Archive - December 2016

  Peace Corps may be “Forever Young” in the public imagination but in reality, it is one of the oldest “new” federal agencies. Its fifty-five years of operation will take a gigantic effort to accurately document. Public, independent and well funded, a Peace Corps Library needs more to be successful. It needs a professional Librarian Research staff, a RPCV advisory committee, an Internet presence as well as a physical location.   Why a Professional Librarian Research Staff? The materials, books, documents, memorabilia and electronic items are scattered all over. Some are in the public domain; some are in private or public university collections. Most of the documents from Peace Corps’ first decades are hard copy and have not been digitalized. The expertise of a professional Librarian Research staff is necessary to locate all of the items, to create a catalog system and to work to make these items accessible, even if . . .

  Far Away In the Sky: A Memoir of the Biafran Airlift David L. Koren (Nigeria 1964–67) First Peace Corps Writers Edition June 2016 346 pages $18.85 (paperback) Reviewed by Roger Landrum (Nigeria 1961–63) • The Biafran war for independence from Nigeria ended 47 years ago (1970), yet the horrors that occurred before and during the civil war linger. So does the idea of Biafra: an independent African state created by Africans, not by a European colonial power drawing the boundaries, a modern state with an efficient and productive democratic government. They seem to have a life of their own. One of the reasons for this was a dramatic humanitarian airlift operated from the remote island of Sao Tome to shuttle food and medical supplies into Biafra for a civilian population being deliberately starved into submission. The airlift was organized by a hodgepodge of church and humanitarian organizations, contracted planes and . . .

  Reading & Book Signing Steve Murphy, who worked briefly as a Republican political appointee (Schedule C) at the Peace Corps as Regional Director for the Inter-Americas Region (2002-2003), will do a reading and signing of his book at the University of Washington bookstore this week. Murphy’s On the Edge: An Odyssey is a memoir of his life working in Rio de Janeiro as an international banker and at Hollywood studios, to be a political employee in both Bush administrations. He will talk about how he kept his composure and helped others. Murphy is  a University of Washington graduate. University Bookstore’s Author’s Showcase is this Tuesday, Dec. 6, 6-8pm – parking is free in bookstore lot.: Check out the website for more information.

On January 20, 2017, 30 Schedule Cs (Political Appointees) will walk out the door of the agency. They have already submitted their letters of resignation to the White House. In their place, civil servants, not connected to anyone’s campaign, past or present, will take over running the agency. It could be months before the new administration gets around to appointing a new corps of 30 Schedule Cs to run the agency. One thing we can be pretty sure of, none of them will come from the ranks of RPCVs. The question remains: will there be a Peace Corps in the Age of Trump? The word from Washington is that the Peace Corps has a good deal of support on both sides of the aisle and that it even might grow in the years ahead. Some conservative Republican congressmen and senators, I’m told, would like to dismantle certain agencies and give that . . .