Добър вечер. Az съм добреволец ot Корпус na мира ot Aмерикa. Good evening. I am a Peace Corps volunteer from America. At least that’s what Shirley and I hope to be able to say if we pass our language tests after eleven weeks of training. As many of you know, we are headed for Bulgaria at the end of July to stay for 27 months.
Friends have asked us, “Why the Peace Corps? and why now?” The answer is really quite simple. It’s time to pay back. Shirley and I have been fortunate growing up in America. It’s time to pay back.
Shirley grew up in the hills of southern Missouri in a farm house that lacked indoor plumbing in the early years of her life. College was neither financially possible nor expected for rural Missouri girls. Yet, in this land of opportunity, she ended up working for a company that offered free college to any employee. Yes, Shirley had to work hard to graduate while working 50 hours a week but that degree opened up new opportunities that not only gave her financial success but also led to promotion levels that would not have been available to a woman in most countries of the world.
I grew up in a middle class family. One parent was a school teacher and the other worked in a factory. I got through college on low-interest government loans and government-paid student jobs which led to a degree and a career that I enjoyed so much that I probably would have done the job for free. At one point while finishing my degree, I was so broke that I went on government food stamps for four months so I wouldn’t have to give up my schooling. Yes, America has been very good to both of us. That’s why it’s time to give back.
So why join the Peace Corps now, when we’re comfortably into retirement? It’s certainly not because we failed Retirement 101. As you know, we both enjoy a full range of retirement activities. The answer is that we’re doing it now because it’s possible now. Earlier there were career and financial obligations. In the future there may be health issues or family issues but right now the coast is clear.
Next month Shirley and I will join about 30 other trainees headed for Bulgaria. We will travel to Washington, D.C. for two days of orientation. Then we will travel to a small town in Bulgaria for eleven weeks. During this time Shirley and I will live with separate host families who may speak no English. During the day we will attend training in small groups of five students for each Bulgarian instructor, who will teach us not only language but also how to function in Bulgarian society: how to get groceries, how to take the bus, how to get on the bus in a country where no one waits in line. It’s all about what to do and what not to do. In Bulgaria shaking your head up and down means no and side to side means yes.
At the end of training we will be tested on our language skills through both written tests and a 30-minute interview conducted entirely in Bulgarian. If we pass, we will no longer be trainees and will be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. Then we will go to our permanent two-year assignments. Finally Shirley and I will live together again. Shirley will be doing work in business development, a broad category that could encompass all sorts of things from writing business plans to using computers. I will be assigned work in environmental education. That could mean anything from giving programs in schools to helping manage national parks to counting ducks in a winter marsh. I’m hoping for the ducks.
In any case we are not going to Bulgaria to complete a Peace Corps project so much as to help Bulgarians do their projects. The whole point of the Peace Corps is capacity building. If we work with the Bulgarians and introduce new ideas, they will have trained citizens to do the work when we leave. We are not like Habitat for Humanity or some other charity which goes in with a group of Americans, builds houses and then leaves. We want to leave knowledge behind. Then if all goes well in October 2010 we will bid goodbye to Bulgaria and return to beautiful Green Valley.
The Peace Corps has been around since 1961when President John Kennedy established it just six weeks after he was inaugurated. Since then almost 190,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries. Today there are 8,000 volunteers in 70 different countries including 140 in Bulgaria. The majority of volunteers teach English. The next two largest categories are youth development and health care, particularly in countries with a high incidence of AIDS. All volunteers serve 27 months and almost all learn a foreign language…in some cases very foreign.
When people apply for the Peace Corps, they are given a list of regions and asked to identify those they would be interested in. Shirley and I cast a wide net. We said that we were interested in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, and Eastern Europe. We said no to the Middle East and the Caribbean. We also sort of said no to Central Asia but I admit that I still harbored secret dreams of Mongolia. Out of all that, last August the Peace Corps told us that we would be going to Eastern Europe. In March they narrowed that down to Bulgaria. So now, we’re trying to learn the Bulgarian language. “Гаворете ли Български?” Do you speak Bulgarian?
So where is Bulgaria? On the map Bulgaria is just west of the Black Sea. It’s north of Greece and south of Romania. Bulgaria is not a large country. It’s roughly 300 miles east to west and 180 north to south. In square miles it’s half the size of Minnesota, 20% smaller than Iowa, and about the same size as Tennessee. Bulgaria may seem small but Europe is made up of small countries. Of the roughly 40 countries in Europe, Bulgaria is right in the middle, 20 are smaller and 20 are larger.
Bulgaria recently entered the European Union but still has some work to do to fully meet all E.U. standards, particularly in small towns and rural areas. That’s where the Peace Corps can help. The mission of the Peace Corps in Bulgaria is the same mission that it has in 70 other countries around the world.
The Peace Corps has three goals: The first is to help people in various countries in meeting their need for trained men and women to make social and economic progress. This is the goal that everyone thinks about when they think of the Peace Corps. But there two more goals.
The second goal is help promote a better understanding of Americans. For many people around the world this is the first time they have ever talked to an American or seen them as anything but tourists who don’t speak the local language. People in small towns and villages around the world have very little exposure to anyone different from themselves. With the Peace Corps, there are Americans working and living alongside local people.
The third goal is directed at the Peace Corps volunteers themselves. America benefits when more of its citizens have an understanding of the rest of the world. In this global economy and shriking world it is valuable to the United States to have a population who have had experience living in different cultures, using different languages, and learning what other people think.
These are a lot of lofty goals and high ideals. Shirley and I are not 20-something like many of our fellow Peace Corps trainees. We’re not out to save the world but maybe we can help some small portion of it. Life has been good us. It’s time to give back.
And then on a more personal level, there are the stories. Everyone loves to tell stories, including me. As I listened in our town while people told stories, I realized that many retired people only tell stories from years ago before they were retired. They weren’t doing anything now to create new stories. So that’s an impetus for me. I want to go out and find more stories. When we come back, maybe I’ll have some stories to tell you.
Richard & Shirley
What a large volume of adventures
may be grasped within this little span of life
by him who interests his heart in everything.
Lawrence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey
