This commentary is by Richard M. Roderick of Wells River, who served in the Peace Corps in Jamaica from 1974 to 1977, teaching agriculture to students in grades eight to 11.
You may not be aware that in 2020 nearly 7,000 Americans were serving in the Peace Corps in some 60 countries (including in Ukraine). They came home in March 2020.
The Peace Corps, like much of the world, has been grounded by Covid-19 for the past two years, with no volunteers currently serving abroad. This is about to change, and as the Peace Corps gets ready to relaunch, it’s my hope, as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Jamaica, that it does so even better than before.
The good news is that this is possible. The 240,000 Americans who served since the agency’s founding in 1961 didn’t sit still. Our community’s voices were organized by our returned volunteer membership organization — National Peace Corps Association — to ensure that America’s most iconic service agency lives up to President Kennedy’s grand vision of bringing the world together in peace.
This vision is more urgent today due to global threats we all face, from the pandemic to climate change, to the retreat of democracy around the world and the invasion of Ukraine.
I went into the Peace Corps as a bright-eyed 20-year-old without really knowing what to expect and what impact, if any, I might have. I didn’t think about what impact Peace Corps and my host country neighbors and students would have on me.
My neighbors wanted food on their tables, a nice house to live in, steady work, good health care and good education for their children, just like my neighbors did back home. The students had hopes and dreams of having a better life than their parents. I came home with the realization that people, wherever they were from, were more alike than different.
Eight times I have returned to where I lived and taught and each time I am overwhelmed by how warmly my former students and neighbors welcome me, and they all seem to have a story to share about the three years I was part of their community. March 1 marked the anniversary of President Kennedy’s 1961 executive order establishing the Peace Corps, and volunteers will soon return to service overseas.
At least eight countries have met revised health, safety and security standards for volunteers to return, while more nations are close to meeting those standards. Volunteers are expected to return to Zambia and the Dominican Republic this month.
We have also seen Washington take to heart the views of the Peace Corps community. Reforms to programs are being adopted. New ideas about incorporating racial justice and equity into agency activities are being advanced.
Yet more needs to be done. The first step toward completing an overhaul of Peace Corps operations is new authorizing legislation. The Peace Corps Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1456) includes provisions to improve in-service and post-service health care; extend the critical mission of a Sexual Assault Advisory Council; enhance several volunteer financial benefits; expedite applications for volunteers wishing to return to service after Covid brought them home; and raise opportunities and respect for Peace Corps service.
While it’s been over 20 years since Congress reauthorized the original Peace Corps Act, last September Democrats and Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee came together and passed H.R.1456 by a vote of 44-4. The rest of Congress should follow their lead. Vermont has been lucky, as our congressional delegation has a history of strong support for Peace Corps.
As volunteers again prepare for service, please thank Rep. Peter Welch for co-sponsoring the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act and ask that he help bring the legislation to a final vote as soon as possible. Also please urge Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders to actively join the House in supporting bipartisan passage of this legislation when it comes before the Senate, an important step toward deepening our nation’s commitment to service and our nation’s highest ideals.
Since 1961, Vermont has sent 1,629 volunteers, including 46 who were evacuated in 2020, to serve in the name of peace around the world with the Peace Corps.
