Archive - February 2024

  Eyes to See Africa: From the Verandahs of Sierra Leone by Judith Kinney Thiele (Sierra Leone 1985-87) Self Published February 2024 471 pages $4.99 (Kindle); $23.00 (Paperback)   Kinney’s dark room echoes a monk’s spare cell. Mosquito net. Metal cot. Two suitcases. A two-year vow of near-poverty. Outside on the road, chickens chase giant bugs. Goats weave through the foot-traffic as people balance baskets, bundles, and buckets on their heads. It will get better. She’ll figure it out. Taking a break from her Silicon Valley desk job gives service to a needy world and brings her middle-aged self back to basics. A new community center seeks her health and rural development skills, introducing her to the people of the chiefdom. She meets kindness and acceptance amid the complicated “how-do” of days lived without electricity or clean water. Unfamiliar noises, food, and taboos shape her new life. From landing to . . .

Before He Was George Orwell, He Was Eric Blair, Police Officer   Paul Theroux’s (Malawi 1963-65) new novel, “Burma Sahib,” explores the writer’s formative experiences in colonial Myanmar. Reviewer William Boys writes in Sunday’s New York Times, “The late Martin Amis once declared that “novelists tend to go off at 70. … The talent dies before the body.” Theroux is now in his early 80s and this novel is one of his finest, in a long and redoubtable oeuvre. The talent is in remarkable shape.”

Nicholas Donabet Kristof is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. Born in Chicago, Kristof was raised in Yamhill, Oregon, the son of two professors at nearby Portland State University. He published a Commentary this weekend in The New York Times entitled “The Isolationism Antidote” calling on young people to “Study Spanish in Bolivia. Or teach English in South Korea. Or volunteer in Nepal.” Never Once Does He Mention The Peace Corps! Where have you been Nicholas? What do you think we have been doing since 1961? We’re older than you! Read It And Weep The Isolationism Antidote By Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist Feb. 10, 2024 Why has the isolationist wing of Congress been blocking aid to Ukraine and become, in effect, a tool for President Vladimir Putin of Russia? Republican politics explain . . .

Burma Sahib: A Novel by Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) Mariner Books February 2024 400 pages $14.99 (Kindle); $30.00 (Hardback);  1 Credit (Audio book)   “Paul Theroux has exploited this biographical lacuna with great shrewdness and gusto… his fictional account of Blair’s life there [Burma] is a valid and entirely credible attempt to add flesh to the skeletal facts we have of this time. […]this novel is one of his finest, in a long and redoubtable oeuvre.” —New York Times Book Review From the acclaimed author of The Mosquito Coast and The Bad Angel Brothers comes a riveting new novel exploring one of English literature’s most beloved and controversial figures—George Orwell—and the early years as an officer in colonial Burma that transformed him from Eric Blair, the British Raj policeman, into Orwell the anticolonial writer. At age nineteen, young Eton graduate Eric Blair set sail for India, dreading the assignment ahead. Along with several other . . .

Peace Corps Week commemorates March 1, 1961, the day that President John F. Kennedy established the agency. The annual celebration honors how the Peace Corps fosters connections and contributes to meaningful change – in the United States and around the world. Optimism in Action Since 1961, at the invitation of foreign governments, more than 240,000 Americans have served the United States and countries around the globe as Peace Corps Volunteers. There are currently over 2,400 Volunteers working alongside community members in 58 countries addressing the persistent impacts of COVID-19 and climate change, and tackling local development priorities across the Peace Corps’ six programming sectors: Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health, and Youth in Development. The theme for this year, “Optimism in Action,” not only celebrates the myriad ways the Peace Corps collaborates with communities to confront formidable challenges but also embodies a steadfast belief in the possibility of positive . . .

John writes —   With the stroke of a pen, President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961. With his signing of Executive Order 10924, and his subsequent press conference where he outlined his vision of service, Kennedy fulfilled a campaign pledge he made the previous year in an extemporaneous speech at the University of Michigan. Each year in late February and early March, that call to service is renewed in the form of Peace Corps Week. This celebration, with activities both in the United States and at posts all around the world, is a way for current and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to share their service with others. According to former Peace Corps Director  Mark Schneider (1999–2001), it was started as a way, “to shine a spotlight on the agency, the development work of Volunteers around the world, and the continuing service that returned Volunteers bring . . .

  Biden administration continues moves to counter growing Chinese influence in the region     WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will resume a long-suspended Peace Corps program in the North Pacific island of Palau as the Biden administration continues moves to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. The Peace Corps said Friday that it would start sending volunteers back to the island in 2025 following an agreement reached between the agency’s director and Palau’s president, whose country is one of the few in the world to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan . “Volunteers will live and work side-by-side with community partners to improve childhood literacy and math and science skills, along with teaching English as a foreign language,” Peace Corps director Carol Spahn said in a statement. Palau’s president, Surangel Whipps, said the return of the Peace Corps reflects the strong relationship between his nation and the United States. He said prior Peace . . .