[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 1, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H1436-H1442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEACE CORPS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today, March 1, marks the 50th
anniversary of the United States Peace Corps. In 1961, President John
F. Kennedy, together with Sargent Shriver, established the most
remarkable, long-lasting, and incredibly successful United States Peace
Corps. On the announcement of the establishment of the Peace Corps,
countries around the world clamored to have Americans of all ages come
to their country and assist in the economic development of those
countries.
To date, over 200,000 Americans have followed that call to service
and have served in over 130 countries. Today, some 77 countries have
Peace Corps volunteers and another 20 countries request the presence of
Peace Corps volunteers.
My wife, Patti, and I are proud returned Peace Corps volunteers.
Joining me today to celebrate this 50th anniversary are two other
returned Peace Corps volunteers. And together with Sam Farr, who
unfortunately cannot join us this evening, we comprise the four Members
of Congress who are returned Peace Corps volunteers.
{time} 1730
I would like to call upon my colleague from California, Mike Honda,
to join us here to express his own experiences of his work here in
Congress and how his Peace Corps experiences may have reflected upon
his work.
Mike, if you'll join us.
Mr. HONDA. Thank you, John.
As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, I rise to recognize the work of
the Peace Corps on its 50th anniversary. The Peace Corps has played an
instrumental role in establishing prosperous foreign relations while
fostering cross-cultural understandings. Countries from all over the
globe celebrate the contributions of the Peace Corps and look forward
with anticipation to its continued growth.
In representing the Ethiopian Caucus here, I was in Ethiopia a couple
of years ago and traveled extensively through Ethiopia during the 8
days I was there. I ran across some folks in the upper part of
Ethiopia, and we talked about the Peace Corps. Immediately, a lot of
the young people there brightened up, and asked, Do you know Garamendi?
It was at that moment I remembered that our colleague Garamendi had
served in Ethiopia. What struck me the most were the memories of people
and the fact that we touched them in their youth. The influence that we
had on the young people in the different countries had stayed with
them, and they have become leaders in their own right in the countries
in which we served. The same happened in El Salvador. I'm sure the same
happened in Somalia where our other colleagues had served their time.
The Peace Corps provides a unique opportunity for volunteers to help
some of the most impoverished people in the world, work that changes
their global perspectives.
I had met another person at Stanford University. He was a visiting
scholar. He was not much more than 5-foot 1-inch, articulate in English
and Spanish, who said that he was an aberration of statistical
probability. In saying that, he meant that he was a young boy in the
mountains of Peru and that it was a Peace Corps volunteer who had
touched his life, who had allowed him to learn more about himself and
his country, which pushed him to learn English. Because of the Peace
Corps volunteers, he was able to go to school.
His name was Alejandro Toledo. He became the President of Peru. Now
he is a visiting scholar and is also looking at running again and
perhaps serving his country. He not only serves his country; he serves
all people of this world by the fact that he was able to express the
idea that he was probably an aberration of statistical probability and
that he had attained a position on the global stage, a leadership
position, because of Peace Corps volunteers.
This story is replicated over and over again with the over 195,000
volunteers who have served. Yet I just want to pay special attention to
Sargent Shriver, the person who made the selfless commitment and took
the visionary leadership in creating a pioneering organization that
provided opportunities for young people and that provided them
opportunities to grow in themselves. Filling Sargent Shriver's shoes
will always be difficult.
President Clinton was right when he said that never has America had a
stronger warrior for peace and against poverty than Sargent Shriver.
Sargent Shriver, himself, said it best when he said that the Peace
Corps represents some, if not all, of the best virtues of this society.
It stands for everything that America has ever stood for. It stands for
everything we believe in and hope to achieve in this world.
So I want to thank my colleague for putting this together. I want to
thank my friend Mr. Petri, on the other side of the aisle, for his
friendship. We say ``the other side of the aisle,'' but I think that
the aisle does not exist with our relationships and with our
commonality within the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps allowed me to grow up. The Peace Corps allowed me to
believe in myself. The Peace Corps was responsible for my being here
today to be able to speak fervently and hopefully convincingly in
encouraging other young people to serve this country through the Peace
Corps. It will be 2 years that you will never ever regret--years I
would never exchange for 10 years of regular life in this country.
I thank you.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Congressman Mike Honda, thank you so very, very much.
Let me now turn to my colleague on the Republican side, Tom Petri,
who also served.
Tom, if you could share some of your experiences with us.
Mr. PETRI. Yes, I am delighted to have the opportunity to join with
my colleagues in recognizing the 50th anniversary of the founding of
the Peace Corps.
It was my pleasure some 25 years ago to work with the fellow whose
picture is up by the podium, Sargent Shriver, on some of the
arrangements for the 25th anniversary of the Peace Corps. They'd had a
gala reunion and a program at the Kennedy Center with such luminaries
at that time as Harry Belafonte and many others. It was a memorable
occasion.
Sargent Shriver, of course, was a great leader in many different
areas. I met him in a reception line awhile back. He didn't really much
like, though, that I'd said, So great to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger's
father-in-law. He really didn't want to be known as Arnold
Schwarzenegger's father-in-law. He wanted to be known, and is known, as
the most dynamic director of the Peace Corps and for many others of his
works--with Mrs. Shriver on the Special Olympics and for a variety of
other good works that he did with his life.
We all have our Peace Corps experiences. I had the opportunity to
serve in the neighboring country to Ethiopia, which was Somalia--a
troubled place now. It was a great experience, though. People ask about
the Peace Corps, and I always say that one of the things you have to
remember about the Peace Corps is that you get a lot more out of it
than you really give. You're serving other people, but you're learning.
You're learning about another culture; and at the same time, you're
learning about your own country and your own experiences because of the
points of contrast.
What a wonderful thing it is that America has now tens of thousands
of people who have served in the Peace Corps, who have returned and who
now are working in every walk of life--working in international
organizations, working in business organizations, knowing different
cultures, knowing different languages--thereby providing a dimension to
our own national life that we would otherwise not have if we did not
have people who had had the experience of serving in the Peace Corps.
There is one other thing. I still can remember the quizzical but
interested reaction that so many people in Somalia or, I'm sure,
anywhere in the world had: Who are you? Why are you doing it? Explain
that to me again.
The spirit was kind of catching, and they would participate in all
kinds of little volunteer activities and things that they hadn't
necessarily thought of doing themselves.
[[Page H1437]]
Of course, the Peace Corps volunteers are not representatives of the
American Government. They are representatives of the American people.
That was always emphasized very, very strongly to all of us as part of
our Peace Corps training. The way we were living was among the people,
not behind these diplomatic bunkers that we sometimes see in the world
today. You're experiencing life in the country in which you're serving.
One thing, just as an example, is that Peace Corps volunteers, of
course, do their assignments, but they're also people who do volunteer
work of one kind or another. One of the big hits was when I was in
Mogadishu in the Peace Corps. I was with two other people who were
Peace Corps lawyers at that time, and there were about 50, 60 people
who were teachers. Some were community health workers, and some were
community school construction workers. They would come to Mogadishu for
a couple days off, for vacation time, when school was down, that kind
of thing.
{time} 1740
And five or six of them got together and started playing some
American young people's music. And the next thing you know they were
invited to a restaurant in Mogadishu. Crowds of hundreds of people
gathered, and it was the sensation of the town for a couple weeks. Of
course they couldn't be paid for doing this sort of thing, but they
might have gotten a couple of free meals from the restaurant and that
kind of thing. What a wonderful, sort of natural way of building
bridges. The people in this country had never really seen something
like this. They weren't on a tour for any of these international shows,
and they just thought it was the most wonderful thing to see live music
played by American Peace Corps volunteers. And that was the face of
America that they were presenting in this country, and it was one that
I think has served our Nation very well.
So thank you again for giving me the opportunity to participate in
this Special Order that you've organized to mark the 50th anniversary
of the United States Peace Corps.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Tom, thank you so very much for your experiences. What
year were you in Somalia?
MR. PETRI. I was in Somalia in 1966-67.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Those were the same years that Patti and I were in
Ethiopia, and we served in the far western part of Ethiopia in a very
small town.
Mr. PETRI. We were there during the peaceful years between the two
countries. The Peace Corps had been in Somalia and then had been pulled
out because war erupted between Ethiopia and Somalia. The people on the
Horn of Africa have very close and great respect for each other but
also a strong rivalry. It's a very interesting thing to learn about.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, that's exactly the case. And it's not unusual to
find wars going on. But as Mike Honda was talking about the President
of Peru, who started his climb up the economic and educational ladder
as a result of his experience with a Peace Corps teacher in Peru, the
same thing happens in the countries in which you and I and other Peace
Corps volunteers serve.
I recall in 1999-2000, when the war broke out between Ethiopia and
Eritrea, a group of us became interlocutors trying to figure out how to
get these two countries to settle up. And because we were able to stand
on the shoulders of so many Peace Corps volunteers that had served in
those countries, we were able to meet with the President of Eritrea and
the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in two separate meetings and just talk
to them about peace, about why they were fighting, why this war was
going on that killed nearly 100,000 soldiers at that point. And it
turned out that they were willing to talk to us. The reason was that in
their high schools they were taught by Peace Corps volunteers, and they
had this trust. They knew we didn't represent the American Government.
They knew that we were there searching for peace as we had when we were
volunteers. It turned out that those conversations led to the essence
of the settlement of that war, the peace treaty.
And I'll never forget a day when--actually, a gentleman who's here in
the gallery at the moment, Chic Dambach was one of our team, and
another fellow, Mike McCaskey, who was then the president of the
Chicago Bears, he was part of our team. We sat down with the foreign
minister of Ethiopia, and we were talking about where we served in the
Peace Corps and Mike was saying he served in the northern part of the
country. And the foreign minister said, what school? And Mike described
the school. It turned out that Mike was the teacher for the foreign
minister, and immediately there was a connection. That connection then
led to the meeting that we had with Meles and the conversation that
ultimately led to a peace treaty. Our role was ended, but the African
Union carried on.
Those are the relationships that count. We never know when they're
going to materialize. It's quite possible that the people that you
taught may one day be the leaders in Somalia once again. And these are
the foundations upon which the Peace Corps breeds.
Thank you so very much for joining us. I know that you have another
appointment that you need to get to. But the experience of a Peace
Corps--and my wife, when she was the associate director of the Peace
Corps, would often say that a Peace Corps volunteer leaves to search
for peace and returns, and throughout one's life, continues that
process. Our work here in Congress is part of that. Thank you so very
much for your service and joining us this evening.
Mr. PETRI. Thank you for organizing this occasion.
Mr. GARAMENDI. The interest in the Peace Corps is not just shared by
those of us who are return volunteers; it's also served, and the
interest is found, by others.
I'd like to invite here to the well a colleague of mine from
California, Congresswoman Lois Capps, who represents the Santa Barbara
area up into Santa Maria. Would you care to join us? Thank you so very
much for doing so.
Mrs. CAPPS. I thank my colleague, Mr. Garamendi, for inviting me to
join him here and for bringing the likeness of Sargent Shriver, the
first director, so that I can stand next to him and pay tribute to him
as I am speaking about the importance of the Peace Corps as I have
experienced it.
This is such an important anniversary, the 50th anniversary of the
founding of the Peace Corps--actually, this day, apparently, that's
what you mentioned in your remarks, Mr. Garamendi. And you were joined
by two Members of Congress who probably were influenced to become
Members of Congress by--in fact, one, Mr. Honda, just spoke, and he
said it's because of his experiences in the Peace Corps he could say
honestly that that's why he is now serving in Congress. And I've heard
others of our colleagues say that as well. And both Mr. Honda and Mr.
Petri speak eloquently, as you do, Mr. Garamendi, about the effect of
this experience on you. And I have seen it firsthand from friends of
mine.
I don't think it's possible to say enough positive about this
wonderful organization. So having a Special Order this evening is an
opportunity for us all to come together and celebrate the commitment of
the United States Congress to communities around the world as they
experience, through volunteerism, through ordinary citizens of this
country who volunteer to share in the life and experience of a culture
different from their own. As the Peace Corps celebrates its 50th
anniversary, it's clear that this work that our citizens and volunteers
have done is never more important than we see today, and also more
relevant to what's going on in the world today.
I am very proud to represent a congressional district, the 23rd in
California, with a very active Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
community. The alumni association numbers well over 150 members and
they are active in our community. And I know firsthand also, knowing
several of them--many of them--that the community has been strengthened
because of their experiences in the Peace Corps, and they readily
testify to that.
And at the University of California in Santa Barbara, my home town,
this campus consistently ranks towards the top of U.S. colleges and
universities for volunteer recruitment among its young graduates. When
I have the opportunity to meet with folks from the
[[Page H1438]]
Peace Corps administrative office, the first thing they always mention
when they find out where I'm from is the high concentration of former
and future volunteers from my congressional district. And so I know
that on the south and central coast of California, with these alumni
living and working among us, the importance of service, community, and
open mindedness, values that the Peace Corps holds dear, these have
influenced the way our civic life is conducted in our country as these
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers bring their experiences in their
service abroad back to their home communities and places of business.
It's a win-win on both sides of whatever body it is that separates us
from our countries around the world.
There is an institute on my campus that I'll reference, it's named
for my husband, but it's called the Capps Center for the Study of
Faith, Ethics and Public Policy. They sponsored an event--in fact, they
had a series of events this past fall celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the Peace Corps. And on one of those occasions it was a privilege to
welcome Aaron Williams, who is the National Peace Corps Director, to
Santa Barbara, and in doing so to pay tribute to the Peace Corps. But
also, the Capps Center invited three former Peace Corps volunteers to
honor their service, but also to invite them to form a panel discussion
so the rest of us could listen and respond and have questions about
their own experiences. One of them was Sarah Chayes, who is a former
NPR, National Public Radio, correspondent. She is a prominent author
and founder of the Arghand Cooperative in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She
spoke of her early experiences in the formation of the Peace Corps. She
served in Morocco from 1984 to 1996.
Also present to be recognized and also to participate in the
discussion was Gordon Radley. He is the former president of Lucasfilm.
He served in Malawi from 1968 to 1970 and then again in western Samoa
in 1979 and 1980.
{time} 1750
The third person who spoke--I just acknowledge these people because
they're examples of community leaders in the country who were
influenced so tremendously by their experience in Peace Corps. One whom
I know well, because he's a constituent of ours in the congressional
district but also with his service, is Thomas Tighe. He is the
President and CEO of a very influential organization called Direct
Relief International, which provides emergency services, disaster aid
to countries around the world. It's headquartered in Santa Barbara. And
before Tom came to this position, he served as the Peace Corps
associate general counsel and was the chief of staff and COO of the
Peace Corps. He, himself, served in Thailand from 1986 to 1988.
I mentioned these three because now the Library of Congress is
collecting these stories from previous volunteers, and I think it's a
great idea that the anecdotes and vignettes that Peace Corps volunteers
remember so poignantly from their time of service can be woven into the
Library of Congress archives and there for permanent record.
Some of us in Congress, Mr. Garamendi, are old enough to remember the
passion and enthusiasm from these 50 years ago when President Kennedy
announced the creation of the Corps, the idea that Americans from all
different backgrounds and walks of life would have an opportunity to
work for and to learn from other cultures. You know, in that time, that
was a fairly radical concept. But I marvel--don't you?--at how far we
have come.
Since 1961 when the first volunteers went abroad, nearly 200,000
volunteers have served in over--in 139 countries around the world.
These are talented and selfless Americans who have made lasting
contributions in agriculture, in business development, in sustainable
infrastructure, in education, in health, in combatting HIV and AIDS, in
working to protect the environment around the world. Collectively, each
volunteer's work represents a legacy of service that has become such a
significant part of America's history and the positive image that we
have abroad.
I know that Mr. Farr is going to speak probably after me, and he has
just joined the group. He and I are part of an organization here in
Congress which has some connections to the Peace Corps. It's called the
House Democracy Partnership. And last week we traveled actually
literally around the world. One of the places we were, one of our
partner countries whose parliament we work with closely is the country
of Indonesia.
For many years, the Peace Corps was not there. And now, just this
past year, volunteers have been welcomed back. We had the chance to
meet these active volunteers as we have met during visits to other
countries with our work in the House Democracy Partnerships. Some of
the countries are Malawi and Indonesia, and we've taken gifts.
Sometimes occasionally we'll have a constituent serving there, so a
family will ask us to bring some item that this person has wanted.
It was because of Mr. Farr's insistence that we invite four of the
current volunteers. They've just come back, the presence of Peace Corps
in the country. I know, Mr. Farr, I hope you'll expand upon this. The
four had dinner with us who were visiting. Here we were in Surabaya, a
coastal community in a large city actually in Indonesia, and these four
young people who are teaching English as a second language in the high
schools in the region came and shared some of their stories with us. It
moved me then as it has over the years as I've heard these stories. And
to see these young faces--not all Peace Corps volunteers are young, I
know that. But these are young people who just were caught with zeal
and enthusiasm with what they were doing.
During times of both war and peace, our volunteers through Peace
Corps have exemplified some of the best qualities that this country has
to offer the world: generosity, tolerance, hard work, ingenuity,
friendship, and compassion. They have exhibited critical attention to
detail and an unwavering commitment to sustainable development. These
are talented people who really are a beacon of the goodwill that we
want our country to stand for.
So I'm offering tonight, and I'm standing right next to the likeness
of Sargent Shriver, as I offer my sincerest congratulations to the
Peace Corps on its 50th anniversary that we all join in celebration.
I want to take the opportunity to encourage anyone who is thinking
about it to serve either abroad or find a way in one's own community to
serve with this kind of volunteerism.
I appreciate the leadership you've shown, Mr. Garamendi, in calling
us together. I want to thank you and my colleagues in Congress who add
so much to your service as colleagues of mine by this history that you
share. You can add this to the kind of Peace Corps volunteerism that
you did when you were younger, and it is a spirit that I know has never
left you.
So I got a signal from Mr. Garamendi, and it is really a tribute,
because Mr. Farr is a dear friend but also my neighboring congressional
district Representative, and he never misses an opportunity, whether
he's at home or abroad, to bring up the topic of serving in the Peace
Corps. And how fitting this evening, Mr. Farr, that you are here to add
your words to and your stories to this celebration.
I'm going to yield the floor, if it is okay with Mr. Garamendi, right
directly to you.
Mr. FARR. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Lois Capps. I'm so fond
of you and the service you give in your wonderful district, the Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo County coastlines.
Yes, I was with Congresswoman Capps last week when we hosted, in
Surabaya, dinner with Peace Corps volunteers. And what struck me is,
one, some of their assignments were much tougher than the one I had in
a barrio in Medellin, Colombia, back in the 1960s, that women live with
Muslim families because Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the
world. They teach in schools.
Very interesting how, and essentially progressive even, those Muslim
schools were, allowing the American women not to have to be covered and
to essentially be themselves and represent this country, and how fond
the students are of their teachers and the faculty of the teachers. So
Peace Corps was there.
And it's interesting that, as we pay tribute on the 50th anniversary,
there's no age limit to joining the Peace Corps. We're in, I think, 77
countries now. We're about half our full size. We once were 15,000
volunteers. We're down
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to 7,000. Growing. Congressman Garamendi and myself and others have
been working to try to increase the Peace Corps budget because it's the
only thing that's standing in the way between more volunteers being
overseas.
There's 20 countries that want Peace Corps. There's 20,000 people
that apply to the Peace Corps. And there's only, every year, about half
of 7,000, so about 4,000, 3,500 jobs available. So only one in three or
four ever can get a chance to get accepted, and that's not fair. And we
need to double the size of Peace Corps.
And lastly on that point is that it costs, I think it's for every
soldier we sent to Afghanistan, we could send 12 Peace Corps volunteers
abroad. So we really get a good bang for our buck.
Why I rise tonight and I will try to be quick before I give it back
to Mr. Garamendi is to, on behalf of all four of us who are returned
Peace Corps volunteers now serving in Congress, we circulated a letter
asking the President of the United States to issue a proclamation
honoring the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. It was signed by 136
Members of Congress.
Today, on the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, the President of
the United States said the following:
``In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive order
establishing the Peace Corps''--remember, Executive order. It wasn't
done by a congressional act; it was a Presidential act--``establishing
the Peace Corps, forever changing the way Americans see the world and
the world sees us.
{time} 1800
``Today, one of President Kennedy's most enduring legacies can be
found in the over 200,000 current and returned Peace Corps volunteers
who have collectively given over a half a century of service to the
cause of peace. On its 50th anniversary, the United States Peace Corps
remains an enduring symbol of our Nation's commitment to encouraging
progress, creating opportunity, and fostering mutual respect and
understanding throughout the world.
``Over the past five decades, Peace Corps volunteers have served in
nearly 140 countries, bringing a wealth of practical assistance to
those working to build better lives for themselves and their
communities. From the first group of volunteers to arrive in Ghana and
Tanzania in August of 1961, they have been emissaries of hope and
goodwill to the far corners of the world, strengthening the ties of
friendship between the people of the United States and those of other
countries.
``Living and working alongside those they serve, volunteers help
address changing and complex global needs in education, health, HIV/
AIDS, business and information technology, agriculture, environmental
protection, and youth development. With each village that now has
access to clean water, each young woman who has received an education,
and each family empowered to prevent disease because of the service of
a Peace Corps volunteer, President Kennedy's noble vision lives on.
``In our increasingly interconnected world, the mission of the Peace
Corps is more relevant today than ever. Returned volunteers, enriched
by their experiences overseas, bring a deeper understanding of other
cultures and traditions back to their homes here in the United States.
The lasting accomplishments of the Peace Corps continue to strengthen
the partnerships with leaders in countries around the world.
``This year, we also mourn the loss and pay tribute to the
extraordinary life of Sargent Shriver, the founding director of the
Peace Corps. The impact of his decades of public service will echo
forever in countless places across the globe that have been touched by
the Peace Corps.
``On this anniversary, we honor the men and women from across the
country who have carried forward our Nation's finest tradition of
service, and we rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the dream and
continuing the work of all those who aspire and yearn for peace.
``Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and laws of the United States, do hereby claim March 1, 2011, as the
50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. I call upon all Americans to
observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities
that honor the Peace Corps and its volunteers, past and present, for
their many contributions to the cause of global peace and friendship.
``In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of
February, in the year of our Lord 2011, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the 235th. Barack Obama.''
So in that honor I am very pleased that my colleague and friend from
California, John Garamendi, has asked us to pay tribute to the Peace
Corps on its 50th anniversary. And I yield to my good colleague, who
had the wisdom to set up this moment of special order.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Sam, if there was wisdom it was because you suggested
it. Don't run off. I would like to ask you a couple of questions about
your service.
Sam, the President's words were very touching to me, and I know they
were to you, because we were part of the Peace Corps, and we still are,
not so much because of our role here in Congress, but rather because
once you are a Peace Corps volunteer you never leave the service of
peace. Talk to me about where you served and the work that you did as a
Peace Corps volunteer.
Mr. FARR. John, I went into the Peace Corps right after graduating
from college in 1963. I knew I wanted to be called for that service. I
had done Air Force ROTC in college, and I worked overseas for a cousin
who had a factory in Argentina. It was my cross-cultural experience.
And I realized that once I got bitten by wanting to see other languages
and other cultures, that when the Peace Corps was announced, that's
what I would do. And I thought when I left the Peace Corps--when I went
in, I thought when I leave I will probably come back and be a high
school biology teacher.
My background had been in science. And I went to do urban community
development, which just means we were listening to what we call the
felt needs of very poor people in a very poor barrio that didn't have
any water or lights. And we were taught, and it was very interesting,
because it's been probably one of the best teachings I have ever had in
my life is don't go down there and just tell them what you want do
based on your values, because you are going to be in a country that
doesn't have infrastructure. Your main thought and idea will be about
cleanliness because you haven't lived in dirt before. And you don't
have garbage pickup and you don't have that infrastructure. Don't let
your values not allow you--open your eyes and your ears and listen.
Look before you leap. And that was really great advice, because I think
in politics you really do have to be a good listener.
So we listened to the community, and what they wanted to do was first
build a soccer field. I thought that's odd. I played soccer, but I have
no idea of the dimensions of a field. I don't know how you do this. It
didn't matter. It was just like, okay, they need a motivational force.
I am there. I said, okay, how do we do this? Got some shovels, got some
picks. Where do you want to do it? And we did it. What was interesting
is they had never worked together in a community project. So the
teachings there were community development, how do you get together.
And from there on we went to build schools, and we put in sewers, all
by hand by the way.
And we had to go downtown to the municipal government to get the
sewer pipes and to get bags of cement. So that petitioning of
government, going down, and a long story but quickly, it woke me up to
thinking I am in another country, I can't vote here. I am petitioning
government. I won't be able to vote for or against it. We have got
poverty in America. The book had come out, ``The Other America,'' which
showed there was a lot of poverty in the United States. Why don't I go
home and petition my own government to right wrongs? And here I am in
the United States Congress.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Before you arrived here, you spent many years in the
California legislature, where I had the privilege of working with you.
You started the discussion about your own Peace Corps experience by
answering the call to action, President Kennedy's very famous call: Ask
not what your country can do for you, but what you
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can do for your country. I know that for you and for myself, and even
more so for my wife Patti----
Mr. FARR. You did it even more so, because you were married, you were
a rock star athlete out of California, you were at the University of
California Berkeley. And to be married and to take that risk, sort of
walking away from what was just the ideal life to go off to Ethiopia
must have been an incredible pull.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Certainly the pull personally, but much more important
than that was the pull that Patti exerted upon me. I had an opportunity
to play professional football, but turned that down to get married and
to spend a 2-year honeymoon in the far western part of Ethiopia, where
there was no running water, and we literally lived in a wattle, which
is a mud-walled home with a corrugated tin roof and an outhouse out
back. And it turned out to be the most marvelous honeymoon, and it's
still going on now some almost 46 years later. So it was a beautiful
opportunity for us to serve.
And then the rest of what you said is a Peace Corps volunteer never
leaves a life of service. We transform it into many, many ways. Lois
Capps talked about three or four examples from her own district of
returned Peace Corps volunteers and the way they inserted themselves
into their communities for service, and in one case international food.
Mr. FARR. Would you share for me, I got here a little late, maybe you
already did, but I think you did one of the most remarkable diplomatic
missions ever in being asked to come back to Ethiopia with some
colleagues of the Peace Corps by the president of the country to see if
you could help to settle the dispute with neighboring Eritrea. And as I
recall, it was a band of Peace Corps volunteers that put that peace
agreement together.
{time} 1810
Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, it really speaks to the thousands of Peace Corps
volunteers that worked in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In the late nineties, a
war broke out between those two countries.
There is, here in Washington today, well over 100,000 people from
Ethiopia and Eritrea. They were getting riled up and choosing sides.
Those of us that served in Ethiopia, together with Chic Dambach, who is
here in the gallery, set out to try to get these people here in the
Washington area to work towards peace rather than to get into an
argument amongst themselves over which country was right or wrong. From
there we very quickly found ourselves invited to travel to both
Ethiopia and Eritrea, where we were able to meet with the heads of
state.
In both cases, the team that was assembled, there were five of us,
myself, I was then just leaving Federal Government service as the
Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Dambach had just left the
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association, the National Returned Peace
Corps Volunteer Association, a Federal appellate court judge who had
served in Ethiopia who was then on the bench in Arizona in the Ninth
Circuit; Mike McCaskey, who was then the president of the Chicago
Bears; and another fellow who was deeply involved in African relief
issues.
We journeyed and we sat down and met with first the President of
Eritrea and had a 3-hour conversation with him about the war and why
the war was underway, what his goals were.
We then traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we met first with
the foreign minister of Ethiopia, who actually was a student of Mike
McCaskey. They talked about it, and there was this bond that was
immediately established between them.
Shortly thereafter, the foreign minister arranged a meeting with
Prime Minister Meles, and, again, we spent nearly 3 hours with him
asking him about the war from his perspective, what there was. It came
to the five of us that there was a way to find peace, that there was a
path that could bridge these differences that these two countries had
that at that point had resulted in nearly 100,000 soldiers, both
Ethiopia and Eritrean, having been killed in that war.
We turned that information over to the Organization of African Unity,
which was then working towards some sort of a settlement. And, shortly
thereafter, within a couple of months, the basic elements of the peace
treaty were developed, and they were based upon the work that we had
done. There was some more back and forth that took place. But our team
was invited to Algeria for the signing of the ceremony of peace.
So the work for peace really never ends, and I know you are doing it
here in Congress.
Mr. FARR. It's one thing to be a Peace Corps volunteer. It is one
thing to bring two nations at war together living in peace because you
are Peace Corps volunteers. I think that's a great tribute. You
mentioned Chic Dambach. He was a student of mine when he was going into
volunteer service in the Peace Corps in Colombia.
It seems that you and I have developed a great fondness for Chic.
Maybe he is more important than either of us because he has been so
instrumental in your life and what happened in Ethiopia and Eritrea,
and was instrumental in my life in Colombia. I am glad he is here
tonight because he really is part of the Peace Corps legacy.
Mr. GARAMENDI. There is another example of an individual who has
dedicated his life to peace. He now heads up an organization that is a
consortium of nongovernment organizations that are dedicated to
searching for peace in countries around the world and trying to resolve
disputes before they come to war.
We would just be derelict in our duty if we didn't make a heavy-duty
pitch here for people to join the Peace Corps.
Everywhere I go on campuses, people, the young men and women that are
graduating, and older people--I think 7 percent of the volunteers today
are over 50 years of age. The next election may give us an opportunity
to return to the Peace Corps. Who knows what will come of that.
But whatever your age is, the Peace Corps offers you an opportunity
to serve.
Mr. FARR. I would also like to mention that we could use a lot more
Peace Corps volunteers because of these countries that want us. They
want us to come in for the first time, they want us to grow. Vietnam is
interested in getting the Peace Corps.
We were just in East Timor. They were there. We were pulled out due
to unrest. They are now in peace. They want them back. Surabaya in
Indonesia, there are, I think, 18 volunteers there now. They could grow
that to hundreds of volunteers. The country wants it.
But the one thing we have to do here in Congress is give them more
money. Frankly, I want to really salute the President of the United
States, because in these tough fiscal times, where everything else has
to be cut back, this year he has asked Congress to give the Peace Corps
more money than we gave them last year, and that's one of the bounce-up
programs.
We have gotten strong bipartisan support on this, and hopefully in
this Congress, which is going to be mostly a cut, squeeze, and trim
Congress, we don't throw the baby out with the bath water, as you said.
What an incredible opportunity at a time when peace might be breaking
out in the Middle East. They are going to need a lot of this. They are
going to need a lot of community development.
You are going to need people to understand. I mean, I could go on for
hours at what I just saw in East Timor where women had, three, four,
five babies in houses with no electricity, mud floors, before anyone
got to them and said, you know, you need to go through a prenatal
discussion and some postnatal treatment. Even in that poverty, what
they are just trying to do is sequence the babies so they won't be born
so quickly one next to another because there is a high risk of low
birth rate.
You know who is there right on the ground doing that--that is what
the Peace Corps does. So the need, the war on poverty never ends.
The war, or the path to peace, the process for peace, as we have seen
hopefully breaking out in the Middle East, that we can get a democratic
society, they are all going to need teachers, and as we need them here
at home we need them abroad. Teachers and not just traditional reading,
writing, and arithmetic but teachings of health care and HIV prevention
and so on. And I know you and Patti have dedicated your lives to that
work and what a wonderful way to celebrate on this 50th anniversary.
[[Page H1441]]
Mr. GARAMENDI. And as you were talking about Peace Corps volunteers
working with young families, our son and daughter served in Paraguay in
the Peace Corps, and her work was precisely that, working with her
families in her community in Paraguay. They were also in a rural area
working on family health on the issues of raising children, healthy
children, and providing them with information about how they could
better take care of their families and have a better life.
Our son was involved in community development work. Our two daughters
also served in the Peace Corps, and for young men and women, and others
who are not so young, the Peace Corps offers an incredible opportunity
to serve the world, serve this country, and to serve the needs of
individuals in a one-on-one relationship in some 77 countries now, and
hopefully with a small increase in the Peace Corps budget, which stands
just at $400 million.
You issued, you gave a statistic earlier in your discussion that is
really, I think, important. For every soldier that we send to
Afghanistan, we could send 13 Americans somewhere in the world to work
on the issues of poverty, the issues of education, social development,
societal development, and peace. So it's a 13-1 ratio, a great
investment.
Aaron Williams is the current Peace Corps director. He was a
volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1967 to 1970, served 3 years.
Mr. FARR. He met his wife there too. They are happily married. So
some Peace Corps volunteers come home with new families.
Mr. GARAMENDI. There are many, many opportunities that the Peace
Corps develops and yes, indeed, they can come home with a new family or
wife. You are quite correct about Aaron.
There are 8,655 volunteers, as of today, serving in 77 countries,
urban, rural, in all kinds of work. Just some of the statistics are, I
think, interesting; education, 37 percent. We were teachers and
community development. Actually, Patti and I were involved in the
smallpox eradication program, Ethiopia being one of the last countries
to eradicate smallpox.
Health, HIV/AIDS, was 22 percent. Business. Do you want to be a
graduate of Harvard Business School and really get some experience?
Fourteen percent of the volunteers do that.
Mr. FARR. We had small business development in Colombia. There was
also a whole bunch of people working on educational television, which
the country was implementing and needed teachers who knew how to do
that, and technicians on how to run the studios and set it all up.
{time} 1820
We also had architects helping design public facilities and parks.
You don't work on your own. You work with host country counterparts who
are professionals like you are.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I have a great example of this. A television reporter,
a cameraman in the San Francisco Bay area, is about to retire; and
every time I see him, he says, I'm going to go in the Peace Corps. And
I say, have you gone online, peacecorps.gov, to put your application
in? He says, no. And I said, well, the next time I see you, I want you
to tell me that you have your application in. He wants to take his
knowledge of reporting and television camera work overseas to work with
countries that are developing their own media for the purposes of
providing that foundation for a democratic society. And he would be
terrific. He's a great reporter.
Mr. FARR. I think that's very important. One of the things I did
today, because I was in the same conversation that you were having,
somebody asked me about it who was my age and wanted to know whether he
could go in the Peace Corps. And I said, go look up the Peace Corps on
the Internet.
Not only that. It shows every one of those countries, 77 countries,
and what jobs are in that country. You can go out and look around the
world and see the country you want to go to and find a job that you
think you're qualified to do, and that gives you a motivation to do
that. Also, not all Peace Corps volunteers live in mud huts. If you're
teaching in a university or in a school in an urban area, you could be
in a much more comfortable, middle class setting than people out--the
image of sleeping in a hammock in a mud hut. So it's all kinds of
opportunities, just depending on the skill sets of you, the individual,
and the needs of the host country.
We are always there as a guest being asked by the country to be
there, and we do the jobs they ask us to do. And, frankly, I think we
have enough innovation, as you and I found out, that sometimes if the
job isn't working exactly as they described, you just look around and
see what else is needed and adapt yourself. That's a lot of fun. That's
a lot of creativity and I think a lot of satisfaction for the
volunteer.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Sam, we're just about out of time.
Today, March 1, 2011, marks the 50th anniversary, the 50th birthday
of the United States Peace Corps. It's been an incredible organization
all of these years. Over 200,000 Americans have served, both young and
old, in some 139 countries. And so for all of those out there that want
to do something very, very special with their life, well, you can
Google it or you can go directly to peacecorps.gov. Put your
application in and see what the toughest job you ever loved will bring
to you.
Congressman Sam Farr, thank you so very much for joining me this
evening, for Tom Petri and Mike Honda, the four of us who are in
Congress that were--that remain--Peace Corps volunteers, and for Lois
Capps joining us and giving her perspective, a very big ``thank you.''
Mr. FARR. Happy birthday.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Happy birthday, Peace Corps.
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEACE CORPS
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive
Order establishing the Peace Corps, forever changing the way
America sees the world and the world sees us. Today, one of
President Kennedy's most enduring legacies can be found in
the over 200,000 current and returned Peace Corps Volunteers
who have collectively given over a half century of service to
the cause of peace. On its 50th anniversary, the United
States Peace Corps remains an enduring symbol of our Nation's
commitment to encouraging progress, creating opportunity, and
fostering mutual respect and understanding throughout the
world.
Over the past five decades, Peace Corps Volunteers have
served in nearly 140 countries, bringing a wealth of
practical assistance to those working to build better lives
for themselves and their communities. From the first group of
volunteers to arrive in Ghana and Tanzania in August 1961,
they have been emissaries of hope and goodwill to the far
corners of our world, strengthening the ties of friendship
between the people of the United States and those of other
countries.
Living and working alongside those they serve, volunteers
help address changing and complex global needs in education,
health and HIV/AIDS, business and information technology,
agriculture, environmental protection, and youth development.
With each village that now has access to clean water, each
young woman who has received an education, and each family
empowered to prevent disease because of the service of a
Peace Corps Volunteer, President Kennedy's noble vision lives
on.
In our increasingly interconnected world, the mission of
the Peace Corps is more relevant today than ever. Returned
volunteers, enriched by their experiences overseas, bring a
deeper understanding of other cultures and traditions back to
their home communities in the United States. The lasting
accomplishments of the Peace Corps continue to strengthen
partnerships with leaders and countries around the world.
This year, we also mourn the loss and pay tribute to the
extraordinary life of Sargent Shriver, the founding
director of the Peace Corps. The impact of his decades of
public service will echo forever in countless places
across the globe that have been touched by the Peace
Corps.
On this anniversary, we honor the men and women from across
the country who have carried forward our Nation's finest
tradition of service, and we rededicate ourselves to
fulfilling the dream and continuing the work of all those who
aspire and yearn for peace.
Now, Therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by
the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby
proclaim March 1, 2011, as the 50th Anniversary of the Peace
Corps. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor
the Peace Corps and its volunteers, past and present, for
their many contributions to the cause of global peace and
friendship.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty
eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand
eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
Barack Obama.
[[Page H1442]]
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