Miscellany

A friend sent me the following early this Sunday morning…See, I’m not the only one awake and on the computer!  [John: Senator McCollum released this Friday afternoon. Every little bit helps. It could be either to deflect criticism/disappointment–hey, I tried to help; to claim some of the credit– hey, I was there for the PC ; or, most likely because she is doing her bit to help grow the PC. Whatever, calls to both offices would help. So would a personal note to her DC fax 202.225.1968. Her DC Office # is 202.225.6631. Her local # is: 651.224.9191] From McCollum’s Office, June 12, 2009  Washington, DC – Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) sent a letter to the Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State Foreign Operations yesterday requesting the inclusion of $450 million for the Peace Corps in the upcoming mark up of the FY10 spending bill. “As our nation works to restore our standing in the world, . . .

A piece this Sunday morning in the Washington Post by Staff Writer Yamiche Alcindor says it all: “Dozens Gather.” Okay, to rephrase Edgar Allan Poe, “During the whole of a dull, dark, and rainy afternoon in the early summer of the year a few hundred (not dozens!) gathered in Washington, D.C., to campaign for a “bold” (new phrase) New Peace Corps.” Here’s the early morning report this Sunday, June 14, 2009, from Yamiche Alcindor. Dozens of Peace Corps volunteers rallied downtown yesterday, urging Congress and the Obama administration to expand the program. “We want to help the president adhere to his vision,” said Harris Wofford, a former Democratic senator from Pennsylvania who helped launch the Peace Corps in 1961. Organizers said they hoped to prod President Obama to make good on his promise to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers and allot $450 million to the volunteer program, up from about $373 million the administration . . .

Speaking today at the rally will be: Tim Shriver –  son of  Sargent Shriver.  Former Senator, Harris Wofford Anthony Johnson, the Jamaican Ambassador Writer Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964-66) Head of MorePeaceCorps, Rajeev Goyal (Nepal 2004-06) The event will feature music from an 22-woman Brazilian drumming group Batala, Peruvian flutist Juan Cayrampoma and the  rock-n-roll band Cairo Fred. After the event, starting at 5 pm, everyone will gather at the Aria Trattoria Restaurant at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Thanks to great Peace Corps Veteran Geri Critchley, and thanks to Peter Yarrow, we have Peter’s recent letter to Rep. Nita Lowey in support of MorePeace Corps.] Dearest Rep. Nita Lowey, This is a personal message to you from your buddy, your long time  supporter and your friend, Puff’s “real” daddy. In the vote coming up  next week on Peace Corps funding, we have a SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT  opportunity to send a message to our nation, and nations beyond, that could greatly help  to rejuvenate the spirit of humanity, morality and generosity in America, so  absent from our policies, our funding and our actions, during the Bush years. We cannot lose this special opportunity,  and I’m relying on you, as one of my favorite and most respected members of  the House, to “hang in there” for doing the right thing, as you have in the  past. Though I fully expect that you’ll . . .

This Friday morning, this morning before the big RPCV rally in Washington, D.C. at 2 p.m. in Freedom Plaza (14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW) to support “Obama’s Peace Corps Vision” the question– which we have never answered–remains: What Has The Peace Corps Done For America? In 2011, the Peace Corps will be fifty years old. This agency is generally seen as the shining achievement of Kennedy’s brief presidency. But what is the legacy of those Volunteers? What lessons can America, and the rest of the world, learn from Volunteers who have served overseas over the past five decades? In the first days of creating the Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy remarked to Harris Wofford that he saw the real benefit of the agency to be in how these former Volunteers would vote on foreign affair issues once they returned home. Kennedy envisioned hundreds of thousands of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers contributing to American society, not only in how they . . .

RPCV Al Kamen (Dominican Republic 1965-67) of the Washington Post  has been tracking the search for a new Peace Corps Director. Here’s what he had to say today in his In The Loop column. “There’s word the administration is looking to name a new Peace Corps director soon. Early chat had been that James Arena-DeRosa, formerly the agency’s New England regional director, was a leading contender for the job, but he seems to have faded. The front-runners now, we hear, are Frank Fountain, a senior executive at the Chrysler Group, and Aaron Williams, now a top executive with the Research Training Institute. Fountain was a volunteer in India, Williams in the Dominican Republic.”

Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1965-67) author of Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach has put out a call on today’s Huffington Post calling all RPCVs to rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. (14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW) on June 13th (Saturday) at 2 p.m., in support of “Obama’s Peace Corps Vision.” Joining Larry Leamer and hundreds of other RPCVs will be, Leamer writes, “former Senator Harris Wofford, a lifelong champion of volunteering, speaks from the depths of his great heart. You will be there listening as Tim Shriver, the CEO of Special Olympics International and the son of Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver, speaks with passion of a world of challenge and diversity. You will be there listening to the incredible list of speakers of all ages and backgrounds who will be presenting their own testimonies. You will be there listening to . . .

We had one of our website  reporters in Cairo yesterday to cover the President’s talk at the university and we received this report a few hours ago. • It is difficult to start to describe yesterday because so many descriptions come to mind. “Wow” seems to be a good starting place. Then comes “proud” quickly followed by “emotional.” So let’s start with “wow.” Even though there is some disappointment that Obama didn’t provide more concrete policy proposals on the peace process, almost universally Egyptians that I spoke with, saw on TV last night, or read on their blogs gave this speech a big thumbs up. Of course, there was pride of place–Egyptians were excited that Obama chose Cairo as the venue for this speech. After the speech pride gave way to the feeling of a personal connection with the American president. He used verses from the Koran, he spoke about things that mattered to . . .

With all this talk about rallying the RPCVs to call congressmen and congresswomen, I dug up an interview I had done a year or so ago with John Bidwell (Mali 1989-91). John is married to Kris Holloway (Mali 1989-91). They met in the Peace Corps and later married, and a few years ago Kris wrote a wonderful book about her work with an African woman who was her mentor in Mali. The book is entitled Monique and the Mango Rains. When I interviewed Kris for PeaceCorpsWriters about her memoir, I came to know John, and the work he has done to market and promote the book. John has his own firm–Bidwell ID–that he started  in 1999 and he works with clients nationwise to improve their brand. Many of these firms are cause-driven organizations, much like what the Peace Corps is, besides being a government agency. Branding–for those new to the term– is the process of . . .

What I remember best about him were his small and delicate hands. They were like a woman’s hands really, soft and gentle. His handshake, even when I first met him as a teenager, was soft and gentle. He never tried to impress anyone with his strength, for he wasn’t big or imposing. Professional Golfer magazine referred to him as “little Tony” when he won the 1953 Texas Open. Once, back in the early ’50s when he broke the course record at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club in the first round of the Crosby Golf Championship, the Chicago Tribune headline read something like, “Tiny Tony Shots 63 at Crosby.’ His size didn’t matter when there was a golf club in his hands. When he was on the tee everyone took notice. Compact as he was, he could generate enormous power and drive a golf ball, as we used to say back . . .

Doug Worthington ( Ethiopia 1963-65) writes: “As I listened to Obama’s sensitive and culture-bridging talk in  Cairo, I tried to imagine myself as a returned PC volunteer giving a similar speak. I think each of us, having travelled and lived aboard, could have given a similar speech. Obama seemed like a PCV to me. In a sense, he has had the Peace Corps experience. He sees the world from a different perspective than does the average American.” Well said, Doug!

There is a piece today-June 2-in the LA TIMES on the Peace Corps. It was written by Chris Kraul, a special correspondent, who is in Sana Fe, Panama. The piece focuses on the new PCVs to Panama, but talks about President Obama’s commencement address at Arizona State University last month where he said the Peace Corps was an American institution that shows “our commitment to working with other nations to pursue the ideals of opportunity, equality and freedom that have made us who we are.”  At the Peace Corps they are talking about the “Obama effect” and how the Internet requests for “starter applications,” is up 40% from last year. Requests are running around 25,000. That is on top of a 16% increase in completed applications submitted in 2008. (Was that due to the “I Hate Bush And Want Out Of  The Country Effect?”) By the way, requests from people 50 and . . .

Well known, and well published RPCV Writer Laurence Leamer ( Nepal (1964-66), has been waging a war of words on The Huffington Post, the Internet Newspaper, for the Peace Corps to double in size.  Today, he sent an Open Letter, via the Huffington Post, to New York  Westchester Congresswoman Nita Lowey  the person who will finally decide the growth of the Peace Corps next year. Read what Larry has to say, and then volunteer once more and call Nita and tell her that we want dramatic expansion and fundamental reform in the Peace Corps. Dear Congresswoman Lowey: On June 18th you will have an opportunity to change the course of history. You are an astute, principled politician who for years has voted for what is right and true, not what is always popular. Time and again you have seen your judgment vindicated by history. You have stood bravely as champion of an America that reaches . . .

President Obama has in his hands the Peace Corps Transition Team document “Peace Corps Roadmap” telling the president what should be done to increase and improve the agency. The twenty-page transition document was written by his own team, sent to the Peace Corps after the election and before the president was sworn in. This impressive piece of work manages to be both positive about the Peace Corps and its role in the world, and yet outlines the problems of the agency and makes suggestions on how the president can improve the Peace Corps so that more Americans are able to serve our country. The Transition Team document is sitting on President Obama’s White House desk. It has been (so far) unread by the president. Would you like to read it? Peace Corps Worldwide has the document on line NOW! Peace Corps Worldwide keeps the Peace Corps Community informed. Click here to read the “Peace Corps Roadmap” (pdf) Marian Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64) John . . .

Michael Fairbanks is Chairman Emeritus and founder of The OTF Group, a software and strategy consulting firm based in Boston. It is the first Venture-backed US firm to focus on developing nations. Mr. Fairbanks was a US Peace Corps teacher in Kenya, a Wall Street Banker and has, over a twenty year career, advised scores of Presidents, cabinet members and CEOs in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia on business strategy and export competitiveness. Mr. Fairbanks is now involved with The S.E.VEN Fund. His projects have included working for the President of Rwanda to improve the prosperity of all Rwandan citizens by increasing the competitiveness of that nation’s tourism, coffee and agro-industry sectors; and advising the Minister of Finance of Afghanistan on private sector reforms. He co-authored Harvard Business School’s landmark book on business strategy in emerging markets, entitled Plowing the Sea, Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Advantage in Developing . . .