As the U.S. Peace Corps celebrates its 50th year of service, the more than 8,000 volunteers currently working in the developing world still adhere to its early vision of service in communities. Volunteers working in one of the agency's newest programs in Indonesia live and work in rural communities, and are forever changed by the experience.
在美国和平队庆祝成立50周年之际，在发展中国家工作的8千多名志愿者仍然坚守着和平队的最初宗旨，这就是为社区服务。美国和平队在印尼从事的最新项目中，有一项是让志愿者深入乡村社区生活和工作，这个经历永久性地改变了他们。
Making a difference
Nisha Skariah, a recent college graduate from Texas, has come to Indonesia both to teach and to learn.
刚刚从德克萨斯大学毕业的尼莎·斯卡利亚来到印尼教书和学习。
“I mean I am still very young and still trying to make my way in the world and trying to figure out exactly what I want to do," she explained, "and this gives me a little opportunity to focus what I know and what I have done in my life, even with my little experience and make a big change out of that.”
她说：“我还很年轻，仍然在寻找自己在这个世界上的位置，思考究竟要做什么。这个经历给我一个机会，使我能专著于我所知道的和我已经做到的。我的经历虽然很少，但是，我希望能够用它带来大的改变。”
Travis Bluemling from Pennsylvania, who is also teaching English in rural Indonesia, said he wants to make a difference.
来自宾夕法尼亚州的特拉维斯·布鲁姆林教英语，他也希望自己能产生一些影响。
“Even if some of these kids can't get to college, learning English and at least having some knowledge of the language can separate themselves from the people next to them when they're looking for a job or meeting people,” he noted.
他说：“即使这些孩子当中有些人不能上大学，学习英语，至少掌握一些英语知识，也可以使他们在找工作或与人会面时与众不同。”
Bluemling and Skariah, like thousands of Peace Corps volunteers who served before them, are motivated by idealism and a desire to contribute to a better world. What separates the Peace Corps from other U.S. assistance programs is that the volunteers become part of the community where they work. They live with families and make the same wages as other teachers.
和平队和美国其它援助计划的不同之处在于和平队的志愿者和他们工作的社区打成一片。
Investing in people
John Williams was a volunteer and is now the Peace Corps director in Thailand. He said whether volunteers are working as teachers or in health clinics or with farmers, the personal connections they make are just as important as the technical knowledge they impart.
和平队在泰国的主任约翰·威廉姆斯表示，他们建立的私人联系和教授的技术知识同等重要。
“The encouragement that they give to a student or a farmer, or a woman in a weaving group, or a person living with AIDS who thinks nobody cares about them," Williams said. "These are the people that Peace Corps volunteers typically work with. Peace Corps volunteers don’t come with a lot of material resources but they come with a lot of heart.”
他说：“和平队志愿者并没有带很多物质资源来到这里，但是，他们带来了自己的一片心。”
He said what the United States gets in return for its investment in the Peace Corps is an increased understanding of the world outside its borders.
威廉姆斯说，和平队投资的回报是，美国加深了对边界以外的国家的了解。
Surprises
Skariah said she expected that Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, would have a more restrictive culture.
尼莎·斯卡利亚曾经以为，作为世界上最大的以穆斯林为主的国家，印尼的文化约束会更多一些。
“I expected a lot more conservative, maybe a little more, the people and the culture to be a little more restrictive but everyone has been so open and so welcoming and they really embraced me as one of their own," she said. "And I am really grateful for that because it makes me feel like I am at home.”
她说：“我以为印尼会比其它地方保守很多，也许保守一点，而且印尼人和印尼文化也更加拘谨。但是，这里的人个个都很开放，友善。他们真的把我作为他们的一员来欢迎我。”
Bluemling said his family expressed concern about his coming to a country where radical Islamists had targeted Americans in terrorist attacks. The most recent incident was in 2009 when terrorists detonated bombs in the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta, killing eight people.
布鲁姆林的家人对他在印尼工作感到担忧，因为这个国家的激进伊斯兰分子在恐怖主义袭击中把美国人作为他攻击目标。
While Bluemling thought he would be safe living in a small village, he expected a level of skepticism or even resentment from community leaders.
虽然布鲁姆林认为自己会安全，但是他原来以为村里的领导人可能会怀疑、甚至怨恨他。
“However, I could not have been more wrong. They have allowed me to enter their house," he said. "I joined them in their Muslim meetings. I joined them with fasting and I even entered the mosque.”
他说：“但是，我大错特错了。他们邀请我到他们家里去。我参加了他们的穆斯林聚会，和他们一起斋戒，甚至还进到清真寺里。”
Legacy
Peace Corps volunteers have served in many East Asian countries over the years, and now work in China, Thailand, Cambodia, Mongolia and the Philippines, as well as Indonesia.
除了印尼之外，和平队志愿者还在中国、泰国、柬埔寨、蒙古、菲律宾等其它东亚国家提供服务。
But the program has run into a few problems over the decades. Volunteers served in Indonesia for a few years in the 1960s, but the Jakarta government asked that the program end in 1965. It only restarted last year. |