Malawi RPCV Gordon Radley says Peace Corps still a shining light



"Now, more than ever, when America's primary outreach to the world is militarism, capitalism or globalization, we need to celebrate, honor and expand that part of the American zeitgeist that is represented by Peace Corps service. Peace Corps volunteers are not misguided or naive idealists. They have volunteered to go overseas because they are willing to live and work alongside others very different from themselves and because they know they will learn as much as they will help. "

Malawi RPCV Gordon Radley says Peace Corps still a shining light

Peace Corps still a shining light

Gordon Radley

FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, on March 1, 1961, President Kennedy officially established the Peace Corps. He had first mentioned the idea of a "Peace Corps" during a campaign speech on the steps of the University of Michigan student union.

When he arrived, hours late, it was 2 a.m. and freezing cold. He was met by 10,000 students, chanting his name. Enthused by this welcome, in unprepared remarks, Kennedy challenged the assembled students to an undertaking of service: "How many of you are willing to spend several years of your life in Africa or Latin America or Asia working for the United States and for freedom?"

Within days, 800 students had signed up to serve.

My sister was among the assembled students who heard Kennedy's challenge that freezing night in Ann Arbor. She was a sophomore and when she graduated in 1963, she became a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia.

In May 1961, soon after Kennedy established the Peace Corps, my brother was one of the first Americans selected to train for the Peace Corps. He was the first person to give his life in Peace Corps service.

Along with another volunteer and 37 Colombians, he was killed in a plane crash in the Colombian Andes on Easter Sunday 1962.

Upon his death, Kennedy said: "It was the men and women like him who established the Peace Corps, demonstrated that it could work and stilled the critics who thought our nation was too soft."

In 1968, when I graduated from college, I became a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi, Central Africa.

When I mention Peace Corps these days, the inevitable response is: "Is that still around? I hear nothing about it." Yes, Virginia, there is a Peace Corps. Since 1961 more than 182,000 Americans have served in 138 countries.

Today, there are 7,810 volunteers serving in 75 countries; nearly 60 percent are women.

It remains as successful and effective as ever, but is it thriving as it should?

The budget of the Peace Corps is under $320 million, which is less than the budget for the military's marching bands.

It is so small as to be a "rounding error" in the budget for the State Department.

President Bush has been on record as wanting to expand Peace Corps. In Congress, there are as many Republican as Democrats that are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

It remains a favorite on the Hill because it is so successful and cost-effective.

Yet, in this era of fiscal belt tightening, each year Congress cuts the president's requested budget for the Peace Corps.

Now, more than ever, when America's primary outreach to the world is militarism, capitalism or globalization, we need to celebrate, honor and expand that part of the American zeitgeist that is represented by Peace Corps service. Peace Corps volunteers are not misguided or na"ve idealists.

They are not serving because of some missionary impulse to "do good."

They have volunteered to go overseas because they are willing to live and work alongside others very different from themselves and because they know they will learn as much as they will help.

As anyone who has ever served in the Peace Corps will tell you, it is "the hardest job you'll ever love."

Peace Corps volunteers serve quietly, without fanfare and with little recognition by our country.

There are no parades for returning volunteers and there are no flag-draped coffins for the volunteers who have given their lives in Peace Corps service.

While our leaders champion our democratic ideals, it is our Peace Corps volunteers who are "walking the walk" and showing the rest of the world that Americans can live and work alongside others, quietly, humbly and with an open heart.

When this year's budget comes up for approval, it is time for Congress to recognize the Peace Corps as the national priority it has become and give it the funding it needs and deserves.

Gordon Radley of Sausalito is a former president of Lucasfilm Ltd. He works with public and private companies in the entertainment and new media industries.


(c) 2006 Marin Independent Journal. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.

When this story was posted in March 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Re-envision Peace Corps Slavery was once called "the peculiar institution," but a better candidate for this title may be the Peace Corps. Current geopolitics make this a good time to probe Peace Corps' peculiarity, as prelude to a long overdue reconceptualization of what is arguably the most underused federal entity. An imaginatively reinvented Peace Corps could powerfully promote US interests in a period when perceptions of American motives are increasingly relevant to global realignment. Read a call to "Re-envision Peace Corps" by Nicholas J. Slabbert and PC Country Director J.R. Bullington. Their study envisions a new role for the Peace Corps in five linked areas: (1) reinventing America's international profile via a new use of soft power; (2) moving from a war-defined, non-technological, reactive theory of peace to a theory of peace as a normal, proactive component of technologically advanced democracy; (3) reappraising Peace Corps as a national strategic asset whose value remains largely untapped; (4) Peace Corps as a model for the technological reinvention of government agencies for the 21st century; (5) redefining civil society as information technology society.

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The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory. New: Sign up to receive PCOL Magazine, our free Monthly Magazine by email. Like to keep up with Peace Corps news as it happens? Sign up to recieve a daily summary of Peace Corps stories from around the world.

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Invitee re-assigned after inflammatory remarks The Peace Corps has pulled the invitation to Derek Volkart to join the Morocco Training Program and offered him a position in the Pacific instead after officials read an article in which he stated that his decision to join the Peace Corps was in "response to our current fascist government." RPCV Lew Nash says that "If Derek Volkart spoke his mind as freely in Morocco about the Moroccan monarchy it could cause major problems for himself and other Peace Corps volunteers." What do other RPCVs think?

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March 1, 1961: Keeping Kennedy's Promise On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency: "Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language. But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace. "

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Paid Vacations in the Third World? Retired diplomat Peter Rice has written a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Peace Corps "is really just a U.S. government program for paid vacations in the Third World." Director Vasquez has responded that "the small stipend volunteers receive during their two years of service is more than returned in the understanding fostered in communities throughout the world and here at home." What do RPCVs think?

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RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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