To fulfill its mission of promoting world peace and friendship through community-based development and intercultural understanding, the United States Peace Corps has three goals: To help interested countries meet their need for trained people, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
The new documentary film, created by Illinois State School of Communication Professor Brent Simonds entitled India 42: A Peace Corps Story, gives viewers a unique, on-the ground experience as to what accomplishing these goals looked like for a group of early Peace Corps volunteers who served in India during the late 1960s. Blending archival footage with modern-day interviews, India 42 provides viewers with a firm understanding of the challenges and triumphs that most Peace Corps volunteers experience throughout their service.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) featured in India 42 share how they grappled with educating Indian farmers when many of them had little to no farming experience themselves. They note the intricacies of human connection across cultural bounds. And for one volunteer, “It was the first time I felt American.”
The real highlight of India 42 are the stories these RPCVs share about how they worked to build trust over time within the local communities they served. Trust is the social capital upon which all our relationships are built, whether these relationships extend across neighborhoods or across the world. Without this trust, none of the goals of the Peace Corps could effectively be reached. Service in the Peace Corps is a humbling and transformational experience, and the RPCVs in India 42 emphasize the vital importance that experience has played in their lives.
India 42: A Peace Corps Story is screening at the Normal Theater at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 11. The screening is free for all to attend. Following the 50-minute film, a panel of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, including some men featured in the film, will answer questions about their service. Please come join us for this exciting educational and inspirational event!
