Peace Corps Worldwide

If you call or email Glenn Blumhorst, NPCA President This is the message you get: “Greetings from El Paso! I’m on a volunteer vacation at Annunciation House March 19-29, with limited internet access. I’ll respond as soon as I can.” Short-Term Volunteers for Emergency Hospitality Posted on March 18, 2019 Beginning in summer 2018, we have seen an increase in the flow of refugees arriving at the El Paso border. As ICE detention facilities filled, the number of refugees being released by ICE increased.  As of the end of February 2019, 400-700+ refugees per day are being sent to Annunciation House. We are urgently seeking additional short-term volunteers to help us provide hospitality to these refugees. For more information, please read this document (PDF). Glenn Blumhorst (Guatemala 1988-91) continues to serve. He’s an example for all of us.  

    Peace Corps Press Release The Peace Corps announces 2019 top Volunteer-producing schools 03/20/2019 The University of Wisconsin-Madison boasts the No. 1 spot for large schools on Peace Corps’ Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list, with 75 volunteers serving around the world. For the third consecutive year, Wisconsin holds the coveted top spot, but Badgers beware: the University of Virginia Cavaliers are closing the gap, jumping from No. 15 to No. 2 in just two years.With 74 UVA alumni serving as Peace Corps Volunteers, the school slides into a close second place on this year’s rankings. The University of California – Berkeley comes in at No. 11 on the large school list, but has sent over 3,500 alumni to Peace Corps service since 1961, more than any other school. Meanwhile, Arizona State University and The University of Arizona continue to duke it out in the desert. Currently 44 Sun . . .

    Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bill Josephson, Peace Corps General Counsel 1961-66     The Sargent Shriver Peace Institute Quote of the week — “The idea [of the Peace Corps is] that free and committed men and women can cross boundaries of culture and language, or alien tradition and great disparities of wealth, of old hostilities and new nationalisms, to meet with other men and women on the common ground of service to human welfare and human dignity. And if this idea isn’t going to change the world, then this world is beyond redemption!” Sargent Shriver | New York, NY | December 11, 1963 • Our Quote of the Week celebrates the 58th anniversary of the creation of the Peace Corps. On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed the executive order to create the Peace Corps. Three weeks later, on March 22, he would name Sargent Shriver as . . .

    A Writer Writes   Harris Wofford: An Exceptionally Good Man By Jerry Norris (Colombia 1963-65)   When reading Harris Wofford’s January 21 obituary in the Washington Post, it brought to mind a simple fact: it was through his office that I entered a glide path which led to my being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia. In January 1962, I had sent in an application but hadn’t heard back. Then, early that spring, having dinner one night with my family in Chicago, the telephone rang. My sister, Therese, rose to respond as she was closest. One minute later she came back into the kitchen, hands on her hips, saying in stark wonderment: it’s the White House that’s calling …and it’s for you! Soon, I was in discussion with a young woman who identified herself as one of Harris Wofford’s staff members. (At that time, he was Special Assistant . . .

    WASHINGTON – Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and members of the diplomatic community March 12 had a forum at the State Department entitled “The Lasting Value of Peace Corps Service.” Hosted by the State Department employee affinity group Returned Peace Corps Volunteers @ State, the event was held in the Dean Acheson Auditorium and livestreamed for staff at U.S. embassies around the world. The roundtable conversation and Q&A focused on how Peace Corps service shapes the personal and professional lives of Returned Volunteers. “Serving in a rural area, being the only American that hundreds of people will ever meet—that is a really powerful thing,” said Emily Armitage, who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria before joining the State Department. Armitage recalled visiting with the people of her village in the months before Bulgaria entered the European Union and how valuable it was to be able to listen to . . .

    Peace Corps held a contest for serving Volunteers asking them to create a video  showing a  Day in the Life of people  they served.  The ten finalists are posted on You Tube and this Peace Corps link will bring you to the videos.  They are great!  https://www.peacecorps.gov/peace-corps-week/ (Personal Note, in my opinion. So many of the Peace Corps public records describe the Volunteer in terms of his or her relationship with Peace Corps Washington, despite Shriver’s inverted pyramid.  So many of the writings of RPCVs describe Host Country Nationals in terms of their relationship to us, the Volunteers.  These videos focus on the daily lives of Host Country people, their dignity, their work, their joy. They are beautiful. Please watch them and add to the number of views.) This is my favorite video . . .

    THE PEACE CORPS: IT CAN GET IN YOUR BLOOD by Bob Criso (Nigeria 1966-67, Somalia 1967-68)  • The Reverend Nana Yaw Amponsah Antwi is pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, half a block away from my apartment. Every Sunday the street buzzes with women dressed in those resplendent West African prints and stylishly-sculpted head-wraps. Some of the men walk with obvious pride in their traditional robes, others just wear suits. The kids look like American kids but everyone looks so spiffed up as if they were going to a wedding. I overhear their melodic Twi which sounds similar to the Igbo that I studied for hours every day during Peace Corps training. Sometimes the women set up tables in front of the church after services and sell traditional foods like garri, yams and palm oil. These were the very staples of my diet in Ishiagu, Nigeria. If . . .