enlarge Courtesy of Andy and Trudy Anderson

Trudy Anderson, left, and her friend Khadija make a Moroccan stew in El Jadida, where Anderson met her husband while working for the Peace Corps.

enlarge Courtesy of Andy and Trudy Anderson

Andy Anderson, right, stands with market owner Hafid at the store where the Andersons shopped in El Jadida, Morocco.

Because for Trudy, a bubbly 71-year-old with black curly hair, and Andy, a quiet man of 83, the last 20 years have been filled with more adventure than they ever could have imagined.

The husband-and-wife pair live in Kittery, where he works as an engineer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and she does volunteer work. But they have been all over the United States; to Costa Rica, India, Thailand, China, Kenya, Mauritius and Zaire; to more than a handful of European nations; and to several other countries.

It all began in Morocco, where they both volunteered with the Peace Corps. It was the place where they met and fell in love. At the time, Trudy was 51 and Andy was 62. Both say the decision to join the Peace Corps forever changed their lives.

Their story, and others like it, are part of the reason the Peace Corps is working on a recruitment campaign aimed at people older than 50. The tentatively named "Serve at Any Age" campaign will launch officially in September, Peace Corps New England Regional Director James Arena-DeRosa said.

"What's important to us is to increase the numbers of volunteers over 50 and make sure that segment of the population knows that we want them," Arena-DeRosa said. "Having talked to Americans of all ages people are excited to know there's still the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps."

Although most volunteers are 20-somethings fresh out of college, for Trudy and Andy, it was exactly the right time of their lives to volunteer.

Both said that they had always thought about working with the Peace Corps, but were busy raising their respective families and building their careers. As they looked toward retirement after their children had grown up and left the house, both found themselves single, and the idea of joining the Peace Corps re- emerged.

Andy said he remembered that President Carter's mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, had joined the Peace Corps at age 68. He figured that if she could do it, so could he. He was sent to Morocco from his home in Kennewick, Wash., in May 1986.

Trudy, after a little deliberation at her home in Atlanta, also decided to apply, and she headed to Morocco in June 1987.

By coincidence, they ended up in a town called El Jadida, where they met and hit it off. Trudy worked at the university teaching English, and Andy worked as an engineer on a water project. Both settled into their new lives relatively quickly.

They began dating, and after eight or nine months, Andy proposed. They took a short leave to fly back to the United States to get married, then headed back to Morocco for another year.

Trudy and Andy returned to the U.S. together in 1989. Neither had traveled much before joining the Peace Corps, but after their time in Morocco, they wanted to see even more.

After spending time in Washington, D.C., the pair decided to go to Zaire with Habitat for Humanity from 1990 to 1991. Since then, they haven't stopped traveling -- and they haven't stopped helping people.

They are now deeply involved in The Hunger Project, a global movement aimed at empowering people to create their own sustainable food systems.

"We have absolutely the greatest life," Trudy said, squeezing her husband's hand. "The Peace Corps had a lot to do with our life being so wonderful."

Andy said being an older volunteer offers challenges and unexpected advantages.

"For older people, there's a double culture shock. You're training with young people with a different culture from you," he said. "If you isolate yourself, you'll have a bad experience."

Andy said that many of the younger Peace Corps volunteers looked up to him and asked him for advice or opinions. He also said that in many cultures, such as the ones he discovered in Morocco, older people are revered and considered...