The Peace Corps

On September 8–9, National Peace Corps Association hosted a virtual two-day conference — Peace Corps Connect 2023. Here are videos and resources from the event. Note:  Here is the link to the NPCA webpage.   By NPCA Staff On Friday, September 8 and Saturday, September 9, NPCA hosted more than 400 members of the Peace Corps community for Peace Corps Connect 2023. During our virtual conference, NPCA Board of Directors and staff showcased updates on NPCA achievements; the latest developments in a key continuation of service initiative; and the three Loret Miller Ruppe Award finalists, along with NPCA’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award given to John Coyne and Marian Haley Beil for producing the Peace Corps Worldwide blog. We were privileged to receive updates from RPCV Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) on Peace Corps legislation and appropriations as well as hear opening remarks from Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn, who outlined how the agency is taking its work to the next level, especially with the largest generation . . .

    Turning outward bound into homeward bound; that’s an unforgettable experience that took place at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on Sept. 19, 2023. Decades in the making, members of the UNM Peace Corps Outward Bound Training 1963 class, known as Colombia VIII, reunited at UNM. Now retired with families and memories, these Peace Corps alumni were able to relive their lives from years ago. Thanks to the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences (CULLS), and its archives these former students were able to recollect through old photos of their time training for the Peace Corps at UNM. “It was such a pleasure seeing the Peace Corps reunion today. I’m impressed that so many people traveled from around the country to be here. It just shows how important the Peace Corps were to everyone’s lives,” University Archivist Portia Vescio said. Vescio, Graduate Student Amber Lane and Macon McCrossen led the . . .

In the news —     New USAID mission director Reed Aeschliman (Thailand 1981-83) on Thursday said the agency followed three principles in its activities in Bangladesh as its “development assistance” program had now turned into a “development partnership.” “The first principle is to be a good partner,” he said while meeting journalists at the American Center for the first time since his arrival in Dhaka on August 20. Principle number two is to expand USAID’s investments to local institutions, and the third is to harness the power of the private sector fully in achieving development goals. “We have moved from development assistance to development partnership. Fifty years ago we were development assistance. Now we want to be a good trading partner. That’s win-win,” he said. “USAID will continue to invest in the Bangladeshi people – whether it’s building the skills of farmers, doctors, nurses, school teachers or emergency responders . . .

Today the Peace Corps, 62 years after this challenge from JFK’s inaugural address, unveils an innovative program that brings American Peace Corps Volunteers shoulder-to-shoulder with future leaders at CorpsAfrica. This historic partnership, announced amidst Peace Corps leadership participation in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Climate Week events, reflects the agency’s commitment to global collaboration and sustainability. Led by Liz Fanning (Morocco 1993-95) and recipient of the 2019 NPCA Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service, CorpsAfrica joins hands with the Peace Corps to empower volunteers and African leaders embarking on a year of service. As the Peace Corps continues to expand its footprint, it proudly announces the imminent arrival of volunteers in Sri Lanka, bringing the total number of actively serving volunteers to over 2,200 across 60 countries. This initiative marks a significant stride towards advancing development, nurturing friendships, and achieving sustainability goals on a global scale.   . . .

  I WAS ASSIGNED to the Island of Saint Kit in the West Indies. Once on an inter-island plane, I sat across the aisle from one of my new colleagues, an unfriendly, overserious young woman. She was twenty-four, twenty-five . . . we were all twenty-four, twenty five. I didn’t know her much or like her. As the plane banked over the island, she pressed against the window, staring down at the landscape. I couldn’t see much of her face, just enough really to recognize an expression of pain. Below us spread an endless manicured lawn, bright green and lush of sugarcane, the island’s main source of income. Each field planted carefully to control erosion. Until that year, Saint Kit’s precious volcanic soil had been bleeding into the sea; somehow they had resolved the problem. The crop was now being tilled in harmony with the roll and tuck of the land and the island . . .

Water   When a woman carries water on her head, you see her neck bend outward behind her like a crossbow. Ten liters of water weights twenty-two pounds, a fifth of a woman’s body weight, and I’ve seen women carry at least twenty liters in aluminum pots large enough to hold a television set. To get the water from the cement floor surrounding the outdoor hand pump to the top of your head, you need help from the other women. You and another woman grab the pot’s edges and lift it straight up between you. When you get it to the head height, you duck underneath the pot and place it on the wad of rolled-up cloth you always wear there when fetching water. This is the cushion between your skull and the metal pot full of water. Then your friend lets go. You spend a few seconds finding your . . .

  American Voodoo  (with William Faulkner) by Joseph Theroux (Western Samoa 1975-78) Kilauea Publications April, 2023 190 pages $3.00 (Kindle); $10.00 (Paperback) Reviewed by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-66) • This novel reads like a police report. The style has a James Ellroyness quality — just the facts, sketch descriptions, no setups, expositions, or transitions. Get on with the story. The reader is immediately captured by the fast pace and carried along in the torrent of a murder mystery. But an astute reader will tweak something is afoot by the name on the cover, the credit on the title page, and the subtitle “with William Faulkner in Louisiana.” Joseph Theroux’s name is on the cover in the usual author’s slot. The title page credits Lloyd Osbourne as the writer, edited by Joseph Theroux. The editor’s note identifies Joseph Theroux as the secretary for the Cemetery Advisory Committee. Lloyd Osbourne is quoted, . . .

Kevin Writes — I have appreciated the recent writing in which RPCVs personalize the impact the Peace Corps has had on their lives. I have a story I would like to add to the collection. It is a story that covers less than a day, but it is one that makes me value my experience more every day. • The Slave Boy Who Became a Priest by Kevin Denny (Malawi 2964-66)   It was my last day in Malawi. I had said good-bye to the village I had known for two years and the was making my last stop at the post office. There I ran into Father Tovey, an Anglican priest, who asked me when I was leaving. I told him the Peace Corps lorry would be at my door early the next morning to start me on my homeward journey. Then he asked me a rather strange question: . . .

  Sixty Years of Service in Africa: The U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon by Dr. Julius A. Amin Routledge Press October 2023 272 pages $170.00 (Hardcover) Based on previously unused primary sources obtained from both sides of the Atlantic, this study provides a more fundamental, consistent, and balanced source-based assessment of the role of the US Peace Corps across its entire existence in Africa. The study sheds light on a new and intriguing historical perspective of the Peace Corps’ meaning and significance. Though the main thrust is Cameroon, the study offers a window to understanding Peace Corps performance in all of Africa, and the larger global community. It examines volunteers’ service in countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Guinea, showing how the agency transitioned from a Cold War agency to the Post-Cold War era, while asking important questions about the continuous relevance of Peace Corps in Africa. In addressing the . . .

“One Morning in September” — 9/11 Nov 11 2019 One Morning in September by Edwin Jorge (Jamaica 1979–81) Edwin Jorge was the Regional Manager of the New York Peace Corps Office and was at work in Building # 6 of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The building was destroyed when the North Tower collapsed. At a commemoration service held at Headquarters in Peace Corps/Washington a year after 9/11 Edwin spoke about the attack and what happened to the Peace Corps Office. His comments follow. ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, on the morning of September 11, 2001, I sat down at my office desk and turned on my computer. As the computer booted to life, I glanced up and looked out of the windows of my office on the sixth floor of the Customs House in the heart of the financial district of New York. From where I sat, . . .