2016 – Page 20 – Peace Corps Worldwide

B.A. East’s (Malawi) new novel: TWO PUMPS FOR THE BODY MAN

Apr 09 2016

In Two Pumps for the Body Man by B.A. East (Malawi 1996–98) protagonist Jeff Mutton walks the diplomatic beat protecting American officials in Saudi Arabia. An expert with guns, knives, grenades, and rockets, he’s survived assaults and sieges, stabbings and chokeholds, car bombs, carjackings, criminal hits, and countless other enemy threats. But instinct tells Mutton the menace he now faces dwarfs all these killers combined. Part soft-boiled noir, part literary satire, Two Pumps for the Body Man is an unserious look at a serious situation, a grim reminder that no matter how high the barricade, how sharp the razor wire, there is no front line to the War on Terror. And the enemy is everywhere, even within. • B.A. East grew up in Connecticut, studied writing, journalism, and literature at Central Connecticut State University, and after graduation studied education at the University of New Haven. Ben then joined the Peace Corps and spent two years teaching . . .

How to make money writing books

Apr 08 2016

If you are interested in writing books, especially ebooks, you might want to check out Mike Shatzkin’s blogs on the net or his ebook entitled, The Shatzkin Files, Volume 1. Shatzkin has been involved in the publishing business for nearly 50 years. For the past two decades he has been focused on the digital changes in publishing. Recently he published a blog item about Hugh Howey. Howey is best known for the science fiction series Silo published on Amazon.com’s Kindle Direct Publishing system. Shatzkin quotes Howey: “Too few successful self-pubbed authors talk about the incredible hours and hard work they put in, so it all seems so easy and attainable. The truth is, you’ve got to outwork most other authors out there. You’ve got to think about writing a few novels a year for several years before you even know if you’ve got what it takes. Most authors give up before they . . .

RPCV Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia) on Fox Business Today

Apr 07 2016

Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68) will appear on Fox Business at 12PM PT/3PM ET to discuss the effect of North Korea, South China Sea, and ISIL on the presidential campaigns. John is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

HuffPost publishes essay by Betsy Small Campbell (Sierra Leone)

Apr 06 2016

Huffington Post has published If You Plant Rice, You Get Rice by Betsy Small Campbell (Sierra Leone 1984–87) — an essay about her country of service, the diamond war, and the children of war. She is currently working on a book about her time in the Peace Corps called Before, Before.

Peace Corps announces online panel with RPCVs about “How Faith Interacts with Service”

Apr 06 2016

Peace Corps is going to host an online panel of RPCVs who will discuss how their faith influenced their service. It is necessary to register to “join the session.” I have copied the announcement, here. If you wish to register, go to the Peace Corps web page at: http://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/meet/events/25119/ Here is the announcement: “Religion Abroad – How Faith Interacts with Service Online Date 04/08/2016 Time 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Pacific) Description How does faith interact with Peace Corps service? Peace Corps service involves community integration and cultural exchange. How does faith fit in? Join us for this special online panel event as Returned Peace Corps Volunteers discuss the ways their religious backgrounds shaped their time abroad. Registration is necessary to join this session. Please register here to attend. About the Peace Corps: Read more or watch a video about what it’s like to be a Volunteer including what Volunteers do, . . .

Peace Corps Response Volunteers for Liberia and Sierra Leone

Apr 05 2016

Peace Corps Response recently reopened programs in Liberia and Sierra Leone! The Peace Corps is currently seeking multiple STEM Educators, Literacy Educators, and STEM and Literacy Teacher Trainers in both countries to depart in August 2016. All positions are for 11 months. For more information, contact the agency at pcresponse@peacecorps.gov or (202) 692-2250. Apply Now

Words of wisdom from the world of self-publishing

Apr 05 2016

Reading the Winter 2016 issue of Authors Guild Bulletin I came across Angela Bole’s column on “Indie Publishing: A Primer” Bole is the CEO and executive director of the Independent Book Publishers Association and her current column in the issue covers all sorts of publishing in today’s world. However, her paragraphs on self-publishing were interesting for a number of reasons. She writes that the fast-growing segment of independent publishing is self-publishing, and that Bowker — the “world’s leading provider of bibliographic information” — reports that in 2013, 458,564 self-published titles came out, a jump of 17% since 2012, and 437% over 2008. There are basically two kinds of self-publishing, assisted self-publishing and DIY self-publishing. She is not a fan of DIY self-publishing, saying, “Considering the complexities of the publishing business, there are almost no circumstances in which I’d recommend a fully DIY self-publishing approach.” She goes onto write, “The . . .

A Writer Writes: Beautiful Stranger — a poem by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala)

Apr 02 2016

• “I’ve seen them from bus windows in Chimaltenango, stepping out at dusk before the men come. They aren’t pretty. Have you noticed how their waists always look like they’re supporting gun belts and their eyes always seem to be in shadow, as if curtains had been pulled over them? “Changing busses once in El Rancho, I was walking across town, if you want to call it a town — it’s all dust and cashew stands — and out of the back door of some building stepped this woman, no, only a girl. She was as tall as I was and she didn’t have the gun-belt waist and she didn’t have the shadowed eyes, although I could tell she was going to get them one day, one day soon. She smiled at me, a smile I bet she’d worn a thousand times already, and she motioned to me like someone . . .

The Peace Corps John F. Kennedy Service Awards

Apr 01 2016

The Peace Corps presents the John F. Kennedy Service Awards once every five years to six individuals who have given outstanding service to the Peace Corps, both at home and abroad. Established in 2006, the awards recognize two currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers, two Peace Corps staff members, one Returned Peace Corps Response Volunteer and one Returned Peace Corps Volunteer for contributions beyond their duties to the Agency and the nation. Award recipients must demonstrate exceptional service and leadership and further the Peace Corps’ mission and it’s three goals: to help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and women; to help promote a better understanding of American on the part of the people served; and, to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. Each member of the Peace Corps family contributes to the agency’s success. The John F. Kennedy . . .

Telling the world our story: Time to support A TOWERING TASK: A PEACE CORPS DOCUMENTARY

Mar 30 2016

36 Hours Left To Help Help fund a once-in-a-generation documentary about the Peace Corps for wide release in 2017! We surpassed 435 donors in honor of Sargent Shriver and received an anonymous $5,000 donation! Now we’re over $77,000 closer to our $100,000 goal. It’s time we are able to capture 55 years worth of history, trials and triumphs told from these remarkable individuals all in A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary. THANK YOU for Your Story of the Peace Corps! Many Peace Corps documentaries tell the story of a single volunteer and how their experience changes their life and the lives of others. Our documentary is a rallying call for the Peace Corps Community to UNITE and tell its story. The real version—not the echo chamber. Time is of the essence. Memories fade. The architects and pioneering volunteers of Peace Corps pass away. $5 $25? $50? $100? What’s Peace Corps worth . . .

Review — GAINING GROUND by Joan Velasquez (Bolivia)

Mar 30 2016

Gaining Ground: A Blueprint for Community-Based International Development by Joan Velásquez (Bolivia 1965–67) Beaver’s Pond Press 2014 $24.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964–66, 2011–13) • This is an awesome “how to” book, not a novel with only love and excitement . . . but a beautiful and exciting manual on how to create and develop a non-profit agency in Bolivia from Mendota Heights, Minnesota, a distance of 4,623 miles. In 1965 Joan Velásquez, a Peace Corps Volunteer, is sent to Cochabamba, a remote community in the Andean mountains of Bolivia. There she meets her future husband and NGO partner Segundo and his family, the Velázquez clan . . . all Quechua speaking indigenous people of the Inca Empire. Joan discovers that the community may not have much, it is extremely poor, but it is rich in cultural values that have been handed down for generations . . . primarily that family members help one another during difficult times. . . .

RPCV Breast Cancer Research Update

Mar 30 2016

The three year RPCV Breast Cancer Research Study conducted by Baylor University is completed and evidently was unable to collect sufficient data. The study was examining the possibility that women who took chloroquine (Aralen) as an anti-malaria drug had a reduced risk of breast cancer over their lifetimes. Animal studies conducted at Baylor suggested that the drug may also reduce the breast cancer risk.The plan was to study a human female population that had taken chloroquine to determine if the population had a reduced risk of breast cancer. This was not an official Peace Corps study. Baylor could not access the medical records, the names and birth dates, or even the service assignments of Peace Corps Women. Instead, the study had to rely on self- reporting. The research group developed a comprehensive online questionnaire to gather this information. Respondent Driven Sampling was the method used to identify this population. Baylor entered . . .

Water by Rachel Schneller (Mali)

Mar 29 2016

With all this talk of toxic water in Flint, and elsewhere, I thought of one of the loveliest pieces of writing by an RPCV that we published years ago. If you didn’t read it then, here is Rachel’s short essay. • Water Rachel Schneller (Mali 1996–98) When a woman carries water on her head, you see her neck bend outward behind her like a crossbow. Ten liters of water weighs twenty-two pounds, a fifth of a woman’s body weight, and I’ve seen women carry at least twenty liters in aluminum pots large enough to hold a television set. To get the water from the cement floor surrounding the outdoor hand pump to the top of your head, you need help from the other women. You and another woman grab the pot’s edges and lift it straight up between you. When you get it to head height, you duck underneath the . . .

Sargent Shriver and Richard Lipez (Ethiopia) on the Peace Corps

Mar 28 2016

I spent the weekend going through files to find documents on the history of the Peace Corps that I might donate to American University and their collection of Peace Corps material. In the process I came across the address made by Sargent Shriver, first Director of the Peace Corps, at the One Hundred Sixty-fifth Annual Commencement of Georgetown University on June 8, 1964. I want to quote from the opening of Sarge’s talk as it focuses on two items that are important: one is on Ethiopia One PCVs in Ethiopia, and two is on Sarge’s vision of why the Peace Corps is important to all of us. • It is embarrassing for me today to confess that I remember only one quotatin from St. Ignatius. Fortunately it is only one word: “magis!“— “more.” The watchword of the Jesuit order has always been: Ad majorem Dei gloriam. But Ignatius was a man of action. . . .

David Mather (Chile) publishes CRESCENT BEACH

Mar 27 2016

About the suspense novel Crescent Beach just published by David Mather (Chile 1968–70): Cardboard-wrapped, forty-pound bales of marijuana called “square grouper” are flooding Florida’s Gulf Coast. Undercover State Trooper Rusty McMillan is sent into the fishing village of Crescent Beach to bust a key operator in the drug trade, and stem the area’s rampant smuggling. Expecting to deal with trailer trash, Rusty instead discovers the town is a hardworking community from an earlier era when life was simple and straightforward. He becomes immersed in the everyday life of shrimping, crabbing, and fishing, while at night he drinks beer, arm wrestles, and plays poker with the locals who become his friends. Rusty eventually gets the evidence he needs, but can he make the arrest? Either way he’s a traitor: to his job or to the community. But, before he can decide, the town is slammed by unexpected hurricane force winds and a . . .

Archive - 2016