Peace Corps writers

  Olivia Shaffer (Fiji 2017-20) of Hamburg, Pennsylvania, wrote a children’s book inspired by a boy she met while a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji By Lisa Mitchell Berksmont News| January 19, 2022 • While living in a remote village, Shaffer became fast friends with her neighbors, a family with a 3-year-old boy nicknamed Ulu. “Ulu and I became inseparable since the day I moved in next door. We didn’t understand each other’s languages, but we still connected through music, dances and laughing,” said Shaffer. “No matter what language someone speaks, smiling and laughter is something that connects us.” After she returned home to Hamburg, she wrote a children’s book in dedication to Ulu. The book, “I am loved, I am worthy,” is written in “I am” statements meant to spark confidence and feelings of worthiness into the young reader’s mind, Shaffer said.   During her time in the Peace Corps, . . .

• “Maybe you and Mommy should hav thought a little more before you had us kids!!!” — Devon Martin, age 7 • The attempt to be a stay-at-island dad was, at first, a failed experiment. I blame biological evolution. My wife points to me losing the kids in a jungle on the side of a mountain. Someone once said, “In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time.” In an effort to do just that, we left our whirlwind workaholic world in Washington, D.C. with our two daughters, then ten and seven years old, and moved to Micronesia – specs of sand stretched across one million square-miles of water in the Western Pacific Ocean – where my wife accepted a position as the Peace Corps deputy director for the region. At long last, time was on our side. Be careful what you wish for. . . .

China’s Reform Generation Adapts to Life in the Middle Class Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) made an unexpectedly early return to the U.S. this past summer. In 2019, the New Yorker correspondent, who served with Peace Corps China 1996–98, moved to the city of Chengdu to teach — more than 20 years after he taught at Fuling Teachers College as a Volunteer. He was planning on a five-year sojourn with his wife and daughters. In May he learned that his contract for teaching nonfiction at Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute had not been renewed. What happened? The university emailed a statement to Reuters explaining that they had been unable to reach terms for renewing Hessler’s contract. Reuters also noted that in March, Hessler participated in the China Development Forum, “a high-profile government-run event, where he spoke on a panel on media perspectives of how the COVID-19 outbreak was handled in Wuhan.” And as Foreign Policy noted, the government of . . .

Described in autobiographical book by Peace Corps Volunteer Elana Hohl (Afghasnistan 1971-73) Holly Zachariah The Columbus Dispatch   There they were, two 21-year-old newlyweds and recent college graduates from the Midwest, staring out the windows as the chartered plane that carried them and 75 other Peace Corps volunteers into Afghanistan approached the airstrip of Kabul International Airport. The vast and barren land that Elana and Michael Hohl had been studying for hours from the sky suddenly gave way to a city below, and camels and donkeys came into clear view. As the plane bounced down onto the runway on that steaming July day in 1971, there wasn’t an ounce of trepidation in either of the Hohls’ hearts or minds. “We were excited,” Michael recalled recently as he and his wife of 51 years sat in the living room of their condominium in the Northland neighborhood, a cozy home where nearly every space . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Patricia Taylor Edmisten (Peru 1962-64)   What would happen if Jesus ran for president? Roland Merullo’s writing explores this provocative question (and others) by Mike Mastromatteo September 30, 2021 • A nasty bout of Covid-19 swept through the Merullo household in December 2020, making traditional Christmas celebrations a bit of a problem. The Merullo capofamiglia, the Massachusetts writer Roland Merullo, had some weary words of advice for me. “Don’t get Covid,” Merullo said by way of warning. “My wife and I were down for two full weeks and truly miserable. It’s a beast.” The experience may have ironically provided a moment of pause and reflection for Merullo before we spoke together over several weeks at the end of 2020 about his long and varied writing life. Since publishing his first work in 1991, Leaving Losapas, Merullo has written nearly two dozen novels, memoirs, travelogues and, not surprisingly, a . . .

Here is our  list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently the count is 481. If you know of someone who has published two or more books of any kind, and their name is not on this list, then please email: marian@haleybeil.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you. • A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z   Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1963-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Marian Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64)   Shad Engkilterra writes…. “When I left for the Peace Corps in 1998, I knew I was in for “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” I just didn’t know what that meant. One thing that I did understand was that I would need support from my family and friends in the U.S. to get through the experience. I wrote many letters home to keep them informed of my experience, and to give us something we could discuss when I returned to America. In country, I took on the duties of providing public health and community development resources. I trained a health agent to give talks on AIDS and hygiene, and I organized and found funding for the renovation of the community health center. My partner was the doctor at the health center. We worked hand-in-hand. He helped me avoid cultural . . .

  U.P. Notable Book Club features Susanna Ausema, author of “I Spy🔎… Isle Royale” on Sep 9th 2021   The Crystal Falls  [MI] Community District Library, in partnership with the U.P. Publishers and Authors Association, has scheduled author events with winners of the U.P. [Upper Peninsula] Notable Book List. The ninth event is with U.P. author and park ranger Susanna Ausema (Guatemala 1988-91), who will present her award-winning children’s book “I Spy… Isle Royale.” The talk is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, on the Zoom platform. To participate in the program, contact Evelyn Gathu in advance by email at egathu@uproc.lib.mi.us or call 906-875-3344. These talks are open to all U.P. residents free of charge. They recommend participants borrow a copy of the book from the local library or purchase from a bookseller in advance to get the most out of the events. Currently the book can be purchased from . . .