European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine a Ponio a Petite carps Volunteer in Turkina Fata Caret or an  child. On a Roll the peace corps at 25by Iris Krasno United press International he peace corps at 25 is older smaller and More in tune with the ires Enterprise spirit of the Reagan years but it is also quietly thriving. Knocked 6y critics in the turbulent -60s and 70s As a Layover on the Road to maturity and a Haven Ford Alt volders the Volunteer organization now lures ambitious graduates of socialized colleges and mid career professionals. The Ovef-50 set is signing up heavily they con feed 11 percent of new trainees or 1985. When luf Stagmer was a Volunteer in India during the late 60s. Ihal figure was a Mere 1 percent Nwe reon a Roll says Loret Miller Ruppe 49, current re of the peace rps. People of All  look a it As the last great adventure. However the number of volunteers stands at about 6 of Tab than Hall the number of the Agency s Peak years Ruppe attributes the Low number to de tacit Era   Chace the world but in the 1980s they also wan. To know what s in ii for me Wecall them realistic idealists now continues Ruppe. Director since 1981. They Are very interested in asking what does the peace corps experience mean to the rest of my professional life " some 100.000 americans requested information irom the peace corps last year and 3,400 were recruited. The average age has climbed from 23 to 29, and minorities make up nearly 8 percent of the Force. We now represent the diversity of America College graduates Farmers businessmen health workers science teachers foresters says director of recruitment Bruce Cohen a Volunteer in Tunisia during the late 60s. When the peace corps made a plea last january Lor agriculturalists to help with food production in Africa More than 20,000 people responded. Urban planners and computer experts also Are being courted. That s a switch irom the Early Days when it was largely Young White Middle class generalists from Liberal arts colleges. Forget about joining if your motive is to escape a tailed Romance or a turbulent Job the competitive selection process weed., out those without inner  we Don t wan anyone who is running away from anything this is too great a commitment. We Lell them you think your problems Are bad in this country Wall until you re to a Remote Village,1 " Ruppe says. Once you re it you can Only get kicked out lot politics pot or not wearing your motorcycle helmet " volunteers who Are paid an average living allowance of $250 a month go through 12 weeks of intensive training in their assigned country teaming language and cultural nuances. The government also Banks $175amonlhfor each Volunteer adding up to a $1,735 nest egg at the end of 27 months of training and service unlike during the Vietnam years the peace corps has big tans in Washington. Congress passed and president Reagan signed a Bill allowing the Agency to grow to 10,000 volunteers by the year 1990. The 986 Budge should be $130 million up from $128.6 million in 19b5. The slogan of the 80s is Small Enterprise development paralleling Reagan s Devotion to capitalism. Countries Tike Tanzania Are letting us we need volunteers with accounting and bookkeeping skills to train our villagers " says Ruppe who has visited 44 of the 61 Host nations. One of our big challenges of the future is Small business development on the Village level such As shoemaking beekeeping and fishing. Interior designers and business a ors Are being recruited to go overseas and work with artisans on handicraft cooperatives catering to Hie to urls Trade. All of this is a far cry irom the beginning. It to ladled in the Ann Arbor student Union at the University of Michigan on oct. 14, 1960, when presidential candidate John Kennedy stopped in to say a few words. Exhausted and running late after a to debate with Richard Nixon he was met by a cheering mass of 10.000 students and faculty despite the hour of 2 . And the bitter cold. A hatless and costless Kennedy demanded How Many of you Are willing to spend 10 years in Africa or latin America or Asia working Lor the United slates and working Lor Freedom How Many of you who Are going of be doctors Are willing to spend your Days in Ghana alter the election Kennedy lapped his brother in Law Sargent Shulver to explore the feasibility of a peace corps a concept sen. Hubert Humphrey 0 minn., had introduced a year earlier. Like travelling salesmen Shivor and his task Force pitched the idea to a wary Congress and potential Host countries. On March 1, 1961, Kennedy established the peace corps by executive order As Par of his Alliance Lor Progress. Shryver was appointed its first director. Our volunteers were welcomed wildly when they first Gol  remembers Shriver 70, a senior partner in the Law firm of fixed Frank Harris shrivel & Jacobson. But it was Sticky to sell the idea. Ii was Tough. Congress was sceptical. They said Why waste Money on something like this " ten months later there were 750 volunteers in nine nation Sand by september of 1966, when the peace corps entered its 50lh country. Korea there were 15.556 volunteers and trainees the All Lime High to Date. Allol us ust realty responded to Kennedy s Call remembers Newell Fla Ihor. 47, who was in the in Ilia group of is volunteers to enter Iho peace corps firs country Ghana in 1961. We Lell both an idealistic and patriotic response  plainer a Harvard graduate laughs Oil a question of whether he shucked the material world and started a new life Barefoot in a hut. That part was  recalls Flather. Now an administrator of foundations in Boston the advertising at the time said ii you would like to sit on a Mal and live in a hut and eat a bowl of Rice and serve your country join the peace corps Well we were All working in Brand new secondary schools and living quarters for the most part were very Nice a is with running water and  to volunteers have been killed in revolutions or coups but since 1961. Say Agency officials 198 continued on Page 14 sunday. January 26, 1966 the stars and stripes Page 13