The Peace Corps

Harper College Associate Professor and Co-chair of the Department of English, Richard Johnson, told us about the Peace Corps and his experiences as a Corps volunteer in West Africa.

He said the Peace Corps has changed over the years. Although most volunteers are on 2-year stints, it now has some 6-month placements in which “professionals” from the U.S. can work on a project or provide a service that is greatly needed. In conversation afterwards, he shared that he probably got more out of the experience than he gave. It’s hard to gauge, of course, but a large part of his job was to teach drama and English to kids in remarkably crowded conditions, doing so with hardly any books or resources. He was also a volley ball coach and translator...and because many of the fathers in his town were migrant laborers, a surrogate father figure.

His posting was in Burkina Faso a landlocked nation in West Africa surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the south west. Its size is 274,000 km² with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, One of the great challenges, like in many parts of the world, is a system where the self-interest of the controlling factions and foreign influence control much of what happens, even when idealistic leaders take control. At the same time, he said, the people and children are very capable in their own way, often able to fluently speak four to six languages.

Some of us later in life think about volunteering our time...perhaps even in something seemingly exotic like the Peace Corp. Currently there are about 7,600 volunteers in 75 countries. 60% are female and 93% are single, with an average age of 25. About 6% of the volunteers are over 50.

He said it’s rewarding, and demanding. Training is rigorous, wait time to get in is about a year, and many drop out after starting. These days, the focus is on bringing technological skills, business development, and HIV/AIDs education and aid. The goal overall is to promote world peace and friendship. In a way, it worked for him in a special way – he met his wife while in the Peace Corps.

There’s something to keep in mind, about off-the-cuff comments. President John Kennedy started the idea of the Peace Corps in 1961 at a campaign stop in Michigan through ... an unscripted, off-the-cuff question to an unexpectedly large crowd of students at the end a long day, asked if for peace they’d be willing to live and work for in the developing world. As Rotarians, if you have what seems like a good idea, share it. You never know what good might come of it !