Lexington, KY - This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, inspired and established by President John F. Kennedy as a challenge to America's citizens to serve, explore and appreciate the different cultures and peoples of our planet. Well known for his quote requesting service to our own country, he threw out another challenge: "My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Striving for peace had become patriotic. At the dedication at the Kennedy Library of the Peace Corps exhibit, a to-be volunteer commented, "I'd never done anything political, patriotic or unselfish because nobody ever asked me to. Kennedy asked."
Lexington residents Angene and Jack Wilson's new book provides the stories of numerous Kentucky volunteers as they pursued the challenge -
from the application process, through training and on to the various locations where they spent their two-year tenure.
Some of the volunteers' motivation for joining changed as the decades passed. Jim Archambeault, who served in the Philippines from 1966-68, notes: "I'm sure part of my desire to at least apply to the Peace Corps was my earlier desire to work as a missionary. And then I was a great admirer of John Kennedy." Archambeault notes one motivation that was perhaps shared by all volunteers: "... it would have been an experience, an adventure. And I could have, idealistically perhaps, made a contribution to wherever I went."
While there was diversity in the assignments the volunteers received, there was a commonality in their experiences: culture shock, privacy issues, loneliness and health treatment concerns weighed on the volunteers, and the food was often a challenge. One volunteer was greeted with a steaming pot that, when the top was removed, contained a goat's head that was offered as a gracious gift. Another was offered what appeared to be a gloved human hand -
only to find it was a gorilla mitt, considered a delicacy.
But it was the common experience of forming invaluable bonds that remained with almost all of the participants chronicled in "Voices from the Peace Corps."
In the Wilsons' book, the impact of the Peace Corps is evident well beyond the boundaries of the many countries served. The personal accounts of those serving and served reflect experiences that changed their lives. William Salzar served in Guatemala 1972-73 and said, "That was a time in my life that helped define who I was."
Others spoke of their lessons in humility and tolerance, as well as the strength their new-found confidence brought them as they became more willing to take risks and reach out to people of other cultures. "I think I am more tolerant of different points of view," writes Sarah Payne, who served in Gambia from 1989-91. "I'm much more open to being influenced by other people and their way of thinking."
Closing the book, the Wilsons look back at their own experiences in Suehn, Liberia, and note, "Friendship is the meaning of Peace Corps." Angene hopes "that this book gets in every middle school and high school library, and that kids read it and know that these things have happened and that they can do things like this."
Angene Wilson is a professor emerita of education at UK and has trained teachers in Fiji, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Jack Wilson spent more than 35 years in public service and continues as an administrator of environmental programs in Kentucky and Ohio.