[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2930-2936]
[From the U.S. 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

[[Page 2931]]

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.
  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

[[Page 2932]]

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 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

[[Page 2933]]

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 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

[[Page 2934]]

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 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.

[[Page 2935]]

  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.
  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

[[Page 2936]]

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.  

                          ____________________