jumbo habari Gani Oh buddy sama that’s
why he Lee for hello how are you doing I
still remember some of my Swahili from
35 years ago when I served in the United
States Peace Corps and it’s that
experience in the Peace Corps that
brings me here today to talk about
service it’s a simple word and there are
many different meanings for service but
today I’m here to talk about
volunteerism civic engagement building
community giving back helping others
it’s the kind of service that we do with
an open heart and a willingness to learn
that transforms it can change the life
the lives of those whom we are serving
as well as our own we can come at
service from different vantage points a
lot of people I know get involved in
service out of urgency and necessity
some folks are guided by their faith
others work for good employers who are
good corporate citizens and then there’s
some of us who say I just want to pitch
in and help show of hands how many of
you are helping out somewhere that’s
just about all of you that is
outstanding and if you’re from
Massachusetts
you can count yourselves among the 1.3
million people in this state who
volunteer
President John F Kennedy for whom this
great library is named for he founded
the Peace Corps and he was big on
service he wanted Americans to bring
peace and goodwill and their positive
can-do spirit to countries overseas I
bet you remember those famous words is
challenge to Americans don’t you and so
my fellow Americans ask not what your
country can do for you ask what you can
do for your country not what your
country can do for you ask what you can
do for your country
and those words they still resonate
don’t they
he knew that volunteer service abroad
would be good for our country and he
would be thrilled to know that since the
Peace Corps was started over 230,000
Americans have served in a hundred and
forty-one countries all over the world
in 1981 I was one of them I got to go to
Kenya I served in Africa
I taught teaching I taught education and
taught English as a Second Language to
high school students it was an awesome
experience now I came to this like I was
a city girl I had no idea what to expect
I was born in bred in Brooklyn New York
I lived in a small apartment building
and a neighborhood called Crown Heights
didn’t think about going off to Africa
my neighborhood was small businesses and
working families and summers spent
out-of-doors
jumping rope playing basketball
enjoying those hot days running through
the spray of the open fire hydrant and
these were some of the images that
informed our very limited view of Africa
thankfully there were other images as
well that we could draw on from music
and literature Nelson Mandela one of our
heroes and anybody here remember the TV
series roots based on Alex Haley’s novel
of course that had a profound effect on
our view of Africa and our connection to
Africa and just a few years after that I
was headed to Africa I went to teach but
I’m the one who got the education an
awesome experience it was living there
sure it was tough and there were
challenges from communications to
transportation and at my school I had no
electricity plumbing or running water
there was also no exterminator for those
of you who aren’t too keen on those big
bugs we had a lot of army ants that
liked to march through our houses
couldn’t get keep those away right but
that’s okay because as volunteers we
learned how to deal with those critters
and also with bigger challenges through
patience and diplomacy through
resourcefulness and creativity through
advocacy and we learned how to work live
and appreciate people who have a
different language a different culture
and a different way of life Ghandi we
often quote him right he has an
interesting saying about service and its
connection to self-discovery he says we
can find ourselves when
we lose ourselves in the service of
others and I know as volunteers we found
out a lot about ourselves starting with
the importance of people and
relationships beyond the family and
friends that we left back in the States
I know myself I will be forever grateful
to the Kenyan people who looked after me
for two years they got me to my school
site they brought me food they taught me
how to cook the food they got me settled
as a teacher so I could be successful
and they kept me safe
I’ll also appreciate and I know other
volunteers as well will appreciate how
we learned the importance if we didn’t
know before about our environment our
natural resources
starting with clean drinking water this
was so important to my community and it
was a regular practice to go down to the
river to collect water to haul it back
to our homes for our household needs we
really appreciated the rainy season we
wanted a good drenching rain so I could
take that bucket you see there get my
barrel my basin and put it outside so I
could get as much of that fresh
rainwater as I could and that was gonna
last me for a few days but I was only
one person in my household what about
those big families so I knew listening
to my neighbors and communicating with
my neighbors that they wanted a better
way so that they didn’t have to go down
to that River given you know the health
concerns associated with having to use
river water and before I knew it I found
myself at the US Embassy asking for help
now I’m gonna say this is where
transformation comes in for us when we
get involved with service at first as
volunteers we’re looking at ourselves
our own comfort and survival okay I want
my stove
I need my lamp I need my pot I need my
mosquito net but as time passes our
focus turns out word toward our
community doesn’t it
we start thinking about our neighbors
our students our co-workers our all the
people around us the children in our
community the community we start
thinking about our community so before I
knew it again I’m at the front door of
the Embassy asking for a grant to see if
we could get some money to start the
development of a water tank so we could
have an ample supply of water at our
site and after back and forth you know
with the embassy they responded and they
replied yes and how happy we were that
we could at least start this project get
it going and just before I left I was
able to say goodbye to my friends at
that school turn it over to them and I
left the country flew back home with a
little more wisdom greater empathy a
wider worldview and a lifelong
commitment to community wherever that
would be and it turns out that community
has been right here in Boston in
Dorchester that’s where we are in
Dorchester where I’ve lived and raised
my family this is an awesome community
and as you can see there’s a beautiful
library right here where we’re all
gathered 35 years a lot has changed
Kenya has changed Brooklyn has changed
the Peace Corps has evolved in fact they
partner right now with a hundred
colleges and universities all across the
United States trying to prepare young
people for service abroad and there’s a
partnership with UMass Boston in fact
right on this campus that was the
leather leather by the way that I got
from the embassy and this is Dorchester
my neighborhood
and this is the program that prepares
undergrads so it’s great that Americans
care about service it’s great that we
volunteer we are a community of
volunteers but the bottom line is you
don’t have to travel 7,000 miles to
serve and to reap the benefits of
service there’s a lot going on right
here and there are there opportunities
to give back right here in our own
communities by the show of hands earlier
you all know that there are
organizations thankfully that are
working to support and promote service
in our communities so that everybody has
a chance to participate one such
organization is the Corporation for
National and Community Service and they
estimate that at least one in four
Americans volunteers for an organization
and when it comes to our young people
one in five or involved is involved in
some kind of activity and that’s a good
thing and it makes me say I have a
message for our young people and I’ve
worked with young people and I want to
encourage our young people because I was
22 when I joined the Peace Corps and I
have to say before I joined the Peace
Corps I’m not sure I knew that my
service was a particular value it’s in
retrospect that I look back that I
believe that it was so I want our young
people to know that their service is
needed and it is valued I also want them
to know that it can definitely help them
with their job prospects because
employers want someone who is committed
to community who has a good work ethic
who knows how to work with different
kinds of people who has strong
interpersonal skills and strong
organizational skills
and we also know that service can
benefit the community as a whole there
are some seemingly intractable problems
that make us think that we’ll never
solve them but volunteers can move the
needle on a lot of the issues that
plague our community including the need
to improve educational outcomes now I
know for myself I came back from Kenya
and I volunteered in my community and
what I found is that this experience and
service impacted my career path and I
worked with my neighbors I was a
volunteer board member for a
neighborhood community health center and
also a volunteer reporter for my
community newspaper I got to know my
neighbors and they got to know me and
they encouraged me to run for office
something I never imagined that I would
do but I listened to my neighbors I
listened they became my friends and I
ran and I won and I actually got to
serve in the Massachusetts House of
Representative
and what an awesome experience that was
and following that legislative
experience I went back to my community
and continued to volunteer in fact I
volunteer to this day and this is a
community where we have many people who
give back and who volunteer and this is
what it looks like here in Boston
so here’s my call to action volunteer
get back and while we’re on the topic
why not run for office you know you
really have little to lose and so much
to gain and sometimes all we need is to
have one person make the suggestion as
they did for me to make the suggestion
about how there are different ways that
we can give back and different ways that
we can serve and sometimes we just need
a little encouragement so I went the
state route but there’s City Council
there’s school committee
there’s your Union Local there’s your
PTA there are all sorts of ways that we
can get back and you know there are
elections in this country every year so
we need to work hard for those
candidates who are gonna care about the
issues that got us to volunteer in the
first place and if we care about those
issues and those candidates we’re gonna
champion those issues then guess what we
got to do we got a vote so this brings
me to my next and final little personal
story it’s a service story
soon after I joined the Peace Corps I
struck up a friendship with one of our
stateside trainers and we stayed in
touch
correspondent he encouraged my
excitement and interest in Africa and we
stayed in touch for the full two years
writing letters Zehra grams back and
forth and when I returned home well we
got married
and thirty-three years later we’re still
married in fact today’s our anniversary
[Applause]
so not only did service reveal a way of
life for me it brought me a partner for
life and when I talk about if we all
talk about paying it forward I’ve been
paid and repaid many times old over
Asante sana thank you
[Applause]
why he Lee for hello how are you doing I
still remember some of my Swahili from
35 years ago when I served in the United
States Peace Corps and it’s that
experience in the Peace Corps that
brings me here today to talk about
service it’s a simple word and there are
many different meanings for service but
today I’m here to talk about
volunteerism civic engagement building
community giving back helping others
it’s the kind of service that we do with
an open heart and a willingness to learn
that transforms it can change the life
the lives of those whom we are serving
as well as our own we can come at
service from different vantage points a
lot of people I know get involved in
service out of urgency and necessity
some folks are guided by their faith
others work for good employers who are
good corporate citizens and then there’s
some of us who say I just want to pitch
in and help show of hands how many of
you are helping out somewhere that’s
just about all of you that is
outstanding and if you’re from
Massachusetts
you can count yourselves among the 1.3
million people in this state who
volunteer
President John F Kennedy for whom this
great library is named for he founded
the Peace Corps and he was big on
service he wanted Americans to bring
peace and goodwill and their positive
can-do spirit to countries overseas I
bet you remember those famous words is
challenge to Americans don’t you and so
my fellow Americans ask not what your
country can do for you ask what you can
do for your country not what your
country can do for you ask what you can
do for your country
and those words they still resonate
don’t they
he knew that volunteer service abroad
would be good for our country and he
would be thrilled to know that since the
Peace Corps was started over 230,000
Americans have served in a hundred and
forty-one countries all over the world
in 1981 I was one of them I got to go to
Kenya I served in Africa
I taught teaching I taught education and
taught English as a Second Language to
high school students it was an awesome
experience now I came to this like I was
a city girl I had no idea what to expect
I was born in bred in Brooklyn New York
I lived in a small apartment building
and a neighborhood called Crown Heights
didn’t think about going off to Africa
my neighborhood was small businesses and
working families and summers spent
out-of-doors
jumping rope playing basketball
enjoying those hot days running through
the spray of the open fire hydrant and
these were some of the images that
informed our very limited view of Africa
thankfully there were other images as
well that we could draw on from music
and literature Nelson Mandela one of our
heroes and anybody here remember the TV
series roots based on Alex Haley’s novel
of course that had a profound effect on
our view of Africa and our connection to
Africa and just a few years after that I
was headed to Africa I went to teach but
I’m the one who got the education an
awesome experience it was living there
sure it was tough and there were
challenges from communications to
transportation and at my school I had no
electricity plumbing or running water
there was also no exterminator for those
of you who aren’t too keen on those big
bugs we had a lot of army ants that
liked to march through our houses
couldn’t get keep those away right but
that’s okay because as volunteers we
learned how to deal with those critters
and also with bigger challenges through
patience and diplomacy through
resourcefulness and creativity through
advocacy and we learned how to work live
and appreciate people who have a
different language a different culture
and a different way of life Ghandi we
often quote him right he has an
interesting saying about service and its
connection to self-discovery he says we
can find ourselves when
we lose ourselves in the service of
others and I know as volunteers we found
out a lot about ourselves starting with
the importance of people and
relationships beyond the family and
friends that we left back in the States
I know myself I will be forever grateful
to the Kenyan people who looked after me
for two years they got me to my school
site they brought me food they taught me
how to cook the food they got me settled
as a teacher so I could be successful
and they kept me safe
I’ll also appreciate and I know other
volunteers as well will appreciate how
we learned the importance if we didn’t
know before about our environment our
natural resources
starting with clean drinking water this
was so important to my community and it
was a regular practice to go down to the
river to collect water to haul it back
to our homes for our household needs we
really appreciated the rainy season we
wanted a good drenching rain so I could
take that bucket you see there get my
barrel my basin and put it outside so I
could get as much of that fresh
rainwater as I could and that was gonna
last me for a few days but I was only
one person in my household what about
those big families so I knew listening
to my neighbors and communicating with
my neighbors that they wanted a better
way so that they didn’t have to go down
to that River given you know the health
concerns associated with having to use
river water and before I knew it I found
myself at the US Embassy asking for help
now I’m gonna say this is where
transformation comes in for us when we
get involved with service at first as
volunteers we’re looking at ourselves
our own comfort and survival okay I want
my stove
I need my lamp I need my pot I need my
mosquito net but as time passes our
focus turns out word toward our
community doesn’t it
we start thinking about our neighbors
our students our co-workers our all the
people around us the children in our
community the community we start
thinking about our community so before I
knew it again I’m at the front door of
the Embassy asking for a grant to see if
we could get some money to start the
development of a water tank so we could
have an ample supply of water at our
site and after back and forth you know
with the embassy they responded and they
replied yes and how happy we were that
we could at least start this project get
it going and just before I left I was
able to say goodbye to my friends at
that school turn it over to them and I
left the country flew back home with a
little more wisdom greater empathy a
wider worldview and a lifelong
commitment to community wherever that
would be and it turns out that community
has been right here in Boston in
Dorchester that’s where we are in
Dorchester where I’ve lived and raised
my family this is an awesome community
and as you can see there’s a beautiful
library right here where we’re all
gathered 35 years a lot has changed
Kenya has changed Brooklyn has changed
the Peace Corps has evolved in fact they
partner right now with a hundred
colleges and universities all across the
United States trying to prepare young
people for service abroad and there’s a
partnership with UMass Boston in fact
right on this campus that was the
leather leather by the way that I got
from the embassy and this is Dorchester
my neighborhood
and this is the program that prepares
undergrads so it’s great that Americans
care about service it’s great that we
volunteer we are a community of
volunteers but the bottom line is you
don’t have to travel 7,000 miles to
serve and to reap the benefits of
service there’s a lot going on right
here and there are there opportunities
to give back right here in our own
communities by the show of hands earlier
you all know that there are
organizations thankfully that are
working to support and promote service
in our communities so that everybody has
a chance to participate one such
organization is the Corporation for
National and Community Service and they
estimate that at least one in four
Americans volunteers for an organization
and when it comes to our young people
one in five or involved is involved in
some kind of activity and that’s a good
thing and it makes me say I have a
message for our young people and I’ve
worked with young people and I want to
encourage our young people because I was
22 when I joined the Peace Corps and I
have to say before I joined the Peace
Corps I’m not sure I knew that my
service was a particular value it’s in
retrospect that I look back that I
believe that it was so I want our young
people to know that their service is
needed and it is valued I also want them
to know that it can definitely help them
with their job prospects because
employers want someone who is committed
to community who has a good work ethic
who knows how to work with different
kinds of people who has strong
interpersonal skills and strong
organizational skills
and we also know that service can
benefit the community as a whole there
are some seemingly intractable problems
that make us think that we’ll never
solve them but volunteers can move the
needle on a lot of the issues that
plague our community including the need
to improve educational outcomes now I
know for myself I came back from Kenya
and I volunteered in my community and
what I found is that this experience and
service impacted my career path and I
worked with my neighbors I was a
volunteer board member for a
neighborhood community health center and
also a volunteer reporter for my
community newspaper I got to know my
neighbors and they got to know me and
they encouraged me to run for office
something I never imagined that I would
do but I listened to my neighbors I
listened they became my friends and I
ran and I won and I actually got to
serve in the Massachusetts House of
Representative
and what an awesome experience that was
and following that legislative
experience I went back to my community
and continued to volunteer in fact I
volunteer to this day and this is a
community where we have many people who
give back and who volunteer and this is
what it looks like here in Boston
so here’s my call to action volunteer
get back and while we’re on the topic
why not run for office you know you
really have little to lose and so much
to gain and sometimes all we need is to
have one person make the suggestion as
they did for me to make the suggestion
about how there are different ways that
we can give back and different ways that
we can serve and sometimes we just need
a little encouragement so I went the
state route but there’s City Council
there’s school committee
there’s your Union Local there’s your
PTA there are all sorts of ways that we
can get back and you know there are
elections in this country every year so
we need to work hard for those
candidates who are gonna care about the
issues that got us to volunteer in the
first place and if we care about those
issues and those candidates we’re gonna
champion those issues then guess what we
got to do we got a vote so this brings
me to my next and final little personal
story it’s a service story
soon after I joined the Peace Corps I
struck up a friendship with one of our
stateside trainers and we stayed in
touch
correspondent he encouraged my
excitement and interest in Africa and we
stayed in touch for the full two years
writing letters Zehra grams back and
forth and when I returned home well we
got married
and thirty-three years later we’re still
married in fact today’s our anniversary
[Applause]
so not only did service reveal a way of
life for me it brought me a partner for
life and when I talk about if we all
talk about paying it forward I’ve been
paid and repaid many times old over
Asante sana thank you
[Applause]
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