational projects). Each in our own way, we learned from our Peace Corps experience that we share similar needs and aspirations with our global brothers and sisters and working together we can create a better world for all.
George and Dee Gamble
Chapel Hill
(The writers were Peace Corps volunteers in Gabon and Colombia, respectively.)
