The Peace Corps Celebrates 55 Years

Note: In addition to his work at the International and Area Studies Library, the author is also the Peace Corps Recruiter for the University of Illinois campus community. He served as a Volunteer in the Education sector from 2008 to 2010 in the Republic of Cabo Verde. Join Peace Corps at UIUC and the International & Area Studies Library from 3:00-4:30 on March 30, 2016 in the Main Library Room 106 for our “Peace Corps and the University” event.

Peace Corps Media Library: Ghana

Volunteer Mary McFall, 60, teaches dressmaking, math, and English at the National Women’s Training Centre in Madina, Ghana in 1980. Ghana was the first nation to receive Peace Corps Volunteers, starting in August 1961, five months after the agency was officially established. Source: Peace Corps Media Library.

When John F. Kennedy said the famous words “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” during his presidential inaugural address on January 20, 1961, the plans were already in place to put substance and resources behind such a call to action. Soon later, on March 1st of that year, the U.S. Peace Corps was signed into law via Executive Order 10924:

This year, the Peace Corps celebrates 55 years since that day. Now, over 140 countries have been served by over 220,000 Volunteers, all working to promote the three goals of this independent federal agency:

  • To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women;
  • To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served;
  • To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

To find out more about the Peace Corps, check out these fast facts. This interactive timeline provides a wealth of historical information.

Since its inception, many books have been written about the Peace Corps experience.  Perhaps most well-known are those of the travel writer Paul Theroux. He has written both fiction and non-fiction works since he served as a Volunteer in the southern African nation of Malawi from 1963 to 1965. Theroux’s own Peace Corps story is a fascinating mix of adventure, political dissent, and humanitarianism. index.aspx

The Ugly American, a novel by government insiders William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, was first published in 1958, when the seeds of the concept of international development support and “soft” diplomacy were just beginning to be sown in civil and political discourse. Contrary to what the title might seem to connote about U.S. hegemony and Americans’ bad behavior abroad, the eponymous “ugly American” of the story is in fact one of the few foreign nationals who integrates into the life of his adopted home, the fictional southeast Asian country of Sarkkan. His humility, goodwill, and skilled guidance in engineering allow him and his wife the opportunity to help their local community in a much more effective and sustainable fashion. This is contrasted with the more questionable approaches of the majority of other foreign workers in the region. Ideas such as Lederer’s and Burdick’s were integral to the earliest and most long-lasting principles of Peace Corps service.

John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man shows what can happen when a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) is tempted to use intimate knowledge of his host country for the benefit of an exploitative, for-profit endeavor after his service. The memoir offers a major caveat on the risks involved in international relations when large corporations are also interested players. This book also helps explain why the Peace Corps model may sometimes be viewed as suspicious by citizens of receiving nations.

For a comprehensive selection of titles written by Peace Corps Volunteers and staff, the Annotated Bibliography of Peace Corps Writers’ Books in the Library of Congress is an ideal starting point and is up-to-date as of the Peace Corps’ last major anniversary in 2011, its fiftieth. Below are a few more selected titles, all available at the University of Illinois Library:

Coyne, John. (Eds.) (1999) Living on the Edge: Fiction by Peace Corps Writers. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press.

Meisler, Stanley. (2011) When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years. Boston: Beacon Press.

Schwarz, Karen. (1991) What You Can Do for Your Country: An Oral History of the Peace Corps. New York: W. Morrow.

If you’d like to know more about the Peace Corps, realities of service, how to apply, or any other related information, please contact me at peacecorps@illinois.edu or via our Facebook page. The events below are also planned for the remainder of the Spring 2016 semester. All are welcome! Of particular note is the panel discussion on March 30th, “Peace Corps and the University,” which will bring together four University of Illinois faculty and staff members to discuss how their Peace Corps service led them to their current positions in various fields. This event is organized in collaboration with the International and Area Studies Library.

Date Event Location Zipcode  State
03/09/2016 UIUC Career and Internship Fair: Peace Corps Info Table Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), 201 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign 61820 Illinois
03/09/2016 Peace Corps Info Session: Live, Learn and Work with a Community Overseas The Career Center, 715 S. Wright St., Champaign 61820 Illinois
03/14/2016 Peace Corps Application Workshop: Live, Learn and Work with a Community Overseas The Career Center, 715 S. Wright St., Champaign 61820 Illinois
03/30/2016 “Peace Corps and the University” Panel Discussion Room 106, Main Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana 61801 Illinois
04/06/2016 Peace Corps Info Session: Live, Learn and Work with a Community Overseas The Career Center, 715 S. Wright St., Champaign 61820 Illinois
05/04/2016 Peace Corps Info Session: Live, Learn and Work with a Community Overseas The Career Center, 715 S. Wright St., Champaign 61820 Illinois
05/05/2016 Peace Corps Application Workshop: Live, Learn and Work with a Community Overseas The Career Center, 715 S. Wright St., Champaign 61820 Illinois
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Libraries Without Borders

Libraries Without Borders logo Today’s world is home to 795 million illiterate adults and 72 million children not in school. While this statistic sounds medieval it is a reality that still exists in abundance. While the world increasingly uses communication tools like email, the Internet, and even digital libraries, millions of individuals are also being left behind.

This is where Libraries Without Borders (LWB), a five year old international nonprofit, comes in to help. LWB’s mission is to connect those in the developed world with access to books, libraries, and above all knowledge. Patrick Weil, LWB’s Chairman and founder, believes in the power of books and their ability to exercise the critical mind and facilitate democracy. The importance of being exposed to words and books becomes obvious when you try to imagine not being able to read; the knowledge held within books and words stays forever silent, exploring the Internet is impossible, and expressing your thoughts and opinions becomes immensely difficult.

Story telling in an emergency relief tent in Haiti after the earthquake.

LWB staff members set up a story telling in an emergency relief tent in Haiti after the earthquake.

Not only are books important to the mind but they also provide relief in humanitarian emergencies in which LWB plays an important role. In areas traumatized by events like 2010’s Haitian earthquake or the violence in Mali, Patrick Weil writes, “…the first priority is life, but when life is secure, what can people do if they are staying in a camp? They cannot do anything, and they can become depressed. Once life is secured, books are essential…They’re the beginning of recovery, in terms of reconnecting with the rest of the world, and feeling like a human being again.”[1]

An innovate model, Libraries Without Borders works to facilitate relief projects with values that emphasize:

  1. Local partnerships: Working with local organizations and agencies ensures the usage of libraries and books, in addition to fulfilling local population needs. LWB also encourages local publishing and authorship to help give communities a voice.
  2. Sustainable development: As millions of new books are destroyed round the world LWB works with publishers and institutions to re-purpose these books by putting them on the shelves of under-stocked libraries in the developing world.
  3. Democracy and human rights: Libraries are hubs of information access and democracy. Promoting them throughout the world safeguards democracy and human rights.
  4. Cultural diversity: Libraries are bridges between shared histories and futures yet to be built. Libraries are venues for the construction of multicultural and tolerant societies.
Trunks of books representative of Francophone literature accompanied public reader Marc Roger and his donkey when they left Saint-Malo for Bamako on May 31st, 2009.

Trunks of books representative of Francophone literature accompanied public reader Marc Roger and his donkey when they left Saint-Malo for Bamako on May 31st, 2009.

These values are evident in the numerous projects LWB has participated in, including bookmobiles in Haiti, training programs for librarians from the Democratic Republic of Congo, book trunks in Mali and Senegal, hurricane relief for schools in New Orleans, school libraries in Madagascar, Kigali’s first public library, and a Media Library for Innovation and Development in Cameroon.

At its core Libraries Without Borders recognizes the immense importance of literacy, books, and that libraries make them accessible. Indeed LWB is an important force within developing countries and disaster relief efforts because once life is secure efforts must be made to not only sustain life but also allow for intellectual growth, letting words flourish and thrive.

For more about Libraries Without Borders or how you can donate books or volunteer your time please visit http://www.librarieswithoutborders.org/ or check out their Facebook!


[1] Flood, Alison. “Disaster Victims ‘Need Books As Well As Food.’” The Guardian. 28 November 2012.

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