Archive - June 2013

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Peace Corps, Mondelēz International Partner to Strengthen Capacity in Developing Nation
2
Peace Corps Deputy Director Talks Junk Food With Coyne
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Review of Peter Hessler's (China 1996-98) Strange Stones-Dispatches from East and West
4
George Packer’s (Togo 1982-83) new book reviewed in Sunday NYT book section
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Review of Molly Melching (Senegal 1976-79) However Long the Night
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Review of Jeffrey Vollmer (Estonia 1997-99) Faded Gray
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Volunteers of America by Jim Graham (Nicaragua 1970-71)
8
Review of Robert F. Nicholas (Philippines 1968-70) Hey Joe
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New Archives for Peace Corps Books at American University Library
10
LINK AND READ THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEACE CORPS AND KRAFT FOODS
11
Review of Meredith W. Cornett (Panama 1991-93) Peace Corps in Panama: Fifty Years, Many Voices
12
Remembering Andy Oerke (Malawi CD 1966-69)

Peace Corps, Mondelēz International Partner to Strengthen Capacity in Developing Nation

This is the press release from Peace Corps describing the program that was discussed in the interview John Coyne conducted with Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet.   (Correction: 6/20/20) This is an ongoing Peace Corps program.  From the Friends of Dominican Republic: Community Economic Development: Volunteers in this program partner with farmers’ associations, artisans, tourism service providers and community-based groups to improve organizational capacity, business skills and financial awareness. Those who attended the 50th Anniversary celebration and conference and took the “Tour de Chocolate” in El Seibo saw a wonderful example of successful volunteer work in this sector. Over the years volunteers have worked with a cacao cooperative and a community farm demonstration. Another project, now in its fifth year, is the national youth business plan competition called “Construye tus Sueños .” Local NGOs and private sector donors provide support for this program. Like many of the major Peace Corps projects, the Build Your Dreams . . .

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Peace Corps Deputy Director Talks Junk Food With Coyne

Last week shortly before Deputy Director of the agency, Carrie Hessler-Radelet  (Western Samoa 1981-83 ), rushed out her office door for a trip to Morocco, she was kind enough to pause and respond to a few questions I had about what is happening with the Peace Corps, given the recent news that the agency and Kraft Foods had reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a ‘collaborative relationship.’ This MoU promoted (of course) comments from RPCVs, such as, “The Peace Corps Eats Junk Food.” RPCVs also wanted to know about the agency’s new training ‘model’ (yet again, the Peace Corps has a new training model) as well as this special project on malaria control that we reported on several weeks ago? Here’s what Carrie had to say. Carrie, describe this new Training Model: “Focus In/Train Up.” Clever phrase but give us an example of what makes it different and better. . . .

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Review of Peter Hessler's (China 1996-98) Strange Stones-Dispatches from East and West

Strange Stones—Dispatches from East and West By Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) Harper Perennial trade paperback; $14.99 354 pages May 2013 Reviewed by Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64) Strange Stones is Peter Hessler’s fourth book that’s all or mostly about China, and it’s as fresh, meaty, and irresistible as the acclaimed three others, Country Driving, Oracle Bones , and his exemplary Peace Corps memoir, River Town .   The new book is a collection of eighteen pieces, most of which first appeared in The New Yorker, where Hessler is a staff writer now reporting from Cairo . Having picked up some anti-Chinese sentiment in Thailand and Burma , I’ve never been all that eager to set foot in the Peoples Republic .   Their neighbors to the south tend to regard the Chinese as aggressive, exploitive and rude, and I’ve witnessed a good deal of this behavior.   I have more favorable second thoughts about . . .

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George Packer’s (Togo 1982-83) new book reviewed in Sunday NYT book section

New York Times columnist David Brooks in the Sunday (6/9) Book Review gives a long and largely positive review of George Packer’s (Togo 1982–83) new book The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America recently published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Brooks compares Parker’s book to the novels of John Dos Passos U.S.A. trilogy (1930–1936) that came out during the Great Depression. The difference being that Packer’s characters are real, and Packer is not writing fiction. Brooks writes that The Unwinding is “a gripping narrative of contemporary America” and goes onto say in his long, long review, that “the stories that do fill its pages are beautifully reported.” Brooks major complaint is this: “Packer does an outstanding job with these stories, The Unwinding offers vivid snapshots of people who have experienced a loss of faith. As a way of understanding contemporary America, these examples are tantalizing. But they are . . .

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Review of Molly Melching (Senegal 1976-79) However Long the Night

However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s (Senegal 1976-79) Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph by Aimee Molloy HarperCollins/Skoll Foundation, $25.99 252 pages 2013 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-95) Molly Melching sat by the bedside of her dear old friend and mentor, Alaaji Mustaafa Njaay, who lay dying in his small hut in a Senegalese village.  He breathed with difficulty as he whispered to her., “You are trying to accomplish great things, but nothing is going to come easy for you.  …  Your work will be like electricity: it has a beginning, but no end. Continue to listen and learn from the people, and you will move forward together.”  After a long pause, he spoke again, calling her by her Senegalese name. “Sukkeyna Njaay, things will become even more difficult for you.  But always remember my words and never lose hope. Lu guddi gi yagg . . .

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Review of Jeffrey Vollmer (Estonia 1997-99) Faded Gray

Faded Gray by Jeffrey Vollmer (Estonia 1997-99) Self Published, $15; ebook $8.00 391 pages March 2013 Reviewed by Darcy Munson Meijer (in Gabon from 1982-1984. Faded Gray by Jeffrey Vollmer is the only Peace Corps Worldwide book I’ve reviewed that involves a corrupt Peace Corps. This and the development of the main character make this work of fiction quite interesting. However, before Vollmer pens additional books, he should take a course in syntax and punctuation or pay an editor to help him with his stories. Faded Gray follows Grayson Palmer, a PCV posted in Estonia, part of the “former Soviet Union’s wild east.” Palmer’s assignment is to author grant proposals for the Tartu Industrial Park and Science Incubator, or TIPSI. Grayson quickly learns that he can make additional money by writing grants for goods and services already funded. As he settles in, he comes to see this not as corruption . . .

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Volunteers of America by Jim Graham (Nicaragua 1970-71)

[Jim writes that this ‘incident’ is the opening of his memoir of Nicaragua. The ‘basic incident is true, the particulars are mine’ he writes. The latrine project in part 2 of the story is one of the projects he was involved with. The photo is of Jim working the warehouse he mentions in the story.] • Volunteers of America By Jim Graham (Nicaragua 1970-71) They crossed the Rio Coco at its lowest point.  At this time of year, the river was shallow. Their horse’s hooves threw up muddy water as the bandits splashed toward the other shore, into another country. Northeast Nicaragua, the Mosquito Coast on the Gulf of Mexico, didn’t seem different from Honduras. Both were poor and oppressively hot at midday, siesta time.  The bandits liked to move during siesta, when all of Latin America is sleeping.  This strategy had succeeded many times before. Once across the river, . . .

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Review of Robert F. Nicholas (Philippines 1968-70) Hey Joe

Hey Joe: Poems and Stories from the Peace Corps by Robert F. Nicholas (the Philippines 1968-70) Self Published $9.99 (paperback); $1.99 (ebook) from Barnes and Noble 146 pages October, 2012 Reviewed by P. David Searles (Staff 1971-76) Every American who has been to the Philippines will be captivated by the title of this book: ‘Hey Joe.‘  My guess is that this phrase is among the most remembered aspects of living in the country, especially for those who lived in the barrios.  All Filipinos – young, old, male, female, educated or not – used ‘Hey Joe’ to greet any and all Americans at every turn.  Once, needing to pass through a raucous demonstration to enter the American Embassy, dozens of Filipinos stopped what they were doing to hail me with ‘Hey Joe’ dozens of times, all with good humor and affection.  For Americans in the Philippines ‘Hey Joe’ is a perfect . . .

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New Archives for Peace Corps Books at American University Library

Thanks to a suggestion made by Pat Wand (Colombia 1963-65) I have been in touch with a new Peace Corps Archives at American University in Washington, D.C. and made arrangements, with the cooperation of Susan McElrath and Erica Bogese of the Archives, to have the university take our’Peace Corps Memoirs.  As Susan wrote me recently, “we would be interested in receiving copies of all of the Peace Corps memoirs.” The one requirement is that the writers contact the Archives before sending anything to them. The contact is: Erica Bogese Bender Library American University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016-8046 Erica’s contact information: Phone (202) 885-3242 Email bogese@american.edu The information you need to know about what material to send the Archives  is outlined below or you can go directly to: http://bender.library.american.edu/pcca/?page_id=16 Thank you Susan and Erica and everyone connected with this American University Peace Corps Archives project. This is a wonderful opportunity . . .

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LINK AND READ THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEACE CORPS AND KRAFT FOODS

This MOU represents a collaborative relationship between Kraft Foods and the Peace Corps. In the  section, III Mission, the MOU states “The purpose of Kraft Foods is to be a global snacks powerhouse with an unrivalled portfolio of brands people love. In the same section, the MOU states “The purpose of the Peace Corps is to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; to help promote a a better understanding of  Americans on the part of the peoples served; and to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.” Here is the link:                                 mou_peace_corps_mondelez Read and comment.

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Review of Meredith W. Cornett (Panama 1991-93) Peace Corps in Panama: Fifty Years, Many Voices

Peace Corps in Panama: Fifty Years, Many Voices Edited by Meredith W. Cornett (Panama 1991–93) Peace Corps Writers $10.00 182 pages 2013 Reviewed by Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000–03) This slender volume is a delight, providing stories from the earliest days of Peace Corps Panama right up to 2013. First envisioned during a reunion of Panama RPCVs during the 50th anniversary, the project grew as vignettes, poems, and letters written by those who served through the years were gathered together. They appear in chronological order, with a 20-year break beginning in 1971 when General Omar Torrijos ousted the Peace Corps amid rumors that volunteers were CIA spies.  After the signing of the treaty returning the canal to Panama, followed by Torrijos’ death in a plane crash and Manuel Noriega’s arrest, volunteers were invited back again. Editor Cornett, also a contributor, obviously undertook her task as a labor of love, offering . . .

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Remembering Andy Oerke (Malawi CD 1966-69)

In feature articles The New York Times and International Herald Tribune have said that here is a poet “whose muse is a world traveler.” Andrew Oerke has lived many lives.  After suggesting, he told me,  the idea of the Peace Corps to Jerry Clark, Kennedy’s campaign manager in Wisconsin, he went on to become a Peace Corps Director in Africa and the Caribbean, and for many years president of a private and voluntary organization working in developing countries. Oerke worked and visited in more than 160 countries, is a Golden Gloves champ, football player, university professor and Poet-in-Residence, dean of administration at one of the largest community colleges, U.S. Korean War veteran, World Bank consultant, and consultant to the United Nations on the Gulf War, on financial services, and on the environment. Mr. Oerke was also the first Director of the International Folk Festival on the Mall for the Smithsonian, . . .

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