ABSTRACT
Though written for Volunteers in Uganda, the poem captures the essence of Volunteers’ life and service all over. At a time when American foreign policy is increasingly identified by Special Forces, military drones, ultimatums, arrogance, and other forms of armed intervention, Peace Corps Volunteers show another side of US global involvement. Volunteers represented the best of American idealism, and their work helped to humanize American actions throughout the world. The Volunteers’ work in Africa undermined society’s class structure, brought to the forefront issues of gender inequality, debunked long-standing stereotypes about women, shattered notions of racial superiority, accelerated the process to decolonize the African mind, and dispelled beliefs of “difference” and “other.” Living in Africa was an awakening for the Volunteers. They learned the universal nature of humanity, the equality of all humans, and the notion that irrespective of geographical location humans all over the world strive for the same human rights and dignity.
