Speech

Announcement of Peace Corps Mission in Cambodia

Remarks by Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli

(Delivered via telephone)

March 29, 2006

Thank you.  I am delighted—and surprised—to get this opportunity to say a few words.  That Peace Corps even thought to include someone residing 12,000 miles away is just another proof of how much the rest of us could learn from how the Peace Corps does business.  So thank you.  And congratulations:  45 years of stunning success is hard to argue with, and Peace Corps is one of America’s greatest success stories.

I would also like to thank Peace Corps for somehow finding the funding in a particularly difficult budgetary time to open a new Mission in Cambodia.  Peace Corps is something the Cambodian people and government will embrace enthusiastically.  There is a deep, abiding affection for America in Cambodia and our Peace Corps volunteers will only serve to make that affection stronger and deeper.  Indeed, it is hard to think of a country more in need of – and deserving of—the Peace Corps.  The Cambodians have come a long way after two decades of civil war and four horrific years of genocide under Pol Pot.  The progress is almost miraculous, but Cambodia still has a long way to go, economically, politically, even spiritually.  It remains in many ways a broken country.  And one sure way to help it mend is through the use of what is often called America’s soft power, and there is no greater proof of the enduring strength of that power than the Peace Corps.  The Peace Corps has not just helped change the world, it has also—one volunteer at a time—fundamentally changed the way the people of the world see America.  As I often tell new Peace Corps volunteers, dollar for dollar, there is no agency of the US government that does more for our image, our security, and our prosperity than the Peace Corps.

I will end with a confession I tell all Peace Corps volunteers that I meet.  I confess to them that while I admire the Peace Corps greatly, my feelings are really more of a love-hate sort.  The love part is easy to explain: through their idealism, their commitment, their sense of service, the volunteers remind the rest of us that we should not forsake our ideals and that we are all servants.  The hate part is more embarrassing: When I was 20 years old I applied to the Peace Corps and was rejected.  Ever since then I have always felt a certain envy toward each volunteer.  Thank God the State Department has lower standards and I was able to eventually find a job, -- but still, even after 33 years, I wish I had had the opportunity and honor to serve in the Peace Corps.  I have spoken long enough.  Again, thank you.  We will eagerly await our first batch of volunteers and we will welcome them warmly when they arrive.