2011.01.31: January 31, 2011: Morocco RPCV Peter Laugharn writes: A Remarkable Leader, Sargent Shriver, Founder of the Peace Corps
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2011.01.31: January 31, 2011: Morocco RPCV Peter Laugharn writes: A Remarkable Leader, Sargent Shriver, Founder of the Peace Corps
Morocco RPCV Peter Laugharn writes: A Remarkable Leader, Sargent Shriver, Founder of the Peace Corps
"I joined the Peace Corps fifteen years after Shriver had left, but his spirit was still very strong in the organization. I came into Peace Corps training a pretty green twenty-one year old. Ten weeks later, I could speak good enough Arabic to haggle, argue, compliment, debate, and befriend. I developed a deep understanding of Moroccan culture, an understanding, which has given me patience and hope in the current era of tension between the West and Islam. In the twenty-five years since I left Morocco, my career has been about improving children's well-being in the developing world. I spent eight years with Save the Children in West Africa, then nine years heading up the Dutch Bernard van Leer Foundation focused on disadvantaged young children worldwide, and today I am the executive director of the Firelight Foundation, a foundation working to improve the well-being of children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout my career, Sargent Shriver has served as a model for the sort of leader I would like to be. Because of Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps began its existence with inspiration and credibility, and today two hundred thousand Americans have had the opportunity to serve, not only during their two years as a Volunteer, but also over the rest of their careers. Shriver's legacy is truly one to celebrate."
Morocco RPCV Peter Laugharn writes: A Remarkable Leader, Sargent Shriver, Founder of the Peace Corps
A Remarkable Leader, Sargent Shriver, Founder of the Peace Corps
By Firelight Foundation|January 31, 2011 10:51 a.m.
By Peter Laugharn, Executive Director
Shriver, the founder of the Peace Corps and tireless crusader against poverty and injustice, passed away recently at the age of 95. I never met him personally, but I felt like I knew him, and my life is much the richer for it.
Four days after my college graduation, in 1982, I was in Morocco, training to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I had always wanted to live abroad, to immerse myself in a very foreign language and culture, and to serve, to make a tangible positive difference in the lives of people around me. Peace Corps was a natural path for me, and it strongly shaped my life.
The original idea for the Peace Corps was suggested by John Kennedy during the 1960 presidential campaign. In an impromptu speech to University of Michigan college students at 2 am on October 14, 1960, Kennedy asked a group of University of Michigan college students, whether they would be willing to serve as doctors or engineers in developing countries.
As happens with the best ideas, the students took the candidate at his word, and circulated a petition that very night. Hundreds of University of Michigan students signed the petition, and the idea took on a life on its own. When Kennedy came into office, he needed to find a person who could create this new and very different agency. He chose his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver, joking that it would be easier to fire a relative than a political colleague.
Shriver, a Chicago business man, approached his task with a combination of imagination, exuberance, and drive. While the State department advised studies and a slow approach to establishing the corps, Shriver moved fast, speaking to every member of Congress about the idea and beginning a strong tradition of bipartisan support of the Peace Corps. The first Volunteers left for Ghana and Tanzania in August 1961, a month before Congress formally authorized the program. By 1963 there were 7300 Volunteers serving in 44 countries.
Shriver was an inspiration to these Volunteers. He traveled ceaselessly, visiting prime ministers and Volunteers with equal enthusiasm. He slept on the floors of modest huts that Volunteers lived in. He embodied the conviction that idealistic young persons could make a difference in the world.
I joined the Peace Corps fifteen years after Shriver had left, but his spirit was still very strong in the organization. I came into Peace Corps training a pretty green twenty-one year old. Ten weeks later, I could speak good enough Arabic to haggle, argue, compliment, debate, and befriend. I developed a deep understanding of Moroccan culture, an understanding, which has given me patience and hope in the current era of tension between the West and Islam.
In the twenty-five years since I left Morocco, my career has been about improving children's well-being in the developing world. I spent eight years with Save the Children in West Africa, then nine years heading up the Dutch Bernard van Leer Foundation focused on disadvantaged young children worldwide, and today I am the executive director of the Firelight Foundation, a foundation working to improve the well-being of children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout my career, Sargent Shriver has served as a model for the sort of leader I would like to be.
Because of Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps began its existence with inspiration and credibility, and today two hundred thousand Americans have had the opportunity to serve, not only during their two years as a Volunteer, but also over the rest of their careers. Shriver's legacy is truly one to celebrate.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: January, 2011; Shriver; Peace Corps Morocco; Directory of Morocco RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Morocco RPCVs; Sargent Shriver (Director 1961 - 1966); Figures; Peace Corps Directors; Maryland
When this story was posted in May 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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Story Source: Bay Citizen
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Morocco; Directors - Shriver; Figures; Directors
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