The Peace Corps

  The Lessons From Abroad (LFA) organization seeks to help students make sense of their education abroad experience after they have returned home. LFA offers programming, resources, and research that establishes a community of learners who successfully integrate their international experience in all facets of their academic, personal, and professional lives. LFA also provides practitioners in the field of higher education opportunities for collaboration, research and professional development. They asked Mark Jacobs  (Paraguay 1978-80) to speak to their students returning from overseas. What follows is Mark being introduced by the Director of the college’s Study Abroad program and  what Mark had to tell the students of Longwood University of Virginia. — JCoyne •   Introduction by Emily Kane, Ph.D. Director of Study Abroad program at Longwood University It’s my great pleasure to introduce you all to Mark Jacobs, our keynote speaker today. Jacobs is the author of five books and over . . .

Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb Michael  Joseloff (Tunisia 1967–69) Amazon Publishing January 2018 148 pages $2.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Denis Nolan (Ethiopia 1964-66)   This book is mesmerizing. I could not put it down. It is the story of the race between the United States and Germany to develop an atom bomb, from the time when the key figures worked together before the war to the final stages of World War II and the eventual dropping of two quite different bombs. It reads more like a novel than a factual account of history, with the personalities and lives of the men involved interwoven with the actual events. Joseloff has done his research well, and he weaves a remarkable story about the three different approaches taken and the fear of failure that drove the participants to near breakdowns at times. He is an excellent writer and he brings . . .

Here is an important  announcement received from Patrica Wand (Colombia 63-65) and Evelyn Ganzglass (Somalia 1966 –1968)  on behalf of the RPCV Oral History Archives Project. “We are pleased to announce that we applied for Affiliate Group status for the RPCV Oral History Archives Project (OHAP) and in December the request was granted by National Peace Corps Association (NPCA).  This is a wonderful year-end tribute to Phyllis Noble,(Nigeria 65-67) who died in 2017, and to Robert Klein,(Ghana  61-63) OHAP Founder,who died in 2012, for their essential contributions to the Project. And there’s more good news.   Three RPCVs have joined us in forming a leadership team for the RPCV Oral History Archives Project. Amy Amessoudji  (Guinea 1995-1997) Cedar Wolf  (Namibia 2006-2008) Harry Bennett  (Belize 2002-2004),   Fundraising is underway to pay for digitizing over 520 analog interviews in the JFK Library. Interviews since 2015 are recorded electronically and over 100 are now available in the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection at the JFK Library. . . .

 GEORGE MELCHIADES COLEMAN  (Age 91) Passed away peacefully on December 10, 2017. Longtime residents of McLean VA, George and his wife Peggie moved to Good Shepherd Village in Endwell NY in 2016. Born in 1926 in Washington, DC to George and Annie Coleman, he was one of four children (siblings Thomas, Catherine, and Robert). After World War II service in the US Navy, George married Margaret Bakeman (Peggie), graduated from George Washington University and embarked on a career in international development including serving as Peace Corps Director in Brazil, working at the US Agency for International Development, and consulting in public health, family planning, and youth development (including programs for street children). While at USAID, he fit in a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a posting to the OECD in Paris France, Peggie’s birthplace. Not one to “retire”, George later became a certified family therapist, using . . .

This is an email I received from novelist Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64) who writes mystery novels under the pseudonym Richard Stevenson. Note: JCoyne “In 1997 I wrote the sub-Saharan Africa section of Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler, edited by Nina King. Published by St. Martin’s, the book describes mysteries that travelers might like to read when visiting places where the novels are set.  Here is my entry on Karin McQuillan’s Elephant’s Graveyard, published in 1993. “For sophisticated understanding of present-day East Africa land-use and wildlife problems, no mystery writer is better than Karin McQuillan.  A dedicated naturalist who appreciates the opposing viewpoints of conservationists, farmers, ranchers, and even poachers, McQuillan works these conflicts into the plots of murder mysteries featuring Jazz Jasper, a young American woman who’s fled a bad divorce back home and runs safari tours in Kenya. “The second in the . . .

This is an edited version of a long review appearing this Sunday, February 4, 2018 in The New York Times Book Section. JCoyne China From the Ground Up By HANNAH BEECH  Southeast Asia bureau chief of The Times. – THE ROAD TO SLEEPING DRAGON Leaming China From the Ground Up By Michael Meyer (China 1995-97) 296 pp. Bloomsbury. $28. Michael Meyer, a Minnesotan who went to China as one of the Peace Corps’ first volunteers there; and Xiaolu Guo, a writer and filmmaker who grew up in a salt-spattered Chinese fishing village, explore the meaning of home in a nation perpetually in transition. The China they describe in their memoirs no longer exists, covered by layers of concrete, glass and fiber-optic cables that have tethered even the most isolated farmer to the modern age. Still, it is the journey through heady, whiplash times that helps us understand where the nation . . .

Snopes.com  formally known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is one of the first online fact-checking websites. It is a widely known resource for validating and debunking urban legends and similar stories in American popular culture. Dan Evon from Snopes received this email from Peter Ter at the Peace Corps Office when Snopes tried to find out if Kevin McQuillan was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal.  Note: Jcoyne Dear Dan: My name is Peter Ter. I am the Certifying Officer at U.S. Peace Corps. I am writing to you this message regarding your message that you posted online. I did talk to a lady (your colleague) last week who said that she wanted to verify a former PCV. It usually takes only less than 3 minutes to verify a person’s Peace Corps service with or without a Social Security Number (SSN) Thus,  I do have more than a remedy or knowledge to . . .

I emailed Karin McQuillan several days ago asking if she wanted to reply to the comments made on our site about her blog item that appeared on American Thinker blog as well as elsewhere.  I wanted to find out if she had ETed or had been medically separated from the Peace Corps or been terminated from service by the agency. She  wrote back this note to me after Marian Beil, the publisher of our site, removed information, at Karin’s request, that listed her home address as it appeared, as public record, in two NPCA Directories. Note: Jcoyne Karin’s email to me. Thanks, John.  There are so many really nasty people on the web, I am quite concerned about having references to my personal information. (Karin is right about ‘nasty people’ just look at the tweets from the White House.) As for your questions about my experience in the Peace Corps. I . . .

  RPCV Rep. Joe Kennedy Picked To Give Democratic Response To Trump’s State Of The Union • Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) has been picked to respond to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week. The 37-year-old three-term congressman will appear on national TV following Trump’s speech on Jan. 30 to present the Democratic Party’s response, according to The Boston Globe. Thanks to the ‘heads up’ from Tom Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) Take a moment to watch this brief video of Joe Kennedy (Dominican Republic 2004-06) speaking about RPCVs and the Peace Corps.

  Yesterday I received this email from Dan Evon of the social media site Snopes Hey John, This is Dan Evon from the fact-checking web site Snopes. I’m trying to verify that Karin McQuillan was a member of the Peace Corps and I saw that you posted about her on Peace Corps World Wide. I tried reaching out to the Peace Corps but they wouldn’t verify if McQuillan was ever a member. Thank you very much for your time, Dan Snopes has published this account:  Did a Former Peace Corps Volunteer Defend Trump’s Sh*thole Comments? An opinion piece arguing that “Trump is Right” about African countries was written by Karin McQuillan. A chain email circulated in January 2018, spreading an opinion piece which argued that President Trump was right when he reportedly categorized African countries as “shitholes” during a meeting on immigration. Although the versions of this email that we encountered . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Mark Wentling ((Honduras 1967–69, Togo 1970–73; PC Staff/Togo, Gabon, Niger 1973–77) Watch Namibia’s tourism industry cash in on Trump’s diplomatic blunders

  Thanks to the ‘heads up’ from Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66) I emailed Karen for her comments but have not heard back from her. • Peace Corps Volunteer Does 180 After Living in Africa: ‘Trump Was Right’ CONSERVATIVE TRIBUNE BY CHRIS GOLDEN JANUARY 19, 2018 AT 3:25AM   We’re just a little over halfway through the month of January, but I think we’ve pretty much established what the “covfefe” of 2018 is going to be: “s***hole countries.” It’s not even clear whether or not the president actually said those words, mind you, but it’s sparked a debate about the diversity lottery and other forms of visas for individuals from nations that wouldn’t ordinarily qualify for migration to the United States. Oh, and it’s also given the left an opportunity to vehemently declare the president a flaming racist, but they’ve also utilized taco salads for that selfsame purpose. (Seriously.) There have been plenty of . . .

Update:  As of today, January 18, 2018, Peace Corps has published its Operations Plan in the Absence of Appropriatons.  It would appear that the policy to maintain Volunteers in the field, at least in the short term, is still policy as is printed below.  Read the plan here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.peacecorps.gov/documents/open-government/Peace_Corps_Operations_Plan_in_the_Absence_of_Appropriations.pdf If by midnight, January 19, 2019, Congress fails to pass a budget or a Continuing Resolution to continue funding for the federal government,  then there will be a  Government Shutdown.  Peace Corps issued a plan to show how it would continue operations if there were to be a government shutdown in December of 2017.  In December, Congress avoided a government shutdown by passing a Continuing Resolution which is set to expire on January 19, 2019, at midnight. Here is the  important policy statement from the plan published November 2017. 5. POLICY A. Any lapse in funding is expected to be temporary and . . .

  On Friday, the National Peace Corps Association released the following statement in the aftermath of news reports pertaining to President Trump’s Thursday comments on U.S. immigration policy. – JR • Last week, National Peace Corps Association praised President Trump for his excellent nomination for Peace Corps Director. Today, however, we are obliged to take exception to the disparaging remarks apparently made in reference to the countries – and therein the citizens – which our Peace Corps community has embraced and adopted as our second homes. Since 1961, nearly 90,000 Peace Corps Volunteers served – and continue to serve – nations in Africa. More than 500 served in Haiti, while nearly 2,500 volunteers served in El Salvador. What we know better than most through living and working side-by-side with the people of these countries is that the vast majority of them are overwhelmingly generous, highly resourceful, extremely hardworking and tremendously . . .

Thanks to the ‘heads up’ from Carol Scott (Ethiopia 1966-68). — JC • To the Editor: President Trump should skip Mar-a-Lago and spend a weekend in Mankessim, Ghana, on the farm of my friend Adjei, whom I first met nearly 40 years ago while serving in the Peace Corps. Contrary to his racist stereotyping, the president would learn from Adjei about the brutal economics of successfully farming eight acres using only a machete in the relentless tropical heat. He would see a work ethic that shames our own. Despite having a small house with no electricity or running water, Adjei and his wife have educated five children on a daily income equal to a cappuccino. There are tens of millions of rural Africans living like Adjei. President Trump should get to know at least one. ANDREW MCCORMICK VILLANOVA, PA.