Archive - 2019

  Back in 1966 when the Peace Corps first went to Micronesia, the agency launched its recruitment strategy with a pamphlet showing a glorious sunny beach and palm trees waving with the wind under the headline, “Peace Corps Goes to Paradise.” Needlessly to say, that Ad outraged current and former Volunteers who didn’t see their service as idling away a few years on a blissful island. Now the Peace Corps is headed to Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea in Southeastern Europe, just across the water from Italy, and neighboring Albania, Bosnia and Croatia. In 2020, PCVs will be arriving to work in primary education programs in a nation famous for its gambling and nightlife. Some tourists call the country, “a poor man’s Monaco.” But as Director Jody Olsen said in her announcement, “The Peace Corps is proud to partner with the Government and people of Montenegro. This is a truly unique . . .

Peace Corps Press Release WASHINGTON – The Peace Corps announced today plans to establish a new program in Montenegro focused on English education. Montenegro will represent the agency’s 142nd country of service and will be considered an extension of the existing Peace Corps post in Albania. The Government of Montenegro invited the Peace Corps to establish a program in the country in August 2018; the new program will open next year. The first group of Volunteers is scheduled to depart in January 2020. The new Volunteers will undergo three months of comprehensive technical, cross-cultural and language training in Albania before starting two years of service in small, under-served Montenegrin communities. The new cohort will serve as education Volunteers in primary schools and co-teach with Montenegrin English teachers. The Volunteers will also work with their teacher counterparts to engage young people in after-school clubs, educational camps and sports initiatives. Volunteers may . . .

    Quote of the Week “I recommend that we remember the beginning of the Peace Corps. We risked everything at our beginning in a leap of faith that the Peace Corps would succeed.  … We were a Corps, a band of brothers and sisters united in the conviction that if we worked hard enough to eradicate our fears, and increase the outreach of our love, we truly could avoid war, and achieve peace within our own selves, within our nation, and around the world.” Sargent Shriver | Washington, DC | September 22, 2001 • Our Quote of the Week honors two milestones we’re celebrating this month: the anniversary of Sargent Shriver’s tenure with the Peace Corps, and the birthday William “Bill” Josephson, our senior advisor and a close friend and colleague of Sargent Shriver’s. On March 22, 1961, President Kennedy appointed Sargent Shriver to the post of Director of the Peace Corps. . . .

Thank you to Alan Toth who posted this link on his Facebook page. Alan Toth is a RPCV and a documentary film producer: http://www.alantoth.net/about Walker Marsh is a serving Peace Corps Volunteer and wrote this article about a cyclone which hit Mozambique on March 15th. https://06880danwoog.com/2019/03/21/walker-marsh-reports-from-mozambique-we-need-urgent-help/?fbclid=IwAR22arcEbtCmTVaEF6XV8blmv4fZ2_tncJu-ujfXWnC0PYDhHJzHfa3Qo20    

Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978-80) Mark was the winner of the 1998 Peace Corps Writers Maria Thomas Award for his novel Stone Cowboy. A former Foreign Service officer, he has published more than 100 stories in magazines including The Atlantic, The Southern Humanities Review, The Idaho Review, The Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. His story “How Birds Communicate” won the Iowa Review Fiction Prize in 1998. His five books include three novels and two collections of short stories. His website can be found at http://www.markjacobsauthor.com. Click here and read: Bear’s Change “The Hudson Review is rare in having remained a forum for intelligent, well-written criticism and cultural commentary on a broad spectrum of topics. In fact it belongs to a tiny handful of magazines where the first criterion of inclusion is literary merit.” — The Wall Street Journal Founded in 1948, The Hudson Review is a quarterly magazine of literature and the arts published in New York City. Frederick Morgan, one of . . .

    President Trump Recommends $14 Million Funding Cut for Peace Corps For the third consecutive year, President Trump is recommending a reduction in funding for the Peace Corps. The president’s request of $396 million for the agency in Fiscal Year 2020 would represent a slightly more than three percent cut in funding ($14 million). The proposed reduction is part of a much larger 24 percent cut to the nation’s International Affairs Budget.Read more and see Service Year Alliance statement response to the Trump Administration’s proposal to eliminate national service in the FY20 budget.  

If you call or email Glenn Blumhorst, NPCA President This is the message you get: “Greetings from El Paso! I’m on a volunteer vacation at Annunciation House March 19-29, with limited internet access. I’ll respond as soon as I can.” Short-Term Volunteers for Emergency Hospitality Posted on March 18, 2019 Beginning in summer 2018, we have seen an increase in the flow of refugees arriving at the El Paso border. As ICE detention facilities filled, the number of refugees being released by ICE increased.  As of the end of February 2019, 400-700+ refugees per day are being sent to Annunciation House. We are urgently seeking additional short-term volunteers to help us provide hospitality to these refugees. For more information, please read this document (PDF). Glenn Blumhorst (Guatemala 1988-91) continues to serve. He’s an example for all of us.  

    Peace Corps Press Release The Peace Corps announces 2019 top Volunteer-producing schools 03/20/2019 The University of Wisconsin-Madison boasts the No. 1 spot for large schools on Peace Corps’ Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list, with 75 volunteers serving around the world. For the third consecutive year, Wisconsin holds the coveted top spot, but Badgers beware: the University of Virginia Cavaliers are closing the gap, jumping from No. 15 to No. 2 in just two years.With 74 UVA alumni serving as Peace Corps Volunteers, the school slides into a close second place on this year’s rankings. The University of California – Berkeley comes in at No. 11 on the large school list, but has sent over 3,500 alumni to Peace Corps service since 1961, more than any other school. Meanwhile, Arizona State University and The University of Arizona continue to duke it out in the desert. Currently 44 Sun . . .

    Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bill Josephson, Peace Corps General Counsel 1961-66     The Sargent Shriver Peace Institute Quote of the week — “The idea [of the Peace Corps is] that free and committed men and women can cross boundaries of culture and language, or alien tradition and great disparities of wealth, of old hostilities and new nationalisms, to meet with other men and women on the common ground of service to human welfare and human dignity. And if this idea isn’t going to change the world, then this world is beyond redemption!” Sargent Shriver | New York, NY | December 11, 1963 • Our Quote of the Week celebrates the 58th anniversary of the creation of the Peace Corps. On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed the executive order to create the Peace Corps. Three weeks later, on March 22, he would name Sargent Shriver as . . .