Peace What?
- madisonunderwood93
- Oct 9, 2016
- 2 min read
“So I’ve been reading your post and they sound really cool but tbh I’m not even really sure what the Peace Corps is…?”
I’ve gotten this question plenty of times since announcing that I would be joining the Peace Corps so if you haven’t asked and have been wondering this post is for you or if you just want to know more about the Peace Corps in general keep reading.
John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps in 1961 to promote world peace and friendship. Since then approximately 210,000 volunteers have served in 140 countries around the world. John F. Kennedy appointed Sargent Shriver as the very first Peace Corps Director. While preparing for my time as a PCV I found a speech by Sargent Shriver and have attached it in case anyone feels inclined to read one part of what inspired me to join this great service.
There are currently 7,000 PCVs serving in 60 countries. The average age of a PCV is 26-years-old, but I know volunteers as young as 20- and over 60-years-old. There are many sectors in the PC including youth in development, community economic development, environment, health and agriculture, but education is the sector that the largest percentages of volunteers serve in. Volunteers serve at all levels of education (primary to university level) teaching subjects such as math, science, and conversational English.
There are three main goals of the Peace Corps. The first is help people of interested countries meet their needs by providing trained men and women. Those men and women, volunteers, go through language and technical training as well as have intercultural discussions so they can integrate into a community. The second goal of the PC is to help promote a better understanding of Americans to those people served. Volunteers are expected to be ambassadors of the United States of America by promoting diversity and equality. The third main goal of the PC is to help promote a better understanding of other people to Americans. Volunteers attempt this by sharing their understanding of the culture, language, and traditions with others.
I’ll end with what are the most important aspects of the Peace Corps mission are for me personally: being on the ground forming in-person relationships and making a difference in peoples lives, yes it is possible to help through a computer screen but forming real relationships makes the help so much more personal for the locals and impacts me in a greater way as well. I also find it very important to promote the understanding of another culture back home, and it is my personal goal to fulfill the third goal of the PC as much as possible during my service. As I get to learn more about Ukrainian culture I will include posts ranging from mini language lessons to recipes to informational posts about a variety of traditions. Of course if you ever have any specific questions let me know!
“Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us” –Sargent Shriver
-M
*I obviously didn't know all these statistics off the top of my head, despite how smart I like to think I am... I got them through www.peacecorps.gov website