Peace Corps Volunteers

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Phil Olaleye (Philippines) wins Georgia 59th District seat
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Gregory Jackmond (Samoa) | archaeologist in Samoa
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Richard Adkins, Tempe Urban Forester (Nepal)
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MaryKate Lowndes (Honduras) — Not GUILTY
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FINDING OUR WAY by Steven Gallon (Korea)
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“In That Time of Our Life” by Jeremiah North (Colombia)
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Kathy Tschiegg (Honduras) | CAMO director receives award from Kent State
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2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year — RPCV TARA COCANOWER (Romania)
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RPCV Doctor Michael Daignault Tells Us to Take A Walk
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Sad News — Mark Himelstein passes (Ethiopia 1)
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Founder and Executive Director of HPP — Martha Ryan (Ethiopia)
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Ann Moore (Togo) — The Volunteer Who Invented the Snugli
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RPCVs who made significant contributions to sports
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RPCV Park Ranger Gregg Moydell (Morocco)
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RPCV Jon Ebeling Dies From Heart Attack (Ethiopia)

Phil Olaleye (Philippines) wins Georgia 59th District seat

  Phil grew up in a working class family in Stone Mountain, GA, the son of immigrants. As a youth, Phil had to travel two hours one-way to school each day to receive a decent public education. As soon as he was old enough, Phil began working at Waffle House and Best Buy to help support his single mother and family. These childhood experiences cemented values of sacrifice, dignity in work, and the value of a quality education. Phil attended Duke University as a working student, spending school breaks studying predatory lending policies across Georgia and the Southeast. After working at Citigroup to pay off college loans, Phil left to serve his country in the United States Peace Corps. After three years of supporting an indigenous community in the Philippines, Phil returned to the U.S. to study at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and organize in the Mississippi Delta (Baptist . . .

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Gregory Jackmond (Samoa) | archaeologist in Samoa

  Gregory Jackmond (Samoa 1974-76) carried out extensive archaeological field work in Samoa during the 1970s when he was a PCV in the islands. He surveyed pre-historic ruins from Sapapali’I and another large settlement in Palauli district where the Pulemelei Mound is situated. The features visible include platforms (for houses), star mounds, terraces, walls, walled walkways, elevated walkways, large earthen ovens (umu ele’ele or umu ti), drainage channels, large pits, forts and just piles of stone. Umu ele’ele, according to Jackmond, were large earth ovens which were used about 500 to 1000 years ago to make sugar from ti trees. “The ti root apparently was cooked for about 10 hours in a lot of heat. The result was sugar for the people at the time,” he said. He found remnants of stone structures that dated back hundreds of years and upon his return to California in the U.S. at the . . .

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Richard Adkins, Tempe Urban Forester (Nepal)

  Richard Adkins, Tempe’s urban forester, is covering Tempe in shade as part of the city’s Urban Forestry Master Plan By Tyson Wildman, StatePress.com October 26, 2022 • As a teenager, Richard Adkins went into the Virginia forest alone one day and decided to sit under a Pin Oak tree. He stayed there awhile, observing his surroundings. By the time he got up, he knew that trees were going to be his future, so that was the path he pursued. Adkins is the urban forester for the city of Tempe and has been for the past three years. He has traveled the world doing what he loves, taking care of and sharing his knowledge of trees. “Trees are where it’s at,” he said. “Trees are good for humankind, good for animals, good for the environment.” Adkins grew up in Virginia and has done tree forestry, the science of developing, caring for . . .

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MaryKate Lowndes (Honduras) — Not GUILTY

  On this site on January 21, 2022, I posted this news item: A former PCV and Country Director, accused of illegally registering to vote in New Hampshire and voting, has chosen to fight the charges in court. MaryKate Lowndes (Honduras 1989-91) & PC/W Staff of Hyannis, Massachusetts, faces four voter fraud charges in Rockingham County Superior Court — a single felony count of wrongful voting as well as two counts of misdemeanor wrongful voting and a single count of misusing an absentee ballot. She was indicted in September 2020.   I just heard from MaryKate, who writes of her success: Last month I FINALLY had the chance to get the truth of the matter presented in Court. I had to wait two years to do so. I was able to take the stand to tell the truth to a jury; my attorney, William Christie of Shaheen & Gordon, also . . .

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FINDING OUR WAY by Steven Gallon (Korea)

  In the summer of 1967 a young husband and wife, barely in their twenties, depart home and family in Southern California to embark on a grand adventure. Finding Our Way: A Newlywed Couple’s Peace Corps Odyssey in 1960s Korea chronicles two years of their life together as Peace Corps Volunteers in South Korea. Living with a host Korean family, they discover the patterns and rhythms of everyday life in a country whose culture and customs are unfamiliar. Stationed in Taegu, Korea’s third largest city, they introduce spoken English to Korean middle school students. As guests in a foreign land they face cultural dilemmas, embrace adventures of discovery, experience trying times and build lifelong friendships. Korea in the late 1960s was emerging from decades of Japanese occupation, and a devastating war with cultural neighbors and political enemies in the North. It was a time of economic hardship for much of the population . . .

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“In That Time of Our Life” by Jeremiah North (Colombia)

  By Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65)   One night into my assignment to La Plata, Huila in 1963, I was reading in the dimness of a 40 watt light bulb a banned copy of La Violencia en Colombia. I was riveted by its 1948 description of the lunch-time assassination of Jorge Gaitan, the liberal leader, at a side-walk restaurant next to the country’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo. As its principal author, Orlando Fals Borda wrote: “it was a lone act which stripped with a single bullet the thin veneer of civility from an entire society”. La Violencia then goes on to detail a country’s descent into anarchy. By nightfall, Bogota was in flames. The country’s elite troops were standing shoulder to shoulder, rank upon rank, on the steps of the Ministry of Justice, firing volley after volley into the maddening crowd. They had long given up on shooting people in . . .

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Kathy Tschiegg (Honduras) | CAMO director receives award from Kent State

  Kathy Tschiegg, pictured at the Sept. 17 Salsa Sizzle fundraiser, which this year raised $41,278 for Central American Medical Outreach, was recently given Kent State University’s Distinguished Citizen Award. Tschiegg is CAMO’s founder. Each year Kent State University selects alumni who exemplify excellence and giving back to the community. This year’s Distinguished Citizen Award went to Kathryn “Kathy” Tschiegg of Orrville, who serves as the executive director of Central American Medical Outreach. CAMO is supported by hundreds of volunteers each year, which is a testament to Tschiegg’s leadership, collaborative spirit and ability to unite people around a cause. One such volunteer is Judy Seaman, a friend of CAMO and member of its Salsa Sizzle Planning Committee since its inception 14 years ago. “The millions impacted by Kathy’s vision and leadership are a testimony to a life well lived and shared. She is certainly well deserving of this wonderful award,” . . .

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2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year — RPCV TARA COCANOWER (Romania)

    Tara Cocanower, a world history teacher at Bluffton High School, has been named the 2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year. The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced on Wednesday that the 2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year has officially been named. IDOE says the honor has been awarded to Tara Cocanower, a world history and AP U.S. history teacher from Bluffton High School. Cocanower was named a top three finalist on Sept 26, along with Jason Beer of Homestead High School and Joshua DeBard of Lebanon High School. For many educators, becoming a teacher is a calling to serve others and make a positive impact on the world, one student at a time, and Mrs. Tara Cocanower is the embodiment of someone who was truly meant to be a teacher. When you see the way she connects with her students, it is clear to those around her that in . . .

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RPCV Doctor Michael Daignault Tells Us to Take A Walk

  Are you getting your daily steps in? Walking could save your life. Dr. Michael Daignault (Eastern Caribbeon 2003-04) USA TODAY • Did you know that getting in your daily steps could save your life? A new study of more than 2,000 adults showed that taking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced mortality by 50% to 70% compared with those who took fewer steps. The average age of study participants was 45, and they were followed over 11 years. This is the kind of evidence-based study I like to share with my patients in the ER. Although our time together is limited, I try to discuss diet and exercise with my patients as much as possible. I’ve found that most patients who don’t typically exercise find it daunting to start. They assume their only option is to transition from not exercising to joining a gym. While a lot of people can make that leap, I . . .

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Sad News — Mark Himelstein passes (Ethiopia 1)

  Mark Himelstein September 19, 1939 – September 12, 2022 Mark Himelstein died on Monday 12 September, a week before his 83rd birthday. He was battling hereditary issues with his heart when he lost. He is survived by his wife Nancy, his two sons Matt and Sam, his two daughters-in-law Laura and Alicia, and his grandchildren Solomon, Malakai, Meyer and Rhodes. Mark joins his daughter Suzy in the afterlife. Mark grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was a fan of baseball and basketball, as is Indiana tradition. Mark graduated from Indiana University with a BA in 1962 and from George Washington University Law School with an LLB in 1967. But if you ever met Mark you would know that he considered his service as a reserve in the Marines (1959-65) and his experience in the Peace Corp (Ethiopia, 1962-64) as the core learning experiences of his life. Mark found . . .

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Founder and Executive Director of HPP — Martha Ryan (Ethiopia)

  “I wanted to make the world better. That’s what we’re supposed to do, right?” Ask Martha Ryan (Ethiopia 1973-75), who says Peace Corps Ethiopia put her on her path.   Face-to-face with dire need Martha returned home to the Bay Area after her tour as a PCV in Ethiopia. She earned a nursing degree, and took a job at San Francisco General Hospital, and worked in intensive care. But then she found herself pulled back to Africa, where she’s cared for refugees fleeing civil war in camps in Sudan and Somalia, and travelled with a team of nurses to Uganda. But short-term trips weren’t enough. After a few weeks or months back in the U.S., Martha longed to return to Africa to live. It was where, she believed, she could most be of service — a value that was ingrained in her while at the University of San Francisc0 . . .

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Ann Moore (Togo) — The Volunteer Who Invented the Snugli

  by Jeremiah Norris Colombia 1963-65   After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Ann Moore taught pediatric nursing at Babies Hospital, Colombia University, in New York. In 1962, the Chief Resident of Pediatrics at Babies Hospital was asked to organized the first Peace Corps medical team to go to Togo, and Ann was recruited along with 30 other medical and health specialists — doctors, nurses, lab techs, a pharmacist, and a sanitation engineer. Their mission was to teach preventive care. For the entire first year in Togo they worked in an abandoned hospital where they treated —and nurtured patients back to health. In the second year, they were able to teach various good health promoting behaviors — like nutrition, latrine building, hand washing, etc. The volunteers all noted and remarked about the outstanding emotional well-being of African infants, either sick or healthy. All of the babies and toddlers were . . .

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RPCVs who made significant contributions to sports

by George Brose (Tanzania 1965-67)   There are lists of politicians, writers, CEO’s, artists, and film people, even an astronaut who were in the Peace Corps in their early or later years.  But I’ve yet to see anything about sports figures who have been PCV’s.  I personally know of a few who I would call major sports figures and in talking with John Coyne we decided that these folks should not go unnoticed for their service in the Peace Corps and their contributions on the playing fields. My area of expertise is track and field, and this sport is where I have found most of my subjects. They include an Olympic champion, a Boston Marathon champion, a famous coach, a not so famous runner but one who has been a long-time contributor to the sport, and another lesser known gem, and I’m even going to include a sportswriter who described . . .

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RPCV Park Ranger Gregg Moydell (Morocco)

   Gregg Moydell doing a research study on brants geese in Fairbanks Alaska Photo By Tiffany Natividad |   Story by Tiffany Natividad, Tulsa, OK August 8, 2022   Having grown up in Fort Gibson and enjoying many years of recreation on Fort Gibson Lake, park ranger Gregg Moydell (Morocco 1990-92) is happy to be able to spread his knowledge as a U.S Army Corps of Engineers employee and enjoys the family-type atmosphere of working with the Tulsa District. Gregg began his educational path receiving Wildlife Management and Wildlife Research Biology degrees from North Dakota State University and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks respectively. Upon completion of his degrees, Gregg performed and participated in research studies on Brant geese, moose, grizzly bear, and polar bear populations in Alaska. After that he joined the U.S. Peace Corps and traveled to Morocco where he authored a feasibility study for the creation of a nature preserve for . . .

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RPCV Jon Ebeling Dies From Heart Attack (Ethiopia)

  Dr. Jon Sutton Ebeling, Professor Emeritus in Political Science, CSU Chico, passed on July 25, 2022, in Napa, California, after a long struggle to recover from a heart attack during May. Dr. Ebeling grew up in southern California with the surfers who gave the Beach Boys something to sing about.  There was a movie about one of his fellow surfers, Gidget, based upon a book that her father wrote.  Long after he left Santa Monica Jon occasionally ran into some of his beach friends including Gidget and Tom McBribe. Jon was born in Queens, New York in 1938 to Beatrice Coulbourne Ebeling and William Ebeling.  After his father passed away in 1939, Jon’s mother brought him and his older brother, Peter, across the U.S., stopping in Arizona first, before finding work as a bookkeeper in Los Angeles. His high school counselors thought that Jon would make a good sheet . . .

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