Giving Peace a Chance

A growing number of older Americans are signing up for the Peace Corps,
which sees their experience as a big plus.
By Robert Schlesinger
March 2006
http://www.aarp.org/

Marie Shockley heard the call in 1961, when John F. Kennedy challenged a generation to change the world and, within two months of his inauguration, called for a Peace Corps to advance "the great common cause of world development."

There would be marriage, two children, divorce, a career as a civil servant and retirement before Shockley could say, "Dream fulfilled."

Shockley, now 67, is one of a growing number of retirees and other older Americans who enlist in the Peace Corps, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this month. In 1966, 135 of 15,556 Peace Corps volunteers—less than 1 percent—were 50 years of age or older. As of September, 435 of its 7,810 volunteers—nearly 6 percent—were 50 or older.

At 28, the average age of a Peace Corps volunteer is up from 24 when the program began. Still, the oldest volunteer in the corps, at 79, isn't as old as Arthur Goodfriend of Hawaii was (86) when he finished a two-year tour in Hungary in 1994. The best-known older volunteer was President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, who joined in 1966 at the age of 68. The corps now gives a Lillian Carter Award every other year to a volunteer over the age of 50.

"We've actually been much more actively recruiting older Americans," says corps spokesman Nathan Arnold. They're wanted for their experience and maturity. "We use the term 'demonstrated ability,' " Arnold says, "because they've already gone through their careers and come to the Peace Corps with a wealth of experience."

The corps' main recruiting brochure now includes pictures of volunteers of all ages. "Have you been asking yourself what's next?" asks one brochure with a photograph of an older volunteer in the field. And its website (www.peacecorps.gov) asks, "Always wanted to travel when you retire? See the world, and give something back while you're at it."

Peace Corps volunteers, after training, are dispatched to one of 75 countries, where they work in public service sectors—education, business development, AIDS awareness or information technology, for example. They live in communities and learn the language. All told, the commitment is usually for about 27 months. Volunteers get full medical and dental care, along with a monthly living allowance and an accrued "readjustment allowance" that's paid at the completion of service.
Although President Kennedy envisioned the corps for young Americans, older volunteers from all corners of the United States are scattered across the globe, handling a variety of duties.

• Charles Ludlam left his job as counsel to Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and is stationed with his wife, Paula Hirschoff, in Senegal. Both are 61 and in their second tour of duty, having first served in the late 1960s. He's doing agricultural extension work; she's helping with small business development.
• Roger Parent, 67, a former two-term mayor of South Bend, Ind., served a six-month stint in Thailand on an emergency team dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami in 2004. It was his fourth tour with the Peace Corps.
• Chuck and Marcia McBeath, 83 and 81 respectively, recently returned to their home in Seattle from a two-year assignment in Kenya. The McBeaths are close to the record for the most stints in the Peace Corps—six in all, including Lesotho, Jamaica, Namibia, St. Lucia and Ivory Coast.
• Susan and Robert Wieluns of Waldoboro, Maine, both 64, teach English and business in Armenia.
• Sara Quimby, 71, of Sacramento, Calif., is helping at-risk youth in Jamaica.
• Edward Raupp, 69, of Maple Plain, Minn., is in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, teaching at a university and helping develop a library.

Marie Shockley says that a lifetime's experience gave her the perspective to understand what it takes to run a household and to know when and how to help her host family in Namibia.
"In Africa, especially," she says, "age is revered a little bit more, and they consider you to have wisdom, even if you don't."

She knew when to ignore rules that she might have followed earlier in her life, Shockley says. "I got away with a couple of things that I couldn't have gotten away with if I was younger," she says—for example, ignoring the local nuns' wishes that she avoid talking about condoms as part of her AIDS education efforts. "I carried a bag with condoms in it, and I gave them out. If I was twentysomething, I'm not sure I could have done it."

While age is often seen as a drawback in U.S. workplaces, it can be a big plus in other countries, say David Arnoldy and Linda Lee, who returned home to St. Paul, Minn., in June after a two-year stint in Ukraine. "In their culture, as opposed to ours, people with gray hair are seen to be wise and more respected," Arnoldy says.

At the time they volunteered, she was 52 and he 58. During Arnoldy's 20 years in the technology business, he had started and sold three companies—experience that proved valuable in teaching "Essentials of Entrepreneurship" in Ukraine. Lee, who'd retired early from a career in the corporate world, worked on a business management project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

They wanted to use their business know-how, but somewhere outside of the United States. "We wanted to give back," Lee says. "We wanted to share our skills with others."

"The toughest job you'll ever love." It's the slogan the Peace Corps has used for as long as anyone can remember, and, according to Shockley, Arnoldy and Lee, it still fits.

In Namibia, Shockley was lucky to live in a house with electricity. She went to the country with 21 other volunteers; she was one of only eight who lasted the two-year stint.

"We went in telling ourselves that we had no expectations, because they always said whatever you expect isn't going to happen," Lee says.

One thing that strikes many Peace Corps volunteers is the need to counterbalance America's materialistic image around the world.

"It's so important for people to see aspects of the United States that are not those that are represented in our popular culture, which is what they see," Lee says. "They have a distorted view of the United States, and it's kind of embarrassing. They think we all have 15 cars and live in big mansions."

Shockley says that a lot of the kids she worked with were delighted to see an African American like her. "They thought everyone in America looked like on the videos," she says. She was peppered with the same questions over and over: Do you know Michael Jackson? Are you related to Colin Powell?

Since returning, Shockley has given speeches about her experiences in the Peace Corps. As for volunteering, "it's a good idea for people to do it after they retire," she says. "A lot of people especially are retiring earlier, and they have their health."

Adds Arnoldy: "It was one of the most rewarding things we've done, and it gave us some very, very fresh perspectives to think about old things in a new way."

Robert Schlesinger is a Washington journalist.