Author - John Coyne

RPCV/W will honor RPCV Aaron Williams, the agency’s recent director, with its “Peace Corps Champion Award” at the group’s 2012 Holiday Party & Silent Auction. This is taking place on the evening of December 14, 2012, at 2020 O Street N.W. Tickets are $45 for members;  $60 for Non-Members. It will cost you $70 at the door. According to the RPCV/W e-mail blast, ” The guest list is growing and tickets are going fast. Get yours before its too late!” Each year, RPCV/W awards its Peace Corps Champion Award to an individual whose work has made a great impact on the Peace Corps and its community. This year they selected Aaron S. Williams who served as Director from 2009 to 2012. Acting Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet will also be at the party, as will the former Senator Harris Wofford, who, as we know, was one of the original Mad Men of the agency and also the . . .

I am continually amazed and humbled by the work that RPCVs continue to do in the countries where they once served as PCVs. Recently I received word about another amazing project, this time in Peru, carried on by a handful of former Peru Volunteers. These RPCVs have established the Chijnaya Foundation and they work directly with villages in hard to access, under-served areas of the Peruvian Andes. Among the RPCVs on this foundation board are Ralph Bolton (Peru 1962-65) who contacted me, Peggy Slater (Peru 1966-68),  John Rouse (Peru 1966-68), Connie Jaquith (Bolivia and Peru, not sure of her dates). Other former RPCVs who were early organizers are Andrew Hoffman (Peru 1966-68), Raymond Rifenburg (Peru 1966-68), and Paul Doughty, a Peace Corps trainer in Peru in the early ’60s, Rolly Thompson,  a consultant to the foundation, and Judith Haden, who was a PCV in Central America.  As I said, the The Chijnaya Foundation works directly with . . .

    Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66; Trainer at Camp Radley 1966-68; APCD Colombia 1968-70; Language Director for the Peace Corps in Latin America 1971-73; CD Argentina and Uruguay 1993-95; Response Volunteer to Panama 2009-10, Paraguay 2010-11; currently in Colombia with Peace Corps Response) has also worked as the State Director for ACTION, 1973–75, and retired from the position of County of Los Angeles Affirmative Action Compliance Officer in 1993.

Tino Calabia (Peru 1963-65), who rallied all of us in support of honoring  Ambassador Christopher Stevens, sent me a note about our collective efforts to reach 1000 signatures. He pointed out that we have currently 959 signatures and suggested we rally our friends from the Peace Corps–after the encouraging words today from the Peace Corps Acting Director–to sign this petition and reach 1,000 names before the end of the year, if not before the end of this week! Tino also suggested that we ask Acting Director of the Peace Corps, Carrie Hessler-Radelet, to invite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to join us at the Peace Corps dedication ceremony regardless of Secretary Clinton’s official government status in May 2013. These are great ideas. So, go to this page and sign our RPCV petition, and if you have already signed it, thank you and please forward the request to other RPCVs and Peace Corps staff from your . . .

[On Friday I received the following e-mail from the Acting Director of the Peace Corps Carrie Hessler-Radelet concerning honoring Ambassador Chris Stevens. She asked me to share it with all of you who read our blog items. John Coyne] November 30, 2012 Dear Members of the Peace Corps Family: I recently met with Ambassador Chris Stevens’s sister, Anne, to offer condolences and support on behalf of the Peace Corps community.  Her graciousness and her desire to help further the important bridge-building work of her brother is both moving and inspiring. In response to your petition, I committed to keeping you informed about the dedication of the Ambassador Stevens photo in History Hall of Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C.  We were originally thinking that we would have a dedication ceremony in mid-December at the same time as the State Department memorial service for Ambassador Stevens.  We heard from Anne Stevens . . .

Some 39 years Tom Gallagher (Ethiopia 1962-64) became the first Foreign Service Officer, and the first officer of any government in the world, to voluntarily come out of the closet. That was no small moment in time. It cost Tom his career in the State Department. Now it is  Wednesday, November 28, 2012 and Tom and other are gathered in the diplomatic reception room at the State Department -arguably the most beautiful room in the Western Hemisphere  where the Secretary of State welcomes visiting kings, presidents, etc. Tom is there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of GLIFAA, the gay organization for foreign affairs agencies in Washington.  The Washington Gay Mens’ Chorus has just finished singing the Star Spangled Banner in four part harmony.  Next, the Secretary of State speaks out about her solid support for gay rights at the State Department and worldwide, and Tom is thinking:  “Wow, we’ve come a long way, baby!” In . . .

[A note from Chris Szwedo, the producer/director/man behind Eye On The Sixties] We Did It. Last evening with a little less than an hour to go we crossed over the funding goal that we set up on the grassroots system known as KICKSTARTER. To everyone who made a contribution small, medium, or large– here’s what you did. You have via your donation virtually insured that our documentary will get a significant play on public television affiliates beginning in the summer of 2013. We now have a respectable war chest in which to operate from as marketing costs come at us. About 16 months ago Rowland Scherman and I met for the first time and without knowing each other very well made an instinctive decision to make a film about his incredible experiences and his creative output. We have been to hell and back as all creative journeys are. We have travelled to . . .