Archive - August 11, 2021

  Acting Director’s Message Welcome back to Inside Peace Corps, where we share updates on our work, both at headquarters and in the countries where our Volunteers are invited to serve. Today is International Day of Friendship, a good day to reflect on the power that relationships have to achieve world peace. I am incredibly grateful that the Peace Corps has given us the gift of friendships that span the globe. As a Country Director in Malawi, I heard countless Volunteers share that the relationships they developed with their host community – with local leaders, neighbors, counterparts, and friends – were what they valued most from service. In a similar way, I was frequently approached by Malawians seeking to reconnect with a Volunteer with whom they had worked side-by-side. As we continue to support staff, partners, and communities around the globe and navigate the ongoing complexities of COVID-19, we are . . .

    Recognizing that a collaborative effort is needed to battle the harsh effects of climate change, the Peace Corps and the Office of the President on Wednesday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and Guyana’s sustainability efforts. The MoU was inked at the Office of the President by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira and Peace Corp Country Director Dr. Nadine Rogers. US Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch, a former Peace Corps Volunteer herself, said that the renewed agreement comes as the need for impactful action on climate change requires strong international cooperation and local engagement. She added that “…through this new agreement, the Peace Corps can continue to contribute to environmental education and awareness in Guyana with the inclusion of ecological fundamentals, climate science, biodiversity, ecosystems services, global and local environmental issues and how to address them.” With the MoU . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bill Preston (Thailand 1977-80)   Writing didn’t serve the purpose I wanted it to, which was to fix the fundamentally broken relationship between myself and other people. By Kristen Roupoenian (Kenya 2003-05) The New Yorker, August 5, 2021   My favorite literary magazine is one you probably haven’t heard of. It’s called Resonance, and it’s a small annual publication featuring a mixture of fiction, poetry, and art. Although a new issue of Resonance has appeared every year since at least the early nineteen-nineties, I have read only six of them, the ones published between 1993 and 1999. I have those issues virtually memorized, as I reread the entirety of each issue, on average, once a year. I’ve probably read my favorite poems and stories in the magazine upward of a hundred times, so I think it’s safe to say that I’ve read the writing in Resonance more carefully than . . .