Archive - 2020

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2020 Peace Corps Writers’ Maria Thomas Award for the Best Book of Fiction — WITH KENNEDY IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD by Will Siegel (Ethiopia)
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Peace Corps Writers Best Photography Award named in honor of Rowland Scherman
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2020 Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Award for the Best Book of Non-Fiction — RACE ACROSS AMERICA by Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles)
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2020 Peace Corps Writers Moritz Thomsen Award for Best Book about the Peace Corps Experience — ERADICATING SMALLPOX IN ETHIOPIA edited by James W. Skelton, Jr. et al
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David Jarmul (Moldova) “When COVID-19 Forced Peace Corps Volunteers to Evacuate”
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Excerpt from UNEXPECTED JOURNEY: in Chengdu, China
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Walter Carrington, former Peace Corps CD & US Ambassador to Nigeria, is dead
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Greg Emerson (Morocco & Peru) at The Atlantic Magazine
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Nancy S. Bercaw (Kenya) home from United Arab Emirates
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The Peace Corps welcomes new Senior Advisor to the Director Dr. Darlene Grant (Cambodia)
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Peter Hessler (China) — “How China Controlled the Coronavirus”
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Steve Kaffen (Russia) travels to Australia
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Guatemala RPCV shot on the streets of Portland
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Peace Corps profile of original plan for Volunteers in Pakistan-West and East
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RPCV (Fiji & Mali) writes book on Agent Orange

2020 Peace Corps Writers’ Maria Thomas Award for the Best Book of Fiction — WITH KENNEDY IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD by Will Siegel (Ethiopia)

  THE MARIA THOMAS FICTION AWARD, first presented in 1990, is named after the novelist Roberta Worrick (Ethiopia 1971–73) whose pen name was Maria Thomas. Roberta lost her life in August 1989, while working in Ethiopia for a relief agency. She went down in the plane crash that also killed her husband, Thomas Worrick (Ethiopia 1971–73), and Congressman Mickey Leland of Texas. Mrs. Worrick’s novel, Antonia Saw the Oryx First, published by SoHo Press  . . . in 1987, drew critical praise for its depiction of the tensions between colonial whites and Africans on a continent buffeted by changes. After the success of the novel, Soho Press issued Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage, Mrs. Worrick’s collection of short stories in which she told of the difficulties of various people — Peace Corps Volunteers, foreign academics, Indians, American blacks and white hunters left behind by colonial empires — in finding . . .

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Peace Corps Writers Best Photography Award named in honor of Rowland Scherman

    Rowland Scherman was the Peace Corps’ first photographer beginning in 1961 traveling around the world documenting Volunteer’s lives and work. He was just beginning his career working for the Peace Corps as a photojournalist when the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) handed him an assignment in August of 1963: A civil rights march, they said. In Washington. Scherman didn’t realize that he’d been assigned to cover one of the most monumental events in U.S. history. But there was a catch: the photos wouldn’t belong to him, they would belong to USIA, whose purpose was to use media to help improve the United States’ image abroad. Nevertheless, he did his duty faithfully at the March on Washington on that hot August day, capturing the sandwich-makers and the children who arrived with their parents on school buses, as well as the celebrities who spoke from the podium. He shot from the top . . .

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2020 Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Award for the Best Book of Non-Fiction — RACE ACROSS AMERICA by Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles)

  THE PAUL COWAN NON-FICTION AWARD, first given 1990, was named to honor Paul Cowan, a Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Ecuador from 1966 to 1967. Cowan wrote ≈ about his time as a Volunteer in Latin America in the ’60s. A longtime activist and political writer for The Village Voice, Cowan died of leukemia in 1988.     Race across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies by Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles 1980-82) Syracuse University Press 360 pages December 2019 $75.00 (hard cover), $29.95 (paperback), $16.17 (Kindle)   On April 23, 1929, the second annual Transcontinental Foot Race across America, known as the Bunion Derby, was in its twenty-fifth day. Eddie “the Sheik” Gardner, an African American runner from Seattle, was leading the race across the Free Bridge over the Mississipi River. Along with the signature outfit that earned him his nick name white towel tied around his head, white shorts, and a . . .

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2020 Peace Corps Writers Moritz Thomsen Award for Best Book about the Peace Corps Experience — ERADICATING SMALLPOX IN ETHIOPIA edited by James W. Skelton, Jr. et al

  THE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE AWARD was initiated in 1992, and it has been presented annually to a Peace Corps Volunteer or staff member, past or present for the best depiction of life in the Peace Corps — be it daily life, project assignment, travel, host country nationals, other Volunteers, readjustment. Initially entries were short works including personal essays, storys, novellas, poems, letters, cartoons, and songs. In 1997, this award was renamed to honor Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67) whose Living Poor has been widely cited as an outstanding telling of the essence of the Peace Corps experience. Since 2009, memoirs are also considered for The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award.   Eradicating Smallpox in Ethiopia: Peace Corps Volunteers’ Accounts of Their Adventures, Challenges and Achievements Editors: Gene L. Bartley (Ethiopia 1970–72, 1974–76), John Scott Porterfield (Ethiopia 1971–73), Alan Schnur (Ethiopia 1971–74), James W. Skelton, Jr. (Ethiopia 1970–72) Peace Corps Writers 486 . . .

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David Jarmul (Moldova) “When COVID-19 Forced Peace Corps Volunteers to Evacuate”

  How Volunteers over 50 learned the news and are feeling about it now By David Jarmul (Moldova 2016-18) nextavenue.com August 14, 2020   To do something meaningful Kamana Mathur (Nepal), who’s in her early 60s, had just arrived at her Peace Corps post in Nepal shortly before the end of her training when she was told she needed to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in its history, the Peace Corps was evacuating its volunteers worldwide. “I was busy chatting with my host family,” Mathur recalled. “Then my colleague called and told me we had to leave. I said, ‘You know, I just sat down to lunch.’” Mathur had left her federal job in Hawaii, she said, “to reinvent myself to do something really meaningful at this point in my life.” During her Peace Corps training in the Himalayas, she’d studied the local language and culture, used . . .

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Excerpt from UNEXPECTED JOURNEY: in Chengdu, China

  Unexpected Journey, published in 2015, described my experiences in China, among many countries, in the mid-1980s. Several essays appearing in the latest WorldView from recently returned Peace Corps/China volunteers, and Peter Hessler’s Chengdu Covid-19 commentary, brought to mind two Chengdu encounters in Unexpected Journey that demonstrate, even back then in the region served by Peace Corps, the thirst for English language education and interaction with native English-speakers. — Steve   A Pow-er-ful Encounter by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96) While exploring the old historic district located in the shadows of Chengdu’s imposing statue of Mao, I became lost in the maze of narrow streets crammed with wooden houses, sidewalk vendors and tiny restaurants. Turning into an alleyway, I was met by the huge brown eyes of a young boy. He smiled. “How do you do?” he greeted me, with a British accent. “Fine, thank you,” I responded. “What is your . . .

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Walter Carrington, former Peace Corps CD & US Ambassador to Nigeria, is dead

  August 13, 2020 Walter Carrington, former United States Ambassador to Nigeria and Senegal, has died at the age of 90 according to a statement by his wife, Arese Carrington, “It is with a heavy and broken heart but with gratitude to God for his life of selfless humanity that I announce the passing of my beloved husband Walter Carrington, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and Senegal. Further announcements will be made shortly,” she said. According to her, Walter was a loving husband, father, grandfather, cousin, uncle, friend and in-law. “Ralph Waldo Emerson said . . .. It is not the length of life but the depth of life. Walter was fortunate, his life had both length and depth,” she said.   Carrington was born in 1930. He served as the US Ambassador to Senegal from 1980 to 1981. He was appointed by US President Bill Clinton in 1993 as . . .

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Greg Emerson (Morocco & Peru) at The Atlantic Magazine

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Steven Boyd Saum (Ukraine 1994–96)   As the senior director of product at The Atlantic, I oversee the end-to-end story experience, from authoring tools and article page templates to reader-facing touchpoints across all platforms. Previously, as the head of product at HuffPost, I led strategic planning and oversaw the development roadmap for all of HuffPost’s digital products in the U.S. I grew the product team from one to four and coordinated with leaders throughout HuffPost’s newsroom, business, engineering and design teams to launch the brand’s first membership program, HuffPost Plus, and to deliver improvements to the reader experience on all platforms. Before HuffPost, as the mobile product manager for The Wall Street Journal, I oversaw feature development for our mobile apps, including virtual reality storytelling and a significant redesign of the iOS and Android apps that introduced personalized content in a dedicated “MyWSJ” section. . . .

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Nancy S. Bercaw (Kenya) home from United Arab Emirates

  Nancy S. Bercaw New Senior Director of Communications and Marketing at Johnston Community College. August 10, 2020 Nancy Bercaw (Kenya 1988-89) comes to JCC from her prior role as senior advisor for communications and marketing at Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates. During her three-year tenure at Ajman, Bercaw helped the institution attract significant global visibility and earn recognition as having the third most international student body in the world. Previously, she served the University of Vermont in multiple communications capacities over a period of 15 years, which included the initial creation of UVM’s Center on Rural Addiction funded by a $6.6 million federal grant. “I look forward to bringing my experiences from Ajman and Vermont to the work of JCC here in Smithfield,” she said. “Every community deserves to be celebrated and promoted for its own unique and compelling story. What impresses me most about JCC thus . . .

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The Peace Corps welcomes new Senior Advisor to the Director Dr. Darlene Grant (Cambodia)

from the Peace Corps   The Peace Corps welcomes Dr. Darlene Grant to her new role as senior advisor to Director Jody Olsen. In this role, Dr. Grant will work with agency leadership to increase and champion a diverse staff and volunteer corps. She will make recommendations aimed at increasing inclusiveness, removing barriers for underrepresented groups, and creating a more just and equitable Peace Corps. Dr. Grant’s path to the Peace Corps began after 18 years as a professor of social work at the University of Texas at Austin. There, she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in social justice, clinical practice, research methodology, and working with at-risk youth. She directed funded research projects focusing on juvenile probation, teen pregnancy prevention, and the domestic violence experiences of incarcerated women. Dr. Grant was named 2006 Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers. In 2009, she took a . . .

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Peter Hessler (China) — “How China Controlled the Coronavirus”

The New Yorker  10 Aug 2020 A few days before my return to classroom teaching at Sichuan University, I was biking across a deserted stretch of campus when I encountered a robot. The blocky machine stood about chest-high, on four wheels, not quite as long as a golf cart. In front was a T-shaped device that appeared to be some kind of sensor. The robot rolled past me, its electric motor humming. I turned around and tailed the thing at a distance of fifteen feet. It was May 27th, and it had been more than three months since my last visit to the university’s Jiang’an campus, which is on the outskirts of Chengdu, in southwestern China. In late February, when the spring semester was about to begin, I had hurried to campus to retrieve some materials from my office. We were nearly a month into a nationwide lockdown in response . . .

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Steve Kaffen (Russia) travels to Australia

  Australia is a country of superlatives, a land of “Wows.” Journey with explorer and author Steve Kaffen “Down Under,” through vast, geographically diverse, culturally rich, and extremely scenic Australia, the only country that is also a continent. Using 500 original photos accompanied by vivid descriptions and observations, the author captures in colorful detail the country’s naturally beautiful places, energetic cities with distinct personalities, thriving animal and sea life, historical sites, and multiple cultures including Aboriginal cultures dating back thousands of years. The coverage includes Sydney’s heralded New Year’s Eve celebration, the renowned Australia Zoo and its Wildlife Hospital, the Great Barrier Reef, the interior Outback, the Great Ocean Road, Australian Open tennis, and wine-tasting in South and Western Australia near Perth. Sufficiently detailed to plan a comprehensive visit to Australia’s far corners and deep interior, and lots of fun to read and enjoy. • Australia: Adventures and Encounters (Travel . . .

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Guatemala RPCV shot on the streets of Portland

   I’m a Mom Who Came Out to Protest for Black Lives in Portland. I Was Shot by Federal Agents   BY ELLEN URBANI  AUGUST 6, 2020 6:48 AM EDT This article appears in the August 17, 2020 issue of TIME.   Our president wants you to believe I am a terrorist, a professional agitator stalking the Pacific Northwest. Four days before federal agents shoot me in Portland, Ore., I riffle through the garage, shooing spiders from my son’s snowboarding helmet. Will it buckle beneath a steel baton? I press my daughter’s swim goggles to my face, testing the fit. Can they repel tear gas? I run my hands over my husband’s life jacket. Can it stop a bullet? I don’t yet realize how many other moms are slipping oven mitts into backpacks (to minimize burns when tossing aside flaming grenades and tear-gas canisters), how many dads are hoisting leaf blowers from . . .

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Peace Corps profile of original plan for Volunteers in Pakistan-West and East

This document is a public record which was published by the Peace Corps on November 1, 1961.   PAKISTAN – WEST AND EAST Two pilot projects in agriculture, education, and community development is being undertaken – one in West, the other in East Pakistan. Peace Corps Volunteers will serve as junior instructors in Pakistan colleges; teach new farming methods and maintenance of improved farming implements; organize youth clubs; and work in hospitals. In West Pakistan, Volunteers stationed in Lahore and Lyallpur will work on hospital staffs, on college faculties and staffs, and as members of agricultural extension teams. Volunteers to East Pakistan will be assigned to government ministries, a village development academy and the faculty of a university. They will also help build a planned satellite city. VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED — 30 Volunteers in West and. 33 in East Pakistan. TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS — College degrees and even graduate work were considered . . .

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RPCV (Fiji & Mali) writes book on Agent Orange

    National Agent Orange Day is August 10. While COVID-19 races through the U.S. population, another invisible killer continues to rage among our already endangered population. Agent Orange continues to contaminate and kill civilians and veterans more than 50 years after spraying. Two Marines, Brent MacKinnon and Sandy Scull, have published a personal account detailing damage done to both body and soul: Agent Orange Roundup: Living with a Foot in Two Worlds. This tells of the loss of innocence, betrayal and final acceptance of Stage 4 cancer 50 years after their tour of duty. The Department of Veteran Affairs estimates over 300,000 Vietnam Veterans have died from the herbicidal defoliant known as Agent Orange; The Vietnamese casualties are in the millions. This collection of powerful art, prose and poetry captures their journey from the home front, into the meat grinder and the long struggle for recovery. Lt. Charles “Sandy” . . .

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