[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1877-S1880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE PEACE CORPS' 40TH ANNIVERSARY

 Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, at a recent event at the John F. 
Kennedy Library in Boston, the Chairman of the Library Foundation, Paul 
G. Kirk, Jr., and the new Director of the Peace Corps, Mark Schneider, 
spoke of the importance of the Peace Corps as it launched its year-
long, 40th anniversary celebration. Mr. Schneider announced a new 
initiative to expand the role of Peace Corps volunteers in bringing 
information technology to the task of reducing poverty in developing 
countries. He also outlined a plan to expand the Peace Corps' efforts 
to raise global awareness about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
  It is fitting that this occasion was held at President Kennedy's 
library. In March 1961, President Kennedy launched the Peace Corps as a 
new idea to demonstrate that a new generation of Americans was moving 
into positions of leadership in the United States, and they intended to 
serve the cause of peace around the world.
  The Peace Corps today continues its vital and thriving mission, with 
7,400 volunteers serving in 77 countries, including recent missions in 
South Africa, Jordan, Mozambique and Bangladesh. In the past four 
decades, more than 150,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps 
volunteers in 134 countries, promoting peace, education, economic 
development and international cooperation.
  Mr. President, I commend the significant current role of the Peace 
Corps in involving U.S. citizens in world affairs, and making the world 
a better place by their efforts. I ask consent that the addresses by 
Mark Schneider and Paul Kirk be printed in the Record.
  The material follows:

                      Remarks of Paul G. Kirk, Jr.

       Thank you, Jim. Good evening. I know this is a special 
     occasion for all of you, but I want you to know that it is an 
     equally special evening for those of us associated with the 
     Kennedy Library. Like each of you, I am also a volunteer in 
     an important cause. And in my responsibilities as Chairman of 
     the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library 
     Foundation, few privileges are as significant as having the 
     honor to welcome home so many Peace Corps Volunteers to the 
     nation's memorial to President Kennedy.
       Senator Kennedy and Mark Schneider agreed that this 
     Library, whose mission it is to honor John Kennedy's public 
     life and career and to perpetuate his passion for service, is 
     the most appropriate site at which to begin the celebration 
     of the 40th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. And I 
     congratulate you and I am delighted to welcome you all on 
     behalf of the Kennedy Family, our Board of Directors and our 
     dedicated staff.
       Here in New England, as you know, we enjoy many seasons. At 
     this time of year, we look forward to the springtime--a 
     season when nature's energy bursts forth, when promise and 
     hope are renewed--when opportunities seem limitless--and when 
     a spirit of confidence and optimism make all of us, 
     regardless of our age, feel younger than our years.
       If it could be said that politics also has seasons, 40 
     years ago there began a season in our history that proved to 
     be--and remains today--the height of America's political 
     springtime--as the nation, renewed in energy, hope and 
     idealism, responded to the patriotic call to service of the 
     newly elected, youthful 35th President of the United States.
       If, as I believe, his 1000 days were ``the height of 
     America's political springtime'', then it must be said that 
     the planting and the subsequent flowering of the Peace Corps 
     epitomizes all that is the very best in the lasting legacy of 
     that season of service.
       On March 1, 1961, 6 weeks after his inauguration, upon 
     signing the Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps, 
     President Kennedy said he was convinced that ``We have in 
     this country, an immense reservoir of men and women--anxious 
     to sacrifice their energies and time and toil to the cause of 
     world peace and human progress.''
       He acknowledged that ``life in the Peace Corps will not be 
     easy,'' but he also promised it would be ``rich and 
     satisfying.''
       ``. . . (E)very young American who participates in the 
     Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land''--he said, ``will 
     know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of 
     bringing to man that decent way of life which is the 
     foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.''
       40 years later, thanks to your service and what you 
     continue to do, his words have a timeless quality.
       Tonight, you begin your 40th Anniversary celebration at a 
     Library and Museum that celebrates scholarship and service in 
     John Kennedy's memory each day it opens its doors. His 
     history and yours are preserved here for scholastic research.
       We seek to perpetuate his inspiration and yours by the 
     various activities and programs which take place here: the 
     Profile in Courage Award, the Distinguished Foreign Visitors 
     Programs, the forums and symposia promoting public discourse 
     on the issues of our time, the 1st Pres. Debate of general 
     election

[[Page S1878]]

     2000 which we will co-host with the University of 
     Massachusetts-Boston, the John F. Kennedy Library Corps a 
     youth based community service and leadership program modeled 
     after the Peace Corps itself.
       Your own service in the Peace Corps and your presence here 
     tonight speak the mission of the Kennedy Library. At a time 
     when citizen participation, even voting, in the world's 
     greatest democracy, is embarrassingly low, reminding others 
     of the importance of service is at the core of our message.
       No group can take greater pride in having lived President 
     Kennedy's mantra that ``each individual can make a 
     difference, and all of us must try'' than Peace Corps 
     Volunteers. We are honored by your presence, and the country 
     is honored by the difference you have made by your service, 
     and we hope you'll return next year to wind up your 
     anniversary celebration in the tone and spirit and at the 
     place where it begins tonight.
       In addition to marking your 40th Anniversary, tonight could 
     also serve as the 30th Reunion of Mark Schneider and myself. 
     As you know, Mark is the second returned Peace Corps 
     Volunteer to head the agency. Upon his return from El 
     Salvador, 30 years ago Mark and I began working together in 
     the Washington office of Senator Ted Kennedy. Mark came to 
     Massachusetts for the Senator's 1970 campaign and tonight 
     could probably tell you as much about the issues and 
     demographics of this state as could the head of our Chamber 
     of Commerce.
       From those days to this, Mark has demonstrated the 
     idealism, energy and leadership qualities reflecting the very 
     best in a career of public service. In key posts at the 
     Department of State, Pan American Health Organization, and at 
     USAID, Mark's values, his leadership and commitment made a 
     difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of families 
     in other lands who will never know his name.
       I can tell you that the Peace Corps is in the hands of the 
     best of individuals under the direction and leadership of a 
     man whose name and values I know well and respect greatly. 
     Please join me in a rousing New England Peace Corps welcome 
     for the Peace Corps' able Director, Mark Schneider.
       Mark, as a way of sharing and renewing and celebrating all 
     that was begun by President Kennedy 40 years ago, on behalf 
     of all of us here who seek to remind future generations of 
     his inspiration and to perpetuate his challenge for sacrifice 
     and service, I present this bust of John Kennedy to you, as 
     Peace Corps Director, from the Kennedy Library and 
     Foundation.
       It is our hope that this bust will be displayed in the 
     Director's Office not only commemorating this occasion and 
     this Anniversary year but also reminding those in years to 
     come that Peace Corps Volunteers will forever remain the best 
     products of ``the height of America's political springtime''.
                                  ____


                      Remarks of Mark L. Schneider

       I would like to begin by saying on behalf of all our 
     Volunteers serving around the world and all of the thousands 
     of returned Volunteers who continue to serve our communities 
     here at home that we are deeply honored to celebrate the 
     third annual Peace Corps Day at the John F. Kennedy Memorial 
     Library. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to 
     celebrate one of President Kennedy's most enduring legacies 
     than this wonderful library .
       I would like to express our deep gratitude to Brad Gerratt 
     of the Kennedy Library, and Paul Kirk of the Kennedy Library 
     Foundation, for their generous invitation and co-sponsorship 
     of this event. Let me also thank Doane Perry and the Boston 
     Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for also cosponsoring 
     the activities planned for Peace Corps Day in Boston today 
     and tomorrow.
       I also would like to say a special thanks to Senator Edward 
     Kennedy, who could not join us but sends his best wishes. As 
     some of you may know, I had the honor of working as a member 
     of Senator Kennedy, who could not join us but sends his best 
     wishes. As some of you may know, I had the honor of working 
     as a member of Senator Kennedy's staff some years ago. It is 
     a privilege for me to call him both a friend and a mentor. 
     Our country owes Senator Kennedy an enormous debt of 
     gratitude for his years of distinguished public service, his 
     enduring commitment to working people in our society, and his 
     continuing support for the Peace Corps. The work still goes 
     on. The hope has endured and the dream will never die.
       Let me welcome all of the returned Volunteers in the 
     audience and thank you for helping us celebrate Peace Corps 
     Day. When President Kennedy signed the Executive Order 
     establishing the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961, he said, ``. . 
     . we have, in this country, an immense reservoir of [such] 
     men and women--anxious to sacrifice their energies and time 
     and toil to the cause of world peace and human progress.'' 
     And you have proved him right.
       Over the years, more than 7,000 thousand Peace Corps 
     Volunteers have been recruited from Massachusetts and its 
     many institutions of higher education. Indeed, just a few 
     weeks ago, we released a list of the top 25 colleges and 
     universities that have produced the most Peace Corps 
     Volunteers currently serving overseas. Massachusetts can take 
     great pride in the fact that Boston University and UMASS/
     Amherst were among those top 25 schools. Tufts, Williams and 
     Brandies were among the top ten of small colleges and 
     universities. Massachusetts also can take pride that it 
     elected the first former Peace Corps Volunteer to the United 
     States Senate in 1978, the late Sen. Paul Tsongas, who had 
     served in Ethiopia. His daughter, Ashley, is carrying on the 
     Peace Corps tradition, also serving in Africa.
       I am delighted to be with you here at the Kennedy Library 
     to give you a brief update on what is happening at the Peace 
     Corps, to talk about Peace Corps, to talk about Peace Corps 
     Day, and to announced a special initiative for the Peace 
     Corps in the 21st century.
       In my view, this is an exciting time to be associated with 
     the Peace Corps. Let me tell you just a few of the many 
     reasons why I say this.
       Today, there are more than 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers 
     serving in 77 countries. In the last month, I have had the 
     chance to visit with some Peace Corps Volunteers in 
     Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Guinea, Togo, Ghana and 
     Bulgaria. I am pleased to report that they are doing 
     outstanding development work to improve the lives of people 
     in their communities.
       In Guinea, I met with Volunteers who had worked with an NGO 
     and the public health ministry helping to end female genital 
     mutilation, and who convinced an entire area to give up the 
     practice when the women excisers were given an alternative 
     way to earn income. Another Volunteer who had been stung by a 
     bee turned that experience into a women's micro enterprise 
     project that is exporting honey to neighboring countries. I 
     also saw teachers who were helping prepare the next 
     generation of leaders. In Togo, I saw a Peace Corps Volunteer 
     working with a local NGO where skits kept 300 high school 
     students mesmerized as they learned of the killing nature of 
     HIV/AIDS and how to prevent its transmission.
       In Ghana, I met Melinda Patterson from Watertown, 
     Connecticut. She is helping her community, Mafia-Dove, build 
     a school. She has also organized a women's water and 
     sanitation committee to introduce clean water and latrines 
     into their community to break the transmission cycle of 
     water-borne diseases that needlessly kill thousands of 
     Ghanaian children under the age of five, each year. I had a 
     special introduction to that community when I was greeted by 
     a celebration there last week. A deputy chief from the EWE 
     tribe formally welcomed me, and as loin-clothed dancers 
     performed, the water-sanitation committee women placed a 
     beaded peace bracelet on my arm and sprinkled it with good 
     luck powder. They understand well the balance between 
     tradition and modern technology and were helpful that the new 
     electric power mainline nearby would reach their community 
     soon.
       Across Ghana, Volunteers are working with small 
     businessmen, teaching thousands of high school students and 
     collaborating with their local communities to promote eco-
     tourism and protect bio-diversity, from protecting the last 
     hippopotamus, to securing national park status for a unique 
     monkey preserve.
       My pride in the work of Volunteers was matched by that of 
     the country's leaders. The Ghanaian Vice President--as did 
     almost all leaders I met--recalled the name of a volunteer 
     who had taught him math two decades earlier. He said that 
     Peace Corps Volunteers, then and now, go to the most distant 
     and difficult communities, places where some of his own 
     countrymen will not live. The Volunteers provide an example 
     of service, of sacrifice. He said we all need to learn that 
     you have to ``die a little bit'' to help the country 
     progress.
       In Bulgaria, where the historic transition to democracy is 
     barely a decade old and where environmental awareness is just 
     awakening, I met Jeremy West, a forestry volunteer from North 
     Carolina working in the beautiful town of Etropole, nestled 
     against snow-capped mountains. In an open town meeting, the 
     mayor and council approved Jeremy's plans, developed with 
     local teenagers, to turn the former communist party 
     headquarters into an environmental resource center where 
     young people will help spotlight the area's bio-diversity and 
     the threat of pollution.
       The Peace Corps is alive and well and keeping faith with 
     its legacy. That is why it remains one of the most effective, 
     best-known and widely accepted international volunteer 
     organizations in the world. Each year, we continue to receive 
     more than 100,000 inquiries from people interested in serving 
     in the Peace Corps. We have strong bipartisan support in 
     Congress, and earlier this year, President Clinton proposed a 
     $30 million increase for our budget.
       Those funds are crucial if we are to keep pace with the bi-
     partisan decision of the Congress, approved last May, to 
     support President Clinton's proposal to restore the Peace 
     Corps to 10,000 Volunteers.
       We also are strengthening our ties to Returned Peace Corps 
     Volunteers. After their overseas service, many returned 
     Volunteers continue to serve their own communities through 
     countless volunteer activities. And we thank those of you who 
     help us recruit new Volunteers. Over the next 12 months, we 
     look forward to working with returned Volunteers here in 
     Boston and across the country, as well as with the National 
     Peace Corps Association and other friends of the agency, on 
     plans to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2001.
       Peace Corps Day was started three years ago to shine a 
     spotlight on the agency, the development work of our 
     Volunteers around the world, and the continuing service that 
     returned volunteers across the country bring

[[Page S1879]]

     to their communities here in the United States. And it's been 
     an extraordinary success.
       I am pleased to report that tomorrow, according to our best 
     estimates, nearly 12,000 returned Peace Corps Volunteers and 
     educators will lead classroom presentations to more than 
     500,000 students in our nation's classrooms on Peace Corps 
     Day. These presentations enable young people to learn 
     about what it is like to live in another country, to learn 
     another language, and adapt to a new culture.
       Tomorrow, I will visit Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in 
     Framingham, where State Senator David Magnani and I will talk 
     about our own Peace Corps experiences in Sierra Leone and El 
     Salvador. I also will make a trip to Maria Royston's 
     classroom at the Placentino Elementary School in Holliston. 
     Maria, who is here with us tonight, served as a Peace Corps 
     Volunteer in Cameroon. She, another returned Volunteer, Tasha 
     Ferraro, and I will speak with her students and then make an 
     international telephone call to a Peace Corps Volunteer who 
     is serving as a teacher in the west African nation of Burkina 
     Faso. This Volunteer, Molly Shabica, who hails form 
     Providence, helps bring the world back home throughout the 
     year by participating in the Peace Corps' outstanding 
     program, World Wise Schools, which links more than 7,000 
     teachers here at home to Peace Corps Volunteers serving 
     overseas.
       As returned Volunteers speak about their Peace Corps 
     experience, I think the visits they make to classrooms in 
     their communities tomorrow will promote an even larger 
     purpose for our nation's young people: these returned Peace 
     Corps Volunteers stand as examples of the ideal of service. 
     Over the years, virtually every American who has taken the 
     oath to become a Volunteer, and returned home after two 
     years, transforms that oath into a lifetime pledge of public 
     service. This ideal is at the heart of the Peace Corps, and 
     it is what has motivated more than 150,000 of our citizens to 
     answer President Kennedy's call to serve our country and the 
     world.
       So I want to thank every returned Volunteer who is 
     participating in Peace Corps Day here in New England and in 
     cities and towns across our country. They are continuing that 
     legacy.
       Since I became Director of the Peace Corps, I have thought 
     a lot about what our Volunteers have accomplished over the 
     last 39 years, and what they are doing today in this new and 
     exciting century. We have established a great legacy and 
     tradition of service. Our Volunteers do much to strengthen 
     the ties of friendship and international understanding 
     between Americans and the people of other countries.
       If there has been a change over the past four decades, I 
     believe it may be the following. Today's Peace Corps 
     Volunteers have a unique capacity to produce an even greater 
     development impact than their predecessors. They possess new 
     skills and talents that can help the communities where they 
     serve, bridge the digital divide. Our Volunteers can bring 
     the power of information technology to enable hundreds of 
     thousands of people in developing countries learn more, live 
     healthier lives, and earn more income.
       Most of our Volunteers who are serving in the Peace Corps 
     are comparative experts in information technology, and many 
     of them already are pioneering computer access in some of the 
     poorest communities in the world.
       For instance, Peace Corps Volunteers are helping to set up 
     a cyber cafe in Senegal and a millennium computer literacy 
     project in Ghana for small businesses, that has won 
     international awards. One innovative education Volunteer in 
     Kenya powered his laptop with abandoned solar panels so he 
     could surf the Net in order to help prepare his lesson plans 
     for his students.
       A few weeks ago during my trip to Central America, I met an 
     outstanding senior Volunteer who had spent 40 years as a 
     marketing executive at the Goodyear tire company. He served 
     two years as a business Volunteer in Ukraine. Today, he is in 
     his second tour as a business Volunteer in Guatemala, where 
     he is working with a small company that helps Mayan women's 
     cooperatives expand their markets and improve their products. 
     He taught them how to make a web page that now is advertising 
     their traditional fabrics in the E-commerce marketplace.
       In Bulgaria, I met Allison Rainville, Angela Roe, and Heidi 
     Berbee. Allison from North Andover, Massachusetts, is 
     teaching English to students in the town of Bourgas. But she 
     also is working with the Bulgarian Red Cross to provide basic 
     computer training to Red Cross workers. Angela, from 
     Stockbridge, Georgia, is working on community economic 
     development and she is helping her business students link 
     into the Internet for the first time and teaching them how to 
     make their own web page. Heidi, from Minnetonka, Minnesota, 
     is teaching students to use the Internet for research and is 
     giving some of her female students an opportunity to learn 
     about government by e-mailing mayors to ask them about their 
     jobs.
       These are just several examples of how Volunteers are using 
     technology to help their communities develop and prosper. But 
     I believe that more can be done. History has taught us that 
     whenever technological advances are made--whether it is 
     electricity, telephones, or modern modes of transportation--
     the poor tend to benefit last. Globalization is having the 
     same impact. As the developed world moves forward every day 
     with even new advances in technology, the poorest countries 
     and the poorest communities in each country are left farther 
     behind, largely because of lower educational levels. Our 
     Volunteers, with their computer skills and presence in some 
     of the smallest towns can help alter that reality.
       That is why I am announcing today a new initiative that 
     will expand the role that our Volunteers play in bringing the 
     power of information technology to the task of poverty 
     reduction. I am asking the Peace Corps' staff at our 
     headquarters and at our overseas posts to place a new and 
     more coordinated focus on technology and develop specific 
     Volunteer projects that will expand the use of information 
     technology, computers, and the Internet in developing 
     countries.
       For instance, we will see what more our Volunteers can do 
     to help micro-entrepreneurs explore new markets through 
     technology. Volunteers can work with farmers to use 
     information technology for improving agricultural practices. 
     They can help local health workers use technology to monitor 
     immunization programs for children. Peace Corps Volunteers 
     and teachers can find new ways to bring the Internet into 
     more classrooms. They can work on a wider basis with 
     municipal governments, non-governmental organizations, 
     environmental groups, and youth organizations to bring the 
     power of technology to bear on local problems.
       This technology initiative will, in my view, simply give 
     Volunteers the green light to innovate, in bridging the 
     digital divide, while remaining true to the core mission that 
     President Kennedy set out for the Peace Corps--to help the 
     people of the developing world help themselves.
       Information technology is not a development panacea to 
     solve the many challenges that confront the world's poorest 
     countries. But it can contribute to new solutions. Nor am I 
     suggesting that the Peace Corps can or should become the 
     financier for computers. That is the task of others.
       But the technology skills of Peace Corps Volunteers can, 
     where appropriate, play a significant role in introducing 
     technology to their overseas communities. Our Volunteers can 
     serve as advisers, collaborators, and facilitators for their 
     communities and their counterparts. In that way, the many 
     technology projects that are financed by other organizations 
     can become accessible to students and businesses that are not 
     in the main square of capital cities, but at the end of the 
     road in distant villages.
       I also would like to challenge America's information giants 
     to expand their cooperation to respond to computer projects 
     that Volunteers, in collaboration with their students, 
     communities and counterparts, are beginning to develop around 
     the world.
       After my trip these last two weeks, I feel even more 
     strongly about two other issues that I also would like to 
     highlight today. Both are global in nature but each impacts 
     with greatest urgency in Africa.
       First, I come here with a great sadness, concern and 
     determination to do something more about the horrendous 
     destruction being caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa. The spread of 
     AIDS is inflicting a terrible and devastating toll on 
     millions of innocent people and preventing many countries 
     from consolidating their gains in economic and social 
     development. Last year, ten times as many people died of AIDS 
     in Africa as were killed in all the continent's wars 
     combined. It will soon double child mortality and reduce life 
     expectancy by 20 years.
       The magnitude of the HIV/AIDS devastation is hard to 
     comprehend fully. UNAIDS and other international health 
     organizations report that of the 33.4 million cases of HIV/
     AIDS reported worldwide; 23.5 million of them are in Africa. 
     There are 7.8 million AIDS orphans, and while the average 
     infection rate in sub-Saharan Africa among adults is 8%, it 
     ranges in some countries up to 26%. Africa has 10% of the 
     world's population and 70% of the world's HIV/AIDS. Already, 
     an estimated 13.7 million Africans have lost their lives to 
     AIDS.
       There is no greater humanitarian crisis. There is no 
     greater development obstacle. There is no greater political 
     challenge than adopting effective HIV/AIDS prevention and 
     control strategies in Africa.
       For that reason, I was pleased that the country directors 
     in Africa all agreed to explore how to incorporate a health 
     education component on HIV/AIDS into every program. Almost 
     all of our programs in health do. Now we must take the next 
     step. We simply have to find additional ways to assist the 
     countries where we serve to do even more in their efforts to 
     reduce the spread of AIDS.
       Secondly, three decades ago, Peace Corps Volunteers played 
     an important role in the successful international effort to 
     eradicate smallpox. More recently, they have made significant 
     contributions to the world's efforts to eradicate Guinea 
     worm.
       Today, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Rotary 
     International are embarked on a major project to eradicate 
     polio by the year 2005. Given that many of our Volunteers 
     serve in remote areas of their countries, Peace Corps will 
     seek to become part of this international effort to eradicate 
     polio. Some of our Volunteers already help organize 
     immunization campaigns in their villages. We will be 
     expanding these immunization efforts in countries where the 
     threat of polio still exists, collaborating with national 
     immunization efforts that are part of the global campaign. 
     The Peace Corps would be making yet another enormous 
     contribution to protecting children from the devastating 
     impact of a preventable disease.

[[Page S1880]]

       President Kennedy said in his second State of the Union, 
     ``I sometimes think that we are too much impressed by the 
     clamor of daily events. . . . Yet it is the profound 
     tendencies of history and not the passing excitement that 
     will shape our future.'' The Peace Corps has been addressing 
     those profound tendencies of history over the past four 
     decades. With your help, I have no doubt that Volunteers will 
     continue to do so as we enter this 21st century.
       So as I said a few moments ago, this is an exciting time to 
     be a part of the Peace Corps. I am thrilled to be its 
     Director and I am delighted that so many of you could be here 
     with us to celebrate Peace Corps Day.
       Thank you very much.

                          ____________________