Archive - September 19, 2024

Peter Hessler’s new book blends the personal and political in a perceptive exploration of schooling and generational shifts. Contributing editor Crawford Kilian taught English in China in 1983. The Jin River flows through Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, where Peter Hessler last lived in China. Photo via Shutterstock.  A former international correspondent and current staff writer for the New Yorker, Peter Hessler has written an extraordinary new book that is both brilliant reportage and an architectural feat of narrative. Other Rivers: A Chinese Education examines the current experiences of what Hessler calls China’s “generation Xi” university students. They are the cohort that came of age during the presidency of Xi Jinping, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. He contrasts them with the “reform generation” of the 1990s, a group that Hessler came to know well as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer during his first years in China. . . .

20 Peace Corps volunteer trainees from the US to conduct community engagement in Naitasiri By Navitalai Naivalurua Wednesday 18/09/2024 20 Peace Corps Volunteer trainees the United States of America have arrived into the country and will be conducting their community engagement in five communities in the Naitasiri Province for the next 10-weeks where they will live and learn with the community. The volunteers were welcomed this morning with a traditional kava ceremony at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Suva. Patrick Hodson, who is part of the 20 trainees, says he chose Fiji to serve because of the wonderful people, the wonderful opportunities and the wonderful culture it has. Hodson says he is looking forward to learning the Fijian culture and kava when he is with the community. USA Ambassador to Fiji Marie Damour congratulated the 20 trainees on choosing Fiji as their place to carry out their community work. Damour . . .