Archive - February 27, 2014

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Remarks of Carrie Hessler-Radelet Acting Director, Peace Corps "Honoring Peace Corps Week in the 21st Century" National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
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A Writer Writes: My Philomena Story
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Review 85 Days in Cuba by Branon Valentine (Jamaica 2000-04 & Panama 2006-09)

Remarks of Carrie Hessler-Radelet Acting Director, Peace Corps "Honoring Peace Corps Week in the 21st Century" National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

From The Peace Corps Press Office Remarks of Carrie Hessler-Radelet Acting Director, Peace Corps “Honoring Peace Corps Week in the 21st Century” National Press Club, Washington, D.C. AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY February 27, 2014 I’m honored to join you all today in celebrating Peace Corps Week, which commemorates the anniversary of our founding. Each year, during this week, the Peace Corps community comes together across the nation, and around the world, to renew our commitment to service. It’s great to be here at the National Press Club. Let me tell you what the press had to say about Peace Corps in our early days. In 1961, TIME magazine described the first groups of Volunteers in this way: “Peace Corps Volunteers are patriotic and adventuresome….with the patience of Job, the perseverance of a Saint, and the digestive system of an Ostrich.” Personally, I’m not quite sure what it means to have . . .

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A Writer Writes: My Philomena Story

A Writer Writes My Philomena by Tony Gambino (Zaire 1979-82) [Tony Gambino taught  TEFL for one year in a rural high school and then spent two years teaching at the branch of the Zairian National University in Kisangani. In 2001 he returned to the Congo as the Mission Director for USAID. He is sure that he is one of a very small number of RPCVs who returned to serve as USAID Mission Director in their country of service. (Many RPCVs have become USAID Mission Directors, but didn’t do so in their country of service.) Today he is a consultant working on international issues and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. This essay by Tony appeared on February 25, 2014 on the website Slate. It is republished by Tony’s permission. It is the story of one son’s search for his biological mother.] Tony and his biological mother, Dorothy The story of Philomena Lee and . . .

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Review 85 Days in Cuba by Branon Valentine (Jamaica 2000-04 & Panama 2006-09)

85 Days in Cuba: A True Story about Friendship and Struggle Brandon Valentine (Jamaica 2000–04, Panamá 2006–09) iUniverse $17.96 (paperback); $3.99 (Kindle) 264 pages 2006 Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66) I was asked to read this book by the author in 2009 . . . and I did not. Bummer, the message was clear then as it is now! Friendship and loyalty to those around you are essential to who we are . . . as Brandon tells us in his “trip” to the island nation of Cuba . . . or was this trip just to be with his best friend, Carlos and his family in Cuba? Quien sabe! Brandon had spent three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica from 2000 to 2004 in a very poor section of Kingston teaching . . . and his neighbor was Carlos from Cuba. (An interesting note, Walt and Linda are Brandon’s parents, and they were Volunteers . . .

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