Marian Haley Beil – Page 2 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review | THE MYSTICAL LAND OF MYRRH by MaryAnn Shank (Somalia)

Feb 15 2024

The Mystical Land of Myrrh (short stories) MaryAnn Shank (Somalia 1967–69) Dippity Press February 2019 222 pages $13.99 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle), $13.97 (audiobook) Reviewed by Eugénie de Rosier (Philippines 2006-08) • • • MaryAnn Shank has brought us a fictionalized tale of her time in Somalia, working as a teacher of middle-school children in the rural bush country of Baidoa. The author was 50 years distant from her tour when she published The Mystical Land of Myrrh, and thanked those who refreshed her memory of life there. The tantalizing use of the word myrrh drew me in, and how appropriate, as myrrh originates from the commiphora tree of Somalia. The author unspooled her stories and vignettes with a goddess, and circled to the gripping end, when Moria, Shank’s narrator, beseeched Arawello to assist its women. Teaching is an honored profession in Somalia. Peace Corps brought English to, and built schools . . .

FROM MOUNTAINS TO MEDICINE by Erica Elliott (Ecuador)

Feb 12 2024

From Mountains to Medicine: Scaling the Heights in Search of My Calling Erica M. Elliott, M.D. (Ecuador 1974–1976) Lammastide Publishing January 2024 383 pages $19.95 (paperback), $16.99 (Kindle) Erica Elliott resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she has a busy medical practice. Erica was born into a large family with a Swiss mother and an American father. Throughout her childhood, Erica moved with her family from one part of the world to another due to her father’s work. She began her schooling in England, graduated from high school in Germany, and then studied art in Florence, Italy, before returning to the States to attend college. The seeds for becoming a medical doctor were first sown when she spent a summer in Switzerland learning from her uncle, an eccentric and brilliant medical doctor. It took many years before those seeds sprouted. Erica came to medicine later than most . . .

Review | FACE TO FACE WITH WAR by Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia)

Jan 25 2024

Face to Face with War by Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia 1962–64) Independently published October 2022 254 pages $15.00 (paperback), $9.00 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mike Donovan • • • Leo Cecchini, the author of Face to Face With War, has lead the kind of life most of us can only imagine. His book takes us from his Peace Corps experience as a geography teacher and soccer coach in Asmara, Ethiopia at the beginning of the 30 year struggle for Eritrean independence to his many experiences in the U.S. foreign service. His first assignment in the foreign service was in Panama where he met some decidedly shady characters trying to run weapons to Biafra during the breakaway war with Nigeria. He outsmarted them! From Panama he was sent to Vietnam during the period of heaviest fighting. He was part of a joint military/civilian program designed to help stabilize the country. Each of his new . . .

The Volunteer who became a National Presidential Campaign Manager | Timothy Kraft (Guatemala)

Jan 22 2024

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • • • Timothy Kraft graduated from Dartmouth College in 1963, then went on to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, 1963-65. After graduate studies at Georgetown University, he began a long career of professional involvement in state and federal political campaigns, beginning as Executive Director of the New Mexico Democratic party in 1974. In 1975, he connected with then-Governor Jimmy Carter who came to New Mexico to campaign for the election of a Democratic governor. In 1975, Timothy connected once again with then-Governor Jimmy Carter’s national presidential campaign as its National Field Director and then as its National Field Coordinator. In the Democratic presidential campaign, he worked to solicit contributions from ten Western states so that candidate Carter could qualify for federal matching funds under the Federal Election Campaign Act. After then-president Jimmy Carter won the presidency, he named Timothy as his Appointments . . .

Six decades of Peace Corps in Nepal

Jan 08 2024

In the news — The US and Nepal have been steadfast friends not only as countries but also on the individual level a statement by Troy Kofroth (country director/Nepal 2022– present) The Katnamdu Post January 7, 2024 Each year at this time, the Peace Corps notes the anniversary of the start of the programme in Nepal in 1962. On August 24 of that year — soon after President John F Kennedy created the Peace Corps — the governments of Nepal and the United States signed a bilateral agreement to authorize the Peace Corps’ operation in Nepal. Just a few weeks later, in September 1962, the first group of 77 volunteers consisting of teachers and agriculture specialists arrived in Kathmandu to live in, and partner with, Nepali communities. Since 1962, nearly 4,000 US citizens have arrived in Nepal to serve as volunteers for two years. These volunteers have lived in communities . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | November — December 2023

Jan 01 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and/or to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

Review | JUST KEEP PEDALING by Connie Ness (Uruguay)

Dec 28 2023

Reviewed by Chuck Haga columnist for the Grand Forks Herald Grand Forks, ND • Connie Ness (Uruguay 1994-96) and I may have talked about the Peace Corps when we worked together on the Dakota Student, the UND student newspaper, in the late 1960s. Maybe, maybe not. Memory fails. But those were heady, hopeful times, despite the war, the assassinations and the riots. The idea of the Peace Corps intrigued us, and we were young. We were among Dakota Student staffers who drove to Washington, D.C., to participate in a national student convention. One day, I spotted Sen. Eugene McCarthy, the anti-Vietnam War presidential candidate from Minnesota, alone in the hotel lobby. I walked up to him and proudly showed my blue and white “McCarthy for President” button. A moment later, Connie joined us, and Gene turned his attention to her. She was always fond of reminding me that the senator . . .

REVIEW | HUSTLE: THE MAKING OF A FREELANCE WRITER by Lawrence Grobel (Ghana)

Dec 11 2023

HUSTLE: The Making of a Freelance Writer by Lawrence Grobel (Ghana 1968-71) Independently Published 358 pages August 2023 $19.95 (Paperback), $5.99 (Kindle) reviewed by Rita Settimo • This is a fascinating collection of pieces written over Lawrence Grobel’s entire career, starting back when he was 15 and won a writing contest sponsored by Newsday, and got to meet Robert Kennedy when he was the Attorney General. Reflecting on his life as a freelance writer, even he’s amazed that he managed to survive for six decades. He writes instructively about all the pitfalls and the difficulties of freelancing, including the rejections, and the need to persevere and believe in yourself. He includes and discusses the articles, essays, and interviews that allowed him to keep on going. Whether it was that first published essay, or his first magazine profile about an African sculptor from Ghana written when he was a Peace Corps Volunteer, . . .

Review | THE COUSCOS CHRONICLES by Azzedine Downes (Morocco)

Dec 05 2023

The Couscous Chronicles Stories of Food, Love, and Donkeys from a Life Between Cultures by Azzedine T. Downes (Morocco 1982-85) Reviewed by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) An old friend of Azzedine and his family, and a close friend of mine, devoured the Couscous Chronicles over a weekend, munching on each story as if she were a guest at a coveted Friday couscous lunch invite. Every Peace Corps/Morocco volunteer can recount various faux pas that ensue during such a visit, but soon enough all volunteers learn the lessons that have been maktub (written) over centuries: only eat from the triangle in front of you, wait for the host to offer you the prime real estate from the center of the mound, say the word sha’bet (truly, I’m full) only when you are ready to burst, and NEVER EVER eat with your left hand! When I began reading my . . .

Review | ST. PETERSBURG BAY BLUES by Douglas Buchacek (Russia)

Nov 26 2023

St. Petersburg Bay Blues Douglas Buchacek (Russia 2001-03) Independently published 201 pages April 2021 $15.00 (paperback) review by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96) St. Petersburg Bay Blues is a lively and engaging account of the author’s experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Russia, and a member of Russia 9, the last Western Russia (Moscow-based) group before the program closed. Of note is the author’s impressive recall, without notes, of people, places, and events. He tells us, “Everywhere I went I carried a composition book, which I titled St. Petersburg Bay Blues. In it I wrote songs, poems, and the odd note or observation.” Unfortunately, the notebook was stolen. “I scrambled to write what I could remember. That’s what I have here, my attempt to document an experience that seems simultaneously alien and essential to my life.” Expectations are dangerous for a book reviewer, and I was looking forward to a . . .

Review | A JOURNEY FOR PEACE: A JOURNAL OF PEACE by Donald Yates (The Philippines)

Nov 12 2023

A Journey For Peace: A Journal of Peace Donald Yates (The Philippines 1962–64) Austin Macauley Publishers 122 pages March 2023 $10.95 (paperback) Review by Douglas Garatina (Ghana 1971-1973) • • • “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” It didn’t take long for Don Yates to answer this challenge made by President Kennedy. He made the decision to join the recently formed Peace Corps. In 1962 Don transitioned from a recent college graduate living in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to an elementary school teacher on the very remote Philippine Island of Jolo in the middle of the Sulu Sea. To make things even more interesting, the people on Jolo were Muslims even though 95% of Filipinos were Catholic, so Don’s Peace Corps training did not prepare him for the Muslim traditions and culture he was about to enter. His . . .

“Carlos and the Parrot” by Becky Wandell (Ecuador)

Nov 12 2023

A Writer Writes Throughout my service, I lived in the rural outskirts of a bustling city, and sometimes I walked to town. It was a 45-minute stroll, all downhill, which gave me a chance to wave to the shop owners setting out their brooms, their fresh-baked rolls and their publicity boards announcing a new item. If I timed it right, I passed by Luis. His black bowler hat made him look taller than he was as he shuffled up the sidewalk with his large black cow in tow. I’d give him a nod and smile, his coffee-brown wrinkled face always emitting enough sunshine to fill my day. While hopping over the heaved slabs of sidewalk and steering around the sections of mud and litter in the path, I took in the distant vistas, the passing cars and the groans of buses grinding up the hill. After several months of living . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | September — October 2023

Nov 08 2023

“The Volunteer Who Published on Contemporary Life in America” — Laurence Leamer (Nepal)

Nov 04 2023

Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) (The materials for this Profile were drawn heavily from Wikipedia) • In 1964, after graduating with a B. A. in History from Antioch College, Laurence spent a year in France at the University de Besancon and worked in a factory. He then joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in the mountains of Nepal. After returning home, he studied at the University of Oregon and Columbia University’s School of Journalism. When he graduated from Columbia second in his class in 1969, he was named a Pulitzer International Fellow. Laurence then worked as an associated editor at Newsweek before turning to writing magazine articles for a range of other publications, including Harper’s The New York Times Magazine, and Playboy. During this period, he also worked in a West Virginia coal mine while researching an article. During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, he was the only journalist . . .

The Volunteer who wrote songs for Korean children — Mary Kim Joh (Liberia)

Oct 27 2023

Mary Kim Joh, also known as Che Sik Chu, was a Korean-American music composer and medical research specialist. She is best known for writing “School Bell” in 1945. This children’s song is taught to pre-school students in South Korea. It is often referred to as a “Korean National Anthem”. Joh was born in Seoul in 1904. She was the daughter of Kim Ik-seung, founder of Korea’s first joint stock companies, and a niece of Kim Kyu-sik. She graduated from Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, and in 1930, she was awarded a Master’s degree in music at the University of Michigan. Later, while teaching in the music department at Ewha, she was asked by the South Korean government to compose children’s songs after the end of Japanese rule over her country in 1945. At the end of WW II, the Koreans had no Korean-language school materials. Her 1950 . . .

Author - Marian Haley Beil