Archive - 2022

  By Jeff Walsh (South Africa 2016-18) Ukraine, a sovereign country in Eastern Europe, was attacked this past February. Other previously neutral European countries are bolstering their military arsenal and are scrambling to join NATO for protection. The 101st Airborne has arrived in Poland. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has set the doomsday clock to 100 seconds to midnight. Doctors Without Borders stated that due to persecution, war, hunger, gender orientation. and climate change there are now 100 million refugees worldwide. Polar ice caps are melting, as we lose Arctic sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade as the Arctic could be ice-free by the summer by 2040. We need a hero. We need someone who actively understand and promotes world peace and friendship. We need the Peace Corps. On March 15, 2020- all Peace Corps operations came to a grinding halt. All 7,000 volunteers in over 50 . . .

This article I wrote in 1999 and I repost it now so new Volunteers will know the early history of their agency. JC Let me start with a quote from Gerard T. Rice’s book, The Bold Experiment: JFK’s Peace Corps: In 1961 John F. Kennedy took two risky and conflicting initiatives in the Third World. One was to send five hundred additional military advisers into South Vietnam; by 1963 there would be seventeen thousand such advisers. The other was to send five hundred young Americans to teach in the schools and work in the fields of eight developing countries. These were Peace Corps Volunteers. By 1963 there would be seven thousands of them in forty-four countries. Vietnam scarred the American psyche, leaving memories of pain and defeat. But Kennedy’s other initiative inspired, and continued to inspire, hope and understanding among Americans and the rest of the world. In that sense, . . .

  William Josephson writes…..   Five Peace Corps scandals could have benefited from some fact checking, editing and consultation. The overall impression is that they are characteristic.  They are not.  They occurred over a very long period of time. “Scandal” is a misnomer in many of these cases. The Kate Puzey 2011 murder is so well known that it engendered a congressional reaction, and the Peace Corps’ continuing efforts to develop effective policies that reduce Peace Corps volunteer sexual harassment or worse. The death of the PCV wife of a Tanganyikan PCV dates to my 1960s time as Peace Corps General Counsel.  Not so incidentally, the husband’s verdict was “not proven,” not not guilty.  The Scottish system of three verdicts, guilty, not guilty, not proven, was followed there at that time. The Tonga killing occurred in 1977.  Sex would seem to have been a, or the, motive.  Tragic it was, . . .

  Peace Corps Zambia swore into service 31 Volunteers following 11 weeks of training in technical skills, language, and inter-cultural understanding. The Volunteers will work with community members in rural areas of Zambia on education and health programs in the Central, Eastern, Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Northwestern, and Southern provinces. Eighteen of the Volunteers will serve under the Ministry of Education to support teachers in primary and lower secondary schools (grade 5 to 9) in developing innovative and gender-equitable teaching methodologies, in addition to teaching English. The remaining 13 Volunteers will serve under the Ministry of Health to support community health workers in promoting strategies to improve maternal, neonatal, and child health, in addition to teaching about malaria control and prevention methods. The Minister of Education, Honorable Douglas Syakalima, was the guest of honor at the ceremony. His Royal Highness Chief Chamuka VI of the Lenje people, and Director of Public . . .

President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, doled out Halloween candy Monday to trick-or-treaters dressed up as everything from Spider-Man to a flamingo to a monk to a zombie founding father at a soggy celebration on the south side of the White House. It was the Bidens’ first time welcoming trick-or-treaters as president and first lady. They were in Europe for Halloween last year, their first in the White House. They had the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the executive mansion lit up in orange for the spooky holiday. Despite rainfall Monday, some 5,000 guests — children and their adult chaperones — were expected to stream through the event, where Biden and his wife handed out treats as part of this year’s “Trick-or-Treating in the President and First Lady’s Neighborhood.” The invitation list included children of local firefighters, nurses, police officers and National Guard members invited through local community groups, labor unions and other organizations, the White . . .

  October 28, 2022 The arrival of this inaugural cohort of Trainees is a significant milestone for bilateral relations between the United States and Viet Nam. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Peace Corps has announced that 10 Peace Corps Trainees arrived safely in Hanoi, Viet Nam, in an historic first. Earlier this week, Peace Corps headquarters staff organized a sendoff event in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the landmark occasion. The Honorable Nguyen Quoc Dzung, Ambassador of Viet Nam to the U.S., offered the Trainees his support for their service. Next week, the U.S. Ambassador to Viet Nam, the Honorable Marc Knapper, will welcome the Trainees to Viet Nam at the Peace Corps office in Hanoi. “Formalizing our country partnership with Viet Nam began with discussions in 2002, which led to the signing of an implementing agreement in 2020, and culminated in yesterday’s joyous moment when the first Trainees stepped foot on Vietnamese soil,” said Peace . . .

The CorpsAfrica team comprises people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, bound together by our commitment to youth leaders and communities across Africa. We work across seven countries, supporting 600+ Volunteers and alums. To meet the needs of our growing organization, we are currently seeking several impact-driven, dynamic individuals who will be instrumental to the organization’s growth in the following leadership positions: At the Global Support Office: Chief Development Officer Chief Financial Officer Human Resources Manager In Senegal: Deputy Director of CorpsAfrica/Senegal Please apply and share these opportunities with anyone that might be interested. You can also find the position descriptions on the jobs page of our website here. Thank you for your ongoing support! Sincerely, Liz Fanning (Morocco 1993-95) Founder and Executive Director