Miscellany

Jason Carter, who as you know is the grandson of former president Jimmy Carter, and just as importantly (in my mind) the great-grandson of Lillian Carter (India 1967-69) is in a ‘toss up’ election in Georgia against the Republican Gov Nathan Deal. A recent poll has Jason ahead by several % points; other polls has the race a tossup. Deal has raised something like $8 million; Jason has raised $1.9 million. This governor’s race is running in tandem with a U.S. Senate contest, in which Democrat Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, will run against one or the other of two Republicans in a July runoff. Georgia is a Republican state. The state hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1998 or a Democratic senator since 2000. To win, Jason will need blacks and Hispanic voters, whose number have been growing rapidly in the state, as well as . . .

Senate Votes on Carrie Hessler-Radelet to be Director of the Peace Corps Carrie Hessler-Radelet is acting Director of the Peace Corps as of July 2013. She was initially appointed deputy director of the Peace Corps on June 23, 2010. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Western Samoa, 1981-83) with more than two decades of experience in public health focused on HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health. Since 2010, Hessler-Radelet has spearheaded a comprehensive agency assessment and reform effort, leading the development and implementation of initiatives to improve efficacy and efficiency across the organization-the first such endeavor since its founding in 1961. She has worked with each office to develop individual performance improvement plans and has focused on projects proven to be best development practices. During her time as deputy director, she led the roll-out of the Focus In/Train Up initiative, which provides targeted technical training to Volunteers to increase . . .

The Peace Corps Community Archive at American University Library is actively seeking the ‘histories’ of RPCVs. The Kennedy Library in Boston has a ‘Peace Corps collection’ from the first years of the agency, i.e., during JFK’s presidency, and there are other collections, including the official records of the Peace Corps at the National Archives in Washington. RPCVs funded one collection of objects in Portland, Oregon, and various libraries have the papers of former students, but American University’s venture is new, impressive, and expanding. Unlike the Peace Corps agency, which appears to deliberately want to ‘bury its past’ having done little over the years to document the successes and failures of the Peace Corps, RPCVs have taken it upon themselves through their writings, films, photos, and organizations to put together the history of their experiences, and now universities and libraries are becoming aware of the valuable items that RPCV have in . . .

Fuller Torrey was the Peace Corps Doctor in Ethiopia -1964-66-and today is a well known psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher. He is the executive director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) and founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center(TAC), a nonprofit organization whose principal activity is promoting the passage and implementation of outpatient commitment laws and civil commitment laws and standards in individual states that allow mentally ill people to be forcibly committed and medicated easily throughout the United States. He is well known as an advocate of the idea that severe mental illness is due to biological factors and not social factors. He has received two Commendation Medals by the U.S. Public Health Service and numerous other awards and tributes. Torrey is on the board of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), which describes itself as being “a national nonprofitadvocacy organization.[5] TAC supports involuntary treatment when deemed appropriate by a judge (at the urging of the . . .

Texas  rancher Jim Hogan has defeated singer and humorist Kinky Friedman to claim the Democratic nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner. Hogan, of Cleburne, topped Friedman in Tuesday’s runoff after no candidate won more than 50 percent in the three-way March primary. The agricultural commissioner oversees the school-lunch program in Texas while more broadly handling farming issues. Friedman ran unsuccessfully as an independent for governor in 2006 and lost the Democratic nomination for agricultural commissioner in 2010. Hogan made it to the runoff despite minimal campaigning. Agriculture Commissioner – Democrat 99 % Precincts Reporting Jim Hogan 103,88354% Kinky Friedman 89,30546%

Keeping America’s Peace Corps tradition alive NBC News’ Luke Russert discusses his personal connection to the Peace Corps program, and the program’s increasing importance in the new millennium. http://www.msnbc.com/the-cycle/watch/keeping-the-peace-corps-tradition-alive-262602819832 Thanks Luke!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2014 The Peace Corps Now Accepting Applications for Global Health Service Partnership Volunteers for 2015 Volunteers train a new generation of physicians and nurses in Africa WASHINGTON, D.C., May 19, 2014 – Today the Global Health Service Partnership program begins accepting applications from physicians and nurses interested in serving as healthcare educators in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda starting summer 2015. Volunteers serve one-year assignments at medical and nursing schools working alongside local faculty to strengthen the quality of their education and clinical practices. The Global Health Service Partnership is a collaboration of the Peace Corps, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the non-profit Seed Global Health. The program presents an opportunity for American physicians and nurses to make a tangible difference in communities abroad by addressing the known shortage of skilled physicians, nurses and clinical faculty in resource-limited countries. The first-ever group of . . .

Peace Corps Rape Survivors Lobby Congress For Fair Abortion Coverage From Huffington Post Today Posted: 05/06/2014 10:22 am EDT Updated: 3 hours ago Christine Carcano joined the Peace Corps in 2011, two months after graduating from college, because she wanted to travel the world and promote public health. But she had only served four of her expected 27 months in a rural town in Peru when she says a local man from her community raped her. “I didn’t tell anyone in my town,” she told The Huffington Post in an interview. “I was in denial. I thought if I didn’t talk about it and didn’t think about it, it would go away on its own.” Weeks later, when Carcano developed pelvic inflammatory disease as a result of the rape, she had to travel to Lima, Peru, for medical treatment. She finally admitted to the Peace Corps’ medical providers what had happened to her. . . .

PRESS OFFICE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 5, 2014 Peace Corps & Rotary Announce Collaboration to Promote Global Development and Volunteer Service Initial pilot in the Philippines, Thailand and Togo WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 2014 – Peace Corps Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet and Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko today signed a letter of collaboration strengthening the organizations’ cooperation in the United States and abroad to promote global development and volunteer service. “The missions of our two organizations reflect and reinforce each other,” Hessler-Radelet said. “In our increasingly interconnected world, bringing the Peace Corps and Rotary together in common cause provides more opportunity than ever to leave a greater impact.” At Rotary International World Headquarters in Evanston, Ill., the two organizations committed to explore initial collaboration in the Philippines, Thailand and Togo. Across these three countries, Peace Corps and Rotary volunteers will be encouraged to share resources and expertise, and . . .

Investigators use Peace Corps act to push for information on sexual assaults By Kelly Riddell from The Washington Times, Thursday, May 1, 2014 In 2009, Peace Corps volunteer Kate Puzey was found on the porch of her hut with her throat slit shortly after she reported to authorities a colleague she suspected of molesting girls they had taught in the West African village. The 24-year-old’s death exposed what some critics called a decades-old “blame the victim” culture at the Peace Corps, where sexual assaults often were dismissed or went unreported. After a two-year legislation campaign led by congressional Republicans, President Obama signed into law the Kate Puzey Act to grant whistleblower protection, improve treatment of sexual assault victims and implement preventive training and education at the Peace Corps. But the administration’s opaque interpretation of that law is thwarting inquiries by the Peace Corps inspector general, who is tasked with overseeing . . .

Americans want to disengage from the world is the word from a new poll done by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News. Half of those surveyed want the US to be less active on the global stage. The poll also shows that approval for Obama’s handling of foreign policy sank to the lowest level of his president, with 38% approving. Well, what does that mean to the Peace Corps? Well, it means a lot. The first question we all hear: Is there still a Peace Corps? The second question: Are Volunteer women still being raped and murdered overseas? The third question: Why do we still have a Peace Corps? The tide is against Americans who thinks he or she can change the world. Of course, we all know that we can’t change the world. In fact, all we can do it change conditions at little bit in two years. . . .