Peace Corps Worldwide

  The National Peace Corps Association posted this news about the House of Representatives action on the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018.  It is good news, but the fight is not over. The Senate still has to act.  Here is NPCA’s article. https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/articles/one-step-closer-house-passes-peace-corps-healthsafety-legislation “With praise for the mission of the Peace Corps and the work of its volunteers, and acknowledgement that more needs to be done to improve volunteer health care, safety and security, the House of Representatives unanimously passed Peace Corps health/safety legislation (H.R. 2259) late Tuesday afternoon. The revised House bill, renamed the “Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018”, now goes back to the United States Senate for further consideration. Earlier this year, Senators unanimously passed its version of the legislation (S. 2286) introduced by Bob Corker (R-TN) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The Senate can either approve the House version . . .

The paperback jacket is torn. The wrinkled pages bent and stained. Still, the cover photo of the naked Peace Corps Volunteer is crystal clear and one exposed breast is bright in the sunlight of the camera flash. Beneath the woman’s breast, as if a yellow sticker has been tapped over her belly button, is a bold declaration. A REPRINT FROM THE BEST OF OUR ADULT NOVELS WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED UNDER ONE OR MORE DIFFERENT TITLES The novel is entitled Passion Delight, written by Frances Sibley. It is, the back cover says, a Body Talk Library book, published in 1985 by American Art Enterprises of California. A quick google search found the publisher, but no mention of Passion Delight, or where one might buy a copy. Perhaps this is a new title. Nor could I find out anything about “Frances Sibley”…..was she an RPCV in Senegal who set . . .

Recently, I have published a series of blog items on RPCVs who have fulfilled Kennedy’s wish that Returned Peace Corps Volunteers would join the State Department and become our future ambassadors and finally break the “pale, male & Yale” syndrome of the Foreign Service. I have now identified fifty-four RPCVs, men and women of all ethnic groups, who have become, as they are formally called, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. RPCVs have also made significant contributions to the State Department in many ways  besides becoming ambassadors. One who did so is Tom Gallagher,  a Volunteer with me in Ethiopia from 1962-64. Gallagher was the youngest chief of a major diplomatic mission (US Consulate, Guayaquil), and was well on his way to an ambassadorial appointment when he made the decision to become the first civil servant in the world to publicly and voluntarily declare that he was a homosexual. Having done so, . . .

  Using several sources, mainly Marian Haley Beil’s (Ethiopia 1962-64) listings, started in the 1979 Peace Corps Writers & Readers and currently with 452 titles and available at this website) as well as the 1989 annotated bibliography compiled by Robert B. Marks Ridinger, and also the Library of Congress bibliography, Larry Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) has published a handy short text entitled Peace Corps Bibliography which contains published work by volunteers and staff about the agency and/or their service. The book is divided into three sections; (1) journals, letters and memoirs, (2) anthologies and (3) history. More than 230 volunteer and staff have written and published journals, letters and memoirs. There are more than a dozen anthologies. The book is available via Amazon.com books. Prior to the Internet and Print-On-Demand books, few Peace Corps Volunteers published accounts of their experience. Of all the first-person accounts, Larry has found that only twelve percent (12%) were published . . .

I have the great pleasure this time of interviewing one of the most lovely and interesting of writers: Carole Sojka. Carole has lived a lifetime of adventures, notably with her husband as one of the first thousand Peace Corps volunteers, and traveling all over the world. She worked, traveled, raised a family, and in retirement, turned her hand to writing. And so a new adventure began. Carole has two books to date and a third on the way in her Andi Battaglia police series, set in Florida. The first, A Reason to Kill, introduces Andi as she tries to break away from her past and start fresh. But of course the past always has a way of sneaking up on you. In her second book, So Many Reasons to Die, it’s Andi’s partner Greg who finds that the past is hard to lay to rest. Especially when she winds up murdered on . . .

Thanks to a ‘heads up’ from Dan Campbell (El Salvador 1974–77) • Remembering Peace Corps work “It was our job to save the world” After 57 years, four men still gather to reminisce From the Jefferson City, Missouri, News Tribune June 6, 2018 .   Four men who set out to change the world nearly 60 years ago gathered in Jefferson City this week to reminisce and play folk music. The men were members of the first wave of young adults sent overseas as part of the Peace Corps, created by John F. Kennedy shortly after he became president. Several men who were in the first wave of Peace Corps Volunteers gathered for a reunion this week to share stories and reminisce. They also share some that helped form them and the direction in life it caused them to remember Peace Corps work: ‘It was our job to save the world’ Lenny . . .

Introducing… The Museum that Celebrates Your Service! The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience (MPCE) debuts virtually in 2018 and will soon becomes brick and mortar in Washington, D.C.  Help us realize this dream! Imagine a museum designed to tell Peace Corps stories, displaying artifacts from all around the world . . .. A museum that connects people and increases global understanding . . .. A place which inspires young people to serve their communities at home and abroad . . .. A shrine to our common humanity, demonstrating that our connections are more fundamental than all the forces that divide us into separate cultures and nations. You can get involved from the very beginning of this new adventure!  Here’ s how — 1. Visit our new website! Learn more about the plans for developing the Museum. 2. Login to the Museum’s new website.  Click here to create a password and login. By logging in, you’ll be able to update your . . .