May 10, 2010 – Peace Corps Worldwide

When the "PE Guys" Arrived in Bogota

May 10 2010

Jim Brown (Colombia 1962-64) served as a PE instructor and coach in Bucaramanga, Colombia, and the other day he sent me this short piece about his group of “PE Guys.” He had read it to a gathering of twenty-nine other Colombia RPCVs, and their spouses and adult children, who had gathered for a reunion at the National Conference Center, near Leesburg, Virginia. Since his Peace Corps years, Jim has been a coach, college professor, writer, and editor. He lives now in Atlanta with his wife, Arlene, where they produce health, medicine, and sports content for various organizations, including the Cleveland Clinic, the Duke School of Medicine, and the Steadman-Philippon Research Institute in Vail. Thanks, Jim, for sending us, When the “PE Guys” Arrived in Bogota. When we – the “PE Guys” – arrived in Bogota in January of 1963, the English teaching part of the group was already there after training . . .

More on Moritz

May 10 2010

When I interviewed Moritz Thomsen back in July 1990, I asked him when someone like himself, who had lived for so long in another culture, writes about that society, are they writing from any sort of advantage: the advantage of an insider, for example, or are they limited by always being a foreigner in a strange land. Moritz answered in part, “The only thing I know about foreign culture is how I feel about it: that’s what I’ve always tried to write about. Cornell wrote about the overpowering importance of our emotions to ourselves. The trick for a writer, and he is probably like most writers writing about his emotions, is to make these emotions important to others. What a risky and awful business to write, finding yourself interesting when you’re not.” We also published in RPCV Writers & Readers, back in May 1995, an exchange of letters between Moritz . . .

Making a Difference: One Life at a Time

May 10 2010

Making a Difference: One Life at a Time by Nancy and Joel Meister (Peru 1964-65) This is another chapter in the early history of the agency. We published this essay several years ago in www.peacecorpswriters.org. [While serving overseas, many PCVs take a host-country national youth under their wings. Many even provide these girls and boys help in school within their own country, and on occasion arrange scholarships for them to study in the U.S. Often this “adopting” of a young girl or boy is the first building block of life-long friendships and successful lives for these children. While often the “Peace Corps kids” of Volunteers go on to have productive lives within their own country, few of them become presidents of their nations. At the NPCA’s 40+1 celebration of the Peace Corps, Joel and Nancy Deeds Meister (Peru 1964-65) were scheduled to introduce the keynote speaker at the Opening . . .

Archive - May 10, 2010