Author - John Coyne

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Giles (Liberia 1964-66)   Peace Corps Liberia Empowers Educational and Health Sectors as 12 new Volunteers Assigned to Margibi, Bong and Grand Bassa By Gerald C. Koinyeneh August 21, 2023   MONROVIA – In a concerted effort to boost Liberia’s educational and health sectors, Peace Corps Liberia welcomed a new group of volunteers into its ranks for a two-year service in Liberia.  The 12 new volunteers are the first batch of volunteers to return to Liberia since 2020 when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers because of COVID-19. After 11 weeks of language and cultural training, the volunteers were sworn-in on Thursday, August 17, 2023, by USAID Mission director Jim Wright, who is also serving as acting deputy chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Monrovia. Wright urged the volunteers to exemplify the highest standards that the United States has to offer the world, . . .

Bishkek, August 25, 2023 – Twenty-six newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteers will co-teach English with local teachers in secondary schools across Chui, Naryn, Issyk-Kul, Talas, Osh and Jalal-Abad regions over the next two years. This is the 29th group of Volunteers to serve in the Kyrgyz Republic.  In attendance at the ceremony were U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Lesslie Viguerie, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aibek Moldogaziev, Head of the international cooperation and investment department of Ministry of Education and Science Aizada Apysheva, Peace Corps Regional Director for Europe, Mediterranean and Asia Rebecca Sharp, and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Volunteers, as well as local teachers and directors of schools where the Volunteers will serve as co-teachers.  “For 30 years, Peace Corps Volunteers and the communities in which they serve have collaborated to increase student and teacher capacity in English and have built relationships that continue long . . .

Ex-Peace Corps Volunteers Deserve Recognition by Victor Barbiero (Ethiopia 1973-75) ”We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough — more than enough — of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on, not toward a strategy of annihilation, but toward a strategy of peace.” President John F. Kennedy June 10, 1963, American University Candidate John F. Kennedy spoke to a crowd of 10,000 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and challenged the students to work and live overseas. He implored . . .

Westbury Imagined: Based on True Stories by Arthur Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67) Nsemia Publishers August 2023 $9.99 (Kindle); $32.00 (Paperback)   The first encounters between Indigenous people and Europeans, the enslavement of Africans and their fight for freedom, fox hunting millionaires and Italian immigrants, and the development of suburbia until the present day—all this is presented in Westbury Imagined, a book of history, fiction, memoir and poetry that celebrates this diverse Long Island community. Arthur Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67) has lived with his family in Westbury since 1969. He is Professor Emeritus of University Studies at Hofstra University and Leader Emeritus of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Bangla, Dutch and Spanish.

Help Ensure A Towering Task Airs Nationwide A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps is coming to PBS stations nationwide, starting September 2. But your help is needed to make sure this documentary airs in your region. With PBS stations sometimes scheduling programming two to three months before airdate, now is the time to reach out to your local station. The PBS World channel will host a nationwide broadcast premiere on Friday, September 29 at 8 p.m. Eastern with repeats on Saturday, September 30 at 3 a.m., 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. Eastern. Your local station program managers will decide whether to schedule the film and how often over the next three years. View a list of confirmed stations and air times so far.That’s where you come in. CALL your station today and ask that A Towering Task, which is distributed by NETA, be included in the line-up. Then, help get the word . . .

  Who Stole My Bible: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny by Rev. Jennifer Butler (Belize 1989-91) Faith in Public Life Publisher October 2020 180 pages $9.99 (Kindle); $15.99 (Paperback); (Audio book) The Bible has been hijacked. We’ve all seen examples of sacred scripture being used and abused to justify racism, sexism, reactionary politics, and even violence. If you have ever found yourself wondering what Bible some of your fellow believers are reading, if you’ve ever asked yourself “Who Stole My Bible?”, then you are not alone. With a foreword from Brian McLaren, Who Stole My Bible?: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny shows how the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is an inspiring handbook for resisting tyranny. Jennifer Butler loved the Bible and her Christian faith, but then was disillusioned when it was used against her as a woman. Instead of leaving religion, she found a fresh . . .

  “There’s no success like failure and failure’s no success at all.” Bob Dylan • I ignored the summons the draft board sent to my remote Ethiopian village midway through my second year of Peace Corps service, and dropped its greetings down the shintabet (the long-drop) hole, sending it to fester with the rest of the used toilet tissue. And I did not inform the Peace Corps staff in Addis Ababa that I had been drafted. The police curfew that kept Goba locked down while Haile Selassie’s troops fought pitched battles with rebel shifta in the nearby mountains had finally lifted, the unending rainy season that hijacked two consecutive dry seasons had finally abated, and after eighteen months of mud and fear, I could finally hike and ride in the gorgeous Bale Province countryside. But end of service was near. In 1968, the Viet Cong’s Tet Offensive had driven America . . .

The winning Six-Word Stories selected by noted RPCV novelist, Richard Wiley (Korea 1967-69) are . . .   Arrived tired. Mali inspired. Living unmired. by Bill Moseley (Mali 1987-89)   Piped water frees girls for school.    by Bob Gribbin (Kenya 1968-70)   Peru: She returned with blinders off. by Patricia (Silke) Edmisten (Peru 1962-64)   In making his selection, Richard Wiley writes, “I read them all a dozen or more times, and came up with three that I like best, two of which seem to emphasize what being in the Peace Corps did for the volunteer (and writer!), and one that highlighted a good Peace Corps outcome for the country.What was hard about this was deciding how I wanted to order these final three.  It was a very close call. Thank you for allowing me to have a role in this and congratulations to the winners.

John Chromy (India 1963-65) writes: For forty years the RPCV/Hawaii group has joined with local Rotary Clubs to raise funds for all kinds of community development and family assistance projects on the islands. Today, after the horrible Hurricane driven fire that consumed the community of Laihani, killed 80 people and left thousands homeless, the RPCV/Hawaii group is asking Peace Corps people everywhere to help the victims of this tragic double storm. Could you please ask/urge Peacecorpsworldwide supporters to extend the Peace Corps spirit by sending donations to: Maui Fund RPCV/Hawaii P.O. Box  29462 Honolulu, HI   96820-1862  

  Hey Buddy! Portraits of Friends Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) KDP, an Amazon.com Company 144 pages August 2023 $18.00 (paperback) Reviewed by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-67) • Think of this collection of vignettes as a mixed bouquet of flowers, some colorful, some a bit wilted, a few missing petals. Lawrence Lihosit recounts strangers who became friends in his years of traveling and working from Alaska to Argentina, Honduras to California. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras (1975-1977). The prose is suitable for scan reading—no multi-layered metaphors, or nifty timeline shifts, or illusions and allusions that require association. Lihosit tells the tales as he would to someone sitting on the neighboring barstool. No literary pretense, but rather people being themselves. So, enjoy the humanization without the polishing rub of a professional hand. (One of Lihosit’s previous books, Years On and Other Travel Essays, was awarded Best Travel Book . . .

Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in August 2023–the count is 515. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1963-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Jack Allison (Malawi 1967-69) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy Anderson (Togo 1962-64) James Archambeault . . .