September 19, 2021 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Another review — AFGHANISTAN AT A TIME OF PEACE by Robin Varnum

Sep 19 2021

Afghanistan at a Time of Peace by Robin Varnum (Afghanistan 1971–73) Peace Corps Writers June, 2021 201 pages $25.00 (paperback), $10.00 (Kindle) Reviewed by John Chromy (India 1963–65) • Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Robin Varnum (Afghanistan 1970-72) has brought to us a wonderful reminder of how Peace Corps operated in faraway lands 50 years ago.The Volunteers remembered President Kenndy’s “ringing call to service” and they were ready to go to the ends of the earth to serve, to learn and to teach. Ms. Varnum’s narrative begins with the three day PRIST (pre-Invitational Staging) program in Chicago in which the potential volunteers were briefed, provided with vast amounts of information on Peace Corps and Afghanistan, and given the choice to go to Afghanistan or not. If they said yes, two months later they were on their way to Kabul and three months of in-country training. The description of sights, emotions, excitement and . . .

Grateful for vision, leadership that led to creation of Peace Corps

Sep 19 2021

Peace Corps volunteers examine a map of Guatemala in 2016. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) By Frank Price (Côte d’Ivoire 1969-71) September 18, 2021 at 1:37 p.m. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 did not kill the dream he inspired within me. A senior in high school, I knew that I would join the Peace Corps and go to a Francophone Africa nation. On Wednesday, we will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Peace Corps Act. Although it was created in 1961, the Peace Corps was inspired a year earlier by what Kennedy — then a candidate on the campaign trail — said in a 2 a.m. speech in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was not there that early morning, but his words still stick with me. Addressing a large crowd from the steps of the University of Michigan Union, he posed an improvised historic question to . . .

Archive - September 19, 2021