**I started writing this on the day of Peace Corps’ Anniversary, March 1st, but shortly after became deathly ill and therefore stayed in bed for three days watching last year’s Oscar Awards which I have on DVD hoping to make myself feel better by pretending that I was in America. Now that I’ve escaped the deadly grasps of bronchitis, strep throat, or maybe even TB (it was unclear at one point) I will continue with the over abundance of praise and admiration I have for the Peace Corps until you begin saying to yourself, “What a company girl she is.”**
Today is the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps. When I’m sitting at home alone at site, huddled around my gas heater clutching a big mug of Ceylon tea, with the closest volunteer more than an hour away from me, it’s hard to remember that I’m a part of a momentous, historical legacy involving over 200,000 present and returned volunteers. I forget that I am part of this huge government agency that embraces true grassroots efforts, local self-determination, and the most basic transfers of cultural exchange. It’s a humbling realization. Personally, I haven’t done anything that will have a large impact over this country, but as a collective, I stand next to people who have prevented HIV/AIDS, improved agricultural techniques, taught thousands of children, built houses and community centers. It’s empowering. The world is never going to recognize my name, but I’m a part of something great that is in fact, changing the world. And that’s enough. It’s often a thankless job. A large majority of the time, I even forget to commend or even acknowledge my own efforts. But the times when a small thank you comes my way…
Do you know that movie The Back-Up Plan? Terrible movie except for that hunky hunk that Jennifer Lopez unrealistically falls in love with after being artificially inseminated resulting in twin red headed girls that look nothing like her. Sorry I digress. But there’s a line in the movie about children that goes something like this, “Well first it’s bad. Then really bad, then bad, bad, and bad. But then something happens that’s just so amazing… And then something else happens and it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad.” That’s how I feel all the time. It’s like my body has been injected with an extra dose of every human emotion that leaves me crumpled up in bed diving head first into a pan bigger than my waist of brownies or unexpectedly walking ten feet above the ground, the radiance of my heart reaching out to the Caspian Sea. It can be pretty exhausting. But at times like this, I just think, around the world every volunteer knows exactly how I’m feeling right now. It’s such a unique transition. Before I applied, I saw a sign that said “Peace Corps: The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love.” I wanted it. Right away, I wanted that. In a commemorative video, in an old black and white advertisement, the same exact slogan tried to reach out to Americans across the country. Fifty years ago, did those volunteers feel the same things I am now? It’s very likely. It’s easy to indulge in the isolation, but I am not alone. I am very much, not alone.
Congratulations President Kennedy and Sergeant Shriver. Happy Birthday Peace Corps.
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