2019 – Page 16 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Towering Task to be Narrated by Annette Bening

Apr 30 2019

Annette Bening to narrate A Towering Task. Bening is a four-time Academy Award nominee, two-time Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award winner. The Towering Task, the Peace Corps Documentary, is a production by Alana deJoseph (Mali 1992-94). “It is incredibly important that we talk about how we as Americans engage with the rest of the world. The Peace Corps has been sending people to countries across the globe for almost 60 years, and many Americans don’t even know that it still exists. I am so glad that I can help tell this important story now when it feels more relevant than ever.” ~ Annette Bening

PERCEPTION AND DECEPTION — Joe Lurie (Kenya)

Apr 29 2019

Joe Lurie (Kenya 1967-68) is the Executive Director Emeritus of UC Berkeley’s International House, and author of Perception and Deception: A Mind-Opening Journey Across Cultures (Nipporica Associates, 2018). C-Span just aired a book talk in which Joe references discoveries he made while he was a PCV in Kenya that opened his eyes in profound ways, and were the seeds of his book, now in its second expanded edition. In case the program is of interest, it’s likely to be aired again , but in case you miss it, here it is. A former director of semester and summer programs abroad for the School for International Training in France, Kenya, and Ghana, Joe lived in Europe for four years, and lectures widely for Cal Discoveries in Africa, Asia and Europe. He is fluent in French as well as Swahili. The Joe Lurie Returning Peace Corps Volunteer Gateway Fellow for entering Ph.D . . .

Forbes Magazine — “Communicating Successfully Across Borders: A Q&A With Craig Storti” (Morocco)

Apr 28 2019

Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) is a nationally known expert in the field of intercultural communications and cross-cultural adaptation. He is Director of Communicating Across Cultures. Internationally known as an expert in intercultural communications and cross-cultural adaptation, he is the author of many books, including Culture Matters, a cross-cultural workbook used by the U.S. government in over 90 countries. He is also the author of a book read by many PCVs, The Art of Crossing Cultures. Craig’s most recent book is Why Travel Matters: A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel, reviewed on this site.. He has lived nearly a quarter of his life abroad—with extended stays in Moslem, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures—and speaks French, Arabic, and Nepali. In his interview with Forbes Magazine, Laura Brown asked: What does the rest of the business world think of U.S. communication style? And how can U.S.-based businesses communicate productively with their global . . .

The Most-Read Blog Item on our Site

Apr 27 2019

This is a sad and true and terrible story entitled “One mother’s story of how the Peace Corps failed her daughter.” It is also the most read blog post on our site. I first heard about what had happened to this Volunteer from Health Justice for Peace Corps Volunteers, an NPCA Affiliate group started by RPCV Nancy Tongue (Chile 1980-82). I uploaded the story on our site on April 26, 2016. Today, the story continues to catch the attention of readers. That tells me that when read, the reader mentions the story to other RPCVs who come to our site and read the sad account. When checking Google Analytics, I see recently published items usually have around 100 ‘hits’ in any seven day period. This story of how the Peace Corps failed a Volunteer has had 60 or more ‘hits’ every week since 2016. The majority of . . .

Review — COMING OF AGE IN EL SALVADOR by Jim Winship

Apr 26 2019

Coming of Age in El Salvador Jim Winship (El Salvador 1970–72) Verdada Press 2014 228 pages $16.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Review by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76; Costa Rica 1976–77) • If you are interested in a more in-depth discussion of immigration from Central America, its causes and effects, I highly recommend this book. Though, like the author, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in El Salvador (1974-76), and have followed events there since, I learned a great deal about the country’s current situation from this book. Jim Winship first lived in El Salvador from 1970 to 1972 as a PCV. He returned there in 2005 as a Fulbright Scholar and has been visiting at the rate of about twice a year since then. This book is based upon research Winship and his colleague Virginia Quintana of the Panamerican University of El Salvador have done, and upon other . . .

Review — THE MOSQUITO COAST by Paul Theroux (Malawi)

Apr 25 2019

The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) Houghton Mifflin Publisher 374 pages 1982 $21.20 (paperback); $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mark Walker (Guatemala 1971-73) • I recently came across an interview of Paul Theroux in “By the Book” in The New York Times, in which he reveals that The Mosquito Coast was his favorite most personally meaningful book. He goes on to say, “…Over a period of two years, knowing it was a great idea and plot, I wrote confidently in rainy, cold, sedate London, and it is, of course, a book set in sunny, warm anarchic Honduras,” at which point I realized that although I had seen the movie, I had never read the book! I had read all of his non-fiction works but only Kowloon Tong in the fiction genre, so I decided to finally read The Mosquito Coast. I was also thinking about the . . .

Review — A GAME IN THE SUN by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

Apr 24 2019

A Game in the Sun and Other Stories John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) Cemetery Dance August 2018 $40.00 (hard cover) Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) • John Coyne is the author of more than twenty-eight nonfiction and fiction books, including a number of horror novels, and his short stories have been collected in “best of” anthologies such as Modern Masters of Horror and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. His publisher, Cemetery Dance Publications, specializes in horror and dark suspense and includes Stephen King and Ann Rice in its list of authors. That gives you an idea of the high caliber of Coyne’s writing style and limitless imagination. A Game in the Sun is a collection of stories that he has written over a number of years from college days (“The Crazy Chinaman”) to one written last year about Catholic guilt. He has also written and edited books on golf, including The Caddie Who Knew Ben . . .

Dick Irish’s Last Book (Philippines)

Apr 24 2019

The late Richard Irish (Philippines 1962-64) posthumous book Allies and Adversaries: Churchill and the Man Who Would Be France was published by his wife Pat Reilly and is about the theatrical collisions between two gargantuan egos: the inexorable force Churchill versus the immoveable body de Gaulle. As Dick wrote: Every melodrama has a villain and mine is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who tarnished his well-deserved halo by repeatedly attempting to scuttle the Free French movement and consign her founder to history’s trash bin. FDR’s reluctant enabler was Winston Churchill, who by degrees seemed to become Roosevelt’s accomplice but in fact played a crucial role as France’s White Knight. Each personage was driven by something far stronger than mere personal ambition: Churchill incarnated the British bulldog as much as de Gaulle la Furia Française. The quarrels between these leaders, marked mostly by good manners and levitated discourse, were usually due to dissimilar . . .

Review — WHAT SAHEL AM I DOIN’ HERE? by Steve Wisecarver (Senegal, etc.)

Apr 23 2019

What Sahel Am I Doin’ Here? 30 Years of Misadventures in Africa Steve Wisecarver (Senegal 1976–78; Staff-CD Madaagascar, Kenya 2008–2013) Booklocker.com 134 pages $13.95 (paperback) Reviewed by James W. Skelton, Jr. (Ethiopia 1970–72) • If you’re interested in knowing more about the good, the bad and the ugly in Africa, then you’ll enjoy reading Steve Wisecarver’s book entitled What Sahel Am I Doin’ Here? 30 Years of Misadventures in Africa. The humorous title gives the reader an insight into the approach the author will take with the descriptions of his experiences in the great continent of Africa. In fact, it is stated on the back cover that the book “is a collection of light-hearted tales that captures the bizarre and the exotic as well as the comic, even magical, nature of life on the Continent.” Steve Wisecarver succeeds in revealing those elements, and more, about living and working . . .

“Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi” (West Africa)

Apr 23 2019

Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi Travel with Phillip LeBel (Ethiopia 1965–67) • In the July of 1968, I finished spending three and a half years as a secondary school history teacher in Emdeber, Shoa, Ethiopia. Two and a half years were as a Peace Corps Volunteer, while the third was as a contract teacher with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education. Having taught a cohort of students passing through the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades, it was now time to return to the United States. With a graduate fellowship in economics awaiting me in Boston, I took a somewhat meandering trip across Africa, tracing some paths I covered in 1965 while still in the Peace Corps, while others were a journey of exploration. It marked an abiding attachment to Africa that has shaped my professional career ever since. I had traveled to East Africa during the summer of . . .

Review — BAD NEWS FROM A BLACK COAST by Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador)

Apr 21 2019

Bad News from a Black Coast By Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) Independently Published 370 pages $12.00 (paperback) Reviewed by Mark D. Walker (Guatemala 1971-73) • Like many Thomsen enthusiasts, I’ve wondered where his last, elusive manuscript was, and how it might come to be published, bringing the total number of his travelogue classics to five. So when it suddenly appeared on Amazon, published, I jumped with joy. At last, 28 years after his death! And I was not disappointed; it was worth the wait. Thomsen began talking about this book in 1980 and sent some of the manuscript to fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and author, Christopher West Davis, who told him that it was some of his best work: “he was in the zone, in top form, etc. encouraging him to keep it up…” But later on Thomsen would lament the difficulties getting it published. This first . . .

Happy Easter from Mother Martha Driscoll and the Community of Gedono (Ethiopia)

Apr 20 2019

May the flames that ravaged the Cathedral of Notre Dame – and our hearts – enkindle within the souls of the post-Christian World, through the pain of loss, a nostalgia for the True, the Good and the Beautiful, and the desire for New Life found through the death and resurrection Jesus Christ: Surrexit Dominus! We also ask your prayers for the national elections in Indonesia today for President and Congress and its aftermath. It seems the present President will be reelected, as we hope. But the opposition which favors moving toward an Islamic State, has warned they will not accept defeat and threatens violent protests if their candidate doesn’t win. Some hard line, radical parties in that coalition are backed by more than 15.000.000 followers of ISIS. In deep comunion, Martha and the community of Gedono Mother Martha Driscoll, O.C.S. O., (Ethiopia 1965-67) graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign . . .

First Peace Corps Auto Mechanics Instructor (Ethiopia)

Apr 19 2019

First Peace Corps Auto Mechanics Instructor By David Gurr (Ethiopia 1962-64) I entered Peace Corps Training to serve in Ethiopia at Georgetown University in the summer of 1962. Initially, Georgetown assigned me to teach geography because I had more credits in that area than any other Trainee. However, because of my earlier experience with repairing and building automobiles, my country director, Harris Wofford, told me that the Peace Corps wanted me teaching auto mechanics. I was assigned to a group of other technical-skilled Trainees comprised of a machinist, a sheet metal worker and two draftsmen. Our group received little or no instruction in technical training, unlike the classes preparing others teaching academic subjects. Little stands out other than a tour of the US Steel plant in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Two officials from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education came to one session. They told us that there were two such schools: . . .

Bill Owens (Jamaica) at Altamont . . . Read and remember the ’60s

Apr 18 2019

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64) Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964–66), is our most famous RPCV photographer. Back in 1972 Bill published a collection of photographs on suburbia entitled Suburbia. In this cult classic book, photographer Owens acted as an anthropologist objectively documenting suburban inhabitants, their native environs, and their daily rituals. By pairing the images with quotes made by the subjects, Owens created a hilarious and absurd account of life in the suburbs. A life that included Tupperware parties, backyard barbecues, and going to the hairdresser. In 2004 the fourth and final volume in his landmark Suburbia series — Suburbia (1973; 1999); Our Kind Of People (1975); Working — I Do It For The Money (1977) — Leisure (2004) was published. In his introduction to Leisure, photographer Gregory Crewdson writes: Owens’ photographs belong to an American aesthetic tradition of art that explores the intersection of everyday life and . . .

Michael Meyer (China) “The Quiet Revolt That Saved China,” Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal

Apr 17 2019

The Quiet Revolt That Saved China Forty years ago, farmers in Xiaogang village split their commune into family plots. A record harvest followed. by Michael Meyer (China 1995-97) April 16, 2019 7:35 p.m. ET Wall Street Journal • The People’s Republic of China turns 70 in October and will celebrate with flag-waving and fireworks. But 2019 marks several other major Chinese anniversaries whose public remembrance the Communist Party will suppress—and another milestone whose observance has been surprisingly muted. Twenty years ago, it was Falun Gong adherents being arrested. In July 1999 the Communist Party branded the spiritual meditation group an “evil cult.” On April 25, 1999, 10,000 practitioners, many of them elderly, had held a silent demonstration outside Beijing’s Zhongnanhai leadership compound. It was the capital’s largest protest since those held at Tiananmen Square ended—30 years ago this June—with a bloody military crackdown. Sixty years ago on March . . .

Archive - 2019