The 40th plus one - One has the sense that such a reunion cannot fail; these people will always find a way to succeed by calling upon their collective knowledge of how to get by when everything you had planned for didn't happen
NPCA 40 + 1 Celebration
By Peter de Groot (Former FoB President)
It is a strange sort of energy that emanates from and envelops a crowd of thousands of returned volunteers all gathered in one place. And this is not just any volunteer crowd, but a highly select cross section of returnees obsessive enough with their two-year sliver of life overseas to pay travel costs and a substantial entrance fee to the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps. No, this group does not subscribe to the usual list of personal and intellectual agendas. They gather in Washington DC to proudly display their name tags emblazoned with their country of service, jam into overcrowded Ethiopian restaurants in the Adams-Morgan District, dust off their dialects and argue in Hausa for debt relief.
Thousands of veterans of foreign peace. Hailing cabs, spilling over the sidewalks, crowding the zoo, filling the lobby of the Omni Shorham hotel, and sporting their organizational patriotism in the form of T shirts, caps, buttons and bookbags that are not only fashionable and functional, but support financially the Madison, Wisconsin geographical group.
Resourceful people. The public address system stumbles at the opening ceremony, no more reliable than a bus schedule in Ouagadougou. So the assembled crowd sings acappella through not only the US national anthem but that of Peru, as well. One has the sense that such a reunion cannot fail; these people will always find a way to succeed by calling upon their collective knowledge of how to get by when everything you had planned for didn't happen.
Many young people, recent returnees, but many more older people, 40+ like the Peace Corps, and many from the first groups of volunteers that gathered on the tarmac in the 1960's for group photos prior to shipping out to Ghana, India, Afghanistan and Dahomey. The in-betweens are fewer. They are busy working through the thick part of adult life, raising families, funding the core of their 401K plans, and sorting out what else besides their Peace Corps service will be the focus of their lives. A reunion such as this is perhaps a luxury of the spare time of youth and the relative affluence of middle age. But quite few continue to be engaged at some level with the Peace Corps experience and will be permanently-for them, this is their life. These are the group leaders, the organizers, the advocacy specialists and the current and former PC staff that form the core of the National Peace Corps Association.
Thoughtful people who believe that what they did in the name of global service was and is fundamentally a good thing. Faithful to the cause, they cheer Sergeant Shriver as the father of the movement and pay homage to JFK by marching en masse to ponder his eternal flame at Arlington cemetery. Overfilling ballrooms for writer's workshops, focus groups, and discussion sessions on understanding Islam in today's world, planning, voting, remembering, and recommitting.
Americans deeply loyal to their host countries. This itself is perhaps the most moving and admirable quality of returned volunteers. These people are in love with places that often, ironically, made them more emotionally and physically miserable than they have ever been in their entire lives. They are in love with cultures and a way of life that they adapted to, that they learned to appreciate, and that they sometimes miss terribly. A place where they succeeded in working, making friends and fond memories in the face of huge and absurd obstacles. A host country that means as much to them as their own, because after a time they felt accepted, despite the great gaps in language, culture and expectations. This is a great victory worth remembering.
Ordinary people who miss their fellow travelers from an intense time of life and are overjoyed to see them again at a reunion, and meet new friends who lived the same experience and who instantly understand.
So I shared the honor of carrying the flag in our small Friends of Benin delegation for the procession across Memorial Bridge, jumping out of line from time to time to take a picture of the hundreds of marchers and 130 splendidly colorful host-country banners. True, I wrapped myself in the green, yellow and red fabric during the closing ceremonies much of the time simply to shield myself from the intense sunlight of that June morning in Washington. Still, I have pride in the flag of Benin, whether it is flying at the Embassy or on Bill Lommel's rooftop. We owe a great deal to Benin and its people. I figure an Amtrak ticket and the entry fee for a reunion once every 40 years is the least I can do.
