LA UNION, El Salvador --

On a parched corner of this Central American nation where searing heat and dust punish those who live here, Brendan McCleary leads a group of youngsters on a hike for an up-close look at the hemisphere's second-most deforested country.

''It's hot here, right? Why?'' McCleary, 24, asks the nodding children at a clearing in the sparse woods.

''Because there are no trees,'' several shout.

McCleary and Nathan Dollar, stationed at another community in the same region, are part of a reviving U.S. program that was launched by President Kennedy in 1961: the Peace Corps.

The agency rose to 15,500 volunteers in the mid-1960s, then dropped to about 5,000 in the Reagan era.

With little fanfare or publicity, the Peace Corps has grown again to some 7,750 volunteers, mostly single young adults involved in everything from health to agriculture assistance programs in 139 countries.

Once viewed as an agency that focused mostly on infrastructure needs like digging wells, the Peace Corps now concentrates on education, health, business development and environmental projects.

''The Peace Corp is less about building bridges and getting potable water,'' said Dollar, 25, from North Carolina. ''It's about human-to human-contact and capacity building -- human development on a grass-roots level.''

And where volunteers were once eyed with suspicion, sometimes even regarded as CIA agents, they are now widely embraced.

''We define being welcome on whether or not we feel safe in a country,'' said David D'Agostino Leavitt, a Peace Corps spokesman. ''In the countries we're in now, there is a comfortable marriage.''

SAFE ENVIRONMENT

The Peace Corps now clearly feels safe in El Salvador. More than 1,600 volunteers have served in this country. But the agency pulled out in 1979, amid a bloody civil war, and did not return until 1993. It currently has 156 volunteers in this small and largely poor nation.

For McCleary and Dollar, President Kennedy's inaugural words in 1961 -- ''Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country'' -- still inspire.

''As a United States citizen, I have it a lot better than many people in the world,'' Dollar said. ''We should, as U.S. citizens, give back.''

''By helping the rest of the world, you are helping your country,'' McCleary said.

Since their 27-month commitment began a year ago, Dollar and McCleary appear to have made a difference in the impoverished communities in which they live. Everybody seems to know them.

McCleary, an easygoing guy with a patchy beard and love of music, is based in Cantón Los Angeles -- a rural town in the eastern province of La Unión. Its 1,000 residents live off agriculture and livestock.

A native of Vienna, Va., McCleary studied psychology and Spanish at the University of Virginia and spent a semester in Spain. He joined the Peace Corps after a recruiter visited campus.

''I could come here and earn practically nothing or stay in the United States and earn a little bit,'' McCleary said. ''I decided to come here and help people.''

A neighbor called McCleary ''a very good person.''

''The most important thing he is teaching the kids is that education is important so that they can have opportunities,'' said Fidel Ventura, who owns a small grocery store nearby.

Over the past year, McCleary has worked on environmental education activities with kids up to the sixth grade, launched an environmental club for middle-schoolers and led nature hikes and planted trees as part of beautification projects.

He also is raising funds to build a basketball/soccer court for local youth. In his free time, he gives guitar lessons, strumming tunes by artists from Jamaica's Bob Marley to Mexico's Maná.

But most of days are spent raising awareness about the importance of protecting a land that is slowly being rendered more barren by deforestation and drought.

''I would like to just improve the environmental conscience of young people, make them realize they have something they can protect here,'' said McCleary, who plans to study international relations after the Peace Corps.

In El Chile, another small town about a 45-minute drive away, Dollar juggles a hectic schedule that includes teaching, meeting with community leaders and spearheading a group of elementary ''environmental guards.''

'BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE'

The Wilson, N.C., native double-majored in sociology and Spanish at Western Carolina University and worked for a nongovernment organization that helps migrant farmworkers before he signed up with the Peace Corps.

''Wow, my life is different here,'' the sweat-drenched American said between appointments. ''But it's a beautiful experience.''

Soft-spoken and with a bounty of energy, Dollar greets everyone with a smile. In exchange, he gets lots of handshakes from adults and hugs from children, who pronounce his first name as Na-TAHN. Many take part in his clean-up crews known as guardias ambientales.

''I decided to pick up trash because he asked us to and because he does it, too,'' said Ismary Fuentes, 13. ''He's strict, but he's a lot of fun.''

To get to work each day, Dollar must walk nearly a mile over a dirt road and splash across a narrow river. He teaches at both the elementary and high schools at the nearby town of El Carmen. He also holds classes in environmental protection, runs a recycling and reforestation program and helps out with a Community Development Association.

''A lot of times, I feel I'm oversaturated with work, but I figure that's why I'm here,'' Dollar said. ''I'm learning a lot more than I teach.''

Topping the list of community needs in El Chile is the construction of a bridge over the river that sometimes swells, leaving the community isolated. Dollar is helping the association find national and international organizations that could fund the project.

''We don't have a good street, and we don't have a bridge,'' a woman complained at a recent association meeting. ''All we want is to improve our lives.''

''With solidarity and unity, we can accomplish anything,'' Dollar counseled the crowd after announcing that Japan might come through with some funds. ''All I ask is that you please be patient.''

Both Dollar and McCleary will be leaving El Salvador at the end of the year.

''I wanted to do this while I was young because a lot of times . . . life gets in the way,'' said Dollar, who plans to return to school to get a Ph.D. in development sociology with a focus on Latin America. ''It's going to be weird to go back home -- a culture shock in reverse.''

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