April 13, 2020 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Talking with Martin Ganzglass (Somalia)

Apr 13 2020

Martin Ganzglass answers questions from Peace Corps Worldwide about The Price of Freedom — the 6th and closing novel of his Revolutionary War series that will make you want to read all six! Where and when did you serve in the Peace Corps? Tell us about where you lived and worked. I was a PCV in Somalia from 1966 to 1968. I lived in Mogadishu with my wife, who was also a Volunteer, in a small apartment in a two-story building above a Pakistani owned grocery shop. The street below teemed with Somalis going to the numerous markets in our neighborhood. Behind us, was Hamaar Weyn, the old area of the city where women wore burkas, goldsmiths sold intricately fashioned jewelry by weight, and weavers sat in pit looms and made Benaadir cloth. The mosque immediately behind our building lacked a live Muezzin to call people to prayer, but . . .

Paul Courtright (South Korea) tells the world about the Gwangju Democratization Moment, 40 Years Later

Apr 13 2020

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Steven Boyd Saum (Ukraine 1994-96) Telling the world about the Gwangju Democratization Movement, 40 years later Paul Courtright (South Korea 1979-81) witnessed the 1980 movement and wants to set the record straight amid current attempts to distort its history for Hankyoreh by Kim Yong-hee, Gwangju correspondent From his arrival in South Korea in 1979 with the US Peace Corps until 1981, Paul Courtright, 66, took care of patients with Hansen’s disease (formerly known as leprosy) at a shelter called Hohyewon in Naju, South Jeolla Province. On May 19, 1980, Courtright was at the Gwangju intercity bus terminal on a trip to Seoul when he saw armed soldiers from a special forces brigade beating a young man with clubs. Courtright wanted to step in, but he only watched, paralyzed by fear. Stricken with guilt for failing to help the man being clubbed, he made . . .

Archive - April 13, 2020