Author - Joanne Roll

  Peace Corps may be “Forever Young” in the public imagination but in reality, it is one of the oldest “new” federal agencies. Its fifty-five years of operation will take a gigantic effort to accurately document. Public, independent and well funded, a Peace Corps Library needs more to be successful. It needs a professional Librarian Research staff, a RPCV advisory committee, an Internet presence as well as a physical location.   Why a Professional Librarian Research Staff? The materials, books, documents, memorabilia and electronic items are scattered all over. Some are in the public domain; some are in private or public university collections. Most of the documents from Peace Corps’ first decades are hard copy and have not been digitalized. The expertise of a professional Librarian Research staff is necessary to locate all of the items, to create a catalog system and to work to make these items accessible, even if . . .

Press Release from Peace Corps https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-office-inspector-general-receives-two-awards-excellence/   WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 21, 2016 – The Peace Corps Office of Inspector General (OIG) received two awards for excellence at the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s (CIGIE) 19th Annual Awards Ceremony held on October 20, 2016. CIGIE presented the Award for Excellence in Audits to an OIG team for their “Audit of the Peace Corps’ Healthcare Benefits Administration Contract.” This audit examined how the Peace Corps, through its contractor, processes claims for medical services provided to its Volunteers. The audit team found serious flaws in the Peace Corps’ contracting practices and the contractor did not fully follow the terms in the contract. The audit found Peace Corps spent $1.2 million on services that couldn’t be verified by records. Expert Jeffrey Lee, Lead Auditor Snehal Nanavati, Auditor Ann Lawrence, Former Assistant Inspector General for Audits Bradley Grubb, Assistant Inspector General for . . .

  Thanks to John Dougherty, Co-Coordinator, Thirsters, for this notice. * VISIT FROM PEACE CORPS THAILAND GROUP 1 – OCTOBER 20th 2016 Dear Thirsters in Residence: On Thursday, October 20th, some of the folks from Peace Corps Thailand Group 1 will visit with us at McMenamin’s. They are in Portland to celebrate their 55th anniversary on October 17-21. Bob Textor was one of their teachers and a friend until his death, and Bob attended the 50th reunion in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit the Friends of Thailand website: http://www.friendsofthailand.org/thailandrpcvs/groups/thai01/Thai01.html On the website, take a look at Sumner Sharpe’s Recollections, the 1972 January Graduation: Thai I Group and the 50th Anniversary. Sumner talks about Bob Textor in his recollections. At the 1972 graduation and the 50thAnniversary in Washington, DC, there are pictures of Bob. UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION TOPICS: November 3rd: What users want from smart phones – Zara Logue November 10th: . . .

  NPR’s Michel Martin interviewed Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet and Dr. Vanessa Kerry, Executive Director of Global Health Services Corps, January 14, 2013.  Read the transcript of the interview “New Ground for Peace Corps.” In the interview, Director Hessler-Radelet explains that Peace Corps doctors and nurses have served in the Peace Corps since its very beginning. The majority of these serving medical professionals were in community health programs. The partnership with Global Health Services Corps will emphasize  building health system strengthening  and will begin with medical education. This new partnership with Global Health Services was discussed on Peace Corps World Wide when it began. Here are links to other sources that provide additional information about the partnership. This is the link to a pdf of the original Peace Corps contract with Global Health Services. The following interview, “A Peace Corps For Doctors, Built By A Senator’s Daughter,” is the first one on . . .

  Thirster meetings have been described as “a salon that comes together for camaraderie, beer, and to discuss issues of common interest.” Dr. Robert Textor was a young cultural anthropologist who worked at Peace Corps in the very first year.  He created the “In, Up, and Out,” policy, helped to train Thailand I, and edited the classic “Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps.” When he moved to Portland, Oregon after his retirement from Stanford, he organized the Thirsters – A moveable Feast!  John Dougherty now co-coordinates this group and would be willing to help start a Thirsters in Washington, DC. Here is the description by John Dougherty: “Thirsters:  Originally organized by Robert B. Textor (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Stanford) as a worldwide network in about 1997, Thirsters is an informal group of Peace Corps graduates, academics, public servants, business leaders, and other questioning individuals who discuss issues of peace, freedom, . . .

Here is another link to the essay by Kathleen Kanne about De-Selection.  Please comment if the link does not work. This is the research that John just described. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/4cf4286b-0f17-4adf-ba0d-2eb361f2b254

The Peace Corps Office of the Third Goal is sponsoring a Story Telling Video Contest.  RPCVs from many decades are represented.  Here is how to view the videos and vote: Go to the Facebook link:https://www.facebook.com/pcthirdgoal/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1067581646663436 Click on the picture of your choice and it will bring you to the video.  If you wish to vote for that video, return to the Facebook page and hit “like”. You may vote for as many videos as you like. Thank you to Katie (RPCV Mali and DR) for these instructions.  There are real people actually answering the phone at the Office of the Third Goal!!

Ambassador Christopher J. Stevens was a Peace Corps Volunteer in from 1983 to 1985, he taught English in Morocco.  He joined the Foreign Service utilizing the cultural and skills he gained from his time in Morocco. He was assassinated at the Benghazi, Libya Outpost on September 11, 2012.  Three other Americans were also murdered. The terrorist attack at Benghazi was the subject of numerous Congressional Hearings, although no legislation was ever presented to  prevent such attacks on diplomatic posts in the future.  Now, the tragedy of the lost American lives at Benghazi has become a rallying cry for Republicans in their vendetta against Hillary Clinton.  One grieving mother even spoke at the Republican Convention.  Another, the mother of Ambassador Stevens has pleaded that her son’s death not be used in this manner.  Read her letter, here: To the Editor: As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’s mother, I am writing to object to . . .

A $750,000 study designed to examine if taking the malaria prevention drug, chloroquine (Arlen) would reduce the risk of breast cancer among RPCV women did not attract sufficient number of respondents.  It is not clear if any further study will be done.  The research team needed between 14,000 t0 18,000 participants, but less than 500 RPCV women had responded by May of 2014. The three year study ended in 2015. Background: The  Research Team at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas received the  $750,000 grant from the Department of Defense to study, “A Translational Approach to Validate In Vivo Anti-Tumor Effects of Chloroquine on Breast Cancer Risk”. Animal studies had suggested that female mammals who were given chloroquine had a lifetime reduced risk of breast cancer. The grant was awarded to Baylor to investigate if this effect could be found in human females.  The Baylor team chose to study RPCV . . .

In early 2014, Mario Machado was a RPCV recently returned from a two years plus Peace Corps assignment in Paraguay. Machado wrote a thoughtful essay published in the Huffington Post about the importance of relationships in development, The Privilege of Doing Development Work: Voluntourism and Its Limitations. There are provocative observations about “volunteerism”.  It is an important article for the RPCV community and beyond.  Read it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-machado/the-privilege-of-doing-de_b_4832836.html What do you think?

One of the major changes made by Peace Corps in 2010 was to include non-RPCVs in the Peace Corps Response Program. The decision to include non-RPCVs was announced in the 2010 Peace Corps Comprehensive Agency Assessment Report. (https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/opengov/PC_Comprehensive_Agency_Assessment.pdf) Peace Corps Response had begun in 1995 as the Crisis Corps. It was designed to utilize the unique experience of RPCVs by deploying them to help in emergencies, almost always in foreign countries. Later, the name was changed to Peace Corps Response and the mandate was expanded to send RPCVS  on short term technical or professional  assignments. Today, Peace Corps Response is open to returned Volunteers or those with significant professional and technical experience willing to serve usually three to twelve months in host countries. The Response Volunteers do not receive the extensive 12 week cultural and language training that “traditional” Volunteers have received. The Responsive program has a week’s orientation program.  It . . .

The Washington Times published the following AP report from the North Carolina legislature.  Associated Press, Wednesday, June 1, 2016 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Bipartisan legislation allowing North Carolina public school teachers and government employees with previous Peace Corps service to improve their pensions has been side-tracked in the House after a strong majority originally supported the legislation. The House initially voted 94-14 Tuesday for the bill, which would require workers to pay both their personal contribution and the government’s share to “buy” retirement credits for up to five years in the Peace Corps. But several Republican lawmakers asked Speaker Tim Moore to have their “yes” votes changed to “no,” setting the stage for procedural motions to cancel the previous approval. Some legislators then criticized the bill, saying Peace Corps veterans shouldn’t be treated the same as military veterans, which have a similar option. The bill was then returned to a committee.” . . .

Morgan Courtney is a “Design thinker + foreign policy/international development practitioner working for social impact” who wrote an article for the Huffington Post.  She offers  ten points of advice for the “Graduate Who Wants to Work in International Affairs.” Of interest to the Peace Corps community and prospective applicants is #2 from Courtney. Get field experience. Many field jobs in international development require prior field experience. It’s a Catch-22. How do you get field experience if jobs require you to already have field experience? There are a couple of different ways. Firstly, your summer or semester in South Africa doesn’t count as much as you think it does. Sorry. What employers are looking for is real work experience, not classroom time, in another country. (What IS good is language proficiency from your time abroad!) So what can you do after college to get field experience? In my estimation, the very best . . .

Peace Corps has a new logo and a new website. “Peace Corps’ Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet and Creative Director Juan Carlos Polanco, will discuss the new brand and our efforts to showcase the Volunteer experience. Attend the event for a chance to ask questions or, if you can’t make it, watch the recording after the event.” This is the link for more information: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USPC/bulletins/14c8d44

Ann Moore was a pioneer Peace Corps Volunteer, a pediatric nurse who went to  Togo in 1962. She was a member of a Peace Corps medical group which included  doctors, nurses, lab techs, a pharmacist and others. Ann observed the traditional patterns of baby care in Togo. She saw that the babies were always carried by their mothers.  She noted “the outstanding emotional well being of the African infant, either sick or healthy”. Ann brought home what she learned and created the baby carrier, the Snugli.  Generations of happy babies and parents, the world over, was the result. But, read Ann’s powerful story in her own words. Clink on the statement to which says to “continue reading.” https://americannursetoday.com/blog/the-snugli-story/