Archive - 2022

For years, the Vanguard building in downtown D.C., once home for two decades, to the Peace Corps, has sat empty. On Thursday, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) celebrated the future of the 1960s-era Vanguard — and housing in downtown — at a ceremony kicking off the building’s conversion into swanky new apartments. After the coronavirus pandemic accelerated already rising vacancy rates in the city’s central business district, city leaders are looking at alternatives to fill unused office space and attract people back to downtown. Converting commercial buildings such as the Vanguard into residences is a solution leaders have looked at for years and hoped could accomplish two things: add more housing stock to combat D.C.’s affordable housing crisis and revitalize the city’s struggling downtown. Nearly 2.5 million square feet of office space in downtown D.C. is already dedicated to residential conversion projects. But with more than 20 million square feet of vacant office space across . . .

  During the U.S.-African Leaders Summit, held December 13-15 in Washington DC, the United States affirmed and expanded its enduring partnerships with African governments, the private sector, civil society, and philanthropic actors in recognition of the pivotal role African governments, institutions, and peoples will play in addressing one of the greatest global challenges of our time – climate change. Many of the most vulnerable countries to climate change are in Africa, and the partnerships highlighted at the Summit will be essential to bolstering their resilience. At the United Nations Climate Meeting (COP27) in November 2022, President Biden announced U.S. plans to provide over $150 million in new funding to accelerate the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) He emphasized the U.S. commitment to help vulnerable countries and communities in Africa adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change as part of PREPARE’s work across the African continent. . . .

Spiritualizing Politics Without Politicizing Religion: The Example of Sargent Shriver by James R. Price and Kenneth R. Melchin University of Toronto Press March 2022 200 pages $33.91 (Kindle); $35.70 (Hardcover) The clash of religion and politics has been a persistent source of polarization in North America. In order to think wisely and constructively about the spiritual dimension of our political life, there is need for an approach that can both maintain the diversity of belief and foster values founded on the principles of religion. In Spiritualizing Politics without Politicizing Religion, James R. Price and Kenneth R. Melchin provide a possible framework, approaching issues in politics via a profile of Sargent Shriver (1915–2011), an American diplomat, politician, and a driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps. Focusing on the speeches Shriver delivered in the course of his work to advance civil rights and build world peace, Price and Melchin highlight the spiritual . . .

by Bill Josephson, Peace Corps General Counsel 1961-66   Ann Oppenheimer Hamilton, a very important Peace Corps staff person (1961-64), died in Washington on November 28, aged 85.  She was the subject of a lengthy paid obit in the 12/5/22  Washington Post I first met Ann when she was studying for her masters in economics at the London School, and I was studying politics at St. Antony’s College, Oxford.  She was a cousin of my St. Antony’s colleague, Richard H. Ullman.  He had a distinguished career at the Woodrow Wilson School and on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff. Ann came to see me at the Peace Corps in Washington, and Warren W. Wiggins and John Alexander hired her to join John’s program planning and program review staff in Program Development and Operations. Ann walked into my office while I was preparing the Peace Corps’s first full-fledged congressional presentation.  She . . .

  Peace Corps Climate Change Initiative: Over the next year, the Peace Corps will launch a climate initiative that will include support for Volunteers and staff in up to 24 sub-Saharan African countries.  As many as 700 Volunteers will work with host country partners to contribute to national priorities and plans to address climate change.  Volunteers and their host communities will work together to increase adaptive capacities and build resilience of individuals, organizations, communities and ecosystems, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon.

Thank you to Jonathan Pearson, Advocate Director of the NPCA for this news.   Last night, December 14th, the United States Senates formally confirmed Carol Spahn, (Rumania 1994-1996)  as the 21st Director of the Peace Corps.  This was the final step in the namination process. From the Peace Corps website: Spahn brings more than 25 years of public and private sector experience to the director position. Most recently, she served as Peace Corps’ chief of operations in the Africa Region covering Eastern and Southern Africa. Previously, she was the country director of Peace Corps/Malawi for five years. Spahn served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1994 to 1996 in Romania, where she worked as a small business advisor. Before returning to the Peace Corps as Country Director, she was the senior vice president of operations at Women for Women International. Prior to that, Spahn was executive director of Accordia Global . . .

On November 18, 2022 John Coyne wrote an entry on this site talking about the “give away books” at his public library. I was inspired to follow up with this piece.   Remembering Giovanni Balletto by George Brose Tanzania (1966-67)   John: I, too, forage for books on the give away rack in our library where I live now in Comox, British Columbia. Recently my Peace Corps experience came into play with those free books. But, to see the connection, you will have to be patient and let me tell the lead in to acquiring a free book at my library. In the Peace Corps, in 1966-67, I was stationed in Moshi, Tanzania at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I often climbed the mountain with an aging Italian doctor, Giovanni Balletto. Dr. Balletto ran a small health clinic on the Marangu Road that led up to where most of . . .

Here is how Rowland Scherman describes how he became the first Peace Corps photographer. In those early days (1961) photos of the agency and PCVs were everywhere and in every newspaper. Rowland Scherman took most of the agency’s photos! — JC   Rowland writes…. “Like so many others, I was thrilled by JFK’s inaugural speech.  Although I wasn’t a “professional” photographer, I made a few dollars doing portraits out of a makeshift studio or “on location” on the streets of New York City.  I shared a crappy little darkroom with a friend. But JFK’s words made me think that I could be something more, could reach a higher potential, if I volunteered my work and myself for the betterment of my country, instead of simply chasing a buck. Yes, I thought, my services just might somehow be useful to the new administration. I found out whom to see about a job . . .

Ex-Peace Corps Volunteers plead with US for help on Tigray BY CARA ANNA ASSOCIATED PRESS NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 350 former Peace Corps volunteers and a trio of former U.S. ambassadors have written to U.S. congressmen urging them to condemn the violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, warning that “as the fighting ostensibly winds down, we are quite sure that the war will continue on a much more pernicious level.” The letter seen by The Associated Press also asks lawmakers to press for humanitarian aid to all parts of Tigray, urge the United Nations to investigate and advocate for media access to the region “to document human rights abuses.” Communications links remain difficult to parts of the Tigray region of some 6 million people, and only a small number of former volunteers have reached friends there. But “we have avoided explicit discussions on what is occurring due to safety concerns and . . .

The new batch of Peace Corps volunteers POLITICS 18 new Peace Corps volunteers sworn in  On Wednesday, December 8, 2022 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, United States Peace Corps Guyana hosted the Swearing In ceremony for its 33rd group of Volunteers; the first to return after the global evacuation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of evacuation in March 2020, 54 Volunteers were serving in 9 of the 10 regions. These 18 Volunteers who arrived in Guyana on September 29, 2022 underwent an intensive ten-week pre-service training. They will now live and work in local communities along the coast, partnering to address early childhood literacy, adolescent health, and environmental stewardship. U.S. Ambassador to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer herself, administered the oath of service and Peace Corps pledge to the group on behalf of the Peace Corps. Ambassador Lynch remarked . . .

J.P. Gairhan, a 2019 U of A honors graduate, was recently named a Schwarzman Scholar, making him one of only 151 students out of nearly 3,000 candidates worldwide who will receive a full scholarship for graduate study in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of China’s premiere universities.  Originally from Cabot, Gairhan graduated cum laude in 2019 with a degree in history, political science, and African and African American studies from the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to further my education at Tsinghua University. My admission into the Schwarzman Scholars program is only possible through the mentorship and guidance of many University of Arkansas faculty and staff. Specifically, I want to thank Dr. Noah Pittman, Dr. Todd Cleveland, Dr. Mary Skinner, Jonathan Langley and Dr. Suzanne McCray.” Gairhan is a member of the eighth class of Schwarzman Scholars. The master’s . . .