Embassy News  

Transcript of the Address of Charge’d Affaires Jennifer Brush
on the Occasion of the 46th Year of Service
of the U.S. Peace Corps

March 1, 2007

Deputy Chairman Meredov, hanymlar we jenaplar, hormatly myhmanlar, уважаемые гости, ladies and gentleman, members of the diplomatic corp., Peace Corps volunteers, friends.

Thank you for inviting me to join you on this special day for the Peace Corps volunteers, their host families, their counterparts, the U.S. Embassy, the Peace Corps and the Government of Turkmenistan.

This is the 46th anniversary of the Peace Corps, but 14th year of activity of Peace Corps in Turkmenistan. We currently have 64 volunteers in Turkmenistan. But in the U.S. Congress we have six congressmen who are former Peace Corps volunteers, and one senator. There are countless U.S. diplomats, who are former Peace Corps volunteers, including our current Assistant Secretary for Central and South Asia Richard Boucher. 

The bond that develops between a country hosting the Peace Corps, the volunteers, and the people touched by the volunteers, knows no limits. Not only will these volunteers with us today always, until the day they die, carry a piece of Turkmenistan in their hearts, but all of you who have already been touched by them and who will be touched by them during their two-year tour, will always carry a piece of the best of America with you.

As the United States’ Government representative here today, I can tell you the volunteers, that not only am I sure your parents and towns are proud of you, but the U.S. Embassy also is proud of you and a grateful American nation is proud of you for representing the American values of cooperation and caring around the world.

As most of you know by now, I cannot talk to Peace Corps volunteers without talking about my Aunt Shirley. I know Nury Saparovich has heard about my Aunt Shirley, but I am not sure everybody else has heard about her.

My Aunt Shirley answered the siren call of President Kennedy when [she served] in the first class of Peace Corps Volunteers. She answered the siren call when he said:

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

My aunt went to Uganda, in Africa, a place none of us ever had heard of, but it was a country struggling with the new challenges of independence.  There was no e-mail then, so we waited months for a letter from my aunt.  She never spoke so much about what she was contributing as she did about how much she was learning from the friendly, proud people of Uganda.  She sent us their handicrafts and pictures of her posing smiling with her happy students.  We were so proud of Aunt Shirley and also so grateful the people of Uganda were taking such good care of her. 

Going fast forward from 1963 to 2004, when I was assigned to come to Turkmenistan and found myself traveling with my infant, now a hooligan, son, a dog and a cat, I searched far and wide for someone to help me make the trip, someone who was willing to come to a mysterious place no one knew much about.  To whom did I turn?...of course to my Peace Corps volunteer Aunt Shirley, now 79 and not in great health, but with the undying spirit of adventure and cooperation of a Peace Corps volunteer-for-life. 

We are here today not just because the Peace Corps volunteers are a great bunch of people but also because the Peace Corps and the volunteers who came before you are committed to the people of Turkmenistan.

As many of us in the U.S. government are fond of saying Turkmenistan’s greatest asset is its people. After two-and-a-half years, I believe it now more than ever.

And that is the gift I thank the Turkmen people for giving our volunteers.  They will be living and working in an ancient and civilized culture with as much to teach them as they have to teach you about English and perhaps more modern approaches to health, nutrition and fitness. 

I encourage the volunteers to embrace you, your language, your culture and traditions.  Most Americans have no long-term memory of their families, their clans, their nations.  You have much to teach us about respect for your traditions, their beauty and their wisdom.  The heart of any successful Peace Corps program is reciprocity.  The volunteers should learn here as much as they teach. 

Learning your languages is just one of the many rewarding challenges of working here.  I am grateful for the able help of our Embassy Media Assistant Meylis Hummedov for providing the interpretation.

But most of all, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you.  Thank you to the volunteers for your courage and sense of adventure, thank you to the host families who have welcomed our young volunteers into your homes and took such good care of them, thank you to the counterparts who opened their minds and hearts to the unique potential of the Peace Corps Program, and thank you to the Government of Turkmenistan for enabling this rich, rewarding and everlasting exchange of cultures to occur. 

God bless all of you. Thank you.