Kay Dixon: Stand up for service, support the Peace Corps

By Kay Dixon

The unelected DOGE has now entered the Peace Corps office.

Only 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, and the Peace Corps is on his chopping block. Daily, the Trump administration works to shatter our alliances and relationships abroad with tariffs and government efficiency.

In contrast, less than one month before winning his election in 1960, John F. Kennedy announced his vision for a Peace Corps. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Now more than ever it is important to continue to support the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps costs our federal government very little, making up less than 1% of our international affairs budget, which in turn only makes up about 1% of the federal budget. Since the creation of the Peace Corps 64 years ago, over 240,000 volunteers have served, contributing collectively well over 1 billion hours of service. Since 1961, Washington state has provided 10,180 Peace Corps volunteers. More than 100 people from this state are working in active Peace Corps projects around the world.

Peace Corps volunteers have improved the lives of millions of people globally. While not being an arm of U.S. foreign policy, volunteers strengthen international relations through grassroots, person-to-person engagement. Their work also benefits our nation’s health and economic interests.

Should the United States end or severely weaken its foreign assistance programs, low- and middle-income nations will turn to China and Russia as partners. China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, which provides infrastructure assistance, has already secured that nation’s access to critical minerals and growing influence.

For example, Spokane volunteer Roger Reed taught science in a high school in Tonga, a group of islands in the South Pacific. One of his former students, Aisake Eke, is now Tonga’s prime minister. When Roger served in 1978 to 1981, Tonga did not have an American Embassy, but it did have a Taiwanese Embassy. Since then the Taiwanese Embassy has been expelled and replaced by the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China.

Later in 2013 to 2015, volunteer and Gonzaga alum Gurkeert Bagri taught in an elementary school in Tonga. The children of Aisake Eke were too young to be in school, nevertheless the family was very fond of her and included her in all their family activities while she was living there.

Peace Corps builds relationships over the long term.

In addition to losing global influence, losing the ability to effectively combat the spread of disease puts our own nation in danger. Global health is interconnected. If a disease spreads in another nation it can quickly cross boundaries into the United States taking millions of lives as we saw with the recent COVID-19 and HIV pandemics.

Some have argued that we should focus on challenges here at home, and not spend taxpayer dollars in other countries. When it comes to service in the Peace Corps, what is often forgotten is that the experiences and skills learned in service come home with the volunteers to benefit our local communities.

Tens of thousands of RPCVs are now teachers, health care workers, entrepreneurs, public servants and community leaders. In Spokane, members of Inland Peace Corps Association support multiple local immigrant and refugee groups. Many local returned volunteers are teachers in local schools and colleges.

Many returned Peace Corps volunteers extend their Peace Corps commitment to the service of others by working as foreign service officers, U.S. Agency for International Development workers or with nongovernmental organizations involved in critical, life-saving programs for the world’s most vulnerable populations. It is extremely disturbing that the current administration is retreating from this sentiment, as evidenced from recent attempts to freeze all foreign assistance programs (without any thought of impacts) and dismantling the exemplary work of the USAID.

It is imperative that Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell continue their strong support for Peace Corps. We look for Rep. Michael Baumgartner to stand up to support the Peace Corps, critical foreign assistance programs, and national service initiatives. To do otherwise, weakens the future of our nation.

Kay Dixon, of Spokane, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, 1962-64.