2022 – Page 7 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Richard Adkins, Tempe Urban Forester (Nepal)

Oct 27 2022

Richard Adkins, Tempe’s urban forester, is covering Tempe in shade as part of the city’s Urban Forestry Master Plan By Tyson Wildman, StatePress.com October 26, 2022 • As a teenager, Richard Adkins went into the Virginia forest alone one day and decided to sit under a Pin Oak tree. He stayed there awhile, observing his surroundings. By the time he got up, he knew that trees were going to be his future, so that was the path he pursued. Adkins is the urban forester for the city of Tempe and has been for the past three years. He has traveled the world doing what he loves, taking care of and sharing his knowledge of trees. “Trees are where it’s at,” he said. “Trees are good for humankind, good for animals, good for the environment.” Adkins grew up in Virginia and has done tree forestry, the science of developing, caring for . . .

THE SILENT LANGUAGE — Is this book required reading for new PCVs?

Oct 26 2022

from John Coyne — I found this item on Library Thing In 1959, a groundbreaking study of nonverbal communication, The Silent Language, was published to international acclaim. Written by Edward T. Hall, a cultural anthropologist, it was one of the first books to examine the complex ways people communicate with one another without speaking. More than thirty years later, The Silent Language has never been out of print, has been translated into several languages, has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S., and remains the definitive book in its field. Today, Ned Hall is a world-renowned expert in intercultural communication, sought after by government agencies, businesses and universities throughout the world for his expertise in interpreting the hidden meanings behind what people are saying to one another. Now, in a remarkably candid and personal book, he tells the story of the first fifty years of his . . .

Christopher Martin, University of Nebraska, College of Architecture (Ghana)

Oct 26 2022

Christopher Martin kicks off the first Hyde lecture of the season at University of Nebraska–Lincoln By Kerry McCulloug… October 25, 2022 The College of Architecture is excited to announce Christopher Martin (Ghana 2008-10), nationally renowned furniture design-maker, will be giving a Hyde/ Kunzendorf co-sponsored lecture titled “Design Tangents; A Story of Exploration and Common Threads” at 4 p.m., October 28, in the Union Swanson Auditorium. Martin is founder of Christopher Martin Furniture and works as a furniture designer/ maker on commission work and produces a line of small batch furniture pieces for sale online. He also collaborates with traditional artisans in Ghana and India. Before opening his own business Martin taught furniture design in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Iowa State University starting in 1999, retiring in 2022 as an emeritus professor. In 2008 Martin took leave from his teaching position to serve as a U.S. Peace Corps . . .

5 Peace Corps Scandals

Oct 25 2022

5 scandals that have put the Peace Corps in a negative light Nick Penzenstadler USA TODAY Oct. 24, 2022 The Peace Corps, an independent federal agency, was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to promote “world peace and friendship.” It has dispatched more than 240,000 American volunteers to 141 countries. Despite its noble goals, the agency has been plagued by a series of scandals, sexual abuse and violence suffered by employees and volunteers. Here are a few examples: 1. Sexual assaults and the murder of Kate Puzey In May 2011, dozens of volunteers provided written testimony to Congress about problems with the Peace Corps’ handling of sexual violence, ranging from failures to train volunteers to mistreatment after assaults. In November 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, named after a volunteer killed in 2009 after she reported sexual misconduct by a coworker and Peace . . .

Looking for a Publisher? | The Top 42 Publishers for New Authors

Oct 24 2022

Written by Emily Harstone The writing market can be overwhelming, particularly for new authors who do not have a history of past publication. It is important to note that no legitimate established presses specifically look for unpublished authors. The presses on this list were chosen because they have published a number of debut books before. The publishers on this list do not require literary agents. You can submit to these publishers directly. Some of these manuscript publishers have good distribution and clear marketing strategies. Others are small presses that expect the authors to do the heavy lifting. None of these presses are vanity presses, self-publishers, or brand new presses. All of them have been around for two years or longer. Some of them do have self publishing imprints. If you are ever redirected to one, please reach out to us at support@authorspublish.com and we will update the listing. All the publishers . . .

MaryKate Lowndes (Honduras) — Not GUILTY

Oct 21 2022

On this site on January 21, 2022, I posted this news item: A former PCV and Country Director, accused of illegally registering to vote in New Hampshire and voting, has chosen to fight the charges in court. MaryKate Lowndes (Honduras 1989-91) & PC/W Staff of Hyannis, Massachusetts, faces four voter fraud charges in Rockingham County Superior Court — a single felony count of wrongful voting as well as two counts of misdemeanor wrongful voting and a single count of misusing an absentee ballot. She was indicted in September 2020. I just heard from MaryKate, who writes of her success: Last month I FINALLY had the chance to get the truth of the matter presented in Court. I had to wait two years to do so. I was able to take the stand to tell the truth to a jury; my attorney, William Christie of Shaheen & Gordon, also . . .

LETTERS FROM ALFONSO by Earl Kessler (Colombia)

Oct 20 2022

“The story of how the poor are the victims of the environment — floods, windstorms, tremors, drought — is rarely told as beautifully as by Alfonso, the community’s leader, to Earl, his Peace Corps friend and supporter.” — Pablo Gutman Senior Director Environmental Economics World Wildlife Fund ‘The lessons of Letters from Alfonso are important for anyone interested in understanding the process of development, especially those who want to get deeply and meaningfully involved in the good work of helping real people who are trying to better their lives.” — Bimal Patel Ahmedabad University • Earl Kessler has been engaged in the design and development of shelter and urban programs since 1965 when he joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Colombia. He earned a Master of Architecture degree in the Planning for Developing Countries Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked on urban strategies for . . .

FINDING OUR WAY by Steven Gallon (Korea)

Oct 19 2022

In the summer of 1967 a young husband and wife, barely in their twenties, depart home and family in Southern California to embark on a grand adventure. Finding Our Way: A Newlywed Couple’s Peace Corps Odyssey in 1960s Korea chronicles two years of their life together as Peace Corps Volunteers in South Korea. Living with a host Korean family, they discover the patterns and rhythms of everyday life in a country whose culture and customs are unfamiliar. Stationed in Taegu, Korea’s third largest city, they introduce spoken English to Korean middle school students. As guests in a foreign land they face cultural dilemmas, embrace adventures of discovery, experience trying times and build lifelong friendships. Korea in the late 1960s was emerging from decades of Japanese occupation, and a devastating war with cultural neighbors and political enemies in the North. It was a time of economic hardship for much of the population . . .

Sad News — WORLDVIEW Editor Steven Boyd Saum (Ukraine) leaves the NPCA

Oct 19 2022

Steven Boyd Saum, Director of Strategic Communications at National Peace Corps Association and Editor of WorldView magazine has resigned from the National Peace Corps Association. Steve writes…. After serving as editor of WorldView magazine and directing strategic communications for National Peace Corps Association for the past several years, this is my last week wearing both of those hats. I’ll be sharing more news shortly on the new role I’ll be taking on in California. It’s been a privilege to work with stellar colleagues and to lead a hard-working and creative team during this unprecedented time. An incredible community-driven effort animated the “Peace Corps Connect to the Future” town halls, summit, and report — and laid the groundwork for the most sweeping Peace Corps legislation in a generation. Thanks to contributions of partners and interns and folks across the Peace Corps community, the stories and images that populate WorldView have shaped a magazine . . .

Richard Wiley (Korea) | Who Told You She Is Your Wife?

Oct 19 2022

Who Told You She Is Your Wife? By Richard Wiley (Korea 1967–69) • Once a famous Nigerian playwright got a call from a woman who was in love with him. He knew the woman. She had been a paramour of his Or he of hers. Or maybe their relationship had been on equal footing, I don’t know. But whatever happened was years in the past by the time he got the call. And in the call, the woman said she wanted him back. “I am married now,” he told her. “Surely you know that.” “Who told you you are married?” the woman asked, her voice settling into the low center-of-gravity, pre-battle, mode that Nigerians know how to articulate best. “Who told me? I attended the ceremony. I remember exchanging vows.” “I will tear her asunder, teach her the meaning of ‘six feet under,’ then we’ll see who’s married. Who told . . .

Review — THE LAST OF HIS MIND by John Thorndike (El Salvador)

Oct 18 2022

The Last of His Mind: A Year In The Shadow Of Alzheimer’s by John Thorndike (El Salvador 1966-68) Swallow Press 264 pages $18.82 (paperback), $27.94 (hardcover), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76; Costa Rica 1976–77) • This is a moving story of a son’s devotion to his dying father who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. His determination to help his father fulfill his desire to die at home is admirable. Of interest as well is the author’s recounting of the details of how he arranged for others, including his two brothers, to spell him, giving him needed breaks from his around the clock care for his father. Beyond being a memoir of spending his father’s last year caring for him, the book also covers much of the elder Thorndike’s professional life, marriage, and personal life. It also discusses the author’s raising of his son as a single parent. One . . .

Talking With Danusha Goska (CAR & Nepal)

Oct 18 2022

An interview by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) Danusha Goska (CAR 1980-81) and (Nepal 1982-84) was born in New Jersey to peasant immigrants from Poland and Slovakia. She has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe, on both coasts, and in the heartland of the US. She holds an MA from the University at California, Berkeley, and a PhD from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her writing has been awarded a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant, the PAHA Halecki Award, and others. Her book Save Send Delete was inspired by her relationship with a prominent atheist. In 2018 she published God Through Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery. Danusha, you did two tours as a PCV. What were your assignments? I was assigned to teach TEFL, English as a foreign language in the CAR and Nepal. What did you bring away from those tours? Were they alike? The most . . .

“In That Time of Our Life” by Jeremiah North (Colombia)

Oct 17 2022

By Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) One night into my assignment to La Plata, Huila in 1963, I was reading in the dimness of a 40 watt light bulb a banned copy of La Violencia en Colombia. I was riveted by its 1948 description of the lunch-time assassination of Jorge Gaitan, the liberal leader, at a side-walk restaurant next to the country’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo. As its principal author, Orlando Fals Borda wrote: “it was a lone act which stripped with a single bullet the thin veneer of civility from an entire society”. La Violencia then goes on to detail a country’s descent into anarchy. By nightfall, Bogota was in flames. The country’s elite troops were standing shoulder to shoulder, rank upon rank, on the steps of the Ministry of Justice, firing volley after volley into the maddening crowd. They had long given up on shooting people in . . .

Peace Corps in LIFE–When We Were New & Special–1961

Oct 16 2022

Craig Storti (Morocco) — THE HUNT FOR MT. EVEREST

Oct 16 2022

The height of Mt. Everest was first measured in 1850, but the closest any westerner got to Everest during the next 71 years — until 1921 — was 40 miles. The Hunt for Mt. Everest tells the story of the 71-year quest to find the world’s highest mountain. It’s a tale of high drama, of larger-than-life characters — George Everest, Francis Younghusband, George Mallory, Lord Curzon, Edward Whymper, and a few quiet heroes: Alexander Kellas, the 13th Dalai Lama, and Charles Bell. It is a story that traverses the Alps, the Himalayas, Nepal and Tibet, the British Empire (especially British India and the Raj), the Anglo-Russian rivalry known as The Great Game, the disastrous First Afghan War, and the phenomenal Survey of India — it is far bigger than simply the tallest mountain in the world. Encountering spies, war, political intrigues, and hundreds of mules, camels, bullocks, yaks, and two zebrules, . . .

Archive - 2022