Archive - February 2024

  I am sending my sincere condolences to Jane’s family. I was a friend of hers in 1962 when we were both working at the Peace Corps for Pat Kennedy, the Director of the Division of Volunteer Support, in the Washington headquarters. Jane and I joined this office about the same time as it was evolving from scratch. She along with several other very competent and smart young women were the core of the senior staff reporting to Pat. I was brought on as Pat’s secretary sitting just outside his office. It was heady days for all of us since we were often making up the rules and policies for how the office would function as issues and challenges came to us. There were long days and into the night discussions about how to handle a particular volunteer issue and many discussions about how best to support the Peace Corps . . .

 I would love for everyone this month in honor of Black History month to celebrate babywearing and its African origins writes Rachnel Nicks Here is a history of babywearing…As Black women, we have been wearing our babies for centuries. In fact, the first American version of a babywearing device was invented by a woman who had just returned from a trip to West Africa. She was traveling with the Peace Corps and had observed women in Togo carrying their babies on their bodies. She invented the “Snugli” when she got back to the United States and decades later, babywearing has boomed into an entire industry. There are so many reasons why this tradition has become a mainstream practice and we even have a week to celebrate its benefits; International Babywearing week is in the month of October.Necessity and convenience are likely what led to this creative innovation. Wearing their babies allowed them . . .