Around the World and Still Going!: Happy 50th Anniversary Peace Corps!

2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the US Peace Corps. For those that may not know much about the Peace Corps it is a program that was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to promote peace and friendship around the world. The Peace Corps has three goals:

1. Helping people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Some of you may know that Paul and I met while serving as Peace Corps Volunteers in Uganda from 2002 - 2004. Serving in Uganda with the Peace Corps was one of the best things we have ever done in our lives. We would love to be more involved with the Peace Corps community in the US but we haven't been very proactive about getting ourselves involved. To try and remedy that, this past weekend Paul and I participated in some of the 50th anniversary events being held in Washington DC.

There was a beautiful ceremony held at the Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Amphitheater to commemorate Peace Corps and recognize the volunteers that lost their lives during their service.

Thousands of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) from around the country came to DC for these events, including Chris Dodd (Former Senator of Connecticut), Joe and Maeve Kennedy (JFKs great niece and nephew who both served in the Peace Corps), and Chris Matthews (from Hardball). There were also a number of foreign representatives from the Peace Corps Countries including the Vice President of Liberia.

After the ceremony all the RPCVs marched with the flag of their country of service from the Arlington National Cemetery across Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial.