Miscellany

Working for the Peace Corps inspired Playa del Rey’s Barbara Hunt, 71, to get her doctorate (thanks to William Evensen for the ‘Heads Up’ on this story from Cal State L.A.) Playa del Rey resident Barbara Hunt, 71, received her doctorate in educational leadership from Cal State L.A. on June 12, 2015. Hunt’s doctoral degree gives her the academic equivalent of a trifecta at the school, where she previously earned her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a master’s degree in health and safety. Currently a professor of environmental science and biology at Woodbury University in Burbank, Hunt said she hopes her latest academic achievement will inspire and motivate her twin grandsons and other young people. “This shows that you can always reach out for that brass ring no matter how old you are, no matter your emotional or physical circumstances, no matter where you find yourself in life,” Hunt . . .

Bob Calvert was hired by Sargent Shriver in the early days of the agency to set up a Placement Office for RPCVs returning home. He was a wonderful man, low keyed with a great sense of humor. This office he created for the agency did not last, of course, and today as most newly returned PCVs quickly realize, the agency turns their back on RPCVs. It wasn’t so when Calvert was around. Obituary Robert Calvert Jr., decorated WWII veteran, Peace Corps administrator, publisher-advocate for women and minorities, and beloved family man, died on June 11, 2015 at his home in Silver Spring, MD. He had been a long-time resident of Garrett Park. Bob was born December 23, 1922 in Santa Barbara, CA to Robert and Mary Calvert, the oldest of their three children, and raised in Scarsdale, NY. World War II was a defining experience in Bob’s life. He scored . . .

An article in today’s Phnom Penh Post states that Meas Muth’s son hosted a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2013-14 during In-Country Training. The Peace Corps in-country has confirmed that fact. The news article written by reporters Charles Rollet and May Titthara and was published today, Monday, June 29, 2015. This is the article: Meas Muth, a former navy chief of the Khmer Rouge and war-crimes suspect A current volunteer for the United States’ Peace Corps program in Cambodia lived with alleged Khmer Rouge war criminal Meas Muth for several months last year as part of his official service in Battambang’s Samlot district, the program has acknowledged. Muth, 76, lives freely despite being charged in Case 003 by the Khmer Rouge tribunal for allegedly executing, enslaving and torturing enemies of the regime, including many foreigners, during his time as one of the Khmer Rouge’s top commanders. But that history didn’t stop the Peace . . .

I  met up this past week with Sara Dixon Hester in Hempstead, England where Sara has lived most of her life since her volunteer days as a PCV in Addis Ababa and Shashamane, Ethiopia. I was an APCD when Sara arrived in 1965. Sara, in her first year, went on a blind date (arranged by another PCV) and met John Hester, a Brit teaching at the Wingate School, and one of the ex-pats involved with a theater group in Addis. It was Sara’s second year in Ethiopia when she had the date and she had already ‘begged’ me to move her out of the city and I agreed to do so, just before she met the ‘man of her life.’ So John Hester and Sara had a long-distance romance in Ethiopia. Luckily, Hester had a car to get him on weekends down into the Rift Valley to Shashamane, a town . . .

Having just returned from Scotland and England, and having watched tourists from all over the world, especially Asia,  traveling in packs and by bus, I was remembering (fondly) how all of us traveled in our time overseas on buses and trains packed with HCNs and more than a few chickens and goats for seatmates. And than as my mind wandered, (which it does) and I thought….’What if Hemingway had been a PCV?’ and this daydream turned up…. What if Hemingway had been a PCV doing small scale farming with the Kikuyu shortly after he was divorced from his third wife and not yet married to Miss Mary? What if, Hemingway, who had lived in more places than there are Peace Corps countries of assignments and offended many more people even than John Coyne, was asked–in his real life–if the earth did move, there on the brown, pine-needled floor of the . . .

After two years as a PCV in Honduras, Mark went to Africa in 1970 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, working in the southern Ewe district of Agu, near Gha. Next he was hired as an APCD for rural development. He left Togo in early 1975 to serve as the Peace Corps CD in Gabon and, briefly, in the Central African Republic.  In 1976, he was transferred by the Peace Corps to Niger, and in 1977, started a long career with USAID in Niger, then onto Guinea, Togo, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Madagascar and South Africa. He worked as the USAID Mission Director in six of these countries. After USAID, his work with NGOs took him to Niger, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo and Angola. Work and travel has allowed him to visit all . . .

In my other role in life–a golf writer–I was invited to the USGA Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey on Wednesday to the dedication of the new ‘Jack Nicklaus Room’. Jack joins Bob Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Mickey Wright. The room has something like 80 artifacts and interactive displays featuring Jack’s career. There was a dedication ceremony on the lawns and Jack’s whole family was with him. Here are a few photos from the afternoon event. If you are close to New Jersey, this is a wonderful museum, even if you don’t play the game. Jack and Barbara Nicklaus at USGA dedication ceremony for The Jack Nicklaus Room. (©USGA/Chris Keane)

The Barefoot  Mali PCV Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992-94) A small enterprise development PCV, Alana DeJoseph in Mali was not use to camel, but she did love her afternoon tea and as she says, “combining the two proved to be a bit of a challenge.”

Clayton Kennedy (El Salvador 2010-12) who is, he informed me, “just an outreach specialist, not the director of University Partnerships” Sorry, Clayton, I just wanted to give your CV a boost). Also, Clayton tell me, “Peace Corps Prep and Campus Ambassadors have both been in the Office of Diversity and National Outreach, where I have worked since my arrival last June. However, these two programs and I are transitioning over to the Office of University Partnerships, which is simultaneously coming over to VRS. The position of the Director of University Partnerships is currently open and just about to be posted.” Okay, are we all thoroughly confused by this Washington gobbledygook? Good. But what (in simple plain English) is how you would describe Peace Corps Prep? I asked Clayton who was nice enough to reply, “Peace Corps Prep is a partnership program that prepares undergraduate students for intercultural service abroad. We provide . . .

Peace Corps Prep– Shriver & Clayton Kennedy “The Peace Corps is a way in which American students can put their studies of other cultures to effective use. The problem, therefore, is how to channel these students toward Peace Corps service. It would be of immeasurable help to the Peace Corps if the colleges and universities of this country would institute a Peace Corps preparatory program in which students could enroll before their service with us. In most schools this would merely be bringing together in one package of already existing courses. In others it could mean the establishment of new courses of instruction….” Sargent Shriver Institute of Higher Education Board Nashville, Tennessee July 24, 1961 The head of an office at the Peace Corps called the Office of University Partnerships is Clayton Kennedy, an RPCV who is developing the Peace Corps Prep Program. What, you ask, is the Peace Corps Prep . . .