2015 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

From Daily Beast: Whistleblower: Peace Corps Ignored and Then Blamed Sexual Assault Victims

Nov 30 2015

Whistleblower: Peace Corps Ignored and Then Blamed Sexual Assault Victims Peace Corps volunteers dedicate two years to serving others, but if they are sexually assaulted, one inside advocate says, they are blamed, shamed, and face removal from the program. And we have the emails to prove it. Internal Peace Corps documents and emails obtained by The Daily Beast from Congress indicate an appalling culture within the agency: where sexual assault victims stationed abroad on behalf of America are blamed; assailants are allegedly permitted to walk free without consequence; and the organization fails to fully support the Americans it posts abroad. Following the sexual assault of a Peace Corps volunteer in 2014, Peace Corps clinical psychologist Dr. Kris Morris issued behind-the-scenes “guidelines.” The message: Volunteers who continue to need help following a sexual assault are not Peace Corps material. “Demonstration of a need for ongoing therapy is an indication that she . . .

Review — PEACE CORPS FANTASIES by Molly Geidel

Nov 29 2015

PEACE CORPS FANTASIES: How Development Shaped the Global Sixties by Molly Geidel University of Minnesota Press, $30.00 320 pages 2015 Reviewed by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67) Please note the subtitle, herein: How Development Shaped the Global Sixties. This book is not a saga of the Peace Corps, but rather the conception and incubation of a plan to offer opportunities where none were available christened, “community development” (a fairly lame term I always thought). It is centered in the 1950s, an era that began in1950 but lasted till around1964, when men were men and women were having nervous breakdowns (treated with submersion in ice water, electric shock and lobotomies). Then 1965, accompanied by the Titan II rocket usher, broke open portal, and suddenly, Cassius Clay is Muhammed Ali; the Second Vatican Council turns altars around; Gloria Steinem dons a bunny suit to give an insider’s account of the casual acceptance . . .

CBS This Morning Set to "Hammer" the Peace Corps

Nov 29 2015

The agency was notified this last Wednesday afternoon about an upcoming broadcast tomorrow morning on CBS This Morning sometime between 7 am and 9 am EST. The topic is sexual assaults on PCVs. The general feeling within in the agency–based on questions asked–is that the segment will focus on what has gone wrong overseas and CBS will not balance its reporting with the positive changed that have taken place for women since the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011 took effect. The reporting will also focus on the failures of some CDs in country to protect their Volunteers. Whether the CBS Morning segment will have the ‘staying power’ of the 20/20 report remains to be seen. For a good overview of how the agency is doing read the Peace Corps Performance and Accountability Report FY2015. It has just been published. The link:http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/policies/annrept2015.pdf Meanwhile, applications to join the Peace Corps are at . . .

Sexual Assault Issues with Peace Corps to be aired on CBS This Morning

Nov 29 2015

Health Justice for Volunteers Founder, Nancy Tongue send out this notice: “The journalist who has been working on the sexual assault issues has notified us that her piece is going live on Monday on CBS This Morning, the national broadcast, sometime between 7 and 9am ET on Monday.” From the information that Nancy Tongue mailed, my understanding is that the focus will be on Peace Corps’s implementation of The Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011. For a good overview, read the Peace Corps Performance and Accountability Report FY2015. It has just been published. Here is the link: http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/policies/annrept2015.pdf The last section is by the is the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The OIG reviews its previous recommendations to Peace Corps management and the current status of those recommendations. One ongoing concern of the OIG has been the training of overseas staff, particularly in regard to the law and sexual . . .

Peace Corps Mali Program Temporarily Suspended

Nov 28 2015

Peace Corps has issued the following press announcement: WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 27, 2015 – The Peace Corps today announced the temporary suspension of its program in Mali due to escalating security concerns. All Peace Corps volunteers are in the process of departing the country and the agency will continue to monitor the security environment in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Bamako to determine if and when volunteers can return. The Peace Corps has enjoyed a long partnership with the government and people of Mali and is committed to continuing volunteers’ work there in a safe and secure environment. Volunteers’ health, safety and security are the Peace Corps’ top priorities. There were 35 volunteers in Mali working with their communities on projects in community economic development and health. More than 2,645 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Mali since the program was established in 1971.http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2612/

Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) in Front of the Camera

Nov 26 2015

Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) author of half a dozen books (the last is entitled My Life as a Pencil) and for 22 years a writer at People Magazine retired a year or so ago to Hermosa Beach, California and gave up (at least full time) his writing career and began to throw pots. It’s a true story. Ron is finding his new occupation satisfying as well as fun. Recently cinematographer Matt Hanlon of www.wearethreaded.com did 3 hours of videos and produced 5 minutes of Ron at work as a potter. He also relates how Ron made the transition from print to clay. Take a look: https://vimeo.com/146351224

Shriver Scholarships Available

Nov 25 2015

The following announcement was posted in the CRPCVA weekly newsletter. The Columbia River Peace Corps Association is a very active group. They present a museum display of the Peace Corps Experience around the Portland area. The formatting is copied from the newsletter. Here is the link to their webpage: http://www.crpca.org The link in the announcement should be a copy and paste if reading it here. Many of us may beyond Graduate School, but what a great way to honor Shriver and a wonderful opportunity to pass along. Graduate Fellowship Opportunity with Shriver Pieceworker Fellows Program Hello RPCV’s! I am writing you from the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program in Baltimore, MD. Peaceworker is a competitive graduate fellowship program exclusively for RPCVs, and our current recruitment season is open and accepting applications. Fellows complete fully funded masters degrees in any discipline while serving 20 hours per week with a nonprofit or government partner . . .

Review in WSJ of Martin Puryear (Sierra Leone 1964-66) Exhibition at Morgan Library

Nov 25 2015

The Wall Street Journal on November 24, 2015, had a review of Martin Puryear‘s : Multiple Dimensions show at The Morgan Library & Museum. Reviewer Lance Esplund writes “The 74-year-old American sculptor Martin Puryearis a consummate craftsman. As a skilled young wood-worker, he made furniture, guitars and canoes. And from an early age, he has been interested in the natural sciences and once considered becoming a wildlife illustrator.” In the Peace Corps (Sierra Leone 1964-66) , he taught biology, French, English, and art at the secondary school level in a rural Sierra Leone. The village carpenters who made furniture for his classroom impressed him with the level of their craftsmanship. While he studied biology at Catholic University, he took painting classes in his junior year and continued his adolescent interest in nature by making detailed drawings of birds and insects. After the Peace Corps he went to Stockholm and entered . . .

Novelist David C. Edmonds (Chile 1963-65) Wins Two Book Awards

Nov 24 2015

Lily of Peru published by Peace Corps Writers books and written by David C. Edmonds (Chile 1963-65) recently won two awards. It was selected in second place in the category of Latino Theme Movie by Non-Latino Author. These awards are sponsored by Latino Literacy Now and were presented in 16 key categories during the 2015 Los Angeles Latino Book & Family Festival. Copies of all winning books will be presented to key television networks and movie studios. The novel also won the silver in the Readers’ Favorite International Book Award-Silver in the category of Thriller/Terrorist. Readers’ Favorite has become the fastest growing book review and award contest site on the Internet. More than 300 authors and guests attended the awards ceremony in Miami this year.

The Peace Corps Tells LBJ "Hell, No! We Won't Go!"

Nov 23 2015

Stanley Meisler, an early evaluator for the agency, in his 2011 book, When The World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and its First Fifty Years gives a detailed account of the Peace Corps’ limited connection to the war in Vietnam. In his book, Meisler writes, “On January 6, 1966, two Peace Corps officials embarked on a secret, reckless trip to Vietnam. The goal of their mission was to find out whether Vietnam might be a suitable country for a Peace Corps program. That goal was foolish and fanciful……The two officials were Warren Wiggins, deputy director of the Peace Corps, and Ross J. Pritchard, director of Far East regional operations. Within the Peace Corps, Wiggins and Pritchard were known at the most fervent players of the numbers game-they relentlessly promoted massive new programs without worrying about meticulous planning. But it was not their idea to go to Vietnam.” . . .

The Peace Corps and the Vietnam War, Part One

Nov 22 2015

Recently I have been reading two books that focus on volunteering in the time of the Vietnam War. The one that we are blogging about currently, Dr. Molly Geidel’s Peace Corps Fantasies: How Development Shaped the Global Sixties. The second is The Fortunate Few: IVA Volunteers From Asia to the Andes written by Thierry J. Sagnier. The IVS was founded in 1953 and played a key role in the establishment of the Peace Corps in 1961. Over 30 PCVs were IVsers after their service, another four became PCVs after IVS and some 17-18 were on the staff of the Peace Corps. Dr. Geidel spends a lot of time in her book detailing how PCVs spent time in the Peace Corps hiding from the draft, (remember now the good doctor has already said early PCVs in the ’60s were “ruggedly masculine figure” and now she is claiming we didn’t want to . . .

In Laurence Leamer’s (Nepal 1964-66) Library

Nov 22 2015

The New York Post, Sunday, November 22, 2015, has a one page book section and this week they featured Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964-66). Here’s what writer Barbara Hoffman had to say about Larry… Antioch College was a liberal-arts college – liberal, period – when Laurence Leamer went there in 1960. John F. Kennedy was running for president, “but they didn’t think he was liberal enough,” Leamer says of his classmates. Leamer, however, supported JFK and wrangled a job in DC just in time to see the newly inaugurated president pass by on Pennsylvania Avenue. Decades later, after serving in the Peace Corps and writing for magazines, Leamer wrote three books on the Kennedys, including the bestselling The Kennedy Women. Now there’s Rose, his play about the Kennedy family matriarch. Starring Kathleen Chalfant, it’s playing at off-Broadway’s Clurman Theater through Dec. 13. . Here, 52 years after JFK’s death, are four . . .

Senegal RPCV Killed in Mali Attack

Nov 21 2015

U.S. Victim of Mali Attack Worked on Women’s Health By LIAM STACKNOV. 20, 2015 New York Times Anita Ashok Datar, an American public health worker from the Washington suburbs, was killed Friday when gunmen attacked a luxury hotel in Mali‘s capital, Bamako, killing at least 19 people and taking as many as 100 more hostage. She is the only American known to have died in the attack, according to United Nations officials. Ms. Datar, who lived in Takoma Park, Md., loved the fiction of Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith and was the mother of a young son, Rohan. Her Facebook page has pictures of the two of them together during a series of family milestones: vacations, Halloween and the first day of school. In a statement released Friday, her family said that of all her accomplishments, Ms. Datar was most proud of him. “We are devastated that Anita is gone – it’s unbelievable to . . .

Vietnam and the Peace Corps, Dr. Geidel Sums up The Connection

Nov 21 2015

Dr. Geidel in her cultural history of the U.S. in the 1960s turns her attention on the Peace Corps and Vietnam in chapter five of her book, Peace Corps Fantasies How Development Shaped The Global Sixties. (I should say right off that I served in the military and in the Peace Corps in the Sixties and I don’t have an axe to grind with either service.) Molly Geidel is another story. She begins, (again,) by turning her academic lens on Associate and then Deputy Director, Warren Wiggins, and what he had to say about Vietnam and Peace Corps Volunteers. (By the way, I should mention that Wiggins was a pilot in WWII, flying war supplies to China over the Hump in the China/Burma/India campaign. He was one of many early Peace Corps staff who were vets from the war.) Geidel begins her Fifth Chapter: Ambiguous Liberation: The Vietnam War and . . .

REVIEW — Renewable by Eileen Flanagan (Botswana 1984-86)

Nov 21 2015

Renewable: One Woman’s Search for Simplicity, Faithfulness, and Hope Eileen Flanagan (Botswana 1984-86) She Writes Press March 2015 186 pages $16.95 (paperback), $9.95 (Kindle) Reviewed by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) • When Eileen Flanagan arrived in Botswana in 1984, “the same year that Apple introduced the Macintosh and Daryl Hannah starred in Splash with Tom Hanks,” global warming had yet to hit the global scene. Yet, that same year, as I arrived to my Peace Corps site in the south of Morocco, the population had been experiencing a severe drought. So much so, when the rains finally came with abandon, my students rejoiced for days. Twenty-five years later, as a result of global warming, Flanagan would be reporting similar news from her village in Botswana. Flanagan had entered the village of Bobonong atop a dusty road, rattling past round huts of mud and dung in a rusted-out Ford pickup . . .

Archive - 2015