Family, friends, dignitaries pay tribute to Ambassador Stevens

By Scott Johnson

Oakland Tribunemercurynews.com
SAN FRANCISCO — Several hundred mourners from around the world, including a former secretary of state, a former bishop of California and the Libyan ambassador to the United States, gathered in the elegant rotunda of San Francisco City Hall Tuesday to honor the life and work of former U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens.

The memorial, called “A Celebration of Life,” included remembrances and appreciations by more than a dozen family members, former colleagues and government dignitaries, a video montage narrated by Stevens himself, as well as songs by the University of California Men’s Glee Club Alumni.

“He’s always been with me, he was my most important mentor,” said a younger sister, Anne Stevens Sullivan. “The world needs a lot more big

Tom Stevens, brother of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and his from left, his sisters, Anne Stevens Sullivan M.D., and Hilary Stevens Koziol M.D., attend a public memorial for their brother at City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. (Jane Tyska/Staff)

brothers like Chris Stevens.”

“Christopher Stevens stood out as extraordinary in an already extraordinary group of people,” said former Secretary of State George P. Shultz. “Democracy is not a spectator sport, and Christopher Stevens was a full participant in his beloved democracy.”

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan port city of Benghazi in the evening hours of Sept. 11, the 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Stevens and his staff had gone to the consulate to launch a Cultural Exchange Center when militants attacked the offices with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. He was the first American ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Kabul, Afghanistan, and later died during a firefight.

The memorial began with a U.S. Marine Corps Honor Guard “posting colors” ceremony and a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Rev. William Swing said Stevens had perished in the “crucible flame of theocracy and democracy” that had swept across so much of the Middle East in the form of the Arab Spring that started in 2011. San

Francisco Mayor Ed Lee spoke about how Stevens embodied an international spirit of peace and inclusion.

Anne Stevens Sullivan spoke about “how clever, how witty he was, how he made us smile.” She said her older brother was “mischievous” and told how he once set her bassinet on fire, led her off a hiking trail, and nicknamed her “chubs.” “So why do I miss him so much?” she asked, to gentle laughter.

A Bay Area native, Stevens was born to Mary and Jan Stevens in Grass Valley in 1960. He later moved to Piedmont, where he graduated from high school. Stevens showed an interest in the wider world from an early age, starting in high school when he traveled to Spain as part of an American Field Service exchange program. He went on to study languages and classics at UC Berkeley, graduating with a degree in history in 1982. He spent two years in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer. Stevens then attended law school at UC Hastings and

U.S. Marines watch a video as they attend a memorial for Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens at City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. (Jane Tyska/Staff)

worked as an attorney for two years.

But his appetite for foreign lands and different cultures had been whetted, and in 1992 Stevens joined the U.S. Foreign Service. His fluency in Arabic and French made him ideally suited for a career in North Africa and the Middle East, and over the next 20 years Stevens rose quickly through the ranks of the diplomatic corps.

A succession of increasingly important jobs took him to Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and, twice, to Tripoli. With the tumult of the Arab Spring, Stevens was tapped early on to become a liaison to the many fractious rebel groups vying for power in Libya for the duration of the revolution. With the death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the eventual toppling of his regime, Stevens was named ambassador to Libya.

Among his many accomplishments, Stevens will no doubt be remembered for his heroic efforts during the nine long and bloody months of Libya’s revolution, a period when he was often the lone American representative on the ground.

By all accounts Stevens was passionate about the Middle East and Libya in particular. Virtually all the speakers said Stevens was always enthusiastic about his work overseas.

His friend Steven MacDonald said Chris embodied a “people-first diplomacy” that made the world a better place.

“There is no limit to what he did for Libyan people. He built the bridge between Libya and the United States, a strong bridge built of love,” said Ali Suleiman Aujali, Libya’s ambassador to the United States. “We lost a friend, a supporter and we lost a hero, and he’s part of the Libyan history, the Libyan revolution. We’ll never forget his name. I am sorry because you sent us one of your best diplomats but we were not able to protect him.”

Anne Stevens Sullivan said her brother had an insatiable curiosity, always talking to strangers and joking with vendors, and that he devoted as much time as possible to his family. He inspired his younger sister Hilary Stevens Koziol to join the Peace Corps.

Tom Stevens said his older brother was humble to a fault. “He had so many professional achievements that he never talked about, and you have to ask yourself what would the world be like if more people had the qualities he did — humble, calm, steady, relentlessly positive?”

“The world never saw a kinder, more resolute soul than Chris,” MacDonald said. “We feel so sad for the loss of Chris, but so lucky to have known him.”

I know I can generate a lot of ‘comments’ and ‘Com’on Coyne!’ complaints by picking out Volunteers who really did an amazing job overseas. Yes, we all did amazing jobs! However, there are many, many PCVs who away from their APCDs, or any host country attention, did wondrous working as teachers, nurses, community development workers in the barrios of Latin America, or digging fish ponds in Africa. Whatever! We all knew one or two Super Vols in our programs. Some of us, perhaps, were Super Vols.

Still, on the national level, over the 50 plus years of the agency, there are several moments when the world as a whole paused and for a moment at least nodded in agreement and thought: ‘yes, this is what the Peace Corps is all about.’

One such moment occurred early on in Nigeria at the University of Ibadan when Trainee Maragery Michelmore dropped a postcard and the PCVs came under the harsh reality of cross-culture misunderstanding. The Peace Corps then was on the verge of tumbling apart before it started, but  PCVs and Staff rallied around Maragery in this moment of crisis.

Nevertheless, for me..for the Greatest Volunteers,  I’ll give the nod to the PCVs of the Dominican Republic, circa 1965. They were the greatest PCVs to serve, in my opinion.

Why so, you might ask.

Well, when a revolt began in the DR in the spring of 1968, President Johnson sent in 500 Marines “to protect American lives” and the American forces quickly increased to 22,000 [are we talking surge here?] The Volunteers opposed the occupation, the deception, and the Marines. Clearly it was not the danger to American lives in the DR that worried Johnson, as Harris Wofford would write in his book Of Kennedys & Kings, it was fear of a radical regime change that kept U.S. troops there. And it was the first such intervention in Latin America since the ill-fated U.S. occupation of Nicaragua in 1925.

On Saturday morning when the uprising began there were 108 Peace Corps Volunteers in the DR; thirty-four of them were in Santo Domingo. The PCVs had been told that in the event of any civil disorder, they were to remain with their friends in the barrios, where they could await instructions from the staff. But as the fighting and bloodshed swept across the capital the Volunteers were caught up in it.

Elements of the armed forces and civilian population led a rebellion with the aim of restoring Bosch and restoring constitutional government. Amid stories of mounting casualties and destruction as the fighting progressed in Santo Domingo, there were sketchy reports of PCVs working in hospitals, driving ambulances, and distributing food and apparent safe conduct though partisan lines. One news story reported that a soldier had asked a Volunteer nurse why she was assisting him when he would only return to the battle and shoot at U.S. Marines. A reporter for the New York Herald Tribune wrote, “This is a war in which the U.S. War Corps is at odd with the U.S. Peace Corps.” Other U.S. newspapers expressed editorial concern over the ambiguous role played by the Peace Corps.

Commended by some, censured by others, the Volunteers during the rebellion were doing essentially what they had been doing since their arrival; helping where help was needed. Before the outbreak of fighting, the Volunteers had been advised to avoid political partisanship, and this was still the operative rule for their behavior during the civil strife. And injured man was an injured man, and food went to those who were hungry.

One PCV wrote later, “I had little sense of real personal danger as I felt completely safe surrounded by people I had grown to trust completely. But the problem was that nobody was able to predict with accuracy what might happen from one hour to the next, and, hence, the Peace Corps staff felt that I would be wiser if I moved to a nearby hospital where I would be a bit safer.

“I arrived at the hospital and already there working were Peace Corps nurses, working 16-18 hours a day, assisting with the waves of wounded and generally supervising all phases of the hospital operations. There was no electricity, short supply of water, few medicines, standard of sanitation were understandably low, and blood literally covering the floors. Luckily, during the first day, there was so much to do there was little time to collect our thoughts.”

Later the PCVs in the Capital were moved to a central location, within a established security zone. Then the next phase in Peace Corps activities began. There were three areas in the city: the U.S. security zone, the military junta section, and the Constitutionalist-controlled sector.

Nurses were continuing to work in hospitals, but the other PCVs went to help the Red Cross transport medicines and food. One PCV remembered, “During these few weeks of driving through all parts of Santo Domingo there was a definite degree of danger. I guess all of us were scared. The problem was not so much that we would be attacked personality, but rather that we might be in an area where there happened to be firing.

“In such an environment within which there was a definite degree of anti-American feeling, the Peace Corps received practically none. It was as though the Peace Corps was entity separate from everything else what was concerned with the conflict-as, in fact, it was.”

Later in June, after an uneasy truce, with no loss of life to the PCVs, Frank Mankiewicz, then the Regional Manager of Latin America, would tell a staff meeting, “Many of them (the Volunteers) were terribly scared; I think to this day some of them are not quite sure of what they did or why they did it…But somewhere along the line they had caught up something that all of us feel, I think, from time to time–about what it meant to be an American in that situation….and there really is not enough to say about the way they came through and what it meant to the United States and to the Dominicans too.

“People talk every once in a while about acting in the highest Peace Corps tradition. I’m not sure that in four years we’ve established very many traditions–either high or low. But the staff and the Volunteers in the Dominican Republic certainly set a standard this past month that can serve as a tradition until a better one comes along.”

Let’s look at how individual PCVs in the field were as important as early Peace Corps Staff in keeping the agency, alive, well, and on its own. We have to remember that regardless of the administrations who are in power, it is Peace Corps Volunteers who are the heart and soul, and the only reason for the agency.

Back then the PCVs of the DR were overwhelmingly against the 1963 right-wing military coup that overthrew Juan Bosch’s newly elected, leftist government (which had invited the Peace Corps to the country). These Volunteers lived and worked among the poor, they were working to remove the stain of the US’s long standing support for Rafael Trujillo, and when the civil war broke out in ‘65 the Volunteers sympathized with the “legitimatist” rebels.

Guess what? With fighting all around them, the PCVs wouldn’t leave. No, way. Tad Szulc of The New York Times would write, “These brave young Americans had refused to be evacuated from war-torn Santo Domingo and had gone on working in the hospitals and elsewhere despite the fight and the mounting resentment in the rebel zone against the United States intervention…”

Later [after the U.S. government realized how loved the PCVs were by the people] the State Department proposed that Volunteers be assigned to work with the U.S. Special Forces, the Green Berets, and when the scheme was put to the Peace Corps, the answer from Frank Mankiewicz, in a message personally approved by Sarge Shriver: “Not only no, but hell no!”

The PCVs kept at their jobs and in the midst of the fighting. When Volunteers had to move from one place to anther, signs were held up by the rebels to stop shooting, that the American Peace Corps were walking by, and Volunteers moved safely in the slums where they were living their lives working with the people.

A few weeks into the fighting, the respected chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, Jaime Benitez, who was then serving as an adviser to McGeorge Bundy, and who was in the Dominican Republic seeking a negotiated settlement, suggested that the DR would be better off if the respective numbers of PCVs and Marines on the island were reversed. It never happened, of course.

And that thinking by our government is, of course, why we invaded Iraq. At the end the Marines left the DR and the Volunteers stayed and kept working.

The success and secret of the Peace Corps has always been the work of the individual PCV who couldn’t care less about Washington, or for that matter, the APCD. [Those PCVs don't mind if the APCD is buying the beer.]

Yes, we have had many losers PCVs among us, God’s knows! But for the most part, and for most Volunteers, the work has been done, the effort made, and those first friendships with the HCNs continue for many of us today. Throughout all these years, we had done what Kennedy asked us to do over five decades ago, we have tried to make a difference, and we didn’t ask for honor or praise or even money, and  we are not going to let a bunch of political hacks in D.C. ruin our Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps Volunteers of the Dominican Republic proved that in 1965 when they stood up to the Marines, when they stood up to LBJ, and when they told the world they won’t leave their jobs, they won’t leave the DR. No, they won’t leave. Not only no, but hell no!

from  ctpost.com

by Michael P. Mayko

Jesse Osmun, a former Peace Corps volunteer from Milford, CT. charged with abusing several young girls in a South African HIV/AID encampment preschool, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012.

HARTFORD — A former Peace Corps volunteer from Milford admitted Wednesday he “tarnished” his country and the organization by sexually molesting young girls between the ages of 3 and 6 years old while working in a preschool at an HIV/AIDS camp in South Africa.

“The victims in South Africa did nothing, absolutely nothing to deserve the conduct that came upon them,” a contrite Jesse Osmun told Chief U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson moments before he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of U.S. Probation Department supervision. “They were completely innocent but they will live with the scars for the rest of their lives.”

Osmun, a 33-year-old Milford resident and the son of the Rev. Andrew Osmun, who until recently served as minister at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in that city’s downtown, pleaded guilty to traveling overseas to engage in sex with a minor. Additionally, at the request of Osmun’s lawyer, Richard T. Meehan, Jr., Thompson recommended the defendant be sent to a federal prison which offers sex offender treatment.

The chief judge also told Osmun that once he is released from prison he will be required to pay a yet-to-be determined portion of future salaries to the victims.

Already, the Rev. Osmun has contributed $10,000 to the restitution fund, which the Peace Corps is also funding.

Thompson’s sentence was less than the minimum 17 1/2 years recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.

But the judge explained he had never had a defendant so contrite, who admitted guilt as soon as he was arrested, and recognized his problem began with child pornography and has taken steps to deal with it.

“Your response … is highly atypical,” Thompson told Osmun as about a dozen members of St. Peter’s Episcopal church sat listening in the audience. The judge said he could not think of any defendant who made “such efforts to purge themselves of the demons.”

The chief judge particularly cited sentences in a letter Osmun sent him.

In that letter, Osmun wrote “One of most awful aspects of being addicted to child pornography is that after a while, it begins to normalize acts which can never be normalized or accepted as harmless and healthy. When I could not get my fix from pornography, I moved on to hands-on offending, as many sex offenders can probably attest.”

“Almost no sex offender who stood before me has attested to that,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s sentence “sends a clear message to those who prey on the vulnerable,” said Weziwe Thusi, a member of the South Africa Department of Social Development’s executive council in KwaZulu-Natal. “Jesse Osmun betrayed the trust of the children he was supposed to protect. His evil acts dealt the children a double trauma and therefore people like him deserve to be removed from society.”

At the Umvoti AIDS Centre, where the abuse occurred, Joan Dutton, an official there, accused Osmun of researching the childrens’ files and singling “out those that were most vulnerable who would do anything for a sweet.”

U.S. Attorney David Fein and Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel previously charged that Osmun bribed little girls to perform oral sex on him by offering candy.

“The very little children that we were nurturing were being abused in the most heinous way,” Dutton wrote the judge. “These children have so little, but Jesse has taken the very fundamentals of their lives away … The children are going to counseling but he has ruined their little lives.”

Ros Visagie, founder of the Palm Tree Care Centre in KwaMakhutha, on the outskirts of Amanzimtoti, which takes care of children affected by HIV/AIDS, believes the sentence was inadequate and ridiculous.

“Those girls are changed; they will never be the girls they were born to be,” said Visagie, who added the children in her center are never left alone with volunteers.

Osmun has been in custody since his Aug. 4, 2011, arrest by Special Agent Rod Khattabi from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.

Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of Homeland Security’s ICE Boston office, said his “agency will go anywhere in the world to investigate” this kind of incident.

Just how this case impacts the future of the Peace Corps in screening volunteers could not be determined. Calls to the agency resulted in the release of the following statement from Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet: “The Peace Corps has no tolerance for abuse of any kind, and our deepest sympathies are with all the victims involved.” However, the prosecution said that if Osmun’s “prior instances of his misconduct” had been properly reported, “he would not have been accepted as a volunteer … and the abuse to these children would have been avoided.”

About a month after Jesse’s arrest, his brother Seth Osmun was arrested by police in Austin, Texas, for allegedly possessing child pornography. Police there found pictures on his computer of a young girl, between 7 and 9 years old engaging in intercourse and oral sex with an adult male, according to an affidavit submitted by Sgt. Robert Sunley, of the Southern Texas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Seth Osmun is scheduled to appear Oct. 18 in 390th District Court in Austin.

Melanie Kondrat (Morocco 2012-14) is working in Youth Development in Morocco. From Tacoma, Washington, she graduated from Gonzaga University in 2011. She blogs about her Peace Corps tour at www.postgradmel.com. Melanie gave me permission to reprint her touching account of her trip back to Ouaouizerth where Chris was a PCV.

Remembering Chris Stevens: My Journey to Ouaouizerth

by Malanie Kodrat (Morocco 2012-14)

I like to think that if I had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco in the early 80’s Chris Stevens and I might have been friends.

Maybe we would’ve bonded over our mutual love for the Tadla-Azilal province. For the mountains that surround us. For the red dirt that threatens to stain our clothes every day. For the generous culture of the Amazigh people who’ve inhabited this region for ages.

Or maybe we would’ve bonded over a love for the West Coast (Best Coast). We might’ve compared notes on our favorite hiking trails. I probably would’ve tried to convince him that Mt. Rainier is far superior to any mountain they have in California.

Perhaps our time would’ve been spent trying to make sense of some of the more amusing, at times ludicrous aspects of life as a Peace Corps volunteer. The cultural mishaps, language woes, highs, lows, ‘Aha!’ moments, etc.

Nearly 30 years have passed since Stevens began his service in Morocco. 30 years is a long time. But I also like to think that some aspects of service in the Peace Corps transcend time and technology. He might not have been able to relate to the magic that is an external hard drive loaded with TV shows and movies, but he would’ve related to the magic that is a hot shower. He would’ve understood how meaningful it is to master certain aspects of Darija because 30 years doesn’t change the fact that it’s still not a written language. He would’ve understood the intricacies of Moroccan culture; standard greetings, eating with the right hand only, sticking to your triangle in a tagine, etc.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that Stevens was human. That prior to his days of law and Foreign Service, he was someone like me (or like a lot of volunteers) trying to figure out a little about himself and the world in the midst of this adventure. When I found out via other volunteers that Stevens served in a town relatively close to mine I felt compelled by his story. Compelled to find out more about this man, his service, his community, etc. in the hopes of shedding a little bit more light into the root of his passion for North Africa.

The plan was to travel to Ouaouizerth via taxi with my sitemate Emily and my counterpart Aziz. I pitched the idea to Aziz the week before and he enthusiastically agreed to accompany us in the role of translator. Aziz was integral to the plan. He was the one who suggested we start at the high school and go from there.

Of all the acronyms, sayings, and mantras that the Peace Corps attempts to impart on its volunteers one of the most important is: Never work alone.

Counterparts are essential to sustainability and success, not to mention getting in the door.

The road to Ouaouizerth winds through the Middle Atlas Mountains. It’s hard not to feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere as you ascend higher, for to look out is to see nothing but green. If it sounds cliché to say it was a beautiful day, then so be it. It was a beautiful day. I snagged a front seat next to the window, enabling me to enjoy a gentle breeze and gaze with content at my surroundings. The closer you get to Ouaouizerth, the view opens up. Ouaouizerth is settled in a valley of sorts, surrounded 360 degrees by mountains and rolling hills, nestled a few kilometers from the shores of the region’s lake Bin El Ouidane. The descent into Ouaouizerth is tree lined like out of a storybook and it’s not difficult to imagine why Stevens would’ve loved this area so much.

We arrived midafternoon while the town was sleepy. It’s a quaint town, equipped with the usual sights of mountain towns in Morocco. Cafés, pharmacies, hanuts, all-purpose stores, etc. Curiously there are remnants of French colonialism left over, noticeably homes with sloped roofs and windows with crown molding. After lunch, we meandered over to the high school which exists on the far edge of town.

Here’s where things got interesting.

I had planned getting to Ouaouizerth. I had thought about questions I might ask people who knew Stevens. But I hadn’t actually thought about what would happen when we showed up at the high school. For all the informality that exists in Moroccan culture, the Moroccan education system makes up for it. The affairs of education are very formal. Often just getting into the building requires various signatures, clearances, stamps, etc.

This little caveat is something I am well aware of, given my hopes to teach at the high school this fall. Somehow however, it slipped my mind. Better to ask forgiveness then to ask permission, right? Worst case scenario they’d send us home.

Thankfully, Aziz was able to work a little magic. By which I mean he spoke Darija and explained to the administrators that we weren’t tourists, but are Peace Corps volunteers like Stevens. Once we were able to communicate this idea, the doors opened up- literally and figuratively.

We met with the principal, teachers who worked with him, people who knew of him; nearly everyone we met had something to say about him. They lauded him as a great man, excellent teacher, beloved by the community, and everyone expressed deep sorrow at learning of his passing.

Where Chris taught

The most compelling and in depth recount of Stevens came from an English teacher at the high school, Lahcen, who was one of Stevens’ students.

Much has been said about Stevens’ work as a diplomat, but little has been said about his work as a Peace Corps volunteer. Which left me to wonder, just who was Chris Stevens? With the help of Lahcen, I was able to find out a bit more.

Chris Stevens was always smiling. Never in a bad mood.

He was not interested in himself. He devoted all his time to teaching and learning Moroccan Arabic.

He was the kind of guy who carried a notebook in his back pocket and would write new words down and practice them; a fact which endeared me to him since I do the same.

Stevens was a model teacher. He provided extra hours after the school day was finished to his most dedicated English students.

He was personable. Always listening. The kind who made you feel like what you have to say is important.

Stevens was inspirational. Lahcen cited Stevens as the reason he became an English teacher. He remembers uttering his first English words at the request of Stevens. ‘What’s your name?’

Also according to Lahcen, “Any qualities that were good- he had it.”

He was active. Always on foot. Fond of hiking and jogging. Every afternoon between five and six Stevens would jog along the dirt path to the village right outside Ouaouizerth and would often stop by Lahcen’s house. He would drink tea and practice Tamazight with Lahcen’s mother.

On Friday’s he liked to play basketball with his students. Afterwards they would sit around and talk. They were always talking about different things.

Stevens was interested in Moroccan culture. Described as being tolerant. He showed respect to the standards of the community by jogging in track suits as opposed to shorts.

From a volunteer standpoint, Stevens was smart. He lived close to souk.

He was the kind of teacher who gave back tests outside of class, so as to save embarrassment.

Lahcen also pointed out that Stevens always wore the same khakis, track jacket, white polo, and tennis shoes. A fact which Emily and I found particularly amusing as most volunteers have a disdain for laundry and often wear many of the same clothes day after day.

Lahcen provided us with an incredibly rich portrait of the kind of person and volunteer Stevens was. As our time at the high school drew to a close, we were blessed with the opportunity to visit the home where Lahcen grew up, where Stevens spent many afternoons. We met with Lahcen’s brother, Ali, who being close in age to Stevens considered him a friend. Over tea and bread, we were able to learn more about Stevens, view some photos, talk about the Peace Corps, and more. It was with great hope and satisfaction that I left Ouaouizerth that afternoon.

I wish I could better describe how meaningful this experience was. I wish my words and images were capable of explaining why that day was the best day I have had thus far in my service. But I’m afraid they fall too short. But I will say this:

The legacy of Chris Stevens speaks to what service in the Peace Corps is all about; it’s proof that the Peace Corps is relevant. Opponents of the Peace Corps might argue that it’s a money drain, that its results aren’t quantifiable, that it’s resume padding for overachieving post grads who aren’t ready to enter the “real world,” etc.

Chris in the Peace Corps

All to which I respond, how? How can money be wasted in the spirit of diplomacy and fostering peace between nations? How can you measure the extent to which you’ve changed someone’s life? How do you define the “real world?” And who’s to say that Peace Corps volunteers aren’t living in it?

It means something that nearly 30 years after Stevens served in Ouaouizerth people still talk about him. That when I met with counterparts last week the first thing they expressed to me was their condolences for his death. That when word got out about his passing the entire community of Ouaouizerth mourned, even people who never knew him. And moreover, that every single person who knew him lauded him as a great man with a compassionate heart.

Stevens was a model Peace Corps volunteer, ambassador, and citizen. But more than that, Stevens was a model human being. Someone with a passion for service to others and an inclination to leave this world a little better than it was before.

Well done sir.

This weekend, approximately 130 RPCVs from Ethiopia, going back to the early 1962 and the first group of PCVs, traveled back to Addis Ababa. Arriving at the International Airport, they were met by the Minister of Education and other officials of the Ethiopia government, were hosted by the American Ambassador at the Embassy and  yesterday, Monday morning, September 24, they were bussed to Jubilee Palace, Emperor Haile Selassie’s former residence, and greeted for a sit down meeting with the new President of Ethiopia, Ato Girma Wolde Giorgis. “He was not only very obviously happy to welcome us,” one RPCV wrote afterwards, “he also answered our questions at length and with aplomb.”

This sort of ‘reception’ for former Volunteers returning to their host countries is not unusual. We are remembered fondly in many places in the world. But what is surprising, and gratifying, is seeing how many RPCVs continue their service to their host country. Take Nancy Ross, who was a PCV in Ethiopia years ago.

As a PCV she was involved in the establishment of a center serving vulnerable children in Adama ( once knew as Nazareth). She was not able to return this week to Ethiopia, but she asked if anyone was going to Adama, and would they look in on the Center and tell her their impressions.

This Center is under the oversight of The De Lasalle Reproductive Association which was formed to provide HIV information and serves orphaned and vulnerable youth by teaching them tumbling and music. The center is on the grounds of Bosset, a government primary school. Teachers receive about $20 per month half time-so they are primarily volunteering. There are 450 orphaned and vulnerable children ages 2-8 who attend. It is supported by the Association and small fees of about $1 a month although initially a Peace Corps seed grant helped pay the teachers.

In her Peace Corps days, Nancy raised money to buy materials to build the school.  “It is a primitive building,” she recalls, “We started with canvas and Save the Children USA donated some tables, helped obtain running water, and provided funding for the out house.”

Soloman Gidhay was Nancy’s local collaborator. He was an unpaid volunteer who formed the Association and is constantly working to raise funds for his projects. Last year he got a local hotel to sponsor a holiday party for the school, and while Nancy was back in-country on one of her return visits,  she and Soloman worked on other projects such as obtaining an Embassy grant to help the program for the vulnerable youth, and start an urban garden for the caretakers of children at the center.

Yes, Nancy has completed her Peace Corps tour. She has come home again, but she left her heart with the children she is still helping in Ethiopia.

Coming home from Europe early on Friday morning, September 21, 2012, Carrie Hessler-Radelet went directly to the Peace Corps Office in lower Manhattan for an 8 a.m. meeting with the recruitment staff. Next, she had lunch and a series of afternoon meetings with New York RPCVs, then plunged into a number of weekend events with world dignitaries in the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly. Next, Carrie grabbed a train to D.C. for her first day on the job as Acting Peace Corps Director. It is the start of a new era at PC/HQ.

Hessler-Radelet brings a great personality, great skills, and significant international experience to her new role. She also comes from four generations of PCVs. And she is married to an RPCV. In fact, the day after Carrie and Steve Radelet were married, they flew to Peace Corps Training for Western Samoa. The Peace Corps has been part of their lives every since.

Previous to her appointment by President Obama as Peace Corps Deputy Director, from 1984 to 1986, Carrie worked as the Public Affairs Specialist in the New England Recruiting Office. And before returning to the agency in 2010, she was vice president and director of the Washington, D.C., office of John Snow, Inc. a global public health organization, where she was responsible for overseeing the management of public health programs in more than 85 countries.

A graduate of Boston University, Carrie has a master’s in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Taking over today as Director, Carrie will have to fulfill both top jobs at the agency.

We wish her a long and happy tenure as Peace Corps Director. Congratulations, Carrie!

Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 1967-70)  left the agency today. It was his last day on the job. He resigned, as he said,  for personal and family reasons. He was the RPCV Director since August of 2009 who traveled a tremendous amount to Peace Corps countries to visit PCVs in the field and his family handled his many trips overseas without complaint.  Aaron came into the agency at a difficult time, and has  (in my opinion) dealt with a number of  White House political appointees who were not RPCVs and did not get what it meant to be a PCV. He overcame their shortcomings and enhanced the Peace Corps. Now he deserves to focus his long and outstanding international career in a new direction.

Wherever Aaron went as Director to RPCV reunions  the reports were always positive. RPCVs across the country emailed me to say, “he’s a good guy.” As we know from RPCVS that is high praise. 

Thank you Aaron for advancing the agency. You are leaving the Peace Corps in a better place.

[This is from http://www.eurasianet.org

Written 'Guljemal,' a pseudonym for the writer, a Turkmen citizen. Editor note.]

Turkmenistan: Reflections on the Demise of the Peace Corps

September 19, 2012 - 4:12pm, by Guljemal

As a young Turkmen woman who was deeply influenced by interaction with Peace Corps volunteers in the 1990s, I was filled with a wide spectrum of emotions upon hearing about the Peace Corps’ departure from Turkmenistan.

Everyone who followed developments in the country suspected that the Peace Corps’ days there were numbered. To some, it was strange that the government of Turkmenistan dragged it out for so long. Even so, the late August announcement was sobering.

Reflecting on the Peace Corps’ legacy in Turkmenistan, some questions popped into my head: How effective was it in promoting democratization? How great a loss is its departure for the Turkmen people? How much did and could it achieve in the country where no decisions can be made without the government’s approval? And I’d really like to know how the US Embassy would substantiate its claim, as stated on its web announcement, that the Peace Corps’ programs “have been extraordinarily successful in terms of achieving its development and cultural exchange goals.”

I can’t say I have answers to these questions, but I do have impressions: my Peace Corp volunteer friends always encouraged me to think critically and question cultural assumptions.

The last time I visited the Peace Corps office in Ashgabat was in 2010, and I was shocked to find that the way it operated had changed. It was not the office I remembered and was fond of. It was an office with half of the volunteers gone, surrounded by a big security wall, where I had to declare my name and intentions before I could enter.

The atmosphere in the office was not welcoming, and the diverse staff of the ’90s was long gone. Just a few staff remained, and those that I met with were neither confident nor able to make any decisions independently. The observed changes did not help foster the organizational mission of “helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.” When I described my visit to others, many thought the Peace Corps had left Turkmenistan long ago.

My ambivalence about today’s Peace Corps presence in Turkmenistan will surely anger many former volunteers, including my friends. But if lessons about the closure are to be learned, it’s worth trying to pinpoint when the Peace Corps stopped being a welcoming office with efficient programs that made a difference in the community? When did it start stagnating?

On a personal level, there may be a lot of young people who can talk about their wonderful Peace Corps friends and encounters with friendly and charming Americans. Yet, on a programmatic level, it would seem that the Peace Corps’ decline was not sudden. In the 2000s, there was already much talk among locals that the quality of volunteers was deteriorating-meaning that their educational level, behavior and cultural sensitivity were not appropriate for the country.

My disappointment cannot override my wonderful memories. I will always cherish my friendships with volunteers I got to know. I will always remember the office where I could simply stop by-no security check needed-and hang out with volunteers, discussing the latest political developments, debating cultural issues, borrowing dangerous books like “The Catcher in the Rye,” and learning what Big Brother means. I will always remember an honest, dynamic and vibrant Peace Corps in Turkmenistan before it internalized the stagnant culture of the host country, became inefficient, and worst of all, turned a blind eye to oppressive practices it encountered day in and day out.

The last hours of the Peace Corps and its negotiations with the government will remain a mystery for most of us, probably forever — or at least until Wikileaks provides us with diplomatic cables on the topic. I just wish that the Peace Corps had “died” with more dignity, speaking out against the stifling realities in the country, rather than going quietly to its grave.

Diplomats, armed with handshakes and briefcases, face uncertainty abroad
5:50 PM, Sep 12, 2012   |  
Written by
Robert Marchant

 JOURNAL NEWS (Westchester, NY)

 

 

 

In this photo taken Monday, April 11, 2011, then U.S. envoy Chris Stevens takes a coffee before attending meetings at the Tibesty Hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya. Libyan officials say the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans have been killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) / AP

They carry briefcases, not weapons, and seek to make peace, not war. But dangers from terrorism and other hazards can make the job that diplomats, United Nations personnel, Peace Corps volunteers and other foreign affairs professionals a dangerous one.

Ambassador Chris Stevens, a former Peace Corps volunteer, died in an attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya on Tuesday, along with three other Americans, and news of his death caused concern and sorrow in a region that is home to many diplomats and foreign-affairs advisers. It appears Stevens died while attempting to organize an evacuation of the compound, according to initial reports from Congressional and military leaders.

“They go into these countries with a handshake, not a gun,” noted John Coyne, a Peace Corps veteran from Pelham Manor, speaking of Stevens’ background in the Peace Corps and the diplomatic service. “What struck me was that he was going into the building to rescue people. You go to where the problem is, that’s a typical Peace Corps reaction, that’s what he was doing,” said Coyne, who runs a website for Peace Corps veterans.

Speaking of those who have gone abroad to serve, and the recent deaths in Libya, Coyne said, “We’re a tight community. There’s a connecting chord there. It’s a little more personal and tragic.”

There are numerous diplomatic missions around the Lower Hudson Valley, as well as other international organizations in the region, and many embassy staffers and U.N personnel live in the area.

Stevens was called an admirable model of what a diplomat can be.

“I share a great deal of pride and sadness, at all he accomplished, and that he had to pay the ultimate price,” said Richard Olver, a foreign-affairs consultant from Croton-on-Hudson who lived in Libya and other locations in Africa while serving with the U.N.

Everyone who serves overseas, in civilian attire or not, knows there are hazards, said Olver.

“Today, with the world polarized with two different ideas of civilization, it’s always a risk. I don’t think the risks are terribly great, but they do exist, and many of my colleagues have been killed or injured because of these very risks,” he said, “Since 1990 or so, when al-Qaida decided that the UN symbolized the secular, liberal, Western society it opposed, at least a dozen of my colleagues have been killed or maimed in terrorist attacks. … Security is always an issue, but I’ve never allowed it to run my life.” He can recall being told by intelligence officials while stationed in Sierra Leone that a team of assassins, evidently from Libya, was in the country looking to kill high-profile Americans.

Recent years have seen a number of tragedies involving diplomats, including several from the region. Hedi Annabi, the head of the U.N. mission to Haiti, and his chief deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa both were killed in the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Annabi, 65, lived in Cortlandt, and Da Costa, 60, had relocated from Pocantico Hills to Ossining at the time of his death.

At Da Costa’s funeral in Sleepy Hollow, he was eulogized as man who saw a better world, one that could be transformed “little by little, step by step, person by person.”

I remember when Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957. In the  college dorm of my Jesuit University (St. Louis University) the book was passed about by all the business majors who decided the novel was better than the bible (not that Catholics ever read the Bible!). I attempted to read the book but couldn’t make it beyond the first page. Talk about ‘gag me with a spoon.’

I recently read about the novel (again) in a short and entertaining piece written by Henry Meininger,  the publisher and editor (of all things!) The Berkshire Home&Style.  This is a free give-away publication in western Massachusetts, a  magazine “of home and good living”…I kid you not! Writing about Atlas Shrugged in his magazine shows you where Henry is coming from.

With all the talk by Paul Ryan, who made the novel required reading for his Congressional staff, I picked up the 1,168 page novel over the weekend and attempted to re-read the book. It is easily the worst novel I have ever read.

The central focus of the novel is a 59 page oration by the super-hero, John Galt. He sums up Ayn Rand’s philosophy in that speech. As Meininger writes, Rand (Galt) expounds on every conceivable aspect of human endeavor, much of it in conflict with itself, all of it dedicated to the proposition that selfishness is mankind’s salvation; charity and compassion is for losers. John Galt ends his oration with …”I swear–by my life and my love of it–that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

Bennett Cerf, Meininger points out, published the book back in ‘57, wanted the 59 pages cut but Rand told him, “Would you cut the Bible?” (yes, if it was written like this crap.) Cerf, I understand, had the good sense to tell her, “I find your philosophy abhorrent.” (But not the good sense NOT to publish the novel.)

Well, that book made (and continues to make) millions, and it has none-literate loyal fans like Paul Ryan (a nice Catholic boy) and aging and ageless former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (a nice Jewish boy.)

A review in  The New York Times Review of October 29, 2009, Meininger says, compared Rand’s thinking to Friedrich Nietzsche. “Rand’s inclusion of businessmen in the ranks of Ubermenschen helps to explain her appeal to free-marketeers. At bottom, her individualism owes much to Nietzsche.” Rand denied any influence, saying only that Nietzsche ‘beat me to all my ideas.’”

Nietzsche ended up in an insane asylum. Rand founded a cult, the Atlas Society,  found herself a young lover, and lived to a grand old age never doubting her view of the world. Now we have Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, and VP candidate, carrying a torch for Ayn and her financial philosophy.

If the Republicans win, my guess is that the Peace Corps will be the first agency  they will downsized. The Republicans will protect the military and the wealthy and go after the soft underbelly of the federal government, agencies like the Peace Corps. After all, the Peace Corps helps people! And that, in their view, is certainly the wrong way to run a government.