Archive - September 8, 2018

After establishing the Peace Corps Headquarters on a eucalyptus-covered hillside above Addis Ababa, Wofford concluded that in a nation twice the size of Texas, the program should be administered on a regional basis. With Canby assigned to the former Italian colony of Eritrea, two other Associate Representatives (APCDs) were posted to the rest of Ethiopia although both were assigned houses in Addis Ababa. William White was given primary responsibility for Volunteers in the north and west country which included the capitals of Gondar and Axum and the vast canyon of the Blue Nile. William Kruse was assigned to the south and east, the land of the Rift Valley, the Ogaden desert and the cities of Harar and Diredawa. Although he was born and raised in Cleveland, Bill White enrolled in Atlanta’s Morehouse College for one semester, this at the insistence of an aunt in Alabama “who wanted me to experience . . .

Peace Corps has published a Legacy Book for Peace Corps Burkina Faso honoring the 22 year accomplishments of Peace Corps Volunteers and the communities and people with whom they worked.  The program was suspended in late 2017 for security reasons. In preparation for the suspension of the program, the country staff began to collect examples of the work done by Volunteers and their communities over decades.  The stories ranged from the building of a computer lab for a school to programs seeking to eradicate guinea worm disease.  It became a collaborate effort when: “U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso, H. E. Andrew Young described the need to collect and immortalize the history of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso after the suspension became official in December 2017. Additional ideas for content and format were provided by the Peace Corps Acting Regional Director for Africa, Mr. Tim Hartman and the Country Desk Officer for Burkina . . .