UNM graduate student Willie Richardson, who operates the Peace Corps recruitment office on campus, says the program offers exposure for countries that otherwise get no attention from the rest of the world.
"It's giving Americans a chance to get away from the isolation of the U.S. and go to a country that they probably couldn't point out on a map before," he said.
During his years of service between 1997 and 1999, Richardson taught at a high school in Kazakhstan. He also organized an English as a second language reading group that focused on American Films and literature.
Since the Peace Corps began in 1961, 229 UNM graduates have volunteered in 85 nations, according to a statement from the organization.
During his Jan. 29 State of the Union address, President Bush announced the formation of the USA Freedom Corps as a way of continuing the volunteer efforts he has witnessed in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"My call tonight is for every American to commit at least two years - 4,000 hours over the rest of your lifetime - to the service of your neighbors and your nation," he said during his speech.
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Bush said the USA Freedom Corps will expand and improve the efforts of AmeriCorps and Senior Corps to recruit more than 200,000 new volunteers.
He also asked the Peace Corps to "join a new effort to encourage development and education and opportunity in the Islamic world."
The Peace Corps currently operates in about 70 countries.
Richardson said during his term, he went against the Peace Corps requests by getting involved in local politics.
"I started the first chapter of Amnesty International in Kazakhstan," he said, adding that he is not afraid of getting involved because he is no longer a volunteer.
Richardson said that while in Kazakhstan, he was a stranger in a strange land and that people would always invite him to dinner because he was a curiosity. But, he said, there were times when being an American in the war-torn region wasn't good.
In 1999 the United States, under NATO, became involved in the war in Kosovo, where it was alleged that ethnic Albanians - Muslims were being cleansed from the region by Serbians.
Kazakhstan has a similar ethnic make-up as Kosovo once did.
Richardson's students wanted to know why his fellow Americans were bombing Kosovo.
"They believed that what we were doing was wrong," Richardson said.
He said he told his students that America's foreign policy did not represent all of its citizens.
Richardson said the Peace Corps offers livable wages for a country such as Kazakhstan, but that the wages the current domestic programs offer are in no way livable.
He added that programs such as AmeriCorps need more money.
"There has to be a better economic incentive to volunteer," Richardson said.
He offered an incentive for those who do not need financial compensation for their time.
"As a volunteer you always learn more than what you give," Richardson said. " I think any volunteer will tell you that."
