EUGENE, Ore. – The “Peace Corps 50 in Eugene,” is a proud organization that -- along with hundreds of other Peace Corps alumni groups nationwide – answered President John F. Kennedy’s call on March 1, 1961, to “make a difference, and to serve and connect with others in our world;”while, at the same time, Peace Corps members such as Laura Ann Masko continued to do just that some 30 years later “because we thought service for others overseas is one of the things that America is all about.”
Over the past 50 years, Masko and more than 200,000 of America’s best and brightest chose to work for a few dollars a day, postpone their entry into the U.S. workforce and to literally risk their lives in some remote and often primitive spot in a Third World country for the sheer joy of service to others who could only dream of what America has to offer.
Masko, who served in the remote “Ban Tiew village” in the Phetchabun province of northern Thailand from 1995 through 1997, taught English and also established a women’s “self esteem training program” for Thai teen girls who were being groomed for the brothels of Bangkok.
Peace Corps means service before self
“I wanted to make a difference out of college. I also wanted an adventure. I wanted to see the world and experience new culture first hand,” explained Masko who’s been a teacher in San Francisco since leaving the Peace Corps in 1997.
Masko, who quickly learned a lot of control and a competent way of handling herself after being placed in a remote Thai village with just a few months Peace Corps language training, said it was not easy dealing with the paragons of Thai society that exists in small male-dominated villages.
Still, she was able to survive and prosper through her wit, directness and intelligence. “Thanks to the Peace Corps I learned my life’s work and passion is teaching and making a difference in teenage lives. I’m still an educator because of what my Peace Corps experienced opened for me.”
Kennedy starts Peace Corps
It was on March 1, 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. At the same time, Kennedy appointed Sargent Shriver as its first director.
Masko, who worked at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C., before being sent to Thailand for three years of grueling service in a remote jungle community, knew Shriver and spent time with him. Today, she’s saddened at the recent passing of Shriver who helped create the Peace Corps that we know today.
“Sargent Shriver was a wonderful, warm, person who understood the human need for service. He was just right to begin the Peace Corps legacy for us all,” added Masko who proudly displays a Peace Corps sticker on her car and in her prose and poetry about those special days in her early twenties.
It was both Kennedy and Shriver who also understood the desire in some Americans to share the good will of the United States with others in Third World countries.
What Kennedy, Shriver and more than 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers have spawned on this 50thanniversary, say volunteers, is today’s global service movement with more than 40,000 U.S. and international organizations devoted to serving those in need.
Peace Corps builds leaders
Now, five decades later, Peace Corps volunteers living in Eugene boast as being “Number four in the nation for producing Peace Corps volunteers on a per capital basis.” Moreover, there are now 50 current or retired teachers in Eugene area schools who served in the Peace Corps.
Others who’ve served in the Peace Corps include:
- Democratic Presidential candidate Christopher Dodd, U.S. Senator, Connecticut (Dominican Republic 1966-68)
Chris Matthews, host of NBC's Hardball (Swaziland 1968-70)
Jim Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin and wife Jessica Doyle (Tunisia 1967-69)
Sam Farr, U.S. Representative from California (Colombia 1964-66)
Mike Honda, U.S. Representative from California (El Salvador 1965-67)
Thomas Petri, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin (Somalia 1966-67)
Christopher Shays, U.S. Representative from Connecticut (Fiji 1968-70)
James Walsh, U.S. Representative from New York (Nepal 1970-72)
Robert Taft, served as governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007. (Tanzania 1963-65)
Ron Arias, senior editor for People magazine and author of The Road to Tamazunchale (Peru 1963-64)
David Briscoe, chief correspondent of World Desk for Associated Press (Philippines 1966-70)
Henry Muller, editorial director for Time, Inc. (Ethiopia 1968-69)
Edward Dolby, president, Bank of America, Carolinas (India 1966-68)
Samuel Gillespie III, senior vice president, Exxon Mobil Corp. (Kenya 1967-69)
Robert Haas, chairman of board for Levi Strauss (Ivory Coast 1964-66)
Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix (Swaziland 1983-85)
Michael McCaskey, chairman of the board, Chicago Bears (Ethiopia 1965-67)
Robert McCormack, executive vice president of Citicorp (Colombia 1968-70)
Gordon Radley, president of Lucasfilms Ltd. (Malawi 1968-70)
Taylor Hackford, movie producer of Ray, An Officer and a Gentleman; and The Devil's Advocate (Bolivia 1968-69)
Joe Acaba, mission specialist educator astronaut for NASA (Dominican Republic 1994-96)
In general, the Peace Corps is an American made volunteer program run by the federal government. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand U.S. culture, and helping Americans understand the cultures of other countries.
According to a recent Peace Crops fact sheet, the volunteer work is related to social and economic development. Each program participant, (aka Peace Corps Volunteer), is an American citizen, typically with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of 24 months after three months of training.
Volunteers work with governments, schools, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and entrepreneurs in education, hunger, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment.
After 24 months of service, volunteers can request an extension of service, and many often do because “they put service to others before themselves and their needs,” said Kennedy.
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