Alex Gordon volunteered in the Peace Corps in the early 1990s. He has a box full of keepsakes from the more than two years he spent building a rural school in Paraguay.
亚历克斯·戈登1990年早期参加过和平队。作为和平队志愿者，他在巴拉圭工作了两年多，帮助建设一所乡村学校。
“Yeah it brings back a whole lot of memories,” he admits.
戈登积攒下满满一箱的纪念品。
Gordon says volunteering in the Peace Corps is about more than doing good in the world.
戈登说，在和平队做志愿者的意义不仅仅是在世上做好事。
“It gives you the confidence that you can really do anything,” he explains.
“在和平队工作，会让你获得信心，觉得自己什么都能做。”
Like volunteering again. Two decades, Gordon is rejoining for another stint and this time he will go to Liberia.
20年过去了，戈登今天又要加入和平队。这次，他要去利比里亚。
President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961. He told new volunteers on the South Lawn of the White House that America’s reputation in the countries they were going to would depend to a large extent on them.
约翰·肯尼迪总统1961年创建了和平队。他在白宫南草坪对参加和平队的志愿者说，美国在世界各国的声望很大程度上要依赖他们。
“And if you can impress them with your commitment, to freedom, to the advancement of the interests of people everywhere, to your pride in your country and its best traditions, and what it stands for, the influence may be far-reaching,” Kennedy said.
他说：“假如你们能让其他国家的人们看到你们致力于自由，推进世界各地的人民利益，让人们看到你们为美国及其最好的传统、以及为美国的立国精神感到自豪，你们产生的影响可能将是深远的。”
Since then, more than 200,000 volunteers have worked in countries all over the world.
自那时以来，有20多万和平队志愿者在世界各地工作过。
One of those was Aaron Williams, who is now the Peace Corps director.
亚伦·威廉姆斯是其中之一。他现在是和平队的队长。
“Everywhere I go, Jerome, I find that the leadership met a Peace Corps volunteer many, many years ago and that had a really positive impact, a transformative experience in their lives - prime ministers, presidents, cabinet officials, leaders of large companies in the countries where we serve,” Williams notes.
威廉姆斯说：“我不管走到哪里，都发现当地领导人很多年前曾经见到过和平队成员，这对他们的生活产生了积极的影响，给他们一种全新的体验。这些领导人包括政府总理、总统、内阁官员、大公司主管。”
Peace Corps supporters say it furthers America’s foreign policy goals at an infinitesimal cost compared to the U.S. military budget. But President Barack Obama has not kept a campaign promise to double the organization's size and Congress is proposing tens of millions of dollars in cuts.
支持和平队的人说，和平队推进了美国外交政策提出的目标，而所花费用只是美国军费的一个小得不能再小的零头。然而，奥巴马总统没能兑现竞选期间关于把和平队扩大一倍的诺言，国会也正在计划削减数千万美元的和平队经费。
Still new volunteers keep signing up. Supriyah Shah is a student at George Washington University where she works in local community service while waiting for her posting.
尽管如此，依然有新的志愿者不断申请参加和平队。苏普里亚·沙是乔治·华盛顿大学的学生。她一边在地方社区工作，一边等待和平队派遣。
She says recent American media reports about the rape and murder of a volunteer in West Africa don’t scare her.
苏普里亚·沙表示，尽管美国媒体最近有报导说，一个和平队成员在西非被强奸和杀害，但这个消息没有吓倒她。
“It’s kind of dangerous to be a woman anywhere,” she says.
Supriyah's friend Matt Francolino is also a new volunteer. He spent last summer living much like he will in the Peace Corps - in a rural village in West Africa, with no electricity or running water.
她的朋友麦特·弗兰克利诺也是一名和平队新成员。他去年夏天的生活就像和平队的生活一样。他住在西非一个村庄里，那里没有电，也没有自来水。
“It was the best two months of my entire life!" he exclaims. "And I wondered to myself how is that possible? I didn’t have my cell phone, no computer access, and I realized there were so many more important things that I was looking for in life.”
弗兰克利诺说：“那两个月是我有生以来过得最好的两个月。我就纳闷儿了，怎么会这样呢？我在那里没有手机，没有电脑。后来我意识到，生活中原来有许多更重要的东西可以追求。”
Volunteers say living with families in those villages is part of what makes the Peace Corp different from other humanitarian organizations - and say they take away at least as much from the experience as they give.
和平队志愿者普遍表示，跟当地乡村的家庭共同生活是和平队有别于其它人道主义组织的一个方面。而他们从这段经历中所得到的收获至少跟他们做出的贡献一样多。 |