Waging Peace: Georgian Court Screens Peace Corps Documentary

Join Georgian Court for a free screening of the 2012 documentary Waging Peace: The Peace Corps Experience, by documentary film director and producer Allen Mondell, on Thursday, April 11, at 6:00 p.m. in the Little Theatre on GCU’s Lakewood campus. Waging Peace, which was inspired by Mr. Mondell’s two years teaching in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, profiles four former volunteers and addresses such issues as adjusting to a new culture, customs, jobs, crime, education, food, contributions, health, humor, politics, sexism, war, reflections, and culture shock. The documentary weaves together their personal letters, journals, e-mails, and blogs to show how their volunteer experiences shaped their lives.

Waging Peace celebrates the tradition of volunteering and public service in the United States. Mr. Mondell points out that one of the most important legacies of President John F. Kennedy was creation of the Peace Corps.

“His desire was to involve Americans more actively in the causes of peace, world development, and freedom,“ says Mr. Mondell. “Since 1961, more than 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers have spent two years away from home in 139 countries, sharing their skills with others.”

Before the screening, Donald Yates, Ed.D., retired GCU associate professor of education and director of field experience, will give a brief presentation. The Shrewsbury resident, who is featured in the film, was, like Mr. Mondell, among the first wave of Peace Corps volunteers. Dr. Yates served two years (1962–1964) teaching basic language skills to six grades—and the teachers—in a one-room schoolhouse on Jola, an island in the Philippines.

“I wanted to do something where I could help out and give back some of my training to other parts of the world,” says Dr. Yates, who was a college senior when he attended a campus recruiting session. “I felt if I could come back with a zeal for education after two years of teaching in a termite-ridden building with a leaky roof, then that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life—which is what I’ve done.”

The screening is free, but reservations are required by contacting the GCU Office of Conferences and Special Events at 732.987.2263 or specialevents@georgian.edu.

About Waging Peace

Allen Mondell was part of the first wave of Peace Corps volunteers, working as a teacher in Sierra Leone from 1963 to 1965. After his return to the United States, he worked as a journalist and eventually became a documentary film director and producer. In Waging Peace: the Peace Corps Experience, Mr. Mondell goes back to his early years to try to understand why he and the other volunteers were so deeply affected by their brief Peace Corps experience overseas—and why that experience continues to affect their lives to this day. The film, which took two and a half years for Mr. Mondell to complete, is told almost entirely through former volunteers’ letters, journals, e-mails and blogs. The stories capture the seemingly insurmountable challenges of ordinary Americans who were willing to endure vast cultural isolation, poverty, suspicion and, at times, antagonism—all in the hopes of making a small difference.

At times funny, and at other times sad, Waging Peace is full of perceptive insights into sacrifice and hardship, courage and defeat—and, ultimately, hope. At a time when society desperately relies on volunteerism, Waging Peace is also a call to other Americans, young and old, to cross cultural lines in order to discover a new awareness of the world and, in the end, to wage peace.