Though Afghanistan has suffered a considerable amount over the years and is still in turmoil today, Edie Maxey looks back on her time there with fondness.
Maxey, now 73, was 26 years old when she joined the fourth Peace Corps group to enter Afghanistan in 1964. She worked in legal research for the Ministry of Justice in the capital, Kabul, until 1966.
"I've never been treated nicer in any place I worked than I was by the Afghans in the Ministry of Justice," Maxey recalled.
Maxey recently returned from Washington, D.C., where she joined thousands of other past Peace Corps volunteers in celebrating the organization's golden anniversary. Fifty years ago, on Sept. 22, 1961, Congress approved legislation establishing the Peace Corps under President John F. Kennedy. From Sept. 22-25, various events were held in and around the nation's capital commemorating the occasion.
Her favorite part of the three-day event, Maxey explained, was the parade of flags. Past volunteers held flags of the countries in which they served and walked from Arlington Cemetery to Lincoln Memorial.