Author - John Coyne

Peace Corps volunteer and Newark native Rafael Aguilar on X Factor Bulgaria. Photos (2) Photos Credit Courtesy Image  Videos http://o3.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/PATCH/resize/273×203/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/496dbd1cab0cf8aa9545cc5a3454d8df Rafael Aguilar always wanted to make a difference, and for more than two years the Newark Memorial High School alumnus has done just that in eastern Europe. On Monday, the 25-year-old returned to Bregovo, Bulgaria, where he has been teaching  English to students in grades 1 through 12, to extend his stay for a third – and final – year as a Peace Corps volunteer. He plans to continue working toward improving his students’ understanding of the English language. Aguilar’s return to the village of 1,500 residents that he has called home since 2009 comes weeks after he made a star appearance on X Factor Bulgaria. Known to belt songs with a strong tenor voice, Aguilar publically made his decision to stay with the Peace Corps rather than continue on . . .

NPCA President and CEO Kevin Quigley (Thailand 1976-79) wants to align the Peace Corps with our “national interests” You might have read Kevin’s testimony at the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee week on October 6, 2011 (I know you think you have more important things to do, but still…..). In his public testimony, Kevin’s second recommendation is that the agency should “Align Country Selection More Closely with Long‐term National Interests” In other words, what’s good for the State Department is good for the Peace Corps. Interestingly, former senator and early architect of the Peace Corps, Harris Wofford, made the point in his Q & A with Senator Menendez at this same Hearing that when establishing the agency Secretary of State Dean Rush told President Kennedy that “the Peace Corps is not an instrument of foreign policy, because to make it so would rob it of its contribution to foreign policy.” As . . .

[Padraic (Pat) Kennedy, who was one of the first dozen or so people hired at the agency in 1961, started work reading the tremendous amount of mail coming into the new Peace Corps from people wanting to join, next he became the first Training Officer, as Pat says, only because he had just been at a university, and Shriver ‘associated’ universities with training for the Peace Corps. As Training Officer,  Kennedy would escort the first PCVs to Ghana. Then he was appointed by Shriver director of the Division of Volunteer Support (PCV/DVS in Washington lingo). After his five years in-up-and out at the agency he went to VISTA, and then went onto become President and CEO of The Columbia Association in Columbia, Maryland, i.e., more or less, City Manager/Mayor. Now retired, Pat recently sent me this short essay on establishing Peace Corps’ Career Information Service, which helped RPCVs find a life after their tours. Over the 50 years, this . . .

[The views of this woman tells us why we still need a Peace Corps] Op-Ed Daum: The Amanda Knox moral – there’s no place like home Relief at her return is due at least partly to Americans’ fear of travel in foreign lands. By Meghan Daum October 6, 2011 I didn’t have a huge investment in the fate of Amanda Knox, the 24-year-old American whose conviction for killing her roommate four years ago in Italy was overturned Monday. I was generally too put off and confused by the media circus surrounding the case to try to figure out the whole story. Still, in the moments before the appeals decision was announced, I found myself on the edge of my seat, constantly refreshing my Internet browser until the word “acquit” flashed across the screen. Then I exhaled, a far bigger sigh of relief than I thought I had in me. The . . .

Watching the Congressional Hearing today chaired by Senator Menendez and entitled “Peace Corps, The Next 50 Years,” and then reading Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968-70) testimony that he gave to the House Committee on Natural Resources regarding a Peace Corps Monument, I came up with the notion that the Peace Corps is a lot like the late great heavyweight boxing champ, Rocky Marciano. Do you remember Rocky? I mean, the real one, not the movie. Rocky Marciano was a hero of my youth. I watched him fight on a small black-and-white television in the livingroom of my farmhouse back in Illinois. No one could take out Rocky. He defended his title six times and never lost.  He didn’t have much style. He wasn’t another Kid Gavilan or Sugar Ray. No fancy footwork or dazzling smile. He was called The Brockton Blockbuster. Rocky kept coming at you regardless of how many times he was hit. He never seem to get hurt. The Peace Corps . . .

[The world is falling apart, they are demonstrating on Wall Street and across the country, Greece is hanging on to its last Drachma, the Arab Spring has become the Financial Fall, and the great Steve Jobs has just died….Still, a few faithful RPCVs, God love them, are protesting and rallying against the Peace Corps as we celebrate this month our 50 years of service. N ow, here is that old curmudgeon, Chuck Ludlam, who makes me look like a passivist when it comes to criticizing the Peace Corps, taking on the agency and the NPCA about a possible Peace Corps Monument on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Now, I have been reading about a ‘Peace Corps Monument’ since Shriver days of old, so what gives? I guess the idea is still alive and kickin’, and Chuck is out to kill is before one stone is set in stone. Here is his testimony . . .

[After his written testimony, Chuck Ludlam has more to say and moves away from the Peace Corps Monument to what is ‘really on his mind’.] Oral Testimony: Chuck Ludlam Chairman Bishop and Members of the Subcommittee. Let me make four points. First, more important than listening to what I have to say would be viewing the ABC 20/20 report of its investigation into epic scandals in the Peace Corps. The Subcommittee should let these scandals run their course. It should be wary of authorizing a Monument that would, in effect, enable the Peace Corps to “change the subject” and gloss over these unresolved scandals. I am aware of at least three more installments in these scandals that may become public in the coming months.  If the Subcommittee authorizes this Monument, it risks being blind-sided by upcoming developments. Over a period of years, we will have the verdict of history regarding . . .

[Taylor Dibbert holds a BA in political science from the University of Georgia and a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 2006-2008. His work has been published in Slow Trains Literary Journal, Scarlett Rosebud and elsewhere. He is the author of the recently published book, Fiesta of Sunset: The Peace Corps, Guatemala and a Search for Truth. ]  The Truth about the Peace Corps September 29, 2011 by Taylor Dibbert As the Peace Corps turns fifty, now is an auspicious time to discuss Peace Corps reform. With annual expenses of less than $500 million, the organization costs little when considered in the broader budgetary debate on Capitol Hill. Over the past ten years, two disparate narratives have encompassed most talk surrounding the organization. The first has to do with Peace Corps volunteer . . .

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs HEARING: Peace Corps, The Next 50 Years Presiding: Senator Menendez When & Where: Thursday, October 6, 2011 10:30 am Room 419 Senate Dirksen Office Building WITNESSES: Panel I Chris Dodd Former Senator from Connecticut Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Harris Wofford Former Senator from Pennsylvania Panel II Aaron Williams Peace Corps Director Panel III Kathy Buller Peace Corps Inspector General Office of the Inspector General Washington, DC Kevin Quigley President National Peace Corps Association Washington, DC Karestan Koenen Associate Professor Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health New York, New York