Archive - 2022

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Christine Herbert (Zambia) answers questions on Operation Awesome
2
The day Jack Vaughn threw a punch
3
PCV Jeremy Borovitz in Ukraine
4
Modern Parable with a Prose Poem . . . by Edward Mycue (Ghana)
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Inside Peace Corps #5
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STOVES & SUITCASES: Searching for Home in the World’s Kitchens by Cynthia D. Bertelsen (Paraguay)
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RPCV Bob Beckel (Philippines) died of unknown causes on Monday
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Review — AWKWARD STUMBLES AND FUZZY MEMORIES by Kathy Ivchenko (Ukraine)
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Justice for A Girl of a Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon)
10
Peace Corps highlights Peace Corps Response
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In­ter­view with Chris­tine Her­bert (Zambia), au­thor of THE COLOR OF THE ELEPHANT
12
Peace Corps will commemorate the 61st Anniversary of Peace Corps
13
Review — YOGURT CULTURE by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea)
14
THE LAKE MYSTERY by Nancy E. Crofts (Congo)
15
THE JOURNEY HOME by Michael Rost (Togo)

Christine Herbert (Zambia) answers questions on Operation Awesome

    Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ? Don’t wait for the “perfect idea” to arrive before writing. Just get those fingers on the keyboard. The ideas will come.  What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader? Above all, I want the readers to laugh. Hard. In my face. (Okay, not literally. Please don’t show up at my door, point to a page in my book and guffaw. That would be weird.) Because my book deals with a challenging time in my life—namely living in a mud hut in the middle of Africa by myself—there’s going to be a lot of emotions flying around. There are some truly soul crushing moments in there; I’m not going to lie. But mostly I wrote the book as a way to laugh at myself, and I hope the reader will too. What is . . .

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The day Jack Vaughn threw a punch

  A friend who worked overseas and at HQ sent me this story of when he worked for Jack Vaughn as the Peace Corps Liaison Officer to the Department of State. • “I was invited to a meeting at State,” he wrote. “When I got into the room, there were some 15 different agency representatives seated around a large round table. The person at the head of the table was acting as its Chair — probably from State’s Intel Services. He posed this question: ‘Which agency here has access to what is going on in the villages of our world; which agency has people in the field that speak their languages; which agency has the most credibility with these villagers; which agency can report back to us on a regular basis in reference to what’s going on out there that we need to know about?’” “As he moved his finger . . .

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PCV Jeremy Borovitz in Ukraine

Ukraine taught me a very Jewish concept: hope By Jeremy Borovitz, JTA (Ukraine 2010-12) • I watch what is happening in Ukraine and I feel helpless, scared for the state of the world, terrified for my friends and former students and anxious about the future of the place that I called home for nearly four years of my life. When I first arrived in Ukraine 12 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer, I didn’t speak the language, was intimidated by the culture and was plagued by stories of pogroms and mass shootings that had penetrated the Jewish collective trauma. Imagine my surprise (not to mention the surprise of my family and friends back home in the United States) when it was Ukraine, and life in a small Ukrainian village, that led to my own spiritual awakening, which brought me closer to Torah, prayer and God, and which was the . . .

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Modern Parable with a Prose Poem . . . by Edward Mycue (Ghana)

  Modern Parable with a Prose Poem overcoat about the Peace Corps, Endless Wars, and the End of the planet Earth February 19, 2022 at 4:28 a.m. by Edward Mycue (Ghana 1961) • This is from an early PC Volunteer Ghana 1961, old now — 85 on March 21, 2022: It seems so long ago and yesterday when in 1960 I came up for more graduate study from North Texas State in Denton to Boston University and as a Lowell Fellow an intern at WGBH-TV the then New England Television station on the M.I.T. campus in Cambridge just over the Charles River from Boston on Massachusetts Avenue above a former roller rink and as Louis Lyons assistant on his twice weekly 14:28 second programs of News and the other of profiles and special subjects. In the summer June 1960 as the technical assistant I began on his many programs about Senator . . .

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Inside Peace Corps #5

  Chief Executive Officer’s Message: Since the new year, words from Amanda Gorman’s “New Day Lyric” have been echoing in my mind. In it she says, “Tethered by this year of yearning, we are learning, that though we weren’t ready for this, we have been readied by it.” I cannot help but repeat these words as I reflect on the Peace Corps’ journey to return Volunteers to service overseas. There have been bumps in the road, but we have learned a great deal along the way. The challenges have prepared us to meet the moment by infusing new innovation into our time-tested approaches, holding our most valued partners – the communities where our Volunteers are invited to serve – at the center of all we do, and aligning our work more explicitly to our values. The return of Volunteers will be intentional, balancing the health and safety considerations of host communities . . .

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STOVES & SUITCASES: Searching for Home in the World’s Kitchens by Cynthia D. Bertelsen (Paraguay)

  Take a girl with an iffy start in life. Mix in wanderlust and cooking. And lots of books. Add a dollop of yearning for home and belonging. Knead in a pinch of self-discovery. Let rise and ripen. The result is Cynthia D. Bertelsen’s Stoves & Suitcases: Searching for Home in the World’s Kitchens, a reflective and rollicking saga that begins in an incubator. Cookbooks soon pique her wanderlust and her longing to be elsewhere. A semester abroad in Mexico and a stint in the Peace Corps ignite those embers of wanderlust. That fire never stops burning. Years of living and working and cooking in the developing world follow, with long-term sojourns in Honduras, Haiti, Morocco, and Burkina Faso. It’s an age-old tale of leaving home to find home. Stoves & Suitcases has been named Best in Food Writing in the USA for 2022 by Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Cynthia  has also written: Mushroom: . . .

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RPCV Bob Beckel (Philippines) died of unknown causes on Monday

  Bob Beckel, (Philippines 1971-72) former Democratic Party activist who later in life became a Fox News anchor — until he was fired in 2017 after being charged with racist comments — died Monday of unknown causes, Fox News said Monday. He was 73. “My friend and spiritual brother, Bob Beckel, has stepped into the presence of the Lord he loved. We’ve done so many things together and I hope we showed what two people with different political persuasions can be like when they love each other,” columnist Cal Thomas wrote about Beckel on Facebook on Monday. “For ten years we wrote the “Common Ground” column for USA Today, and a book by that title. The title of his ironically titled autobiography is I Should Be Dead. It is a very readable book about a difficult life that has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. See you soon Bob. . . .

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Review — AWKWARD STUMBLES AND FUZZY MEMORIES by Kathy Ivchenko (Ukraine)

  Awkward Stumbles and Fuzzy Memories: Memoir of a Peace Corps Volunteer by Kathy Ivchenko (Ukraine 1994-96) Independently published 176 pages February 2021 $8.99 (Kindle); $14.95 (Paperback) Reviewed by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96) • Awkward Stumbles and Fuzzy Memories, Memoir of a Peace Corps Volunteer is a lively, entertaining, and insightful account of the author’s experiences living and teaching English in Ukraine in the mid-1990s. Author Kathy Ivchenko takes us out of her comfort zone, a small town in Wisconsin, to Eastern Europe during a time of regional transformation. She returns home two years later with a lifetime of memories and a Ukrainian husband. The author is a wonderful storyteller, and her writing is very personal. We feel her frustrations, “awkward stumbles,” and achievements. There’s substantial detail throughout the book, a testament to her precise recollection of people, places, and experiences. The author informs us at the outset of her . . .

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Justice for A Girl of a Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon)

  In Girls of Tender Age, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67) fully articulates with great humor and tenderness the wild jubilance of an extended French-Italian family struggling to survive in a post-World War II housing project in Hartford, Connecticut. Hanging over this American childhood is the sinister shadow of an approaching serial killer. The menacing Bob Malm lurks throughout this joyous and chaotic family portrait, and the havoc he unleashes when the paths of innocence and evil cross one early December evening in 1953 forever alters the landscape of Smith’s childhood. Mary-Ann, who wrote the first published Peace Corps novel, Lament For A Silver-Eyed Woman in 1985, writes in this memoir of her childhood friend who was killed by a serial killer in her hometown, and how Mary-Ann helped to achieve justice for her childhood friend Pidgie D’Allessio who identified the killer who had also attached her. What follows is Mary-Ann’s account of . . .

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Peace Corps highlights Peace Corps Response

  Peace Corps has posted the following blog on its official web site. It includes comprehesive information about the Peace Corps Response Program.  Here is the  article: Preparing for your PCR Interview Are you ready to take the next step to become a Peace Corps Response Volunteer? Competitive applicants must complete an interview before moving forward in the application process. Read the blog post below to learn our five recommendations to best prepare for your interview! READ MORE Open Positions The Peace Corps continues to monitor and assess the COVID-19 pandemic domestically and internationally. The locations and timing of returning Volunteers to service will be determined on a country-by-country basis. We are currently actively recruiting for the positions below. English Teaching Advisor requires a bachelor’s degree in English education or a related field, experience in classroom teaching at the secondary level and in planning and implementing projects, and an intermediate . . .

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In­ter­view with Chris­tine Her­bert (Zambia), au­thor of THE COLOR OF THE ELEPHANT

Published by USVI NEWS • Christine Herbert takes the reader on a “time-machine tour” of her Peace Corps volunteer service as a health worker and educator from 2004–2006 in Zambia. Rather than a retrospective, this narrative unfolds in the present tense, propelling the reader alongside the memoirist through a fascinating exploration of a life lived “off the grid.” At turns harrowing, playful, dewy-eyed and wise, the author’s heart and candor illuminate every chapter, whether she is the heroine of the tale or her own worst enemy. Even at her most petulant, the laugh-out-loud humor scuppers any “white savior” mentality and lays bare the undeniable humanity—and humility—of the storyteller. Through it all, an undeniable love for Zambia—its people, land and culture—shines through. What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Color of the Elephant? This story is a true account of my Peace Corps service in Zambia . . .

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Peace Corps will commemorate the 61st Anniversary of Peace Corps

  February 16, 2022 The anniversary will be commemorated during Peace Corps Week from February 27 to March 5 WASHINGTON – The Peace Corps will commemorate its 61st anniversary with a week-long virtual celebration, Peace Corps Week, from February 27 to March 5. This year’s theme is “Meet the Moment,” in recognition of the imperative to come together as a global community to tackle the historic challenges driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. In honor of the anniversary, Chief Executive Officer Carol Spahn will address the Peace Corps network and provide updates at a virtual event, “The Peace Corps Reimagined: A Keynote Address and Forum,” on March 3 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (EST). The event will also include three breakout sessions focused on the agency’s efforts to reimagine service, advance equity and deliver quality. Those interested in attending this public event can register here. Recordings of the address and breakout sessions will . . .

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Review — YOGURT CULTURE by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea)

  Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) Harvest Publisher 352 pages April 2015 $12.99 (Kindle); $19.18 (Hardback)   Reviewed by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965-67) • What a joy to read a cookbook by a talented cook who also happens to be a wonderful writer! Rule opens with a description of the creature “comforts” she and her husband created when they were Peace Corps Volunteers in Eritrea in the mid-1990s, beginning with a couch made by “folding a mattress in half and tying a few logs to it with yellow nylon rope.” She describes some of their early culinary attempts including making yogurt, but when they finally got it right, they vowed that when their Peace Corps service ended they would make yogurt forever. It was 15 years before she fulfilled that pledge, but . . .

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THE LAKE MYSTERY by Nancy E. Crofts (Congo)

The Lake Mystery: Secrets of the Crossroads is engrossing detective fiction about two young girls who dig into the buried secrets of their hometown   Fulton Books author, Nancy E. Crofts (Congo 1974-75), a licensed pilot, an adjunct professor for three decades, a former Peace Corps volunteer, a foster care provider, a wife and mother, has published The Lake Mystery, a gripping novel about the Spenser twins, Robin and Cresselley. The twins enjoy spending time at their grandmother’s house in the little, eastern Connecticut town of Stonington, where a beautiful lake can be seen. But things get more exciting and risky as they explore more on the mysterious occurrence on the north side of the lake. Crofts shares, “Nine flights up in the fire tower’s small observation cubicle, with only stars in the night sky, the twins spotted lights moving suspiciously on the north shore of the lake. Could these lights . . .

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THE JOURNEY HOME by Michael Rost (Togo)

  The Journey Home: Portraits of Healing is a memoir narrated through 35 engaging vignettes involving the renewal of a son’s relationship with his parents during their final year of life. Using amplified recollections (including of the author’s time in the Peace Corps), vivid dreams, and impressionistic illustrations, The Journey Home leads the reader on a personal pilgrimage of discovery and healing. Starting with the onset of his mother’s Alzheimer’s and proceeding through the eventual admission of both his parents’ to a nursing home and their eventual passing, The Journey Home explores the complex and intimate process of evolving relationships in the final passage of life. The novel is divided into four metaphorical parts, corresponding to phases of a “rasa yatra,” or “destined life journey”: entering into an unknown domain, listening to voices from the past for clues to this new world, connecting with guides who will help heal past wounds . . .

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