As people are retiring in better health than ever before, with decades of active life to look forward to, many are looking for rewarding and beneficial ways to spend their time in retirement. Retirees around the world engage in volunteer community work, contribute to charities, and even take on paying jobs if they wish to stay active and put their skills to continuing use. One U.S. organization that has traditionally sought volunteers from among young people — recent college graduates — but that is turning more and more to retirees to fill its ranks is the Peace Corps. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is some information about what it is like to be a Peace Corps volunteer.

Is the Peace Corps a way to get a low budget vacation? Not exactly. You will indeed get to travel and see a fascinating part of the world you would probably never see otherwise. However it is also hard work, it is called volunteer work for a reason. But if you are not afraid of good honest work that helps people and makes the world a better place, then you might find the Peace Corps a wonderful adventure that you will never forget.

If you are in a situation where you really want to make a difference in the world but are unsure about how to start, you’ll find that the Peace Corps may be perfect for you. The Peace Corps is an organization that is made to promote world peace and friendship, and it’s members are all dedicated to serving that cause, but while this is a commendable goal, it does not necessarily give you a clear idea of what you can do in the Corps itself. Take a look at a few of the positions that are offered in the Peace Corps, and you will begin to see how much ground this organization actually covers! Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Peace Corps started in 1961 as a way of engaging you in services, spreading democracy(i.e. fighting communism) and battling the notions o “Yankee Imperialism.” Initially headed by President Kennedy’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, this group of well-intentioned do-gooders set out to the (then-called) Third World to bring its inhabitants the enlightenment and development of the industrialized and democratic world.

Since then the Peace Corps has been thought of as a successful–albeit “bleeding heart”–program, and one rarely ever hears anything bad about it, nor the people involved in it. As a way of filtering out anyone without the purest of intentions, I suppose, there are very few incentives that come along with volunteering in the program other than the warm feeling of helping others. So at its worst, the Peace Corps is comprised of misdirected individuals with good intentions and at its best, individuals with vision and purpose setting out to improve the quality of life in developing countries. Read the rest of this entry »