July 2021 – Peace Corps Worldwide

A Peace Corps Marriage: A Commitment to Nonprofits, and to Each Other

Jul 30 2021

A Commitment to Nonprofits, and to Each Other In 2014, Derek Owens and Chelsea Segal randomly sat next to each other at the orientation session for their two-year stint in the Peace Corps. “Two of you will get married, it always happens,” the facilitator told the cohort of 48 people on the crest of their placement in Panama. “I was certain it would not be me,” said Mr. Owens, now 32. After growing up in the small town of Bluffton, S.C., Mr. Owens graduated from Clemson University in 2011, and then worked in a family-owned printing company. “I went into the Peace Corps wanting to learn more about myself and the people I would be living with,” he said. “I was absolutely committed to not getting attached.” Ms. Segal, now 30, felt similarly. After a childhood in Miami, she attended the University of Michigan, from which she . . .

RPCV Reverend Charles Cloughen (Micronesia) writes a book about money

Jul 29 2021

An Episcopal priest for more than 50 years and the Planned Giving Officer at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Baltimore, Maryland, the Rev. Charles Cloughen Jr. ’64 [Micronesia 1966–68] lends his insights on giving to his new book, One Minute Stewardship, Creative Ways to Talk about Money in Church. With both practical wisdom and theological insight into how churches can increase their financial resources, Cloughen has collected meditations from faith leaders around the country to create a year-round resource for rectors, pastors, ministers, worship leaders and anyone concerned about their churches’ stewardship. At the heart of the Reverend’s theology of stewardship, he says, are six key words: thank you, thank you, thank you. “It’s all about personal relationships,” Cloughen says. “Generosity and gratitude grows. People who are generous become more generous.” Inspired by the story of the widow’s mite from the Gospel of Mark, Cloughen’s theology of stewardship also includes the . . .

Remembering Jerry Black: A Legacy of Service (Comoros Islands)

Jul 28 2021

Steve Kaffen Remembers Jerry Black Jerry Black (Comoros Island 1992-94; PC Office of Inspector General 2010-21) passed away from gun violence on June 29, 2021. I worked with Jerry in OIG, and on Sunday, August 25th, attended a “Celebration of Life Service” at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Bethesda, MD along with members of OIG (past and present), the Peace Corps community, and Jerry’s family. In addition, over 120 participated via Zoom. The speakers were principally from Jerry’s family, including his wife Cathy Feingold and their oldest son, Myles. The service contained interludes of live music in recognition of Jerry’s facility with trumpet and guitar. Representing the agency, Kate Raftery, Expert Consultant in the Peace Corps’ Office of the Director, expressed the agency’s condolences and detailed Jerry’s lifelong commitment to international development and to the Peace Corps, which included service as a secondary school English teacher in the Comoros . . .

Dolores Johnson (Nepal) — Retired Nurse lived for Adventures

Jul 27 2021

Retired Nurse who lived for Adventures By Tampa Bay Times Reporter Kristen Hare (Guyana 2000-02) Dolores Johnson (Nepal 2002-04) was born in Jamaica and made her home in Florida. She died at 84. Four Peace Corps volunteers left their posts in Nepal and, for 10 days, traveled by train across India. They saw the Taj Mahal and the city of Kolkata. Sometimes, they rode in air-conditioned sleeper cars. Sometimes, they could only get tickets in third class. One night, they discovered they only had two sleeper seats for four people. So they folded down the seats and piled in, attempting a little sleep. Naomi Odell tucked herself next to her friend, Dolores Johnson. “That whole trip I felt kind of bad,” said Odell, then just out of college. “Poor Dolores.” Mrs. Johnson was in her early 60s then, retired, a new grandmother and the eldest among the . . .

Review — LAST BEST HOPE: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer (Togo)

Jul 26 2021

Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer (Togo 1982-83) 240 pages Farrar, Straus and Giroux June 2021 $27.00 (Hardback); $13.99 (Kindle); $7.95 (Audiobook) Reviewed by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) • I immediately said yes when I was asked to review George Packer’s new book, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, a self-described political pamphlet in a long-form essay, not unlike Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and other such books, written in a period of change, about that very change. Written for the moment, the authors’ hopes are that they will lead us out of our urgent predicament and tell us something we can use in the future. I remembered that Packer had been a signee of the famous or some would say infamous “Harper’s Magazine Letter,” in which established writers and artists wrote A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, decrying the fact . . .

RPCV JEREMY BLACK 1968 – 2021 (Comoros)

Jul 25 2021

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-87) Washington Post Jeremy M. Black (Comoros 1992-94) Jeremy M. Black, 53, beloved husband, father, son, brother, nephew, and uncle, passed away needlessly from gun violence on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. Jeremy is the husband of Cathy Feingold and father of two sons, Myles, 17, and Alex, 15. He dedicated his professional life to international development. After earning an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, he served as a volunteer for the Peace Corps in the Comoros Islands, leading to a lifelong passion of promoting a deeper understanding between people across and within borders. Jerry went on to receive his graduate degree from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, along with his wife, Cathy Feingold. Jerry and Cathy worked together at the Ford Foundation before moving to Washington, DC, where Jerry worked at the Aspen Institute . . .

A Peace Corps worker was on a date in D.C. with his wife. Then came a stray bullet.

Jul 25 2021

A Peace Corps worker was on a date in D.C. with his wife. Then came a stray bullet. Jeremy “Jerry” Black, a Peace Corps worker, was fatally shot on 14th Street NW on June 29, 2021. By Theresa Vargas Columnist Cathy Feingold doesn’t know who the women were or what lives they had led. All she knows is that they appeared during one of her darkest moments and knew exactly what to do as her husband lay on a busy Northwest D.C. sidewalk, dying from a gunshot wound. That night in June, as Feingold tells it, she and her husband, Jeremy Black, a Peace Corps worker who had dedicated his life to helping others, had been on a date. They had enjoyed dinner with two friends at a 14th Street restaurant and, because the weather was welcoming, decided to take a walk. The four made it only a few blocks . . .

Multi-genre writer RPCV Carolyn V. Hamilton (Suriname)

Jul 22 2021

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors. Recently, we interviewed Carolyn V. Hamilton Proctor (Suriname 1999-01) a multi-genre author, with books published in mystery, romance, memoir, and non-fiction as well as adult coloring books about her writing, and recently released, Elisabeth Samson, Forbidden Bride, a poignant and powerful historical drama. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and a graduate of Antioch University Seattle, she spent over 30 years in the real world of “Mad Men.” She is also a Success Coach for memoir writers, and manages the FB group, Aspiring Memoir Writers. She currently lives way up in the Andes in the World Heritage City of Cuenca, Ecuador. Besides writing and mentoring, Border Collies, chocolate-covered raisins, art journaling and painting in watercolor are favorite activities. Carolyn V. Hamilton is proud to have served 2 years in the Peace Corps (which inspired her first novel) . . .

Nominations Open for Peace Corps Prestigious John F. Kennedy Service Awards

Jul 21 2021

July 20, 2021 From July 19 to August 13, the Peace Corps will accept nominations for awards to honor exceptional returned volunteers and staff WASHINGTON – Today, nominations for the Peace Corps’ John F. Kennedy Service Awards will open and be accepted until 11:59 p.m., Friday, August 13, 2021. The award, presented every five years, honors President John F. Kennedy’s vision, leadership, and commitment to public service by recognizing members of the Peace Corps community who have made exceptional contributions toward realizing the mission and goals of the agency. “The Peace Corps community is made up of incredibly dedicated people who share a passion for service above self,” said Acting Director Carol Spahn. “I am inspired every day by the fierce commitment of our staff and volunteers and it will certainly be a challenge to select the winners.” John F. Kennedy Service Award candidates must demonstrate outstanding service and leadership . . .

A Writer Writes: Value of Life by Susan E. Greisen (Liberia)

Jul 20 2021

A Writer Writes Value of Life by Susan E. Greisen (Liberia 1971-73; Tonga 1973-74) Scaling a thirty-foot tree for palm nuts with bare feet, using a belt fashioned out of a vine, could lead to disaster. The men and boys who managed the task were quite skilled, and equipment failure was rare. But I cringed at the news when I learned of a farmer who had fallen out of a palm tree and sustained a severe injury. Peter, the health assistant from our small clinic, and I, a Peace Corps health volunteer, were summoned to his home. Walking thirty minutes to his village, we found Abdou lying flat in his round thatched hut. This soft-spoken father of four — ages two, three, five, and seven — had two wives, one pregnant. His supportive family was willing to do whatever was necessary to help him. After quickly assessing the . . .

The Volunteer Exemplar for the Peace Corps’ 3rd Goal — Pat Wand (Colombia)

Jul 19 2021

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Patricia A. Wand, Pat to her hosts of friends and associates across planet earth, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia from 1963 to 1965 after graduating cum laude in history from Seattle University’s Honors Program. As a rural community development and health education volunteer she taught nutrition, sewing, knitting, and public health and worked with local juntas to build three schools and a bridge. In 1969, she was on Peace Corps staff in the Eastern Caribbean. Thereafter, writing about and detailing her professional career at home and abroad is an exhausting task—as Pat somehow discovered how to get more than 24 hours out of a work day and seven days out of a week! In Pat’s own words, this is how she described her Peace Corps experience. A half century ago, service as a Peace Corps Volunteer introduced me to a . . .

Travel Writer RPCV Andy Trincia (Romania)

Jul 19 2021

Interviewed by Rolf Potts, International Known Travel Writer Andy Trincia (Romania 2002-04) is an American freelance writer and editor based in Romania. Having visited nearly 60 countries, he writes mainly about travel, with special focus on Eastern Europe. He recently edited three European history books, and a travel guide focused on Jewish history in Romania. Before embarking on a lengthy career in corporate communications and public affairs, he was a newspaper reporter in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Kansas. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, doing economic development in Timisoara, Romania. More than a decade later he moved back to Romania — he and his family now divide their time between Timisoara (2021 European Capital of Culture) and the Transylvania countryside. How did you get started traveling? I grew up moving around – mostly in suburban Philadelphia but with stints in Houston, Tampa and Charlotte – . . .

Textile Artist Hollis Chatelain (Togo)

Jul 17 2021

The Large-Scale Textile Portraits of Hollis Chatelain Orange County Arts Commission July 16, 2021 • Meet Hillsborough textile artist Hollis Chatelain (Togo 1980-81). She creates large-scale, colorfully saturated textile portraits through a process called textile painting. To create the artworks, she draws out enlarged depictions of scenes that appear to her in monochromatic dreams, frequently using surrealist imagery. She then translates the design onto fabric, dyes the fabric in monochromatic shades, then adds all vibrant color through thread with quilting. Her textile art is internationally exhibited — held in the permanent collections of The Discovery Channel, The American Embassy in Mali, and the Durham Public Library, amongst others — and she currently has a 30 year retrospective of her work on exhibit at the Quilters Hall of Fame in [Marion] Indiana. As the subjects for her textiles, Hollis often draws upon the 12 years she spent working for humanitarian organizations . . .

Kennesaw State professor’s research validates value of Peace Corps

Jul 16 2021

KENNESAW, Ga. (Jul 16, 2021) — Kennesaw State University’s Thomas Nisley (Dominican Republic 1989-91)) has delved deeply into the Peace Corps, first as a volunteer worker helping communities in need and then as an academic researcher. His study indicates that the international assistance program is a significant and cost-effective component of the United States’ foreign affairs. That finding is particularly significant, Nisley contends, since last year the Peace Corps withdrew all its volunteers worldwide from their host sites — nearly 7,000 people serving in 60 countries — due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Congress has authorized federal funding throughout the Peace Corps’ six-decade history, Nisley is concerned that the ongoing volunteer hiatus potentially could threaten further financial support for the Peace Corps and hinder its long-term future. “We have lost a year of what I often refer to as field-deployed public diplomacy,” said Nisley, a political science professor in KSU’s School of . . .

Peter Hessler (China) in The New Yorker, June 21, 2021

Jul 14 2021

Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) has a long, long essay in the issue entitled “Year of the Bunny Hill” As China prepares to host the Winter Olympics, the country gets on skis The article is on a trip Peter and his family took to Wanlong, site of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Peter, who is teaching in Chengdu, will be leaving China soon, I’m told. His visa wasn’t renewed. Peter who has been in China with his wife and twin daughters for several years might have ‘run-up against’ the government because of his New Yorkers articles. Peter began to write for the magazine in 2000. His most recent book, based on his years in Egypt is entitled, The Buried. Peter and his family, I presume, will be returning to Colorado where they own a home in a small town an hour from Telluride. While Peter’s wife Leslie and their two girls . . .

Archive - July 2021