Time to honor Peace Corps volunteers

By Martin L. Kaplan

, Mar 1, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

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On March 1, 1961, the U. S. Peace Corps was officially established. This week marks the 46th anniversary of its existence. The first volunteers went overseas in the fall of that year. My group went to the Somali Republic, a new country, in the spring of 1962 to work as teachers.

All of us answered President Kennedy’s question about “what you can do for your country” by becoming part of what is one of this country’s greatest gifts to the world.

Peace Corps is an inclusive club whose members are men and women, people of all colors, all ages, all religions and with all manner of political interests.

Former Peace Corps volunteers have entered every phase of American life. There is a long list of notable volunteers in the arts, sciences, the media, corporate life and politics. Peace Corps is the one institution where Democrats and Republicans work side by side for the greater good.

As examples we have Senator Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut (Dominican Republic, 1966-68), Rep. James T. Walsh, R-New York (Nepal 1970-72), Rep. Sam Farr, D- California (Columbia 1964-66), Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut (Fiji, 1968-70), Rep. Thomas E. Petri, R-Wisconsin (Somalia, 1966-67) and Rep. Mike Honda, D-California (el Salvador 1965-67).

This collegiality needs to be reflected in the House and Senate, by all of its members, so that the needs of the people of this country can be met.

What did my own service do for me? It allowed me as a 26-year-old to travel the world, to places I never, ever thought I would see. I straddled the equator in Kenya, hiked the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands, took a steamboat around Lake Victoria, slept in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro and most importantly, made lifelong friends.

My experiences, exciting and fulfilling at the time, only made me appreciate all the more the gifts the United States had given me.

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