2024 – Page 10 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Suzanne LeClerc (Gabon) and Protas Madlala wed

Jul 28 2024

In South Africa between 1987 and 1993, the National Party entered into bilateral negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC), the leading anti-apartheid political movement, for ending segregation and introducing majority rule. In 1990, prominent ANC figures such as Nelson Mandela were released from prison. Apartheid legislation was repealed on 17 June 1991, leading to multiracial elections in April 1994. In June 1985, the ban on marriage between people of different ethnic backgrounds was finally lifted. The laws were repealed by the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, which allowed interracial marriages and relationships. . . . The Wedding On the morning of the wedding, Protas Madlala and Suzanne Leclerc (Gabon 1979-82) rode to the church together. It was customary for a bride and groom to arrive separately, but caution prevailed. Although there had been talk of the South African government relaxing its laws, and an official from . . .

Kim and Vinny Aliperti (Tunisia) and the Billsboro Winery

Jul 26 2024

Kim and Vinny Aliperti met as Peace Corps volunteers in Tunisia from 1992 to 1994, They were married when they returned to the United States, and their honeymoon took them to some wineries. They say they quickly realized they were meant to run a winery. They knew they weren’t cut out for the suit-and-tie city life, and as they walked the vineyards, they knew what we wanted to do. Vinny had been hooked on winemaking as a teenager in his grandfather’s cellar in Queens, NY where he was first introduced to his family’s annual tradition. After the Peace Corps, Vinny was offered an apprenticeship at Wolffer Estate in the Hamptons on Long Island. After three vintages (1997-1999) producing mostly Chardonnay and Merlot with long-time winemaker Roman Roth, he moved with Kim to the Finger Lakes to begin his next chapter at the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. It was there . . .

Jack Kornfield (Thailand) | NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

Jul 25 2024

No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are by Jack Kornfield (Thailand 1967-69) Atria Books May 2017 322 pages $13.99 (Kindle); $12.99 (Paperback), $13.99 (audiobook) Through his signature warmhearted, poignant, often funny stories, with their a-ha moments and O. Henry-like outcomes, Jack Kornfield shows how we can free ourselves, wherever we are and whatever our circumstances. Renowned for his mindfulness practices and meditations, Jack provides keys for opening gateways to immediate shifts in perspective and clarity of vision, allowing us to “grapple with difficult emotions” and know how to change course, take action, or—when we shouldn’t act—just relax and trust. Each chapter presents a path to a different kind of freedom—freedom from fear, freedom to start over, to love, to be yourself, and to be happy—and guides you into an active process that engages your mind and heart, awakens your spirit, and . . .

Vincent Spina (Peru): A poet who looks to the past and future

Jul 24 2024

Recovery by Vincent Spine (Peru 1966-69) Independently Published June 2024 141 pages $11.00 (Paperback) Unlike most poets, who can be either primarily narrativists or lyrical luminaries, Vincent Spina can be both and more. Think of Wallace Stevens but more human; think of John. Ashbury’s pyrotechnics and add a rich heart. Throw in a combination of cultural soulfulness and environmental sensitivity, all somehow shaped by his profound wisdom of how the human drama is interwoven by both. Now add Spina’s absorption of Quichua and Latin American culture — and we have an approximation of Vincent Spina’s singularity as an American poet. But it is in the poems, ultimately, where Spina plunges in like a diver with his cargo of poetic resources and resurfaces with bits of scintillating jewels, elevating us, his fellow-travelers, to the ultimate of communions: poet to reader, human to human. . . . Meet Vincent Spina by Lynn . . .

Jody Olsen (Tunisia) Writes Her Peace Corps Book

Jul 23 2024

A Million Miles by Jody Olsen (Tunisia 1966-68) University of Utah Press October 2024 276 pages $24.95 (Paperback); $44.95 (Hardcover) Pre-order now When Jody Olsen enlisted as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia in 1966, she was fleeing familial tragedy and the stifling societal norms of her Salt Lake City upbringing. However, her service in Tunisia upended her religious and cultural beliefs and propelled her into a six-decade career with the Peace Corps, culminating in her directorship of the agency. Olsen’s captivating memoir, A Million Miles, reveals the personal and professional challenges she faced throughout her career, which spanned the Reagan era, 9/11, and the Trump administration. She writes candidly about her struggles as a woman in leadership, as well as personal hardships such as the sudden death of her brother and her emotionally difficult divorce after her husband’s coming out. This memoir is a sharp, vulnerable portrait, a . . .

Alana DeJoseph’s (Mali) film A TOWERING TASK wins regional Emmy Award

Jul 21 2024

Alana DeJoseph is a documentary filmmaker who directed A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps in 2019. The documentary premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and is available to stream on PBS. DeJoseph served in Mali from 1992–1994 and has also worked on other documentaries, including The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film and Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land. A Towering Task explores the history of the Peace Corps. The documentary features interviews with Harry Belafonte, Annette Bening, Jimmy Carter, and Chris Dodd, among others. Last night, July 20, 2024, her film A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps won the regional Emmy for best historical documentary! The Heartland Emmy Awards Winners An incredible team of filmmakers (special shout-out to screenwriter Shana Kelly and editor Brian De Herrera-Schnering), 100s of volunteers, the most amazing Peace Corps community of PCVs, host . . .

23 youths empowered by “Sports Peace Corps Volunteers” (Belize)

Jul 20 2024

PCVs in the news — July 19, 2024 A team of twenty-three Peace Corps/Belize volunteers were sworn in today to serve as youth development volunteers with the National Sports Council. The group recently completed several weeks of rigorous training in Belize to better understand the country’s needs, and how best they can contribute. Today, that group officially began their twenty-four months of service to Belize under a program called Youths Empowered by Sports, or the YES Project. A swearing-in ceremony was held in Belmopan where we heard from Marvin Ottley, the Deputy Director of the National Sports Council and Nadine Rogers, the Country Director for Peace Corps/Belize. Marvin Ottley, Deputy Director, of the Belize National Sports Council “We know they hit the ground running right away. But they have been training for a period of time to familiarize themselves with what Belize has to offer, and . . .

FLASHPOINTS OF AWARENESS by Tarra Judson Stariell (Colombia)

Jul 20 2024

Flashpoints of Awareness: Lessons Learned from a Life by Tarra Judson Stariell (Colombia 1973-74) Ranch House Press November 2023 69 pages $10.99 (Paperback), $4.99 (Kindle) . . . Escondido, CA – Trauma is an aspect of life few of us escape. From psychology to pharmaceuticals to spirituality, many therapies are available for healing and yet, healing from intense trauma remains elusive. Author Tarra Judson Stariell (Colombia 1973-74) knows all too well the challenges and benefits healing from trauma can bring. After joining the Peace Corps she returned to her native California to share a paranormal message she had received, asking her to “return home and share with your family and others that life as you know it on Planet Earth will end if humans do not change the way they are living.” After having desperately sought a way to impart this message from various disciplines, philosophies, religions, and modalities, she ended . . .

Review | Peace Corps beginnings in AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Jul 19 2024

John writes — I have been reading author Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story and I strongly recommend this “personal history of the 1960s” by her. First Doris Kearns Goodwin is a wonderful writer, and has stories to tell about the first days of the Kennedy administration, and the start of the Peace Corps — JFK’s famous introduction of the agency at 2 a.m. in the morning, for example, on the campus of the University of Michigan. Kennedy spoke for 3 minutes, Doris Kearns writes, “Yet something extraordinary transpired: The students took up the challenge he posed. They organized, they held meetings, they sent letters and telegrams to the campaign asking Kennedy to develop plans for a volunteer Peace Corps (it was not then called ‘Peace Corps’). They signed petitions pledging to give not two but three years of their lives to help people in developing countries.” During that . . .

Review | SHIPS IN THE DESERT by Jeff Fearnside (Kazakhstan)

Jul 18 2024

Ships In The Desert by Jeff Fearnside (Kazakhstan 2002–04) Santa Fe Writer’s Project 136 pages August, 2022 $14.95 (paperback), $8.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Eugénie de Rosier (Philippines 2006-08) • • • Out of the massive spread of Central Asia — from the Caspian Sea moving east to northwest China — is the region’s “stan” countries: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the Uyghur (WEE-gur) autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. Historically, the area was known as “Land of the Turks” or Turkestan. It’s unrelated to Turkey. Jeff Fearnside’s slim volume of essays assesses his four years as guest educator and fellowship program manager for post-graduate study abroad. Most of his living happened on the Great Silk Road mainly in Kazakhstan. He addresses a stirring call to action about our responsibility to save our precious water resource globally after the Aral Sea disaster. He outpours his view of Kazakh people, their culture, . . .

RPCV Peter Navarro the MAGA Martyr Who Went to Prison for You (Thailand)

Jul 18 2024

Credit…Damon Winter/The New York Times Peter Navarro (Thailand 1965-68) walked out of federal prison Wednesday morning and walked into the Republican convention Wednesday evening to deliver a law-defying, teeth-baring, knife-wielding speech that was one of the more bizarre convention moments I’ve ever seen. Navarro, who was the trade representative in the Trump administration, spent the last four months in the Federal Correction Institute in Miami, having been convicted by a Washington jury in September of contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. To the audience here in Milwaukee, there is no badge of honor more awesome than a conviction for the sacred MAGA cause, and a prison term elevates that conviction to martyrdom, which is why the party instantly capitalized on his timely release. To the cheering crowd, Navarro milked every moment of suffering in the low-security tropical prison (where you can buy butter-pecan ice cream, . . .

Foreign Agents by Casey Michel (Kazakhstan)

Jul 17 2024

Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World by Casey Michel (Kazakstan 2011) St. Martins Press August 2024 $14.99 (Kindle); $17.71 (Audiobook); $27.90 (Hardcover) For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet. In the process, they’ve not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they’ve secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware. And now, some of them have begun turning their sights on American democracy itself. These Americans are known as foreign lobbyists, and many of them spent years ushering dictatorships directly into the halls of Washington, all while laundering the reputations of the most heinous, repressive regimes in the process. These foreign lobbyists include figures like Ivy Lee, the inventor of the public relations industry—a man who whitewashed Mussolini, opened doors to the Soviets, and advised the . . .

Looking East: Short Histories and More 2004 – 2023

Jul 16 2024

Looking East: Short Histories and More 2004-2023 by Walter McClennen (Brazil 1967-69) Damianos Publishing June 2024 122 pages $19.95 (Paperback) Walter McClennen uses a “Short History” model to set forth a collection of his ideas reflecting on the deep past, and our more recent history, as well as the history we are making as we live our lives today. Looking East – Short Histories and More, 2004-2023, is a compact and thought-provoking read. From a ten page “Short History of the World,” to Peace Corps and Vietnam War impacts as felt five decades later, to the dual genius of the famous author, Harper Lee, and to some little-known history of his hometown, Holliston, Massachusetts, McClennen shares candid opinions and raises interesting questions that will challenge the reader. After graduating from Harvard in 1967 and serving in the Peace Corps in Brazil, Walter McClennen raised a family of four boys with his . . .

The Volunteer Who Was Elected to Five Consecutive Terms in the U. S. Senate | Christopher Dodd (Dominican Republic)

Jul 15 2024

Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Christopher Dodd served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominion Republic 1968-71, after graduating from Providence College. Thereafter, he was elected to the first of three terms as a U. S. Representative in 1974. Following his father’s career path, Chris ran and was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1980. He was reelected in 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2004—the first Connecticut senator to be elected to five consecutive terms. Chris’s time in Congress was marked by an interest in child welfare, fiscal reform, and education. He served on the Senate’s committees on banking, housing, and urban affairs (Chair from 2007), foreign relations, health, education, labor and pensions and rules and administration (Chair 2001-2003 In 1995-97, he served as General Chair of the Democratic National Committee. In January 2007, Chris announced that he planned to pursue the 2008 Democratic . . .

Review — WALKING WITH EVARISTO by Christian Nill (Guatemala)

Jul 14 2024

Walking with Evaristo: A Memoir of Celebration and Tragedy in the Land of the AchÍ Maya Christian Nill (Guatemala 1978–82) Peace Corps Writers May 2024 383 pages $17.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mark Walker (Guatemala) • • • Fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Christian Nill has written an engaging story about the impact and consequences of his experience as a volunteer in the highlands of Guatemala. He’s also made a timely contribution to our understanding of the devastating ten-year period of violence there. Although I was a volunteer five years before Nill, the similarities were amazing. I worked on a study for CARE identifying some of the management and conservation practices used for the Food-for-Work program implemented in conjunction with the group Nill worked with, INAFOR (National Forestry Institute). My second site was also in Baja Verapaz, where I found my bride. I raised money for the program in the . . .

Archive - 2024