Miscellany

As it says!

1
Facts & Figures on Sexual Assaults in the Peace Corps
2
Well, What's the Peace Corps Doing About Sexual Assaults?
3
What Shriver Wanted
4
In the Boston Globe This Morning: The Peace Corps: What is it for?
5
The Basic Problems with Sexual Assaults and How to Solve as Least One of Them
6
RPCV from Kyrgyzstan Writes Op-ED in NYTIMES
7
Aaron Williams Takes One for the Peace Corps
8
Third Goal Bash
9
If you missed the Hearings on the Peace Corps…
10
Peace Corps article in the New York Times this morning
11
Peru's Washington Deputy Consul General seeks help from Peru RPCVs
12
Vote for Tom Neilson's Environmental Song!
13
Stan Meisler Weighs in on Kenny's Peace Corps Proposal
14
Congressional Hearing on Sexual Violence in the Peace Corps
15
Conclusion Comments of The Peace Corps in a Smaller World

Facts & Figures on Sexual Assaults in the Peace Corps

Casey Frazee of First Response sent me an email the other day, after I had posted my blog about ‘what the Peace Corps was doing now’ to handle the sexual assaults in the agency. She wrote:  “I can send you the stat sheet from the Peace Corps but the last three years are the HIGHEST on record for the agency. The incidence rate in the Peace Corps is 5 times higher that the US rate of rape and sexual assault. “There was a small decline in the REPORTS of rape in 2009, but the Peace Corps’ own survey shows there were another 33 unreported rapes in 2009 which is double+ the reported figure for that year. ” The Peace Corps’ initiatives are still very new and there has NOT been any PCV training yet, only staff training which was rolled out this February. The training was also not vetted by experts . . .

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Well, What's the Peace Corps Doing About Sexual Assaults?

Since being appointed to their positions in the Peace Corps some 20 months ago,  and  months after the terrible murder of Kate Puzin, Aaron Williams and Carrie Hessler-Radelet, have initiated a series of prevention measures overseas that involve safety and security. The Peace Corps now has a reporting system to track sexual assault, and that data is used to train staff. So far, the agency says that they has seen a decline in the incidence rate of rape and sexual assaults. Also, the Peace Corps is now  reporting that in 2009-2010 arrests were made in 61% of the rape and attempted rape cases in which the PCVs came forward and filed a report with the local police. So what else? Well, like always the Peace Corps has formed groups, committees, and called in the ‘outside experts.’ Lets start with the  Sexual Assault Working Group–this is an on-going group that “analyzes current agency protocols and recommends agency strategies for sexual . . .

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What Shriver Wanted

The famous “Mayflower Gang” created the Peace Corps in 30 days in two rooms of the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue several blocks from the White House in February 1961. The ‘Gang’ was led by Shriver, Harris Wofford, Warren Wiggins, Bill Josephson and a half dozen others giving suggestions and making their points. These were ‘advisors’ like the Secretary of State Dean Rush; Father Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame;  Gordon Boyce, President of the Experiment in International Living; Albert Sims of the Institute of International Education; George Carter, a campaign worker on civil rights issues; Franklin Williams, an organizer of the campaign for black voter registration and a student of African affairs; Adam Yarmolinsky, a foundation executive. These advisers came from all corners (if not both rooms in the suite) and most of them wanted one clear statement of what the Peace Corps would be, but Sarge Shriver held the position that Peace — not Development . . .

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In the Boston Globe This Morning: The Peace Corps: What is it for?

Buffeted by controversy, an American institution faces an even deeper question: why it exists at all By Gal Beckerman May 15, 2011 Fifty years ago this spring, President John F. Kennedy breathed life into what had seemed at first like simply an ingenious campaign promise: to send idealistic young people – “America’s best resource” – out into the furthest villages and towns of the developing world to boost the image of the United States abroad. This was the Peace Corps. In the years since, more than 200,000 Americans have served as volunteers, and the Peace Corps itself has become more than just another government agency. It has become an idea, the perfect embodiment of America at its best: selfless and unobtrusive, trying to do good in the world by helping the less fortunate achieve their potential. This year the agency is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a plethora of parties, . . .

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The Basic Problems with Sexual Assaults and How to Solve as Least One of Them

The Peace Corps has two basic problems with the issue of sexual assaults: 1) the attacks themselves; 2) the response from the agency. As for #1 the agency can help here by making Trainees and PCVs vividly aware of where they are in the world, and how to behave to protect themselves. But lets get real. This morning (Sunday) I picked up the New York Times and read where the I.M.F. Chief was arrested and accused of a sex attack at a midtown Manhattan hotel. He was pulled off an Air France first-class seat by the Port Authority police and booked for an alleged attempted rape. He was accused by a chambermaid maid at the exclusive Sofitel Hotel (where his suite of rooms cost $3,000 a night) of sexually assaulting her twice. So, you don’t have to be on some back alley in the middle of a Third World country and be in danger. But the issue that makes all . . .

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RPCV from Kyrgyzstan Writes Op-ED in NYTIMES

Volunteers and Victims By JIA TOLENTINO Published: May 13, 2011 THIS week, in the wake of accusations that the Peace Corps had mishandled the startling number of sexual assaults against its volunteers over the last decade, Congress invited former participants to tell their side of the story. In many cases, their tales were horrifying – not only of rapes and attempted rapes, but also of the Corps’s efforts to play down or ignore them, as well as the risks involved in certain country assignments. Many echoed comments by volunteers interviewed for an ABC News report in January. Karestan Koenen, who was raped in 1991 in Niger, said, “My own experience was that the treatment by the Peace Corps was worse than the rape.” As a recent Peace Corps volunteer whose service in Kyrgyzstan ended early because of sexual harassment, I sympathize with Ms. Koenen. My ultimately positive experience points to . . .

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Aaron Williams Takes One for the Peace Corps

Aaron Williams took one on the chin for the Peace Corps on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. He took one for his Administration, all those CDs and APCDs around the world; he took one for all the past Peace Corps Directors when he appeared as the sole Peace Corps voice at the House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing to examine what its chairwoman, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtien, Republican of Florida, called “serious crimes” committed against Peace Corps Volunteers, including murder. In announcing the Hearing, her office cited reports of “gross mismanagement of sexual assault complaints.” She is right. All of us going back fifty years could say much the same. We all have stories to tell from being there. Trying to ‘run’ the Peace Corps from Washington is like trying to organize a gaggle of geese. It can’t be done. Aaron, and the Directors before him, has had to delegate authority to others, many others, . . .

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Third Goal Bash

We are more than half way to raising our ($10,000) to reserve space for our Third Goal Bash, a party in D.C. on Saturday night, September 24, 2011, of our 50th Anniversary Peace Corps Reunion. Thanks to all of you who have made contributions and bought tickets. Now as for the rest of you who are coming to Washington, D.C. (and not attending the NPCA Gala,) but who want a place to party…Well, we’re the place you want to be. We are hosting a second gala (with a small ‘g’) and you can make it happen by buying your ticket(s) early. They are just $33. Thirty-three dollars for the Third Goal. The event begins at 7 p.m. at the George Washington University athletic arena. We’ll have beer, wine, soft drinks, and food, plus entertainment and plenty of space to dance or just hang around and talk to others from your years overseas and find out what has happened to them since you last . . .

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If you missed the Hearings on the Peace Corps…

If you missed yesterday morning’s live showing of the Hearings, then missed them last night after midnight, you can watch them now at:http://www.c-span.org/Events/House-Foreign-Affairs-Cmte-Hearing-on-the-Peace-Corps-50th-Anniversary/10737421475-1/ Thanks to Stan Meisler for the ‘heads up’ on this link.

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Peace Corps article in the New York Times this morning

May 10, 2011 Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG WASHINGTON – Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.” She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang. When she returned to the United States, the reception she received from Peace Corps officials was as devastating, she said, as the rape itself. In Bangladesh, she had been given scant medical care; in Washington, a counselor implied that she was to blame for the attack. For years she kept quiet, feeling “ashamed and embarrassed and guilty.” Today, Ms. Smochek is among a growing group of former Peace Corps volunteers who are speaking out about their sexual assaults, prompting scrutiny from Congress and a pledge from the agency for reform. In going public, they . . .

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Peru's Washington Deputy Consul General seeks help from Peru RPCVs

AFTER THE APRIL FIRST-ROUND CONTEST for the Peruvian presidency that involved five top candidates, two remaining candidates are slugging it out before the June 5th run-off. The turnout could prove enormous when voters choose either Ollanta Humala, a former army colonel who lost in the 2006 election, or Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori. Recently in Washington, DC, Peru’s Deputy Consul General Maria Eugenia Chiozza de Zela met with Tino Calabia (Peru 1963–65) and Sarah Stewart (Guatemala 2004–6, Honduras 2006–7, PC Response/Panamá 2009–10) to discuss getting help with the election at polling sites in this country from Spanish-speaking RPCVs. Both Tino and Sarah had joined 13 others recruited by RPCVs Mike Wolfson and Gloria Levin, (President of Amigos de Bolivia y Peru), to assist with the April elections. Chiozza now needs more help, and Sarah and Tino agreed to contact Spanish-speaking RPCVs who once served in Peru . . .

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Vote for Tom Neilson's Environmental Song!

Tom Neilson (Colombia 1970-74 & Senegal 1976-78, plus a gig as Kenya Training Officer 1981-82) is really a singer, and his song “Biomess” about about the proposed biomass plant in Greenfield, Massachusetts is nominated for an Earth Day song of the year award. If you support the environment, (or Tom!) you can vote for the song, but you need to do it by the end of today. (midnight, I think) The more votes the song gets, the more publicity for clean energy, forest protection, clean air, water, sustainability. You vote by selecting the download option under his photo at this site. Thanks. http://earthday.sonicbids.com/BandDetails.aspx?b=28241&bn=Tom+Neilson

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Stan Meisler Weighs in on Kenny's Peace Corps Proposal

You might have missed Stan Meisler’s  comment on the proposal someone named  Charles Kenny  wrote for the Center For Global Development entitled: “The Peace Corps in a Smaller World: A New Model for the Next 50 Years.” Kenny is a fellow at Global Development, or whatever they call   such ‘Think Tanks’. Judging from his CV, he is a Brit so we have to cut him some slack for not knowing what he is talking about. Stan Meisler, however, does know what he is talking about. Stan was a Peace Corps Evaluator in the early days of the agency and recently wrote, When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years. Charlie James Kenny as it  appears from his CV, has a blog: http://www.charleskenny.blogs.com but has never volunteered for anything or ever had a real job (you know, as Republicans like to say, “has he met a payroll?”) Charlie recently published his . . .

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Congressional Hearing on Sexual Violence in the Peace Corps

The hearing on issues of sexual violence in the Peace Corps has been announced for next Wednesday, May 11, at 9:30.  This hearing is open to the public.  If you are in or near D.C., or planning to fly in, First Response Action would love to have your support!   First Response Action Coalition www.firstresponseaction.org http://firstresponseaction.blogspot.com Join First Response Action on Facebook Hearing Information  Wednesday, May 11, 2011  9:30 AM  Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building Witnesses Panel 1: Problems of Safety and Security Ms. Jessica Smochek RPCV Ms. Carol Clark RPCV Karestan Chase Koenen, Ph.D. RPCV Ms. Lois Puzey Parent of Late Peace Corps Volunteer Ms. Jennifer Wilson Marsh Hotline and Affiliate Service Director RAINN Panel 2: Assessment and Reform The Honorable Aaron S. Williams Director Peace Corps Panel 3: A View from the Inspector General Ms. Kathy A. Buller Inspector General Peace Corps

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Conclusion Comments of The Peace Corps in a Smaller World

[If you don’t have the time to read Charles Kenny’s full report (not long, 15 pages) here is his conclusion…and what he recommends. While his brief bio doesn’t say, my guess is that Charlie at one point early in his life was awarded a Fulbright and loved his time outside of the U.S. Anyway, here are his Policy Conclusions for the Peace Corps.] Policy Conclusions In a globalized world with a growing number of different opportunities for young Americans to live and volunteer in developing countries, there may be ways to increase the efficacy of the Peace Corps in delivering on the promotion of world peace and friendship. It is perhaps fair to conclude that the most unarguably accomplished of the three goals the Peace Corps strives towards is promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. But perhaps particularly when it comes to maximizing the . . .

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