Peace Corps Volunteers – Peace Corps Worldwide

“I Returned” by Jac Conaway (St. Lucia)

Mar 25 2023

A Writer Writes I Returned by Jac Conaway (St. Lucia 1961–63) Republished from PeaceCorpsWriters — 4/3/2004 I returned and it was like this. My son’s mother died suddenly. I hadn’t seen her for 22 years. It was strange to think of her dead or even to think of her as 44 years old. We were kids in so many ways. Now we are “old” and our son is “my” age. Hours after I heard of the Peace Corps I joined, in the spring of 1961. I had just returned from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) where I had my world turned upside down and my eyes opened so wide I couldn’t grasp what I was seeing. In six profound months as a foreign exchange student, I was so astonishingly different that I thought I could never return to my small rural southern farm community. I was wrong about that, but . . .

Tragic Deaths in the Peace Corps

Mar 19 2023

The murder of Peace Corps volunteer, Kate Puzey in 2009 “Puzey was murdered while working with the Peace Corps in Benin. She was concerned about inappropriate relationships a male working at her school was having with students. She reported it to the Peace Corps and they let the man she was concerned about know that she had reported him… Then she ended up murdered. The man and a couple of his supposed accomplices were held in prison without any real trial for a few years and then it was determined that they didn’t do it and then nothing. No one was held accountable.In May 2011, dozens of volunteers provided written testimony to Congress about problems with the Peace Corps’ handling of sexual violence, ranging from failures to train volunteers to mistreatment after assaults.In November 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, named after a volunteer killed . . .

“Troutman, NC resident among the first Peace Corps Volunteers to receive overseas assignment”

Mar 11 2023

By Taylor Jedrzejek Statesville Record and Landmark.com Amid all of her excitement over the opportunity to travel abroad, there was one nagging question that kept popping up in the mind of Randi Epstein: how exactly do I pack for a trip that lasts two years? But even with that burning question, nothing could be done to quell her excitement. After all, Epstein is one of the first volunteers to get a chance to travel oversees for service as the Peace Corps begins to restart it’s outreach programs following the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s super exciting,” Epstein said. “I think, as a volunteer, that it’s awesome to see the world opening up again and I know all of the volunteers are excited to be out on the ground helping the world again.” On March 14, Epstein, a resident of Troutman, will board a flight for the southeastern African nation of Zambia . . .

The Volunteer Who Ran the Table on Foreign Service Appointments — Kathleen Stephens (South Korea)

Mar 09 2023

A Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Kathleen Stephens holds a B.A. in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a M. A. from Harvard University. She also studied at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University before becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Korea from 1975-77, where she taught in the Yesan Middle School. Of her Volunteer experience, Kathleen said: “this is where I learned the qualities I needed to be a diplomat; I learned how to endure hardships and convince others.” Thereafter, when joining the U. S. Foreign Service in 1978, through hard work she earned major agency appointments — all the way up to serving as Ambassador to South Korea under two different U. S. presidents, and charge’ d’ affairs to India. She was well equipped to meet these professional challenges, speaking fluent Korean, Serbo-Croation, and Chinese. Early on in her . . .

Charlie Clifford (Peru) — Creator of TUMI Luggage

Mar 08 2023

Charlie Clifford (Peru 1967-69) started TUMI in 1975, after working as a marketing director for an industrial equipment subsidiary of a large food retailer. It takes its name from a Peruvian icon known to Charlie from his Peace Corps days. Charlie says, “I was married in the Peace Corps. We had two terrific years in Peru, traveling throughout South America. I grew personally an enormous amount. I came back and worked in industrial marketing for about four years. Then I invested in a small entrepreneurial company and began covering the eastern region for sales for a company that was doing handcrafted products from South America. He left that after a year or two to found Tumi with a partner as an importer of leather bags from Colombia with a total investment of $10,000. TUMI’s innovative introduction of soft, ultra-functional, black-on-black ballistic nylon travel bags catapulted the company to its . . .

Director of Vatican Observatory — Brother Guy Consolmagno (Kenya)

Mar 06 2023

Vatican Observatory director to speak at Lyon College by George Jared It was the moment Albert Einstein had waited for. In 1915, he proposed the theory of General Relativity which stated that space and time are linked. It means that when large objects such as planets or stars move, space and time can become distorted. On May 29, 1919, a total solar eclipse gave astronomers in South America and Africa the chance to prove or disprove the theory. What they found was that light was bent by the movement of the sun and it impacted the space around it. Einstein was right. The theory of General Relativity was accepted by the world of science and he would go on to become one of the most famous scientists in history. Parts of Arkansas, and especially Northeast Arkansas will be in the direct path of a total solar eclipse slated for . . .

Maggie (Wolcott) Nurrenbern (Ecuador) running for state senate

Feb 24 2023

Missouri State Representative Maggie Nurrenbern Launches Campaign for State Senate District 17 Press Release, February 22, 2023 Today, Missouri State Representative Maggie Nurrenbern, who was elected to represent House District 15 in 2020, is announcing her campaign for State Senate District 17. “I’ve always been proud to call the Northland home and I know we need leaders who will stand up as a voice of moderation, bring people together and actually achieve results that make a positive difference for our community. That’s exactly what I’ve done as a State Representative, working across the aisle, I’ve worked to deliver real solutions and investments in education, infrastructure and healthcare,” said State Representative Maggie Nurrenbern. “Now, I’m running for State Senate because as a mom of three, former local public school teacher and dedicated community volunteer, I have a renewed purpose to fight for great public education for every kid in our state, . . .

Using Peace Corps Literature to Teach Global Awareness, Critical Thinking, and Service Learning

Feb 21 2023

Thanks for the “heads up” from Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love: Using Peace Corps Literature to Teach Global Awareness, Critical Thinking, and Service Learning Christina Chapman, M.Ed. Instructor of Developmental Reading Coordinator of Developmental Communications Lewis and Clark Community College • I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) from 1988-1990. One of the first new words we were taught during the training was animation. Animation, a French word meaning liveliness, was what we called the process of teaching. This term signified a new way of thinking about the teaching process; movement and life through education. This idea of someone gaining energy and forward movement was a heady concept to try to apply to my job as an agriculture extension agent in central Africa. Now, as a developmental reading teacher in central United States, I realize that the . . .

Johnnie Carson (Tanzania) Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders

Feb 20 2023

MEDIA ADVISORY | February 23 Digital Press Briefing with Johnnie Carson, Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation EVENT: Please join us on Thursday, February 23, 2023, for a digital press briefing with Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation. Ambassador Carson will discuss his recent high-level engagements with African leaders on the margins of the AU Summit and his plans to continue his important dialogues with members of civil society and the business community. After brief remarks, Ambassador Carson will take questions from participating journalists. Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023 Time: 10:00 Johannesburg | 09:00 Abuja | 8:00 GMT | 03:00 Washington Language: English. Ground rules: The briefing will be on the record. Login info: To be provided upon RSVP. RSVP: Please RSVP by clicking here Twitter: Join the conversation at #AFHubPress; follow us @AfricaMediaHub. Biography: Johnnie Carson Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation Ambassador Johnnie Carson was appointed as . . .

Stephen Franklin (Turkey) writers about his host country

Feb 10 2023

Chicago Tribune February 10, 2023 • Tragedy has long haunted the broad swath of land where earthquakes have just claimed thousands of lives, left many thousands of people injured and plunged already impoverished millions into yet deeper financial despair. For centuries, an angry earth has shaken communities in the sunbaked mountains and valleys that sprawl across southeastern Turkey. But the earth’s latest deadly roar comes at an especially vulnerable moment for Turkey and Syria, where an unusually bitter cold hourly seals the rubble and the earthquakes’ countless bodies. This tragedy is not a distant one for me. As a journalist, I have traveled along Turkey’s southeastern border and visited Syrian refugees and the places where they were living. But the deeper significance is that my wife and I, as Peace Corps volunteers, ran a small, meagerly supported orphanage for Turkish boys in a slum on the far edge of Istanbul more . . .

The Volunteer Who Went onto National Media with His Political Views — Bob Beckel (Philippines)

Feb 09 2023

Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Robert (Bob) Beckel served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1971 to 1972. Prior to that, Bob graduated from Wagner College in Staten Island, where he played football and worked for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968. After returning home from his Volunteer assignment, Bob was a graduate school professor of politics at George Washington University in the District of Columbia. In 1977, Bob joined the U. S. Department of State as deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Carter Administration. In that role, he helped to shepherd the Panama Canal Treaty through the Congress to ratification. The following year, he was appointed as Special Assistant to the president for legislative affairs, working on ratification of Salt II and Mideast treaties. Subsequently, Bob was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign. During that campaign, he became known as . . .

Brittney Nadler (Sierra Leone) awarded Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship

Feb 04 2023

Illinois University alumna Brittney Nadler (Sierra Leone 2019-20) was recently awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by Howard University, the Pickering Fellowship supports individuals who seek careers in the State Department’s Foreign Service. Nadler was among 45 awardees selected from nearly 900 applicants. The fellowship will fund a two-year master’s degree in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service. It also will provide extensive professional development opportunities including internships, mentoring and skills training. Nadler will complete a summer internship at the State Department in 2024 and an overseas internship at a U.S. embassy or consulate in summer 2025. Upon successful completion of the program, Nadler will become a U.S. diplomat. Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, and raised in South Elgin, Nadler served as a Fulbright English Teacher in Thailand from 2017-18, bringing 10 of her students to Malaysia . . .

John Clark (Ecuador) joins Sarasota’s Selby Gardens

Feb 02 2023

John L. Clark PhD Joins Botany Staff at Selby Gardens TUESDAY JAN 31, 2023 | Marie Selby Botanical Gardens [in Sarasota, Florida] recently welcomed Dr. John L. Clark to its staff as a full-time research botanist. Affiliated with Selby Gardens as a research associate since 2009, Clark has spent his professional career discovering and documenting plant diversity. His work concentrates on the plant family Gesneriaceae, or gesneriads, an important focus of Selby Gardens’ botanical research and a notable component of its living plant collection. An evolutionary biologist as well as a botanist, Clark studies plant systematics, evolution, and biodiversity, focusing on the identification, classification, phylogeny, and taxonomy of neotropical gesneriads. Gesneriads serve as scientific models for understanding broad patterns in the evolution, pollination, and diversification of plants. About a third of gesneriads are epiphytes (a type of plant that grows on another plant without harming it), and Clark’s . . .

Retired architectural photographer RPCV Tom Crane (Nigeria) dies

Jan 25 2023

Tom Crane, retired architectural photographer, Peace Corps volunteer, and ‘obsessive handyman,’ has died at 82 He collaborated with writer Roger W. Moss to publish three books about historic Philadelphia architecture, and reviewers called his photographs “excellent,” “fabulous,” and “beyond superlative.” by Gary Miles Philadelphia Inquirer Jan 23, 2023 • Ralph Thompson Crane III, 82, of Bryn Mawr, retired prolific architectural and interior photographer, Peace Corps volunteer, and self-described “obsessive handyman,” died Jan. 9, of multiple system atrophy at St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Darby. Known professionally and by his family and friends as Tom, Mr. Crane’s photographs were published in many publications, including The Inquirer, for decades. His work is also found in books, online, and elsewhere, and he teamed with writer Roger W. Moss to publish Historic Houses of Philadelphia in 1998, Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia in 2004, and Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia in . . .

SHOO DO GOOD Pants by Stacy Chong (Moldova)

Jan 21 2023

As a Peace Corps Volunteer Stacy worked with local NGO APIUS (Association for Moldova’s Fashion, Apparel, & Footwear Industries) as a Small Enterprise Development Consultant for Moldova’s fashion industry. Primary work centered around the development of Moldova’s first fashion center Zip House, a USAID CEED II project; accomplishments include: (1) the creation and launching of Moldova’s first Textile and Sourcing Center, won a $10K grant and developed the textile center with student volunteers, acquiring over 2000 fabric donations and books from international communities; (2) the implementation of three successful internship programs where over 54 youths, mostly girls, learned professional skills and received career guidance; (3) the development of numerous workshops/seminars for industry professionals and university teachers – recruited international specialists, working closely with them to develop seminars/trainings in pattern-making, branding, marketing & sales; (4) personally conducting workshops and seminars on marketing, forecasting, and small business development. Additionally, taught . . .