by Alec Williams
For 55 years, the volunteer-led Peace Corps has made it its mission to promote world peace through a variety of service ranging from education to health and numerous projects in between.
On the evening of Nov. 10, the World Affairs Council of Western Colorado (WACWC) organized the “Stories of Peace Corps Veterans” to celebrate those 55 years of service with a panel discussion of past experiences.
“The Peace Corps gave us an amazing experience,” Bennet Boeschenstein, Peace Corps veteran and current Grand Junction City Council member, said. “I was in the Peace Corps for three years in Africa in the ‘60s. Two years in Tanzania and one year in Kenya.”
Each panelist was given time to speak on their time in the Peace Corps to an audience from the community, some of whom participated in the Peace Corps themselves.
“One of the things I was very pleased to hear was how our service not only changed us
but opened doors that still exist,” Ricardo Gibb, a member of the audience and six-year member of the Peace Corps, said. “I have relationships in Nicaragua, I have relationships in Chile, I have relationships in Ghana.”
Panelists, much like all Peace Corps volunteers, served in different countries and professions. Forty-six percent of all Peace Corps volunteers help in Africa, but some of the panelists also served in the Ukraine and China.
“I was in Peace Corps China, and I think I am the most recent Peace Corps returnee,” Clare Boulanger, who also used to work for CMU, said. “A difference between China and other Peace Corps countries is that people kid around that China is ‘Posh Corps,’ not Peace Corps, it’s not a mud hut posting, and you can expect to have electricity.”
Boulanger later went on to describe her experience with teaching English, a task that is the Peace Corps’ largest program area.
“I think the joy of what Peace Corps brings to our lives, and to our coexistence, is the need to continue to share that, but most important to make people aware of what simple things matter, that we take for granted,” Gibb said.
