Archive - 2011

On July 24, 2009, Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968–70; Senegal 2005–07) and Paula Hirschoff (Senegal 2005-07) sent then Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams a “Plan to Strengthen and Expand the Peace Corps: Priorities for President Obama’s First Term.” Chuck and Paula wrote in their introduction: This Twenty Point Plan to strengthen and expand the Peace Corps — drafted over four years by a couple of two-time Volunteers and circulated widely for comment within the Returned PCV community — proposes an ambitious road map for President Obama and Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams and his leadership team. The Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan is attached as a PDF file for those of you who have not seen it or heard about it. Photo: Paula Hirschoff and Chuck Ludlam on 20/20

My friend Jocelyn Zuckerman (Kenya 1991-93 ) who happens to be in Haiti right now writing about their situation (on a grant from the Carter Center) sent me this ‘heads up’ in the NYTIMES. You can read it at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/when-microcredit-wont-do/ Entitled, “When Microcredit Won’t Do” is written by Tina Rosenberg. Here are a few excerpts that show how the “peace corps connection’ pays off. Greg Van Kirk was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nebaj, Guatemala, a town of about 10,000 people in a mountainous Mayan region. He was an unusual Peace Corps volunteer, having already had one career as an investment banker.  He had worked in structured finance for UBS, helping companies do complex deals to buy, sell or lease airplanes and power plants…. Van Kirk worked with a local mason named Augustín Corrio to build a better stove.  Corrio took a standard stove design and rejiggered it in various ways.  The best . . .

Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968-70 & Senegal 2005-07) sent me this email from Patagonia. He is traveling there with his wife, Paula Hirshoff ( Senegal 2005-07), and he asked me to post his comment as his internet connections are chancy. He did write as the end of his blast at me, “Please post this as a response to your post.”  So here’s what Chucky had to say about me from sunny Patagonia! It’s too bad that John Coyne didn’t bother to read our 150 page report on Peace Corps reform — posted since July 2009 on PeaceCorps Wiki. It would help the readers to see it posted on Coyne’s website. John would find there that we oppose the 5-year rule, which has given political appointees entirely too much power at the agency and destroyed its capacity for institutional memory. He’s also find that the Peace Corps transferred the investigative authority away from the Office of . . .

Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff talk with Brian Ross about the Peace Corps.

Next month Stan Meisler’s book on the Peace Corps When The World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years will be published by Beacon Press, here, Stan emailed me his ‘take’ on the issue of assaults in the Peace Corps based on his research and long experience with the agency. We should all listen to what Stan has to say.] While writing my book on the history of the Peace Corps, I tried to deal with the sensational series of articles in the Dayton Daily News in 2003 that painted lurid pictures of mayhem in the Peace Corps. The ABC News 20/20 segment on rape raised many of the same issues and sent me back to the Peace Corps’ statistical studies of the problem. There is no doubt that ABC News and congressional investigators are exaggerating and distorting the issue. First of all, let’s . . .

“Peace Corps takes the issue of sexual assault very seriously. There are procedures in place at each post to respond quickly and compassionately to our volunteers. Teams of specialists from the medical, mental health, security and legal fields are available immediately to assist the volunteer in the recovery process. There is no tolerance for a culture that blames victims. The women interviewed by ABC’s 20/20 are courageous and strong, and their stories of sexual assault over the past decade are heartbreaking. “ABC’s 20/20 program does not accurately reflect the support we currently provide to Peace Corps volunteers. The health and safety of our volunteers is the single most important priority for our agency. We have made significant improvements over the past two years in providing support to sexual assault victims, and we look forward to working with Congress to further strengthen the Peace Corps and advance our mission of world . . .

[In case you might have missed last night’s ABC News, Congress is investigating charges that as many as 1,000 former Peace Corps volunteer women were raped during their service abroad.  Many of those volunteers are charging that Peace Corps officials asked them to remain quiet and cover up:  http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/peace-corps-congress-investigate-peace-corps-treatment-sex/story?id=12777476.]   In the wake of an ABC News “20/20” investigation, a Congressional committee announced plans for hearings on the Peace Corps’ handling of more than a thousand cases of female volunteers who were raped or sexually assaulted over the last decade. “This is very upsetting. If these numbers are accurate this is something that Congress definitely should investigate,” Rep. Rohrabacher, R-California, Chairman of the House subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, told ABC News. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, called for the hearing Wednesday, telling ABC News he was “furious and sad” after watching the “20/20” report. In the report, six former Peace Corps . . .

Congressman Garamendi Joins 13 Colleagues Introducing Resolution Honoring Life and Legacy of Sargent Shriver WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA), who served as a Peace Corps volunteer with his wife Patti Garamendi in Ethiopia, introduced a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps. House Resolution 64 is supported by 13 original co-sponsors: Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-CA), Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA), Natural Resources Ranking Member Edward Markey (D-MA), Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI), Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA), Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Congressman James Langevin (D-RI), Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), Congressman David Price (D-NC), Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY), and Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA). “Sargent Shriver was a true American hero, a selfless humanitarian, and a . . .

This is the follow-up to my blog post “The Peace Corps & ABC 20/20” published on January 19th. It is my second — and last — blog on what happened in Africa to Kate Puzey. • What Appears to Have Happened in Benin in 2009 SHORTLY BEFORE BENIN PCV KATE PUZEY  was scheduled to complete her service and leave the country in 2009, she emailed staff members at the Peace Corps/Benin office to inform them that a teacher at her school — a person who was also a part-time local-hire employee of the Peace Corps doing in-country training — was molesting young female students at her school. This individual was identified recently by ABC’s 20/20 in a  segment “Scandal Inside the Peace Corps: Investigation into whether the Peace Corps puts women into dangerous situations” as Constant Bio, a citizen of Benin. Kate urged the PC staff to not rehire Constant Bio to train . . .