Miscellany

Several changes happened in Menorca over the last three decades that deeply affected the small island and changed it perhaps for the better, but not right now. After Franco finally died. (Do you recall Saturday Night Live? ‘Franco is still dead!’) the middle class developed in Spain, the Spaniards discovered this quaint little place and began to travel to the island. Then with the Euro, and the flow of money, development started in earnest.  Also, immigration to the island began, especially to the Balearic Islands, I’m told, where the laws weren’t as tight. Now there are real problems, I told by Menorcan friends. Historically, Spain has always had higher unemployment rates. But today, one in four people of working age are without work, and that figure is exceeded on the island, and Menorca has the worst unemployment of all. In Menorca, 13,500 are unemployed, and of these 5,600 now no . . .

PCV Rachel Ricciardi was walking home early Saturday with another Volunteer, Andrew Kistler, when they were approached by machete-wielding thieves who tried to rob them near their home in the town of Wa in Ghana. One of the assailants slashed at Kistler with a machete, cutting his shoulder and hand but not seriously wounding him. Kistler reportedly stabbed one of the attackers in the chest with a pocket knife he was carrying. The assailant, who ran from the scene, was found dead Saturday morning near where the encounter took place. The two PCVs reported the incident to the local authorities Saturday morning, were interviewed by local police, and released later that day, according to U.S. State Department. “They have not been charged with any crime. The matter is under investigation by Ghanaian officials,” the U.S. State Department said in a message posted online. As a result of the incident, all . . .

  [Here is what’s right about Menorca] 100+ Beaches Within 30 minutes of Mahón are dozens of beautiful rock coves, such as Cala Mitjana, where part of Lina Wertmuller’s Swept Awaywas filmed. For long stretches of sand there’s Santo Tomas or Cala Santo Galdana, which, however, can be crowded, or Son Bou, that has, year after year, the whitest sand. I favor  coves or calas with their small beaches. They are less crowded, and the coves form natural and deep swimming pools. While the larger beaches have bars, it is not difficult to pack a picnic lunch and when you’re tired of swimming just step back into the shadow of pine trees that on the island hover at the water’s edge. People linger till dusk at these beaches, as the Mediterranean summer evenings are long.  Outdoor museum Menorca’s history, like that of all the Balearics, reaches back into prehistory, as . . .

When RPCV Tara Smith buys lingerie, she thinks of women in West Africa-and she wants intimate apparel enthusiasts everywhere to feel the   same way. The 26-year-old co-founder of Cherie Amie-a fair-trade intimate apparel company with operations in Cameroon and the first of its kind to contribute 100 percent of its profits to sustainable antipoverty measures for women-will say as much on Saturday when she holds a lingerie launch party at Dallas-based Swallow Lounge to celebrate her Indiegogo.com video campaign. Her goal with the video: To raise $15,000 for her first lingerie line by Friday, August 31. Shot in a high-rise penthouse above Dallas, the video features three models posing tantalizingly in baby dolls, teddies, and panties handcrafted and sewn by artisans in Cameroon.  A brief description under the video explains why the company needs $15,000 to jumpstart a lingerie line.  Smith  explains why she felt the need to start a lingerie line . . .

Ghana’s attorney general is examining whether to open a formal investigation after a PCV stabbed a robber who subsequently died. PCV Andrew Kistler used a knife in self-defense and stabbed the attacker in the chest late Friday in the northern town of Wa, regional police commander Kofi Adei-Akyeampong said.  During the attack, Kistler, who was accompanied by a second PCV, was injured with a machete. The police found him with a bandaged hand and a bloody shirt at his house early Saturday. “One of the assailants tried to slash him with a machete,” said deputy regional commander Osei Ampofo-Duku. One of the two attackers, identified by police as Eliasu Najat, 22, was found dead Saturday morning. The case has been sent to the attorney general, who will decide whether it warrants prosecution. “It is possible they committed a crime … but everyone knows they were trying to defend themselves and this . . .

John Peter Grothe died on Saturday, June 16th in Los Altos, California from brain injury caused by a fall. He was 81. Peter was an early and important person in the world of the Peace Corps. He lived a long life, and had made accomplishments, but what he was most proud of was a memo he wrote back in early 1960s that gave the Peace Corps its name. At the time, he told me, he was just a kid working for Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and drafted a memo for the senator that included the name Peace Corps in an idea floating around Official Washington, the idea of sending young people overseas, not to fight, but to help others. A lot of people disliked the term: Peace Corps, thinking it was too military, but Humphrey ran with it, and when he lost to Kennedy, he gave the idea to Kennedy who introduced the concept to . . .

Despite initial reports from Ghana that the pair was arrested, a State Department official said Ghanaian police did not detain the PCVs. “We are closely monitoring the situation and are providing consular assistance,” State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell told a news briefing, adding that the incident was under investigation by Ghanaian officials. A police officer in the northern town of Wa said the incident happened over the weekend when the volunteers were attacked by two robbers. Maureen Knightly, the director of communications for the Peace Corps, said both volunteers had been released and picked up by the organization’s staff. “They voluntarily reported the incident to the local authorities later that morning, were interviewed by local police and released later that day,” Knightly said. The U.S. embassy in the capital Accra confirmed that police were investigating an incident. Nearly 5,000 Peace Corps volunteers have worked in Ghana since 1961.

She was an enchanted island, lost in the midst of the sea. Her people lived their lives wedded to their tasks, knowing nothing of other lands or other skies or other seas. Because for them there was no other world beyond their own. From A Menorcan Romance by Gumersindo Riera From the air, Menorca lies open like one’s palm, smooth and pink, and crisscrossed with twisting and narrow roads that appear like so many lifelines. The island, one also sees from the air, crowds its coasts. High-rises hotel complexes and sprawling urbanizations hem in rocky coves and patches of Mediterranean sand, leaving the interior landscape to a few towns, miles of low, rock walls, and isolated whitewashed farmhouses. What is new to me, arriving this summer after three decades away, are the dozens of  the tall, thin white wind generators. As I mentioned, when I first arrived in ’67 Menorca was . . .

The police in Ghana have arrested two Peace Corps Volunteers in Ghana in connection with the killing of a local man who tried to rob them, police said on Monday. A police officer in the northern town of Wa said the incident happened at the weekend when they were attacked by two robbers. One Peace Corps volunteer fought back with a knife, fatally wounding one of the assailants, said the officer, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media. The U.S. embassy in the capital Accra confirmed that police were investigating an incident involving Peace Corps volunteers. “They were involved in a safety and security situation in the early hours of Saturday and the police are investigating,” embassy spokeswoman Sara Stryker said.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. The Go-Between L. P. Hartley Pity this busy monster, manunkind, Not. Progress is a comfortable disease: e.e. cummings In the fall of ’67 I arrived on the tiny island of Menorca, the most easterly of the Balearic Islands. I arrived from the highlands of Ethiopia after finishing up two-years as an APCD. I arrived on a DC-3 in the last year before the island’s new airport opened for jets and package tours from England, Germany and the Low Countries. I arrived in Menorca before the way of life on that tiny island changed forever. It was a golden time and I thought it might last forever, this quiet eye in the hurricane rush of summer tourism to the Mediterranean. I remember how on the first evening in Mahon I walked from my hotel through the tight, winding streets of . . .

[This is from Online Education Database (OEDb). The site helps students find the most convenient, valuable, and relevant education programs to fulfill their academic and career objectives. Our site: www.peacecorpsworldwide.org  is # 14 on the list. The NPCA site comes in at # 27. It’s a fun listing of many (but certainly not all!) PCV blogs. The 40 Best Peace Corps Blogs For recent (and not-so-recent) college graduates who find themselves drawn toward using their educations in the service of humanity, the Peace Corps might seem an appealing prospect. Since 1961, it has sent Americans abroad in order to nurture education, the environment, public health, agriculture, housing, and other necessities in parts of the world with few resources, squelching political atmospheres, and worse. It’s not a perfect system by any stretch of the imagination, but plenty of volunteers end their Peace Corps stints having affected positive change in an often . . .

You might remember that I posted a call for RPCVs to vote for Jasperdean Kobes (Ethiopia 1962-64). Jasperdean needed 250 votes to qualify a small business grant. I just heard from Jasperdean, who writes: GOOD NEWS!! We received 272 votes by midnight on Saturday, June 30th. We are now eligible to be considered for one of the 12 small business grants ($250,000) that will be awarded by Chase and Living Social in September.  Thanks so much for posting our request on your blog.  Thanks so much to everyone who voted for us. The votes came from various parts of our community: our customers; our friends and colleagues; our suppliers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana; and our Kenyan friends in Reading and Allentown, PA.  Getting out the voting for us in 72 hours was definitely an example of “HARAMBEE” – which literally means “all pulling together” in Swahili.  Once again, we thank everyone who . . .

The National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) has selected San Diego-based Discover Corps (a division of Terra Education) to operate a new program, “Next Step Travel.” These two-week trips allow individuals to travel and volunteer abroad in the Dominican Republic from October 27 – November 9, 2012, February 16 – March 1, 2013 or May 11 – May 24, 2013 or in Guatemala from October 6 – 19, 2012, March 9 – March 22, 2013 or April 20 – May 3, 2013. Individuals will work alongside Returned Peace Corps Volunteers living in those countries while learning first-hand about sustainable development projects being implemented by volunteers in the field. Participants will also get the opportunity to volunteer themselves. Terra Education is best known for its division called “Global Leadership Adventures” that offers service-learning programs for high school students. Upon hearing of the launch of “Next Step Travel,” several parents reached out to . . .

RPCV Jesse Osmun pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hartford yesterday to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with children. The victims were 3 to 6 years old at the time. “While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa, Mr. Osmun committed horrific, unforgivable crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. “He was supposed to be helping young children in need, many of whom were orphans, but instead, he preyed upon them, sexually abusing several young girls under the age of six. He betrayed the Peace Corps and the children he had traveled to South Africa to help.” Osmun faces up to 30 years in prison and restitution to his victims when he is sentenced Sept. 11. Under guidelines, he faces between 14 to more than 21 years. Authorities say Osmun persuaded the children to engage in illicit sexual acts by playing games with them and providing . . .