After Deputy Peace Corps Director Charles Baquet canceled at the last minute, three former Peace Corps volunteers stepped up to share their experiences in the service organization last night in a community dinner panel at the Roth Center for Jewish Life.
Baquet, the scheduled keynote speaker for the event, was unable to attend due to an emergency requiring him to be in Washington, D.C. to evacuate personnel from "an undisclosed country" according to Jan Tarjan, associate dean of the Tucker Foundation.
Henry Homeyer '68, one of the former Peace Corps volunteers who spoke at the event, outlined the basic principles of the service organization as outlined by President John F. Kennedy in the Peace Corps Act, the most commonly known goal being "to promote peace throughout the world." "News today is not very optimistic," Homeyer said. "It seems there is not very much one individual can do, but "that isn't what Martin Luther King would say... he was an individual and he did quite a lot."
Homeyer cited his belief in the saying -- 'to whom much is given much is expected.' Homeyer said. "As Dartmouth students, a lot is expected of you," Homeyer said.
He said one way to meet that expectation is by reaching out through the Peace Corps. Homeyer served as a volunteer in Cameroon from 1973 to 1976. "It's the best job I ever had."
The second speaker of the evening did not serve in the Peace Corps until 1993 although she had been inspired to join ever since Kennedy delivered his memorable "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" address.
For Anne Segal, a profound part of her time in Namibia was being in an environment where "for the first time I was in a place where no one looked like me."
Although Segal claimed she was unpatriotic in her youth and during her time working as a school superintendent, she said she gained an understanding of the importance of the United States by being in Namibia.
Despite her shame that the U.S. did not intervene in the 1990 Namibian struggle for independence, she said she could be proud they had a Peace Corps.
Campus Lutheran pastor Mike Fonner '74 began his address last night with a reflection on his four years as an undergraduate at the College.
Fonner said his most profound experiences in Hanover "were when I was away from here."
The implication of his message was two-fold. In a very physical sense, his time spent on a Tucker Foundation internship teaching in Jersey City, N.J., and six months in Jerusalem, Israel were opportunities for him to reflect on the importance of his life as a student and a human being.
In a metaphorical sense as well, Fonner said he also experienced the notion of "being away from here while being here" while acting as a Big Brother and a driver for a woman in a nursing home near the campus.
These experiences gave Fonner the opportunity to reflect on his inner life and feel a connection with something greater than himself, he said. It also made him realize the clichd importance of relationships with others.
Living in the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer amongst people different from himself was when Fonner said he understood the meaning of "neighbor" and the importance of seeing and recognizing difference -- then embracing it.
Before allowing the audience to break up into discussion and dinner, Fonner left the crowd with two questions -- "How are you engaged in being in a different place other than where you are and where do you find the deepest meanings in life?"
The event was sponsored by Career Services, the MLK '99 Committee, the Tucker Foundation and the Upper Valley Jewish Community .
