March 3, 2009 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review — GLEN by Richard Fordyce (Ghana)

Mar 03 2009

Glen: A Novel by Richard Fordyce (Ghana 1978-80) iUniverse, Inc. 2008 318 pages $18.95 (paperback) Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras, 1975-77) • The Peace Corps has no library. Even the Washington office does not have a single book shelf to treasure the work of its dedicated staff and volunteers who returned home to fulfill the Peace Corps’ third goal, to educate. There are some one thousand known examples, yet not one official collection, not even in the Library of Congress! So, buy Richard Fordyce’s historical novel while it is available. Do not wait to check out a library copy because there is no Peace Corps library. Buy it now. Don’t steal it. Like William Somerset Maugham’s Razor’s Edge, the author explores an era (1950–1980) by using a confused war veteran as the protagonist. In Maugham’s book set during an eleven year lull between world wars, the protagonist journeys . . .

Our Man in Romania

Mar 03 2009

For almost two years Andy Trincia was ‘our man in Romania’ writing charming “Letters From . . .” for the Peace Corps Writers web site from 2002–04. He finished his tour, married his lovely HCN, and came back to the US, only to return again and again to his wife’s family’s village in the heart of Transylvania. Here is a lovely piece of prose that proves you can go home again to your Peace Corps site . . . Going Home to Mama Ana’s Păuca Several peasants stopped working the fields and waved as we pulled into Păuca, a colorful Romanian village in the heart of Transylvania. Mama Ana’s “kids” were back from America, they noticed, eager to spread word across the little village faster than wild fire. As picturesque as any of the scores of villages I’ve seen across the region, Păuca is a typical Romanian hamlet, inhabited by . . .

Archive - March 3, 2009