Archive - March 20, 2020

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Arnold Zeitland (Ghana 1961-63)     The Peace Corps isn’t just bringing home 7,300 volunteers because of the coronavirus. It’s firing them.  By Joe Davidson, Columnist Washington Post March 20, 2020 Peace Corps volunteers in Cambodia take an oath at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh in 2007. The 30 English teachers served in Cambodia teaching English and supporting teachers in Cambodian provinces and districts to improve their English language and teaching skills. • Because of the coronavirus, the Peace Corps is doing more than evacuating its 7,300 volunteers from 61 countries. It’s also firing them. In a March 15 open letter to the volunteers, the agency’s director, Jody Olsen, said, “We are acting now to safeguard your well-being and prevent a situation where Volunteers are unable to leave their host countries.” But nowhere in the statement posted on the agency’s website does it tell . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dick Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64)   Last night on MSNBC Brian Williams had on Anne Rimoin (Benin 1993-95) who is a noted epidemiological. Williams said the daughter of a friend had just been brought home from her Peace Corps country, and Dr. Rimoin said she was confident all this would pass and the Peace Corps would resume its great work. Anne W. Rimoin, Ph.D., M.P.H. is a Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Infectious Disease Division of the Geffen School of Medicine. She is an internationally recognized expert on global health, emerging infectious diseases, vaccine preventable diseases and disease surveillance systems in low-resource settings. She is the Director of the Fielding School’s Center for Global and Immigrant Health. Dr. Rimoin’s research, conducted in the some of the most difficult areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has yielded several . . .