Archive - 2020

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Arnold Zetlin (Ghana 1961-62)     A plan to defeat coronavirus finally emerges, but it’s not from the White House In the absence of federal direction, states and America’s top experts forge the path ahead. by Lena H. Sun, William Wan and Yasmeen Abutaleb April 10, 2020 Washington Post   Experts have proposed transforming the Peace Corps — which suspended global operations last month and recalled 7,000 volunteers to America — into a national response corps that could perform many tasks, including contact tracing. A national plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and return Americans to jobs and classrooms is emerging — but not from the White House. Instead, a collection of governors, former government officials, disease specialists and nonprofits are pursuing a strategy that relies on the three pillars of disease control: Ramp up testing to identify people who are infected. Find everyone they interact with by . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Mother Martha Driscoll (Ethiopia 1965-67)     A Covid-19 Response Corps Can Help Stop the Pandemic Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Could Be Readily Mobilized   April 6, 2020 From: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Congresswoman Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA) are members of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security. Over the past two years we have been proud and active members of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security. This past fall, the Commission published its final report, Ending the Cycle of Crisis and Complacency in U.S. Health Security, in which we recommended the establishment of a U.S. Global Health Crises Response Corps to respond rapidly to outbreaks that occur in insecure settings overseas. Today, our country is confronting an unprecedented public health crisis within our own borders. The Covid-19 pandemic is unlike anything we have seen . . .

    Face to Face with the Global Economy Leo  Cecchini (Ethiopia 1962–64) Self-published September 2019 137 pages $5.00 (Kindle): $8.00 (Paperback) Reviewed by Jim Skelton (Ethiopia 1970–72)  • Leo Cecchini’s memoir, Face to Face with the Global Economy, provides more than just an insight into the very interesting and oftentimes exciting life he has lived, it also reveals the vast resourcefulness of a man who was destined to see the world, have an impact on it and make a difference. Beginning with his years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the early 1960s, Leo recalls that he, as one of the Peace Corps trainees in the first group to serve in Ethiopia, attended a “party” thrown by none other than President John F. Kennedy on the White House lawn. Such an event might have seemed like business as usual back in those early days of the Peace . . .

This Is A Message from Colombian Ambassador to the Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Message from Ambassador Francisco Santos The return of all Peace Corps Volunteers to the United States is heartbreaking to witness, however Friends of Colombia is particularly devastated to know that the countless positive relationships the PCVs formed in Colombia have been unceremoniously interrupted. In this challenging moment, FOC wanted to reassure the 96 volunteers who had to leave Colombia early know that they will always be welcome back. We expressed this idea directly to Colombian Ambassador to the United States Francisco Santos, and, in the true Colombian nature, Ambassador Santos recorded a message of gratitude and open arms. “What you give back Colombia, we appreciate it immensely,” said Ambassador Santos. “And we hope you can return soon.” Message from Francisco Santos, current Ambassador of Colombia to the United States.

    Re-Deploy the Peace Corps? It Begins Here, Now   (Note: If your Senator has not signed the letter, contact his office and urge him or her to do so today) “If you want to ensure the future of the Peace Corps, contact your Senator(s) and urge them to sign a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated by Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asking for an increase in Peace Corps funding for the next fiscal year (FY 2021) which will commence on October 1st. It is imperative that the agency has the financial and human resources to get Volunteers back in the field as soon as possible. The Dear Colleague letter, an official correspondence sent by Members of Congress to encourage others to support or oppose a bill, is just the beginning. There’s also legislation being circulated by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) requesting strong funding for all international affairs funding, including Peace Corps. Contact your . . .

    Coronavirus: Bay Area Peace Corps volunteers deal with ‘emotional trauma’ after global evacuations Tatiana Sanchez  April 8, 2020 Updated: April 8, 2020 7:43 p.m. • Annelise Hill was attending a conference in the Bohol Province of the Philippines — where she worked as an environmental Peace Corps volunteer — when she received a devastating alert from headquarters in Washington, D.C., urging her and others to evacuate their host countries. Hill had 24 hours to pack her belongings, say goodbye to her friends and people in the community she’d helped and rush to the airport. “It was very stressful and shocking to know that we were leaving,” said Hill, a 24-year-old Novato resident who worked as a coastal resource manager for eight months in Getafe, a city of about 30,000 people. “I knew that if I thought of it as, ‘I’m not coming back,’ I was going to break down. . . .

    Trade Adviser Warned White House in January of Risks of a Pandemic A memo from Peter Navarro (Thailand 1972-75) said failure to contain a coronavirus outbreak could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and trillions of dollars in economic losses. It is the most direct warning known to have circulated at a key moment among top administration officials. By Maggie Haberman Published April 6, 2020 New York Times Updated April 7, 2020, 12:46 a.m. ET   A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death. The warning, written in a memo by Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis . . .

    Robert G. (Mick) McGuire was a Volunteer teacher at Raishahi University, East Pakistan, and he was subsequently briefly an evaluator for the Peace Corps. He wrote this essay for the 1966 Peace Corps Volunteer, one article of 14 that focused on what the Peace Corps should become by 1976. • The Rice Must Reach the People by Robert G. McGuire III (Pakistan 1961-63) What will the Peace Corps be in 1976? The destiny of the Peace Corps is tied to the forces at work in the world. Therefore, to ensure our relevance to development, which is on of the major forces of our era, we must try year by year to maintain an acute sensitivity to the economic, political, and social forces in the developing nations. My own bias is that the Peace Corps must justify itself solely in terms of its contribution to the development of the . . .

Peace Corps partners with federal agencies to connect volunteers with jobs 4/3/2020 11:25 PM WASHINGTON – The Peace Corps is partnering with a host of federal agencies to hold webinars and virtual job fairs where evacuated Peace Corps volunteers can find jobs as they adjust to life in the United States. “We are here to support our volunteers in every way possible,” said Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen. “Our volunteers have given so much to the world, and we are working tirelessly to ensure their smooth transition to life back in the United States. We also want to recognize our outstanding government partners who are eager to hire returned Peace Corps volunteers and have supported us through this challenging time.” Returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) can find the full list of virtual job fairs by logging in  here. The participating government agencies are: Small Business Administration Department of Labor Housing . . .

Preparing for the Peace Corps 60th Anniversary Next year the Peace Corps celebrates 60 years of service. Recently I received a gift of several early Peace Corps Volunteer magazines from Patricia (Silke) Edmisten (Peru 1962-64) that she is donating to the new NPCA museum. Leafing through the material this morning I came across the March 1966 issue of the magazine. In this issue was a special tribute to Shriver, who had just finished his 5 years of service, and an article on Jack Hood Vaughn, the second director of the agency. I don’t remember seeing the issue back in ’66, but then I was in Ethiopia as an APCD and must have been too busy to read it. (You know how ‘demanding’ those Volunteers can be!) The bulk of the issue had a section entitled: PEACE CORPS: 1976 That introductory paragraph read: This began as an anniversary puzzle: If the . . .

    Member of Kennedy family and her son identified as missing boaters in Chesapeake Bay By Rachel Weiner Peter Hermann Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post April 3, 2020 Two boaters who went missing in the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis on Thursday evening have been identified as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her 8-year-old son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. David McKean confirmed his wife and son disappeared on Thursday afternoon while in a canoe on the Chesapeake Bay. In a brief interview with The Washington Post, he said the family had gathered at a waterfront house owned by his wife’s mother, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, in Shady Side, Md. At about 4 p.m., children were kicking a ball back and forth in a yard and the ball went into the water. He said his wife and son “popped into a canoe to chase it down. They just got farther out than . . .

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/490877-lawmakers-call-for-unemployment-benefits-for-evacuated-peace-corps-volunteers?fbclid=IwAR0Y9ASBOptKrJNTzZam1IKQsjoJjoqaGW8kVOKLkT4RsmqK4idSfhMroF4 Lawmakers call for unemployment benefits for evacuated Peace Corps volunteers BY REBECCA BEITSCH – 04/02/20 03:37 PM EDT 32 242 Lawmakers are pressuring the Department of Labor to give clear guidance that Peace Corps volunteers are eligible for unemployment benefits after thousands of them were stripped from their posts due to the coronavirus outbreak. The letter, signed by nearly 40 lawmakers, comes alongside a push to allow those volunteers to be fast-tracked into another program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as they gear up to respond to the pandemic. The Peace Corps, in mid-March, began the process of evacuating 7,300 volunteers, abruptly returning volunteers from the 61 countries where they served. Volunteers are not eligible to apply for unemployment benefits at the end of their service, but lawmakers said the recent stimulus bill allows workers who would not typically qualify to take advantage of the assistance. “The place . . .

Dear Friends and Readers, Many people are doing something to ease the strain of the corona virus quarantine, so my friend and publisher, Peter Sarno, and I came up with the idea to offer a serialized novel. There is no charge for it. Peter and I aren’t collecting names or information in any way. It is meant simply as entertainment in bleak times. Like most authors, I have several books that, for one reason or another, have never seen the light of day. Bring Me a Higher Love is one of them. From time to time over the years since I composed it, I’ve gone back and read through it again and made changes, but it has basically been floating around in the clouds as in an e-copy, and sitting in a drawer in my office in a hard copy. For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by the relationship between sex . . .

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/2020-04-02-coronavirus-news-n1174651/ncrd1175106#liveBlogHeader Julia Jester A mostly Democratic group of Congress members led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is asking the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and FEMA to provide recently evacuated Peace Corps volunteers the opportunity to complete their service through domestic coronavirus response efforts. Current and former presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are among the supporters, which include more than 20 senators and 18 Democratic members of the House. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is currently the only Republican signatory. In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that while they supported the recall of the volunteers,  they “believe that terminating their service contracts and health insurance coverage — at a time when our country’s public health and economic crises are rapidly worsening — not only endangers the livelihood of volunteers, but also squanders their unique skillset. We therefore urge you to provide them opportunities to enlist in domestic efforts . . .