Miscellany

[World Malaria Day happened last Friday on April 25 and the Peace Corps is part of the effort to end the disease which kills an estimated 627,000 people every year, mainly children under 5 years of age. Matt McLaughlin (Senegal 2006-10) is the Program Manager for Stomping Out Malaria in the  Peace Corps’ Africa-wide malaria prevention program. As a PCV, Matt spent 4 years in southeastern Senegal developing a universal bed net distribution protocol which became the standard protocol for bed net distribution in the country. Prior to coming to Peace Corps, Matt worked as the Staff Development Director for the Greater Manchester Family YMCA. In an email to me he outlined what the agency did on ‘World Malaria Day.’] “We have three main activities this year for World Malaria Day: 1)      World Malaria Month Competition/Blog About Malaria Month We sponsored a competition between countries in the Africa Region to see . . .

I got an e-mail today from the Peace Corps’ lovely and talented Eileen Conoboy (Mali 1995-97), Director of Office of Third Goal and Returned Volunteer Services. She wrote that her Third Goal office had put together the Agency’s first video challenge for this year’s Peace Corps Week. They asked one simple question: What do you wish Americans knew about your Peace Corps country? Eileen wrote, “We received 80 video submissions from RPCVs and PCVs representing 40 countries. Together, these videos have already received 25,000 views on YouTube and are shedding a light on unique global perspectives and cultural windows opened through the Peace Corps experience.  Congratulations to our first place winner, Peace Corps Volunteer David Malana, who is being sent an iPad in recognition of his winning video, Kyrgyzstan Is Me.  We hope this will help him continue to support Peace Corps’ Third Goal and complement his efforts as a cultural ambassador. . . .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 23, 2014 CONTACT: Press Office 202.692.2230 *MEDIA ADVISORY* The Peace Corps to Host World Malaria Day Google+ Hangout with Volunteers and Community Members Leading the Fight Against Malaria in Africa WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, April 25, Peace Corps volunteers and their community counterparts will share their experiences collaborating to combat malaria across Africa during a Google+ Hangout On Air for World Malaria Day. The panelists were chosen through Stomping Out Malaria in Africa’s “Malaria Heroes” competition held to recognize host-country nationals and their Peace Corps volunteer counterparts who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment and partnership in the fight against malaria. Volunteers across Africa nominated outstanding individuals from their communities who were then voted on through Facebook. Winners Kory Funk, a health volunteer from Columbus, Ohio, and Mr. Salum Kabugo of Tanzania were selected by a panel of experts from Abt Associates, The Against Malaria Foundation, PATH, ONE, and the . . .

[Thanks to Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67) for bringing this to my attention. And thanks to RPCV Jason Gross (Botswana 1987-1989) for putting Hilary Mantel in her place with his Comment about being a PCV teacher in Botswana.] June 2, 2012 I Taught Shakespeare in Botswana By HILARY MANTEL Budleigh Salterton, England “THOSE who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” That’s what adults said when I was growing up, and it seemed cruel, since my girls-only school seemed to specialize in turning out teachers, and it didn’t leave us much pride in our future job. After university I became a social worker and then a saleswoman. I seemed to have broken the pattern, but all the time a classroom was waiting for me. I became a teacher under bizarre circumstances, but in retrospect it was one of my better career moves. I was 25 and had been living for a . . .

Press Office of The Peace Corps FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16, 2014 The Peace Corps Announces 2014 Top Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Volunteers WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2014 – The Peace Corps today announced its 2014 rankings of the top volunteer-producing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). San Diego State University claimed the top spot among HSIs with 33 undergraduate alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. California State University, Long Beach ranked No. 2 with 31 currently serving volunteers, and the University of New Mexico took the third spot with 26 currently serving volunteers. California is home to seven of the top ten HSIs in this year’s rankings. The state produces more Peace Corps volunteers than any other state nationwide with 973 residents currently serving. Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961, more than 28,000 California residents have served overseas as Peace Corps volunteers. “I applaud these Hispanic-Serving Institutions for elevating the value of . . .

Yesterday’s Sunday’s, New York Post, April 13, 2014 issue carried a piece entitled: “THE SPERMINATOR Father of 99 children tells all.” Ed Houben is his name and he lives in Holland and is, says the Post, “Europe’s most prolific sperm donor, and one who prefers to contribute the old-fashioned way.” He now has children in Australia, Israel, Canada, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France,Luxembourg, Italy, England. Houben charges no money for his services, partly because it’s illegal to buy and sell human material in the Netherlands and partly because he see himself as a true humanitarian. “I could have joined the Peace Corps,” he says. “But I stumbled into this.” What he does is something like this: If a woman arrives alone–which she rarely does–he will have sex with her in the master bedroom of his apartment. Far more common are couples, and logistics can be complicated. While Houben and the woman . . .

Remembering B.J.Warren (Peru 1962-64) Dick Irish, Philippines (1962-64) I knew of B.J. Warren three years before I met her. B.J.’s “super volunteer ” reputation proceeded her end of service as a PCV in Peru and grew in size in the Dominican Republic where she served on the staff. Lyndon Johnson infamously sent the Marines into the DR to rescue North America from Red Domination. Americans fled the island, but Peace Corps remained. B.J. may or may not have said, “We don’t have a dog in this fight!” B.J. was already a legend and the first or second person we hired at TransCentury – – purely on the basis of reputation. That a person without a self-promotional bone in her body could possibly live up to and exceed her already high standing was not the least of her accomplishments. At our company and later at Management Systems International, she made a basket-full of cash for her employers. B.J. managed countless . . .

Remarks to Swearing In of New PCVs John Kerry Secretary of State Ministry of Youth and Sports Rabat, Morocco April 4, 2014 Chris, thank you very much. Thanks for your service, and thank you for the introduction. And Minister Ouzzine, it’s a great pleasure to be here with you. Thank you very, very much for being part of this. And all of our guests, distinguished guests – oh, there’s President Kennedy over here. I’m just looking over there. (Laughter.) This is really cool. I want you to know I’m really excited about this. I’m thrilled that somehow it coincided and we were able to work out that I have the privilege of swearing you in. And when I heard I was swearing in 101 Peace Corps volunteers, I immediately thought of 101 Dalmatians. (Laughter.) I couldn’t help it. Sorry about that. That has nothing to do with anything, all right? . . .

The Shot “Heard Around the World” Still Echoes at the Masters Now that we are back at the Masters for 2014, it is time to remember the great players, great shots, and great Masters. This is the one tournament of the year that brings golf home to the masses.  And much of it is because of Gene Sarazen, the second Masters held in 1935, and the “shot heard around the world”. Gene Sarazen is, in many ways, the most unlikely of golf heroes. In fact, his name wasn’t even Gene Sarazen. He was born Eugenio Saraceni, but changed it because, as he said, his real name sounded more like that of a violinist. Gene Sarazen sounded like a golfer. Sarazen came into golf, as did so many early professionals, from the caddie ranks. At the age of eight, the son of a struggling carpenter from Harrison, New York, he took . . .

66 Annual Conference on World Affairs April 7-11, 2014 [Originally founded in 1948 as a forum on international affairs, the CWA expanded rapidly in its early years to encompass the arts, media, science, diplomacy, technology, environment, spirituality, politics, business, medicine, human rights, and so on. Roger Ebert, who participated in the CWA for four decades, always referred to the CWA as “the Conference on Everything Conceivable.”] 1461 Gender Equity: Women Leaning In 12:30-1:50 on Monday April 7, 2014 Old Main Chapel Panelists: Stacie Nevadomski Berdan Carrie Hessler-Radelet Mary V. Hughes Alicia Robb Moderator: Antonio Papuzza 2162 Humanitarianism: Handouts and Bootstraps 9:30-10:50 on Tuesday April 8, 2014 UMC West Ballroom Panelists: Carrie Hessler-Radelet Tori Hogan Sarah Holewinski Judith Morrison Moderator: Elizabeth Dunn 2465 One Person in the Right Place Can Change the World 12:30-1:50 on Tuesday April 8, 2014 Old Main Chapel Panelists: Carrie Hessler-Radelet Tori Hogan Trey Lyons Judithe Registre Moderator: Sandra Brodie . . .

[Thanks to Joanne Roll for her ‘heads up’ on this item from ABC News] Congressional leaders are calling on U.S. government officials to be more active in solving the case of Kate Puzey, the Peace Corps volunteer who was brutally murdered in the West African country of Benin five years ago. Today, in a show of bi-partisan support, 184 members of Congress signed a letter requesting the government “make every effort to devote every resource to achieve justice for Kate Puzey.” Puzey was a 24-year-old from Georgia who was killed on March 12, 2009 after she claimed a local Peace Corps employee was sexually abusing girls at the school where she taught. “It continues the visibility of the case in the eyes of the people that need not to lose sight of the tragedy,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA, a co-author of the letter and advocate for the Puzey family. . . .

[Surfing the web the other day for ‘Peace Corps Information’, I came up with this site:henrymakow.com. There are a lot of crazies out there, and this is one place where they gather. For the purposes of ‘lets sigh and shake our collective heads’ here is what someone named David Richard has to say on Henry Makow’s site about the fate of women in the Peace Corps. By the way, Henry Makow is a Canadian author, campaigner against homosexuality, public opponent of Zionism and Freemasonry, conspiracy theorist and the inventor of the boardgame Scruples. If you look into Makow’s philosophy, you’ll find that he believes a hidden hand is shaping modern history. He thinks democracy today serves as an instrument of social control; the mass media generally stifles information and channels thought; and popular entertainment degrades us and diverts the audience from what is really happening. His anti-homosexual, and anti New . . .

John Slattery’s (Morocco 1994-96)  film is being broadcast (in a shorter form) on BBC Arabic TV this week. The FILM: Casablanca Mon Amour explores a Moroccan perspective on the entwined relationship between Hollywood and Morocco. The relationship (between the U.S. and Morocco) is examined through the cultural lens of cinema. A 45 minute version CASABLANCA MON AMOUR will be broadcast on Alternative Cinema BBC Arabic this Saturday March 29th, 2014 at 19:06 GMT and repeated on Monday and Thursday at 22.06 GMT on BBC Arabic TV. It is NOW streaming live online for a 1 week catch up here (you can just fast forward a bit past the first NEWS part and then it begins) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/tvandradio/2012/10/000000_cinema_badila.shtml. Here is the announcement Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=657502917648721&set=vb.324779817587701&type=2&theater There is also a Cinema Badila facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BBCArabicAlternativeCinema for comments.