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Since 1960s, voluntary work has become common especially in developing countries. Among the sectors in which volunteers work include business and community development, medical work, construction and education. One of the greatest volunteer organizations in history is The . The website defines it as "an independent U.S. government agency that provides trained Volunteers for countries requesting assistance around the world", (Peacecorps.gov 1). Peters (5), on the other hand, defines The as "an organization of volunteers from the United States that promotes world peace and friendship." The organization's mission as outlined in Peacecorps.gov (1) includes helping countries with interest in meeting their training needs, help people from other countries to understand Americans well and Americans to understand people from other countries as well. Peters (5) summarizes this mission as follows: "To promote world peace and friendship by helping people in developing countries help themselves."
Conclusively, The can be defined as a U.S government agency that sends trained Volunteers to serve in other developing countries with the aim of promoting development, peace and understanding in the world. The Volunteers achieve this by teaching people in the host country about the American lifestyle and values. This enables the people to understand Americans better. At the same time, the Volunteers learn the lifestyle and values of the host people and teach these values American people when they return home (Peters 5). In this way, mutual understanding and peace is achieved.
The idea of forming the agency dates back to the night of October 14, 1960. This was a period of a cold war and people across the world were living in fear of a possible war. The then Senator, John F. Kennedy, however, had a desire for world peace. Kennedy was contesting for presidency in the United States of America. In one of his campaigns in the night of 14th at the University of Michigan, he challenged the University students about their willingness to promote peace all over the world by volunteering to serve in developing countries (Peacecorps.gov 1).
The students were enthusiastic and felt that they were capable, so they embraced the idea (Searles 2). More than 1000 students signed a petition that day supporting the formation of such a Volunteer organization. This encouraged Kennedy because he knew that there were people who were sharing his thoughts. The idea of forming The was therefore conceived (Peters 6).
J.F. Kennedy became the thirty Fifth president of the United States in 1961. He then began to make plans of realizing his dream of promoting world peace and understanding. Two Congress Men; Hubert Humphrey and Henry Reuss suggested the idea of forming The . The U.S. President, Kennedy, liked the idea and backed it. On 1st March, 1961, the U.S. government then implemented the idea and The was founded on that date (Peters 5). The first Director of The , Retired Sargent Shriver, was appointed in the same year .
Most people all over the world term the formation of The as one of the greatest contributions the United States has ever made in the world. During his presidency between 1961 and 1963, John F. Kennedy's goal was to provide help to people in other countries and to promote peace all over the world. This is the reason why he pioneered the establishment of The in 1961 (Suen 4). However, critics have viewed the historic event of the formation of The with a different feeling.
It is a fact that, at the dawn of the decade in 1960s, the whole of the United States of America was extremely successful. This is because it had not been affected by the Second World War. Apart from the little conflict with Korea, "the previous decade had been a period of unparalleled prosperity." (Searles 1). The young generation had absolute faith in the government, and they felt enthusiastic and talented. As Searles (1) puts it, "With hindsight one can see obvious and great flaws in this picture of life in the United States." There was a minority who had been reduced socially, economically and legally. This was a significant population which had suffered the effects of the Great Depression and the Cold War. Scholars have criticized America as having enjoyed a prosperous society in the history of the world, but they had exchanged their morals for easy office jobs .
According to Hoffman (1), despite the fact that America "...had attained overwhelming economic, military, and political power in the preceding two decades...," this power sometimes made them feel guilty. George Washington had warned the U.S. before to stay out of conflict with Europe and other nations. However, by 1960 America had become dominant as a result of the Cold war (Hoffman 2). They must have thought that the best way to keep this power was to show the world how generous America was; hence they introduced The . As Hoffman (5) puts it, "...desirous of, but uncomfortable with power, the nation is driven to find ways of convincing itself that its power is beneficial."
Ghanaians were the first people to receive The Volunteers in 1961. Later in the decade, more Americans had embraced the activities of the agency. The year 1966 saw 15000 volunteers serving overseas, the highest number in the organization's history. In 1971, the U.S. government under President Richard Nixon created a new federal volunteer organization named ACTION. The became part of this agency. The , however, regained independence from ACTION in 1979 through President Jimmy Carter (Peters 17). By 1974, The had sent volunteers to 69 countries around the world (Peters 21). By 2003, this figure had risen to 135. The total number of volunteers and trainees since 1961 had then risen to 165000 (Peters 5).
Almost a half of The Volunteers, especially in Africa, are teachers. One serious problem that volunteers experienced is the language problem. In Africa, for example, students are only familiar with British English. These students could struggle to understand the American teachers. This forced the volunteer teachers to learn to speak slowly and with a British flavor in order for students to get them .
To make it worse, in some countries, English is only the second language; and most people do not understand or speak it. The volunteers thus have to learn native languages in order to communicate with the host people. This consumes a lot of time and can sometimes be discouraging ( Volunteers 8).
Another problem, especially for teachers, is the shortage of teaching materials. Sometimes this forces the volunteers to use their own resources to fund in case the situation is urgent ( Volunteers 9). Finally, sometimes there may be a conflict in culture and communication styles. As Storti and Bennhold-Samaan (80) records in their Cross-cultural Workbook, the American style may be more open compared to that of other cultures. This is likely to cause misunderstanding between the volunteer and residents of the host country. The local people sometimes face a problem in absorbing American culture which some volunteers may perform unconsciously.
It is now more than 51 years since The started. The success that it has accomplished across the world makes it one of the greatest agencies in history. The greatest reward that volunteers experience is the satisfaction of helping the needy. It can be concluded that the organization has served and is still serving its goal of creating world peace and understanding, besides promoting development in the developing countries.
