State-Journal.com - Peace Corps not only for the young

Photo By submittalLucian Parker, now 61, plays the fiddle at one of many festivals in El Salvador. He served in the country for 27 months as a volunteer with the Peace Corps, which celebrates nearly 50 years this month.

Lucian Parker had the opportunity to oversee the construction of a preschool for children in El Salvador.

When the Peace Corps was founded nearly 50 years ago, Lucian Parker was excited but never thought he could participate.

“As a country boy growing up in Peaks Mill, the Peace Corps seemed pretty far away,” Parker, 61, recently told The State Journal.

As a youngster, he watched on his black and white TV as President John F. Kennedy announced the Peace Corps’ formation in 1961. Today, 7,700 volunteers are serving in 76 nations teaching English, supporting health programs and promoting small business growth.

This week the Peace Corps celebrates its 49^th anniversary, and Parker recalled the two years he spent in El Salvador helping build a school and teaching music from 2002 to 2004.

He was born in Peaks Mill in 1948 and graduated from Franklin County High School in 1968. Parker attended Cumberland University and became a licensed social worker.

He retired after 27 years and was free to pursue his interest in the Peace Corps. Previous obligations, like bills, job and family, make it difficult to sign-up for the Peace Corps’ 27-month overseas commitment, Parker said.

And in the current economic recession, the Peace Corps is a good option for young college students who can’t find a job, he said.

The Peace Corps pays monthly living expenses between $68 in Guinea up to $1,080 in Mexico. Volunteers also qualify for student loan deferment, medical coverage and a lump-sum payment of $6,000 when they get home.

The application process took about a year, and many of his friends and family didn’t believe he’d follow through.

“My kids didn’t think I would go until I was actually on the plane. My daughter, my best friend and his son saw me off and they were pretty forlorn. But it was an experience I wanted to do.”

Parker and 18 other volunteers bound for El Salvador met in Miami and flew to San Vincente, El Salvador. They got medical shots, cultural training and some “minimal” language classes, Parker said.

“I was disappointed in that actually.”

Although he took several Spanish classes at Kentucky State University, Parker said his ability to speak the language still “sucks.”

Parker’s main project in El Salvador was to oversee the construction of a pre-school in the small, remote mountain village of San Antonio. The original schoolhouse had dirt floors and wood walls.

The pre-school students were amazed to see the new school, which was built from concrete bricks and had flushing toilets, Parker said.

Parker handled the paperwork and monitored the finances for the project but said he had a lot of free time. He used the extra time to teach English and music lessons.

“They felt like they had won the lottery with me.”

Parker learned to play the guitar and violin in his 30s and insisted he should bring his instruments to El Salvador.

Although many volunteers are recent college graduates, there are several older members.

He actually became friends with two older Peace Corps volunteers, Bonnie and Edwin James, of Maryland. They also played the guitar and violin, and the trio played in festivals, parades and concerts throughout the country.

They played traditional American folk music like the “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Old Joe Clark.”

He’s still friends with the James and said they frequently travel in South America together.

During his Peace Corps mission Parker also traveled to beaches on the Pacific Ocean, volcanoes and Mayan ruins in neighboring Honduras.

The country is still recovering from a bloody civil war that left 75,000 dead between 1980 and 1992. Parker said he could still find spent bullet casings between cobblestones in the street.

Workers also discovered an unexploded bomb while the school in San Antonio was being built.

Although the war ended 18 years ago, security is still tense. There is a large military presence in many cities and homes are usually protected by locked gates and barbed wire, Parker said.

El Salvador is also poor and crowded with almost twice Kentucky’s population in one-fifth the space. Kentucky has 4.3 million in 40,000 square miles, and there are 7.2 million Salvadorans in 8,100 square miles.

Illness, the weather and diet were the most challenging aspects of his time in El Salvador, Parker said. He was frequently sick with sinus infections or diarrhea and was unable to eat the greasy native food.

“I tell people I lived on tuna fish, yogurt and cucumbers.”

El Salvador’s tropical climate was also difficult because it rains six months of the year. The roads turn to mud and the temperature is always hot, Parker said.

“I don’t know what keeps the country from washing away.”

Despite the differences, Salvadorans want the same things as Kentuckians, Parker said.

“They want their kids to go to school, have clothes and food and a house to live in.”

Overall, Parker said he thinks his work had an impact and said the Peace Corps is a worthwhile project.

“It was fantastic but very tiring.”