President John F. Kennedy, who was born 100 years ago in May, laid the foundation for the Peace Corps with an impromptu, post-midnight presidential campaign speech at the University of Michigan in October 1960, when he challenged students to consider spending at least part of their lives helping the poor overseas.
“Americans across the political spectrum in every state are willing to sign onto the spirit of the Peace Corps,” author Elizabeth Cobb observed in her book, author Elizabeth Cobb observed in her book, All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s. “[It] reassured a broad cross-section of Americans during a turbulent period that there was at least one aspect of their nation’s policy that was indisputably good.”
Since the organization’s establishment in 1961, 188 Bears have served as Peace Corps volunteers. We caught up with two former volunteers, James Griffin ‘03 and Erin Toolan, JD ‘15, to talk about their experiences.
Griffin served as an agribusiness Volunteer in Ecuador from 2004 to 2006 and now is director of Global Compliance and Risk Operations at American Express Global Business Travel in New York.
While at Baylor, Griffin did some missionary trips to South America and was interested in agriculture and environmentalism. A post-graduation stint in the Peace Corps was a perfect fit.
“I saw it was an opportunity to go out and spend a few years learning what it meant to live and work overseas in a small community. It was an opportunity to be in a remote place and learn a new language and just really work with people,” he said.
The community bank Griffin helped found was an economic boost to the arid and mountainous village of 500 where he worked. Residents would bring $1 to weekly meetings and agree as a community to whom the money should go. One resident kept the box, holding the money, which was secured by three locks, the keys to which were held by three-different individuals.
“I took the perspective of, I’ll quickly set it up, but then I’ll step away and not really be involved. As I was getting ready to leave Ecuador, a year and a half later it was still going strong. It becomes very community driven. You know, if you don’t pay your loan back, then the community is going to hold you accountable.”
Griffin also secured a grant to subsidize the local farmers’ purchase of irrigation equipment. He recalls driving a dump truck full of hoses and sprinklers to the village. The farmers, who planted potatoes, corn and blackberries, would pay, for example, $10 for $40 worth of equipment. One farmer he didn’t know showed up one day and handed Griffin a $20 bill.
“My boss was very surprised by that because it’s very rare that people in a community would just hand over cash like that,” Griffin said. “People were trusting and felt this was a worthwhile project and that they were going to see some return on it.”
Erin Toolan, JD ‘15 served as an education volunteer in West Africa from 2009 to 2011 and is now a McLennan county assistant district attorney in Waco. She was seeking overseas experience and wanted to serve her country.
“The concept of doing something for your country in kind of an unconventional way was definitely motivating,” she said. “ Being their experience of Americans was intriguing and something that motivated me every day when I was there. I was the way that these people in my community perceived the U.S., so in that way it was significant.”
The village had never hosted a Peace Corps volunteer or an American and, for many residents, Toolan was the first white person they ever encountered.
“I think because I was a novelty, it was kind of easy to maintain their attention,” Toolan said of her large classroom. And she discovered an effective response when students did misbehave
“It was mostly the male students that would really act out and I would utilize, for example, sweeping the classroom,” she recalled. “There were students that were assigned that task and it was always female students. So, if a male student misbehaved, I would ask him to sweep the classroom the next morning and that would be an embarrassing thing. So it would kind of deter them in the future.
In the summer, Toolan helped run girls empowerment camps. Showing them that girls could excel in school and go to college for a career were important tasks. Even winning a grant to buy jerseys for the girls’ soccer team was important.
“They were just so proud of it and proud to be playing sports,” Toolan said. “The male students would tease them and tell them they were too weak to play sports and they would be out there running laps and they were just motivated to be good athletes. It was great to kind of open people’s eyes to the fact that girls can do sports too.”
Her connections are lasting. Years later, she’s sending money to some of her former students to help with their college expenses.
“I’m homesick for it; it’s like my second home,” Toolan said. “I had a great experience. I wish I could have served there longer.”
The individuals who benefited directly from these services will perhaps always emember Griffin and Toolan’s presence in the Peace Corps, years and continents apart. But on a larger scale and in a more lasting way, what the Baylro alumni left behind are positive perceptions of the United States and the American heart for service.
