Have you ever thought about volunteering in a poor country? This is exactly what John F. Kennedy challenged a group of graduate students to do in a speech in 1960. Less than a year later he made this a possibility when he founded the Peace Corps.

    The Peace Corps is a program for people to learn about and help improve the lives of people in poor countries. All volunteers are required to live like the people they serve. Some have no air conditioning or electricity. Others must walk long distances to get water or food. Many take baths with only a bucket of water. Still some others sleep on hard beds under mosquito nets. Kara Garbe, a volunteer living in a small West African nation, lives in a mud hut with no water or electricity. This way of living allows volunteers to better understand the poor people they serve and motivates those volunteers to make improvements.

    The members of the Peace Corps help those people in need in many ways. Some serve as teachers and as HIV/AIDS educators. Others help develop new businesses and better ways to supply food and water. Volunteers also work on environmental and youth projects. Their work may not always make a huge difference, but it certainly helps. One volunteer said, “I know I can’t change the world, but I want to make some contributions to it.”

    So far over 187,000 volunteers have served at least two years in the Peace Corps. Many have stayed longer. Most will agree that the experience is both hard and rewarding. As the Peace Corps motto says, “It’s the toughest job you’ll have ever loved.”