A new book – Peace Corps Worldwide

When Small Things Make Great Things Possible, by John Chromy (India 1963-65)

Nov 25 2024

A little over a year ago, John Chromy (India 1963-65) began a project to gather narratives on at least ten programs where the cumulative efforts of Peace Corps Volunteers and their host country counterparts either initiated, expanded or laid the groundwork for future expansion of programs that over a half century have become permanent elements in improving the lives of millions of people. It was his intent to share these great narratives with a wide audience and to make these achievements a historical hallmark of the Peace Corps concept and its inherent belief in the value of “bottom-up community-based development.” I helped John identify these programs and also committed to helping disseminate the product of his work. Sadly, John passed away on October 19, 2024, just after delivering his report. Published posthumously, “When Small Things Make Great Things Possible” shares a 50-year perspective on 10 Peace Corps programs that enabled . . .

Carnival in Rio, by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96)

Nov 21 2024

Carnival in Rio is bigger and better than anything of its kind. The all-night parades of samba schools in the Sambadrome, the most famous of the events, are mesmerizing in person and great memories thereafter. So are the hundreds of street parties, called blocos, where participants numbering from a few hundred to a million dance and sing and eat and hug, toast each other with extra-large bottles of beer, and renew old friendships and make new ones. Carnival is also a state of mind and being—of joy, spontaneity, camaraderie, and goodwill—that pervades the city and the country. Everyone sports a costume, even if it’s a cute crown or an outrageous hat or shirt or, popular with children, sneakers flashing multi-colored lights. In the Sambadrome, the spectators’ adrenalin starts to flow when a samba school begins its march down the parade route. As the marchers near each section, the entire grandstand . . .

New Book by Danny Langdon (Ethiopia 1962-64)

Nov 19 2024

Junkyard Kid Book Description This is the fascinating, often humorous, story of Danny G Langdon—a person who has lived a very lucky life. A world traveler, he is one of the most sane, charming, talented, funny, profound humans you could possibly know—which is unlikely when you read that he was born in a warehouse and raised in a junkyard setting. However, he thrived in such an unusual environment! It promoted his curiosity as he lived with his seven siblings and widowed mother who ran a scrap metal, hide, wool, pelt, and fur business for 40 years. His is a story of overcoming learning obstacles to become a well-rounded person, a successful entrepreneur, and the author of a baker’s dozen books. During the first days of the U.S. Peace Corps, he volunteered as a teacher in Ethiopia—personally meeting President John F. Kennedy at the White House and his Imperial Majesty Haile . . .

In latest book, geography professor offers new way forward for agriculture in Africa

Nov 15 2024

Published November 13, 2024 in Macalester College News For more than 35 years, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography Bill Moseley has devoted his career to agriculture in Africa. First as a Peace Corps volunteer, then as a staffer with international aid organizations, and finally as a geographer, Dr. Moseley has sought to understand the complex forces, both domestic and foreign, that shape what is grown and by whom in various parts of the continent, as well as who benefits and who does not from these policies and practices. In his latest book, Decolonizing African Agriculture: Food Security, Agroecology, and the Need for Radical Transformation, Professor Moseley has concentrated his expertise into an accessible volume that examines the history of food security and agricultural development in four African nations. The way forward, he argues, is to reject the dominant colonialist approach to economic development in favor of less commercialization and . . .

New release ‘Falling Seven Times’ sheds light on the struggles of labor migrants in a powerful tale of survival and resilience

Nov 12 2024

By Editor | November 7, 2024 | 0 Follow the harrowing journey of an Ethiopian woman navigating the hardships of working abroad to support her family LUBBOCK, Texas – Author Mark G. Wentling marks his return to the publishing scene with “Falling Seven Times” (published by Archway Publishing), a fictionalized account of his Ethiopian wife’s true-life experience as a labor migrant. The story follows Alya, an Ethiopian woman who unwillingly leaves her home in a desperate need to provide for her family. Without jobs that pay a livable wage in her country, working abroad is her only option for survival. What follows is a journey fraught with physical and emotional challenges: challenging work conditions, language barriers, and cultural clashes — all in the hope of securing a better future for herself and her loved ones. With its poignant narrative, “Falling Seven Times” offers a new perspective on a story . . .

Ah, Where the Light Shines Through, First of four volumes of poetry by Patricia Waak (Brazil 1966-68)

Nov 08 2024

A walk through the snow, attention to the life that is bursting forth around you, reading the ancient signs of life in the past are some of stories captured series of poems that illuminate the relationship between one’s self and the natural world. The epiphanies that come from being aware of the spiritual unfolding that is possible when you pay attention to the other beings that we share the earth with. Ah, Where the Light Shines Through speaks to the reader of what is always present around us if we but take notice. Available on Amazon.com

Author ‘pays it forward’ with new book

Oct 11 2024

Excerpted from the Salisbury Post (North Carolina). Published Thursday, October 10, 2024. By Karen Kistler When she heard the words cancer, Travis Brady (China 1994) said her reaction was utter disbelief. Now, in remission and eight years out, she has written a book entitled “Make Room for Healing: 40 Tips from a Breast Cancer Survivor,” which she said is a way to pay it forward. “The book is not a memoir,” Brady said. “It’s really about the tips and tricks and things that helped me get through treatment because I knew I wanted to pay forward a way to make going through breast cancer treatment easier for people that we love. That’s really my mission.” Raised in Salisbury and serving as vice president of HR for Hedrick Industries, Brady, along with her husband, David Grose and three-year-old daughter Grier, who now live in Chapel Hill, were living in Northern . . .

Medfield, MA Author Publishes True Crime Stories

Oct 09 2024

Source: October 08, 2024 (PRLEAP.COM) Entertainment News Her Side Of The Sun, a new book by Tim Flaherty (Guatemala 1974-76), has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. Her Side of the Sun chronicles the tales of different women in a women’s prison located in Framingham, Massachusetts, and the crimes that led them there. The events portrayed within are based on real accounts of incarcerated women and their crimes. Author Tim Flaherty portrays these events in a narrative setting as a message on how drugs and alcohol can lead a woman down this treacherous path. Writing an accurate and honest story, Flaherty transports us into the lives of these women and the devastating impact their actions have not only to themselves but to their families. About the Author Tim Flaherty is a former Peace Corps volunteer and served for three years in Guatemala. As he is fluent in Spanish, in . . .

MALINDY’S FREEDOM by Theresa Delsoin (Samoa)

Sep 27 2024

A new book – Malindy’s Freedom: The Story of a Slave Family by Mildred Johnson & Theresa Delsoin (Samoa 2004-06) Missouri Historical Society Press May 2005 220 pages $22.50 (Hardcover) This is an account of the years 1820 to 1865 in the life of Malindy, a freeborn Cherokee who was unlawfully enslaved as a child by a Franklin County, Missouri, farmer. Married to a freedman, Malindy gave birth to five children in slavery–creating a family she would fight her whole life to keep together. As a testament to Malindy’s iron will, her great-granddaughters Mildred Johnson and Theresa Delsoin have lived to share the story passed on through their family for generations–a story of courage, conviction, and love. In Malindy’s Freedom, Johnson and Delsoin construct a narrative that realistically re-creates Malindy’s world–the individuals she encountered, the crucibles she faced, the battles she won. The authors relied principally on census records, . . .

The Victimization of Public School Teachers in America

Sep 24 2024

A new book — The Victimization of Public School Teachers in America by Emmanuel Edouard (Mali 1980-82) Fulton Books Publication 356 pages June 2024 $9.99 (Kindle) & $25.73 (paperback) The assault on public school teachers’ integrity, livelihood, and professionalism started in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk. Based on the results of our education system performance, they were indirectly accused of failing our children. It peaked in 2004, when Rod Paige, then George W. Bush’s secretary of education, called the country’s leading teachers union a “terrorist organization.” Teachers felt dehumanized then. In 2009, Barack Obama blamed them for “letting our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us.” Teachers felt let down again. In 2017, President Donald Trump lamented how “beautiful” students had been “deprived of all knowledge” by our nation’s cash-guzzling public school system. Teachers felt humiliated and . . .

WHAT DEATH REVEALED by Jonathan Lash (Dominican Republic)

Sep 05 2024

A new book – What Death Revealed: A Story of Virtue, Vice and Violence Jonathan Lash (Dominican Republic 1967-69) Austin Macauley Publishers July 2025 378 pages $23.95 (paperback); $$4.50 (Kindle); $38.95 (hardcover); to come (audible) . . . In a tale that spans two disparate worlds within one city, this gripping novel dives deep into the divide between the glistening capital of the Free World and its neglected districts, home to 700,000 citizens mostly of color. Eight years after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sparked riots that shattered the city’s core, the scars of racial fury and systemic injustice remain as evident as ever. Amid this backdrop of crime and burnt-out neighborhoods, Jimmy McFarland, an earnest young District Attorney, stumbles upon evidence of corruption tied to a six-billion-dollar Metro subway project aimed at reconnecting the city’s fractured communities. Though clearly a matter for the FBI, McFarland embarks on a . . .

THE LOST TREES OF WILLOW AVENUE by Mike Tidwell (Zaire)

Aug 28 2024

new book — The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street by Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985-87) St. Martin’s Press March 2025 288 pages $14.99 (Kindle); $29.00 (Hardcover) — Pre-order Price Guarantee A riveting and elegant story of climate change on one city street, full of surprises and true stories of human struggle and dying local trees – all against the national backdrop of 2023’s record heat domes and raging wildfires and hurricanes. In 2023, author and activist Mike Tidwell decided to keep a record for a full year of the growing impacts of climate change on his one urban block right on the border with Washington, DC. A love letter to the magnificent oaks and other trees dying from record heat waves and bizarre rain, Tidwell’s story depicts the neighborhood’s battle to save the trees and combat climate change: The . . .

AFRICA OPENED MY HEART by Julie Wang (Benin)

Aug 27 2024

a new book— Africa Opened My Heart Julia Dreyer Wang (Benin 2012-14) Native Book Publishing August 2024 341 pages $19.99 (paperback), $3o.00 (Hardcover), $4.99 (Kindle) Africa Opened My Heart is a moving testament to having the courage to set out on new adventures later in life. After her husband died in 2009, Julie Wang, then 62, was encouraged to do so by reading about Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian, another older Peace Corps Volunteer. Julie was assigned to Benin, West Africa, a country she had barely heard of, but where she soon found herself falling in love with the Beninese people, who showed her how to survive and thrive in this sometimes-challenging country. As someone who had founded two businesses in the U.S., teaching entrepreneurial skills to Beninese young and old proved a pleasure. She thought she was doing well until confronted by a group of seamstresses who could . . .

THE BIG RED ONE TO THE B-29 by Robert N. Colombo (Colombia)

Aug 10 2024

A new book — The Big Red One To The B – 29 Men And Women From The Fillmore Central School District, Allegany County, New York, In World War Ii: Pearl Harbor North America North Africa Pacific Islands Europe – Asia by Robert N. Colombo (Colombia 1963-65) Bowker Publisher August 2024 462 pages $25.00 (Hardback) Fillmore Centeral School Distrrict residents participated in virtually every major invasion of World War II. They were with Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) in North Africa and Sicily. Marlie Hodnett of Fillmore was one of the first (if not the first) men ashore in the Sicily invasion at Gela. They were in the invasions of mainland Italy and Southern France. The FCSD was well represented at Normandy, on land, sea and in the air, including the first waves at deadly Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. David Hambling identified 20 battles which he . . .

Review | THE LIFE OF LEE LYE HOE by James A. Wolter (Malaysia)

Aug 08 2024

A new book — The Life Of Lee Lye Hoe: An Unsung Woman Hero Amazon Direct Publishing by James A. Wolter (Malaysia 1962-66) June 2024 353 pages $16.79 (Paperback) Reviewed by: Douglas C. MacLeod, Jr. The Life of Lee Lye Hoe: An Unsung Woman Hero, written by James A. Wolter, is a fictionalized autobiography from the standpoint of a Cantonese woman whose life takes a drastic turn from being an esteemed, successful landowner to a lowly Amah (servant and nanny) in the short timespan when Communism was becoming the predominant ideology in China. She is onery, stubborn, savvy, hard-working; in many ways, Lee is forced to be obdurate, because during her formative years, her father stole the family’s savings and ran off to another country; and her mother, soon after taking in a family member’s two children (Yang and Meow), withered away and died, leaving the farm and . . .