Archive - November 2021

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NPR Correspondent Larry Kaplow (Guatemala)
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New List of Peace Corps authors who have published 2 or more books
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Review — WATER DRUMMING IN THE SOUL by Eric Madeen (Gabon)
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“Development in Morocco Flourishes” thanks to RPCV’s High Atlas Foundation
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RPCV Brother Guy Consolmagno (Kenya), Director of Vatican Observatory
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RPCV book is one of New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of the Year — LAST BEST HOPE by George Packer (Togo)
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Speech on peace delivered by President John F. Kennedy
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Review — NOTHING WORKS BUT EVERYTHING WORKS OUT by Leigh Marie Dannhauser (Cameroon)
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On this day of Remembrance–JFK & The Peace Corps
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Death of JFK — Our Experience in 1963
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Work for Corps Africa
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Review: Kwamboka’s Inquiry by Arthur Dobrin (Kenya)
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Review — LOVE AND LATRINES IN THE LAND OF SPIDERWEB LACE by Mary Lou Shefsky (Paraguay)
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11/22/63 — Ask not . . . by Jerry Norris (Colombia)
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Peace Corps and Vietnam

NPR Correspondent Larry Kaplow (Guatemala)

  Editor, International Desk Larry Kaplow  (Guatemala 1988-91) edits the work of NPR’s correspondents in the Middle East and helps direct coverage about the region. That has included NPR’s work on the Syrian civil war, the Trump administration’s reduction in refugee admissions, the Iran nuclear deal, the US-backed fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. He has been at NPR since 2013, starting as an overnight news editor. He moved to the International Desk in 2014. He won NPR’s Newcomer Award and was part of teams that won an Overseas Press Club Award and an NPR Content Excellence Award. Prior to joining NPR, Kaplow reported from the Middle East for 12 years. He was the Cox Newspapers‘ Mideast correspondent from 1997 to 2003, reporting from Jerusalem during the Second Intifada as well as from Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. He did reporting . . .

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New List of Peace Corps authors who have published 2 or more books

Here is our list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently, the count is 464. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ • Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1962-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy Anderson (Togo 1962-64) James Archambeault (Philippines 1965-67) Ron Arias (Peru . . .

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Review — WATER DRUMMING IN THE SOUL by Eric Madeen (Gabon)

  Water Drumming in the Soul: A Novel of Racy Love in the Heart of Africa by Eric Madeen (Gabon 1981-83) Independently published 218 pages April 2021 $ 2.99 (Kindle); $9.99 (Paperback) Reviewed by Sue Hoyt Aiken (Ethiopia 1962-64) • Readers are quickly drawn into the adventure of David as he travels in a foreign culture as seen through his eyes as a newly arrived Peace Corps Volunteer approaching the area where he will live and work for two years deep in Africa. Countless descriptions scattered throughout the book remind us how much the environment influences and impacts those who live there. All of our senses are called upon, including the sound of water drumming as it reverberates into David’s soul drawing him to the origin of the drumming, a beautiful nude brown woman glimmering in a pool of water beating the water with her hands like an instrument, singing as . . .

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“Development in Morocco Flourishes” thanks to RPCV’s High Atlas Foundation

  by Andre Silva Borgen Magazine, November 22, 2021   WESTBURY, New York — The High Atlas Foundation is helping Morocco’s local communities determine how they choose to develop their land and grow out of poverty sustainably. Like those in the northern Atlas Mountains, Morocco’s most vulnerable communities have long suffered from water scarcity, shaky access to land and unregulated grazing rights. These hardships make it difficult for many individual planters to harvest profitable yields on their produce and further strain their labors. Also, their reliance on traditional and overplanted crops like barley, corn and dates deliver low profits. Additionally, they exasperate a low diversity of fruits and vegetables in the poorest of the nation’s regions. While Morocco’s red fruit production saw an increase of 84% last year, many of the nation’s poorest farmers were not included in the agricultural boom. Yet, one organization is working to reverse this in a new sustainable development model, improving . . .

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RPCV Brother Guy Consolmagno (Kenya), Director of Vatican Observatory

  Brother Guy Consolmagno is the co-authored two astronomy books: Turn Left at Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope – and How to Find Them (with Dan M. Davis; Cambridge University Press, 1989) and Worlds Apart: A Textbook in Planetary Sciences (with Martha W. Schaefer; Prentice Hall, 1993). He is the author or co-author of four books exploring faith and science issues, including The Way to the Dwelling of Light (U of Notre Dame Press, 1998); Brother Astronomer (McGraw Hill, 2000); God’s Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion (Jossey-Bass, 2007), and Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (With Paul Mueller, Image, 2014). He also edited The Heavens Proclaim (Vatican Observatory Publications, 2009).  Since 2004 he has written a monthly column on astronomy for the British Catholic periodical, The Tablet. Brother Guy Consolmagno (Kenya 1983-85) is the director of the Vatican Observatory, and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. . . .

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RPCV book is one of New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of the Year — LAST BEST HOPE by George Packer (Togo)

  Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer (Togo 1982-83) This slim but forceful treatise begins with patriotic despair: With inequality persisting in the United States across generations, Packer paints a picture of a deeply fractured America that he divides into four irreconcilable categories. The result, he believes, is that we are losing the art of self-government.

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Speech on peace delivered by President John F. Kennedy

  Speech on peace delivered by President John F. Kennedy at American University on 10 June 1963     President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, ladies and gentlemen: It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst’s enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and to the conduct of the public’s business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, . . .

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Review — NOTHING WORKS BUT EVERYTHING WORKS OUT by Leigh Marie Dannhauser (Cameroon)

  Nothing Works But Everything Works Out: My Peace Corps Experience in the West Region of Cameroon Leigh Marie Dannhauser (Cameroon 2017–19) Independently published, 2019 188 pages $14.99 (paperback), $5.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Eric Madeen (Gabon 1981-83) • During Leigh Marie Dannhauser’s Peace Corps experience in Cameroon as an agriculture volunteer she dutifully kept a journal, and the contents of that journal fill this memoir. It starts with her acceptance of assignment which was initially for Peru, but then gets switched to Cameroon along with the job. The memoir is on point in giving the highlights and challenges (boo-coo!) of daily life and could very well serve as a primer of sorts for future volunteers to Cameroon at staging or better yet required reading prior to being accepted for assignment, to give them an accurate assessment of what they’d be up against. And there’s much! Having served in Gabon (1981–83) . . .

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On this day of Remembrance–JFK & The Peace Corps

The first Peace Corps Conference of RPCVs was help in 1965 at the State Department. As Shriver said to the gathering at the opening session. “Who would have thought three years ago the Peace Corps  was going to take over the State Department?” They did for their first reunion called CITIZENS IN A TIME OF CHANGE> 1965 RPCV Conference Report Low-Res    

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Death of JFK — Our Experience in 1963

• Death of JFK I think Peace Corps Volunteers all over the world had a similar experience. In Addis Ababa, we learned via a phone call about the assassination, and I got out my shortwave radio to learn more.  There were six of us in our house, and we all crowded into my room to listen to the staticky radio. Very frustrating. Afterward, there was an outpouring of grief and sympathy from our friends. Schools were closed on the following Monday, and on the following day, those of us who were teachers faced a barrage of questions from our students. Actually, it was a useful teaching point about American life and democracy — Neil Boyer (Ethiopia 1962-64) •   Ask not As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was assigned to La Plata, a difficult-to-find village on any map, set in the foothills of Colombia’s Andean mountains. On this soon to . . .

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Work for Corps Africa

  We are currently hiring for the following headquarters positions:   Chief Operating Officer Deadline to apply is December 10, 2021 Accounting and Evaluation Manager Deadline to apply is December 10, 2021 Communications and Development Associate Deadline to apply is December 10, 2021 Training Coordinator Deadline to apply is December 10, 2021

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Review: Kwamboka’s Inquiry by Arthur Dobrin (Kenya)

Kwamboka’s Inquiry by Arthur Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67) Nsemia Inc. Publishers 146 pages March 2017 $8.99 (Kindle); $25.73 (Paperback)     Reviewed by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-67) The opening scene: Funeral preparations in a churchyard for a murder victim, the respected co-founder of a Kenyan school, who was inexplicably shot to death in her home. Nothing was stolen. Inspector James Dingiria, from Nairobi, outside the district, was sent to investigate. This is the set-up of Arthur Dobrin’s novel, Kwamboka’s Inquiry, which is much about Kenyan society as a murder mystery. Dobrin has an acute eye for physical details that puts the reader on the scene, and an understanding of the underlying social, tribal, and economic tensions that inform the story. He and his wife served in the Peace Corps in Kenya, which made them first-hand witnesses. Initially, the murder was thought to be the work of the Sungu Sungu, originally formed . . .

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Review — LOVE AND LATRINES IN THE LAND OF SPIDERWEB LACE by Mary Lou Shefsky (Paraguay)

  Love and Latrines in the Land of Spiderweb Lace: A Peace Corps Memoir by Mary Lou Shefsky (Paraguay 1974–76) Blurb, 2021 218 pages $38.89 (paperback – full color), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Kim Herman (Dominican Republic 196  ) • I thoroughly enjoyed reading this Peace Corps memoir because the book demonstrates Mary Lou Shefsky’s deep connections and commitment to the people and families she met during her service. I found the details in the book both surprising and enjoyable as she describes her work, her problems, and the deep relationships she develops with her Paraguayan friends and “family.” She also writes about her many continuing visits with them, both in Paraguay and the US, following her service, which is a common theme among returned Volunteers who shared many great experiences with host country nationals and the people they served. The many photographs in the book add a great deal to . . .

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11/22/63 — Ask not . . . by Jerry Norris (Colombia)

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was assigned to La Plata, a difficult to find village on any map, set in the foothills of Colombia’s Andean mountains. On this soon to be fateful morning of November 22, 1963 I had taken a bus into Neiva, the Departmental capital, to obtain some governmental authorizations for Community Development Funds for one of our projects. Like most every bus in our area, firmly set above the driver’s head were three pictures with Christmas tree lights around them: Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and President John F. Kennedy. Later that afternoon, about 3:30 PM or so, before boarding the bus for the trip back, I stopped at a newsstand next to the Hotel Neiva to see if it had a recent copy of Time Magazine. There was one copy left! In my excitement to read while paying for it, I paid little attention to a . . .

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Peace Corps and Vietnam

Peace Corps has been working to establish a program in Vietnam since  2004 and today much has been done in anticipation of Peace Corps in Vietnam next year.  Read: “Annual Report July 2020 to July 2021 Building a Foundation” Peace Corps Vietnam From that report: “The Peace Corps opening in Viet Nam represents decades of work involving hundreds of people with a collective vision for promoting closer people-to-people ties between the United States and Viet Nam. In 2004, Le Van Bang Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs formally invited Peace Corps to Vietnam. Two years later, Peace Corps sent a four-person assessment team led by John L. Williams, the then Peace Corps Thailand Country Director, to Viet Nam to conduct a new country assessment. The report concluded that Viet Nam would provide a welcoming environment in which Volunteers would be successful. On May 24, 2016, during President Obama’s only official trip to . . .

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