Keeping up a Corps Tradition

'U' ranks 5th in Corps volunteers

By Beth Shyken
For the Daily

When Andrew Brush was in Sri Lanka, he had to cross the street to a Buddhist temple in order to make a phone call. If there was no one in the temple, Brush, a 1984 University graduate, would go down the street to the local post office.

Today, Brush works for a computer firm that requires him to use the Internet and communicate across continents. He is in contact with people all over the world. But communications were very different in 1991-93, when he volunteered in the Peace Corps.

Commitment, adaptability, spirit of adventure and willingness to serve others are just a few qualities required for a Peace Corps volunteer. The University has a long past of producing students who fit this description - in fact, the University is the fifth-ranking institution for the number of Peace Corps recruits it sends out each year. After 36 years, 1,281 University alumni have participated in the service program.

As a Peace Corps volunteer, Brush taught English in the only English training college in Sri Lanka, an island nation off the coast of India. He experienced a new culture, language, family and attitude.

"I rode on buses for two years, and they were always crowded. Sometimes I'd have a seat, sometimes I wouldn't," Brush said. "If there were six inches of space next to me, I would be asked to move over for another person. When I got back it was lonely driving in my own car."

Perhaps the University's historical involvement in the Peace Corps has contributed to its high ranking.

John F. Kennedy announced the concept of the Peace Corps from the steps of the Michigan Union on Oct. 14, 1960, when he was running for president. He expressed the need for volunteers and within weeks, 1,000 University students signed a petition calling for the establishment of the Peace Corps program.

This strong interest in the Peace Corps has continued over the past 37 years. While the University of Michigan is fifth in recruiting, the University of California at Berkeley is at the top of the list with 2,960 students having joined the Peace Corps. Berkeley is followed by the University of Wisconsin with 2,237 volunteers and the University of Washington, with 1,990. Harvard University, one of only three private universities in the top 20, comes in at No. 4, with 1,966 volunteers.

According to Joseph Dorsey, the Peace Corps campus coordinator, the birth of the Peace Corps came on the steps of the Union.

"The nature of this campus breeds volunteers," Dorsey said. Dorsey explained that as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, one must have a sense of mission - not necessarily a mission to humanity, but rather a mission of self-improvement.

As a return Peace Corps volunteer in the Ivory Coast, Dorsey compares the Peace Corps experience to a National Geographic Magazine.

"National Geographic Magazine gives you pictures, but the Peace Corps allows you to live a National Geographic life," Dorsey said. "On my five-day boat trip up the Niger River, I saw the land turn from Savannah, to marshland, to desert."

The first Peace Corps volunteer group left the United States for the African nation of Ghana in August, 1961. Since then, 150,000 volunteers have served in 132 countries. Today nearly 6,500 Peace Corps volunteers serve in 87 countries, working to fight hunger, bring clean water to communities, teach children, start new small businesses and stop the spread of AIDS.

According to Brian Anderson, a recruitment representative, one in every five volunteers teaches some form of English. Anderson volunteered in Namibia teaching English during 1990-92.

As a recruiter, Anderson said flexibility is the biggest asset a volunteer can have. Louise Baldwin, the campus program coordinator for the Peace Corps, was an English teacher in Afghanistan from 1970-73 and agrees with the need to be flexible.

"The (Afgan) government changed its mind about what I was supposed to teach," Baldwin said. "I still taught, but it wasn't exactly what I thought."

Kay Clifford, who taught English at a girls' secondary school run by Italian nuns, was part of the first Peace Corps volunteer group to train in Uganda in 1969. The Peace Corps volunteers were pulled out of Uganda in 1972 for safety reasons.

"It was the golden years when I arrived in Uganda, but after the political coup, things just went downhill," Clifford said.

Cliffford's experience is one she has never regretted. She met her husband while in Uganda and is still in contact with other Uganda volunteers.

"It was a wonderful experience and I recommend it for everyone," Clifford said.

- To receive more information on the Peace Corps, visit the Website: http://www.peacecorps.gov.

BOHDAN DAMIAN CAP/Daily
Joseph Dorsey, the Peace Corps campus coordinator, informs students about Peace Corps opportunities at Festifall Friday on the Diag. The University sends the fifth largest number of volunteers to the Peace Corps of any university in the country.

09-10-97