August 2022 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Cold Mornings in Mongolia

Aug 08 2022

As we all suffer through the heat and humidity, I thought it might be fun to republish a piece about cold weather. A wonderful short essay by Matt Heller we published a few years ago. Cold Mornings in Mongolia by Matt Heller (Mongolia 1995-97) OUR FAMILY ALWAYS LIVED where we needed a snow shovel. I remember one snowstorm in particular when I was nine. My best friend, Bobby Frost, and I shoveled our entire driveway ourselves, which is no small feat for nine-year-olds. When we were done, my father was waiting in the kitchen to reward us with grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and a silver dollar for the work we had done. Dipping my grilled cheese into the steaming tomato soup (in my opinion, truly the best way to eat the two together), I am sure I was oblivious to how lucky I was; how Norman Rockwell-beautiful shoveling a . . .

DEAR MICHELLE, LETTERS FROM AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW LIFE by Samuel Gerard (Ukraine)

Aug 07 2022

by Samuel Gerard (Ukraine 2018–20) (pen name of Samuel Gerard Luebbers) Having had the chance to reflect on my Peace Corps experiences, and knowing how fickle memory can be, I felt the necessity to write them down. What became of this project was a meandering epistolary, one which I both mentally dedicated and fictionally addressed to an old friend, Michelle. We met a lifetime ago on the roof of my college freshmen dorm. We shared a long conversation then, and several others afterwards. We always imagined, to ourselves, that we would be together. I promised her that when I was ready to commit to someone, it would be her. Life has a way of getting in the way, though. I learned this alongside college’s so many other lessons. In ultimate testament to life’s effect on well-laid plans, soon after Michelle and I began dating, I received my invitation to . . .

Glenn A. Blumhorst Says Goodby To The NPCA

Aug 06 2022

My Dear Friends, I’m writing to let you know that, after prayerful consideration, yesterday I reached a separation agreement with NPCA in order to bring closure to this matter. I owe my utmost gratitude to you – the Peace Corps family that has stood up, spoken up, and supported me now and throughout my tenure at NPCA. My family and I were both uplifted and humbled by your overwhelming kindness, care, and concern. We are especially grateful to NPCA board chair emeritus Tony Barclay, who organized and led a campaign on my behalf, and to all 160+ of you who signed on to his letter (and many more who voiced support) calling for either my reinstatement or an honorable parting of ways. Serving the Peace Corps community as NPCA President and CEO was my dream job and one of life’s greatest privileges. Cathy and I will forever hold fond . . .

The Volunteer Who Used His Corporate Positions in Service to Others — Bob Haas (Ivory Coast)

Aug 05 2022

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Robert (Bob) Haas, Peace Corps Volunteer, Ivory Coast, 1964-66, subsequently served as the Chairman of Levi Strauss & Co. He is the son of Walter A. Strauss, and the great-great-grandnephew of the company’s founder, Levi Strauss. Bob received a BA degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964, and a MA from Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1968. H was a White House Fellow from 1968 to 1969. He joined Levi Strauss in 1973 and went on to serve others in a variety of corporate roles. Bob was elected to the Board of Directors in 1979, then as President and CEO in 1984, serving until he stepped down in 1999. He became Chairman of the Board in 1989 and retired from the Board in 2014. Under his leadership, Levi Strauss & Company carried out the company’s engagement in corporate social responsibility; . . .

Review — MY SADDEST PLEASURES by Mark Walker (Guatemala)

Aug 05 2022

My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road: Part of the Yin and Yang of Travel Series by Mark D. Walker (Guatemala 1971–73) Cyberwit.net May 2022 63 pages $15.00 (paperback) Review by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76; Costa Rica 1976–77) • This book is part of the author’s “Yin and Yang of Travel” series of ten essays, which was inspired by Paul Theroux’s (Malawi 1963–65) The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road Mr. Walker has spent over 50 years traveling in many countries around the world, first as a Peace Corps volunteer, and later as a professional fund raiser for various nonprofit organizations or NGOs. The book is an easy read. Walker writes in a conversational style, and it is only 63 pages. It is primarily a journal of his travels alone, with his family, and leading trips for donors to NGOs he worked for. His travel has . . .

RPCV Jon Ebeling Dies From Heart Attack (Ethiopia)

Aug 04 2022

Dr. Jon Sutton Ebeling, Professor Emeritus in Political Science, CSU Chico, passed on July 25, 2022, in Napa, California, after a long struggle to recover from a heart attack during May. Dr. Ebeling grew up in southern California with the surfers who gave the Beach Boys something to sing about. There was a movie about one of his fellow surfers, Gidget, based upon a book that her father wrote. Long after he left Santa Monica Jon occasionally ran into some of his beach friends including Gidget and Tom McBribe. Jon was born in Queens, New York in 1938 to Beatrice Coulbourne Ebeling and William Ebeling. After his father passed away in 1939, Jon’s mother brought him and his older brother, Peter, across the U.S., stopping in Arizona first, before finding work as a bookkeeper in Los Angeles. His high school counselors thought that Jon would make a good sheet . . .

Doing the Blitz Peace Corps Recruitment in the ’60s

Aug 04 2022

To Preserve and to Learn by Hal Fleming (Staff: PC/W 1966–68; CD Cote d’Ivoire 1968–72) first published in 2008 at PeaceCorpsWriters.org IN 1966, I CAME DOWN TO WASHINGTON from New York. It was a time in our country when the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War divided the nation. I had been tapped to work as a staff member in the Public Affairs and Recruiting office for the Peace Corps. On my very first work day in Peace Corps/Washington, I was told to join Warren Wiggins, the Deputy Director of the Agency, in his government car for a one-hour ride to a conference for new campus recruiters at Tidewater Inn in Easton, Maryland. Wiggins, preoccupied with his opening speech to the conclave, said very little to me except to read out a phrase or two of buzz-word laden prose, mostly unintelligible to me as the new guy, and . . .

THE GRIEVERS’ GROUP by Richard Wiley (Korea)

Aug 03 2022

PEN/Faulkner winner Richard Wiley is one of the 21st century’s best storytellers. In his newest book, THE GRIEVERS’ GROUP, he chronicles the lives of people who have suffered great loss. One is suicidal and terribly difficult to like; another serves up stories of a lifelong series of affairs; a third won a small fortune in Las Vegas while trying to unravel the truth about his late wife; and, another caused the death of a lover – personally delivering it from the barrel of a gun. It is a wild ride with an unforgettable cast of characters whose stories Wiley unfurls with unfailing sympathy but also with his signature wit and humor. • About the Author Richard Wiley won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Washington State Governor’s Writers Award for Soldiers in Hiding and the Maria Thomas Fiction Award for Ahmed’s Revenge. He is also the recipient of the Silver Pen Award from the . . .

Former Steamboat Woman among first Peace Corps Volunteers to return Overseas

Aug 02 2022

Thanks for the “heads up” from Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) by Spencer Powell from the Steamboat Pilot Former Steamboat Springs resident Avalena Everard appreciates growing up in a small community, but she isn’t ready to return home yet as she embarked for Uganda as part of the Peace Corps on Friday, July 29, 2022. In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peace Corps suspended global operations and removed nearly 7,000 of its volunteers in an evacuation that was unprecedented for the organization. On Friday, July 29, former Steamboat Springs resident Avalena Everard became one of the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to service overseas. Her flight departed from Seattle at 8 a.m. “I think I’d be insane not to be slightly nervous,” Everard said. “Because with Peace Corps, you’re not guaranteed running water or electricity — definitely not WiFi, cell service.” She’ll . . .

Time Line of the NPCA Leadership Transition

Aug 01 2022

Letter published May 22, 2022 Dear Members of the Peace Corps Community, National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is dedicated to serving the Peace Corps community and supporting the mission of the Peace Corps. NPCA is committed to providing support, resources, and advocacy while promoting a spirit of respect and acceptance of all people. The Board of NPCA takes all allegations of an unsafe or hostile workplace environment for women or others very seriously and has not and will not condone such an environment at NPCA. The allegations referenced in the recent posts online are not new. The Board took action to engage an independent and qualified investigator to conduct a thorough examination of these charges when they were brought to the attention of the Board. The independent investigator concluded that the allegations of misconduct were not credible and that NPCA did not present an unsafe or hostile work environment for . . .

Archive - August 2022