Archive - December 2020

1
Alana DeJoseph (Mali) wins Best Director Award at Mumbai Film Festival
2
Another Peace Corps Rhodes Scholar — Jackson Willis (Guinea)
3
New — AMERICA’S BURIED HISTORY by Kenneth R. Rutherford (Mauritania)
4
The Towering Task Newsletter: Updates
5
New York Peace Corps recruiter established the Franklin H. Williams Award in 1999
6
2021 AIA Gold Medal Award To RPCV Edward Mazria (Peru)
7
President Trump signs legislation funding the government through September
8
A Writer Writes — Reflections from a Simpler Time (Philippines)
9
Learning the Joy of Giving in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains
10
Christmas Greetings To All RPCVs — Thank you for reading our website — Marian, Joanne and John
11
“My First Christmas in Africa” by Mark Wentling (Togo)
12
“Peace Corps Christmas” by Jeanne D‘Haem (Somalia)
13
New Novel — STREETS OF GOLFITO by Jim LaBate (Costa Rica)
14
Suburban Chicago family says: “Peace Corps at fault for daughter’s ‘preventable’ death” (Comoros)
15
Craig Storti (Morocco) talks about Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador) in SIETAR newsletter

Alana DeJoseph (Mali) wins Best Director Award at Mumbai Film Festival

  From 1992 to 1994 Peace Corps Volunteer Alana DeJoseph was an enterprise development advisor in a small town in Mali, West Africa, consistently one of the 10 poorest nations in the world. Being a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer she understood that as walls are being built and nations are turning inward, a comprehensive documentary of this globally engaged American agency was urgently needed. Alana says: “In a time when the American public either has a very antiquated notion of the Peace Corps, informed by an almost mythological awe of the 60s, or is not even aware that the agency still exists, it is high time to bring this unique organization back into the public discourse, to raise the level of the discussion from quaint to crucial.” Alana has worked in video and film production for nearly 40 years. She began her career as a 10-year-old actress. Since then, she . . .

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Another Peace Corps Rhodes Scholar — Jackson Willis (Guinea)

Yale Undergrad Drops Out of School For Peace Corps Response Assignment By Divya Kumar Tampa Bay Times When Jackson Willis was a junior at Yale University, he regularly scouted postings for Peace Corps positions. Many required a college degree and professional experience. One night, on a whim, he applied for an opening that excited him — to work on youth unemployment in Guinea. He didn’t expect to hear back, but the Peace Corps called to say a position had opened. Yale granted Jackson a one-year leave between his junior and senior year to serve with the Peace Corps Response working in the politically destabilizing youth unemployment crisis in Guinea, West Africa. There, his team operated the country’s leading employment incubator and small business accelerator, testing the limits of social franchising for both emergency and long-term employment gain. Willis, 24, had already signed up for his senior year classes and moved into . . .

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New — AMERICA’S BURIED HISTORY by Kenneth R. Rutherford (Mauritania)

  Despite the thousands of books published on the American Civil War, one aspect that has never received the in-depth attention it deserves is the use of landmines and their effect on the war and beyond. Kenneth R. Rutherford rectifies this oversight with America’s Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War, the first book devoted to a comprehensive analysis and history of the fascinating and important topic of landmines. Modern mechanically fused high explosive and victim-activated landmines were used for the first time in the world’s history on a widespread basis in the American Civil War. The first American to die from a victim-activated landmine was on the Virginia peninsula in early 1862 during the siege of Yorktown. The controversial weapon, which was concealed on or beneath the ground, was built for one purpose: to kill or maim enemy troops. The weapon was the brainchild of Confederate General Gabriel J. Rains, . . .

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The Towering Task Newsletter: Updates

  Dear A Towering Task family, We know it had been a few months since we last wrote, and in case you missed our recent email, we wanted to make sure you get this one. We have been very busy, as you can see from our updates below. We also have work yet to do to make sure that the story of the Peace Corps reaches far more people. It’s a story of success and challenges, of relationships and common purpose. We want to express our deepest gratitude to you and the rest of the Peace Corps community for helping us make it through this challenging year and sharing this story of the Peace Corps. Your continued support is humbling. In solidarity, Director Alana DeJoseph & the Documentary Team Updates on our documentary Click here to play the trailer Here’s a snapshot of the past few months: Over 7,000 viewers: We’re thrilled to have reached so many . . .

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New York Peace Corps recruiter established the Franklin H. Williams Award in 1999

  The Peace Corps recently awarded the 2020 Franklin H. Williams Award that honors returned Peace Corps Volunteers of color who continue the Peace Corps mission through their commitment to community service and who further support the agency’s third goal of promoting a better understanding of other peoples and the countries they served through this work. The award was named for one of the first staff of the agency, former Peace Corps regional director for Africa, and U.S. ambassador to Ghana, Franklin H. Williams. And, what many people don’t know is that while this ceremony resides at Peace Corps HQ in Washington, D.C., the very first awards were given in 1999, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It developed from an idea by RPCV Recruiter Leslie Jean-Pierre (Guinea 1994-96.) Leslie was a community development and health Volunteer in Guinea and he strongly believed that something . . .

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2021 AIA Gold Medal Award To RPCV Edward Mazria (Peru)

  The Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are honoring Edward Mazria (Peru 1964-66), FAIA, with the 2021 Gold Medal. The Gold Medal honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Mazria is being recognized for his work sounding the alarm on climate change and motivating the profession to take action. A native New Yorker and graduate of the Pratt Institute, Mazria received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the school and played on its basketball team, garnering attention from the New York Knicks. After being selected in the 11th round of the 1962 NBA draft, Mazria opted to serve in the Peace Corps in Peru, where he uncovered the notion that responsible architecture is the key to both social and environmental improvement. When he returned stateside to work in . . .

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President Trump signs legislation funding the government through September

  UPDATE:  Sunday Night, December 27, 2020. President Trump has signed the measure which funds the government through September 2021. The bill also provides  pandemic aid. A government shutdown has been averted. The National Peace Corps Association reports the budget includes funding for the Peace Corps and will: “Maintain level funding for the agency at $410.5 million, as it makes plans to begin redeploying Volunteers in 2021; this was the route recommended by the House of Representatives.”                          

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A Writer Writes — Reflections from a Simpler Time (Philippines)

Reflections from a Simpler Time By Ted Dieffenbacher (Philippines 1967-69) The covid-19 pandemic has forced people all over the world to change — to simplify daily living, to isolate themselves from friends, favorite places, and gatherings that had always enriched their lives. What follows is an odd COVID comparison, about a time when I had to make a dramatic lifestyle change during my time in the Philippines as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) from 1967 to 1969. Single and 22 when I arrived in Santiago, Isabela, I was suddenly challenged to change not only my daily routine but also my way of thinking (and what language to think it in). Peace Corps gave each PCV a cardboard book locker — a few shelves in a sturdy cardboard box.  Each had about 60 books in it, and because no two lockers had an identical selection, I was able every so often . . .

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Learning the Joy of Giving in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains

This short letter was posted yesterday by Rick Steves on his Travel Blog. It is a perfect Christmas Season Story. The writer is George Gorayeb, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, and now a realtor in Annapolis. George is an Arab-American Christian whose family emigrated from Syria. _____ Hello Rick,  In this season of gift-giving, I would like to share a personal story about the humblest yet most-appreciated gift that I have ever given to anyone.  Back in the spring of 1972, I was blessed to be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, high school English teacher in Marrakesh, Morocco, in North Africa. One day, a half dozen of us volunteers went hiking in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. This scenic mountain range separates the city of Marrakesh from the northern edge of the Sahara Desert. For half of the year, these mountain peaks are covered in . . .

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“My First Christmas in Africa” by Mark Wentling (Togo)

  by Mark Wentling (Honduras 1967-69 & Togo 1970-73) This holiday season has me reminiscing again about my first Christmas in Africa. As I stare blankly out the window I am transported back to 1970 and my humble room in the Adjakpo family compound in the village of Agu-Gadzapé, Togo. After three months of living there as a Peace Corps Volunteer and learning how to fit in where I would never really fit, the Christmas season was upon us and I began raising questions about what to do for Christmas. Everybody in our congested compound, which was always vibrantly alive with people doing their daily chores and what they had to do to survive the poverty that engulfed them so profoundly, liked the idea of doing something to celebrate Christmas. But, they all said they had no money to do anything. They did, however, tell me how nice it would . . .

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“Peace Corps Christmas” by Jeanne D‘Haem (Somalia)

  by Jeanne D’Haem (Somalia 1968-70) On Christmas Eve my family gathered at my grandmother’s house on Jane Street in Detroit, Michigan. Her Christmas tree glittered with multicolored bubble lights. The uncles sat in the small living room, my aunts and grandmother tasted and talked in the kitchen. Cousins played with the wooden blocks and the Indian doll in the wooden toy box in the den. Sometimes there were new babies to hold. I was 22 the first time I could not attend, as I was a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Somalia, and  I wanted to at least send a Christmas gift to Grandma Carter. Newspaper cones of tea, alcohol for the tilly lamps, or the blue and green patterned cloth for sale in my village did not seem worth sending across two oceans. However, when my neighbor showed me what she gathered from distant trees, I realized I could . . .

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New Novel — STREETS OF GOLFITO by Jim LaBate (Costa Rica)

  Streets of Golfito: A Novel by Jim LaBate focuses on two individuals who meet in Golfito, Costa Rica in 1974. Jim (Diego) is a 22-year-old Peace Corps Volunteer from upstate New York, and he has been assigned to introduce sports other than soccer to the young people. By contrast, Lilli is a shy, beautiful, 17-year-old Costa Rican girl who wants to learn English and escape her small town, a banana port on the Pacific side near the Panamanian border. In alternating chapters, the first third of the book shows these two characters growing up in their respective countries. Then, after they meet, Lilli experiences a tragedy that will drastically change her life, and Jim does all he can to help her survive and thrive in her new circumstances. • Streets of Golfito: A Novel by Jim LaBate (Costa Rica 1973-75) Mohawk River Press 252 pages October 2020 $9.99 (Kindle); $19.95 . . .

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Suburban Chicago family says: “Peace Corps at fault for daughter’s ‘preventable’ death” (Comoros)

UIC grad Bernice Heiderman, 24, was living her dream as a volunteer in Africa. She died of malaria, which the agency’s inspector general said was easily treatable with proper care. By Stephanie Zimmermann Chicago Sun Times   Serving in the Peace Corps had been Bernice Heiderman’s dream since high school. When the north suburban resident finally got accepted during her senior year of college, she wept with joy at the news, her family says. But just 18 months into her tour, the 24-year-old volunteer from Inverness was dead in a spartan hotel room in the East African island nation of Comoros, the victim of what her family calls a “preventable tragedy.” They say Heiderman endured a painful death from malaria that went undiagnosed by a local Peace Corps physician as well by a medical officer in Washington, even though the disease is endemic in Comoros. On Friday, the family filed . . .

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Craig Storti (Morocco) talks about Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador) in SIETAR newsletter

  LIVING POOR and THE SADDEST PLEASURE: Two by Moritz Thomsen Reviewed for BookMarks/SIETAR  by Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) • There’s a movement afoot (led in part by Mark Walker (Guatemala 1971-73), see the interview below) to elevate Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) to the status of a Very Important Writer, someone whose books stay in print for generations and get assigned in college literature classes, someone whose name every well-read person should know. And we here at BookMarks SIETER [Society of Intercultural Education, Training and Research USA] are happy to do our part. We briefly mentioned Thomsen in one of our previous columns (where we reviewed two Peace Corps memoirs), and now the time has come to bring him front and center. Living Poor: An American’s Encounter with Ecuador (image is the cover second edition) is widely considered the quintessential Peace Corps memoir. With deepest apologies to all my Peace Corps . . .

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