The Peace Corps

The nomination of RPCV Josephine Olsen (Tunisia 1966-68) continues to get rave approval from the NPCA and other RPCVs, some of whom even know this woman. I assume, based on her Peace Corps history, that Jody got the position as a ‘final thank you’ from her good friend Senator Orrin Hatch. I suspect also, like Hatch and most Republicans, she voted for and supports the president and considers it an “honor” to represent the president in our Peace Corps countries, which Trump has now famously called “shitholes.” I assume Jody Olsen is not ‘womanly enough’ to denounce that statement since no other Republican Senator or Congressman has either. What is most concerning to me–at my advanced age–is whether, as a senior citizen, Jody, in her mid-’70s, is up for the job and able to fulfill her duties as she has recently (March 2017) spoken openly and eloquently about her Stage . . .

Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) just published, on January 9, 2018, an Amazon eBook Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb that tells the story of The Manhattan Project through the lives of three top Allied scientists and Hitler’s chief atomic scientist, a former friend, turned bitter enemy. Joseloff’s interest in the atom bomb dates back to 1993, when he produced a segment for The NewsHour on the “father of the bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer. Michael is a four-time Emmy Award-winning news and documentary producer. He was a producer with The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (PBS) from 1983 to 1995. His documentaries have aired on PBS, including the acclaimed series FRONTLINE, The History Channel, Discovery, CNBC, A&E, and other major cable TV channels. As Michael related, “The Peace Corps started me down the road that eventually led to Chasing Heisenberg.  I used USAID supplied documentaries in my teaching in Tunisia.  One week they sent me a film of Apollo . . .

  Office of Special Counsel Finds Despite Progress, Peace Corps Lacks Certain Sexual Assault Prevention Measures, Encourages Clear Policies to Protect Volunteers FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jill Gerber, (202) 804‐7065; jgerber@osc.gov WASHINGTON, D.C./Jan. 5, 2018 – The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) concluded that despite significant progress, the Peace Corps has failed to implement certain sexual assault prevention measures. OSC also encouraged clearer policies and training to better protect volunteers.  The conclusions came after the Peace Corps completed a report prompted by whistleblower disclosures to OSC. “I have determined that while the report contains the information required by statute, some of the findings are not reasonable,” Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner wrote to President Trump.   “I encourage the Peace Corps to establish clear, consistent, and effective policies to ensure the prevention of sexual assault and other crimes against volunteers, timely responses to safety risks, and the provision of adequate . . .

  Thanks to the ‘heads up’ from Neil Boyer (Ethiopia 1962-64). — JC • Trump to nominate Marylander Josephine Olsen to lead Peace Corps John FritzeContact Reporter The Baltimore Sun   A visiting professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work who is a veteran official at the Peace Corps will be named to lead the organization of global volunteers, the White House said Wednesday. Josephine Olsen of Silver Spring has taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore for eight years and is the director of the school’s Center for Global Education Initiatives. She served as the Peace Corp’s acting director during the first months of the Obama administration. FROM OUR PARTNERS: The List: The Post predicts what’s in and out for 2018 Her nomination comes at a challenging time for the Peace Corps, created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to promote democracy during the Cold War. . . .

President Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Jody Olsen to be next director of the Peace Corps.    Josephine Olsen of Maryland, to be Director of the Peace Corps. Ms. Olsen, Ph.D., is senior lecturer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and has served for the past eight years as a visiting professor at the School of Social Work and Director, Center for Global Education Initiatives. She has taught on issues of international health and social services, and has authored numerous articles and spoken frequently at academic conferences on teaching and studying abroad. Before joining the faculty, Ms. Olsen was Deputy and Acting Director of the Peace Corps from 2001 – 2009. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia, a country director, a regional director, and agency chief of staff. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Utah and both her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from . . .

  Ashley Bell, Peace Corps Associate Director of External Affairs and a Trump appointee, visited Colorado at the Invitation of the Global Livingston Insititute and Partnering for Peace. A limited number of RPCVs were invited to hear him speak.  This is the write up of the event by Suzanne Smith, President of RPCVs of Colorado.  http://www.rpcvcolorado.org/index.php/component/k2/item/117-ashleybellvisit “On Thursday, December 8, a reception was held for Ashley Bell, Peace Corps Associate Director of External Affairs. The reception was organized in partnership with the Global Livingston Instituteand Partnering for Peace, the affiliate network group working to strengthen ties between Rotary and Peace Corps. Though Mr. Bell has been to Denver a few times since being named Associate Director of External Affairs, this reception was the first time there has been an opportunity to talk with him about the future of Peace Corps and how to further the partnership between Rotary and Peace . . .

PCV Accused of Murdering His Wife in Tanzania by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64; APCD Ethiopia 1965-67; PC/W & NY 1995-2000) OVER THE FORTY YEARS OF THE PEACE CORPS more than one PCV has slipped a thick blank-paged journal into their luggage, ready to record their experience while on this great new adventure. Many, of course, think that perhaps someday they’ll turn all the notes into a novel or a memoir. Paul Theroux, for example, used his journals in writing his 1989 novel, My Secret History, which is set partly in Malawi and Uganda. Mike Tidwell turned to his journals when he wrote The Ponds of Kalamabayi about his time in Zaire. And Kathleen Coskran used the journals she kept in Ethiopia for several of her stories in her prize-winning collection, The High Price of Everything. But it was the journal of another PCV, William Kinsey, which first brought Peace Corps writers into international . . .

  Peace Corps history is written in the memories and hearts of the people we served as Peace Corps Volunteers. It is contained in the stories we tell each other and the books written by RPCVs. There is another critically important source for Peace Corps history. It is in the letters, the reports, the photos, and the videos from your Peace Corps service. Now as Peace Corps, the agency, reduces its historical footprint, your memorabilia must be preserved.  Peace Corps has not had an in-house library for over fifteen years. It does not accept any donations from RPCVs to archive. The National Archives and Record Administration archives federal records from federal agencies, not individuals. We are in process of asking if they would accept documents from RPCVs.  However, right now, there are three archives, which are currently accepting personal memorabilia from RPCVs.  Please consider donating your items. Here are the . . .

Coyne Babbles On About Christmas In Ethiopia Doug Kiker was from Griffin, Georgia and had early success as a short story writer while still a student at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, majoring in English. There’s a story about how he wanted to get published and he picked up Martha Foley’s short stories collection, went to the rear of the book and found the list of short-story publishers, closed his eyes and punched in the dark. He hit the Yale Review, to which he promptly submitted a short story. And they accepted his story. While still in college he worked as a reporter, covering the Senate race between Strom Thurmond and Olin Johnston. After college he joined the navy and was commissioned an Ensign, serving in Korean War. Discharged, he returned to Atlanta and worked at the Atlanta Journal and covered the first sit-ins at lunch counters in North Carolina. Out of . . .

Doing the Blitz Peace Corps Recruitment in the ’60s by Hal Fleming (Staff: PC/W 1966–68; CD Cote d’Ivoire 1968–72) IN 1966, I CAME DOWN TO WASHINGTON from New York. It was a time in our country when the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War divided the nation. I had been tapped to work as a staff member in the Public Affairs and Recruiting office for the Peace Corps. On my very first work day in Peace Corps/Washington, I was told to join Warren Wiggins, the Deputy Director of the Agency, in his government car for a one-hour ride to a conference for new campus recruiters at Tidewater Inn in Easton, Maryland. Wiggins, preoccupied with his opening speech to the conclave, said very little to me except to read out a phrase or two of buzz-word laden prose, mostly unintelligible to me as the new guy, and ask for my . . .

  Remembering Joe Kauffman and the Early Days of Peace Corps Training by Ted Vestal (Staff: PC/Washington & Ethiopia APCD 1963–66)   JOSEPH KAUFFMAN, ONE OF THE founding hands of the Peace Corps died September 29, 2006 in Madison, Wisconsin. From 1961–1963, Joe was the first Director of Training at a time when no one knew what a Peace Corps was supposed to be — much less how to train Volunteers. In the old Peace Corps Headquarters at 806 Connecticut Avenue, he ran a respected Division staffed by some well-degreed, experienced former university professors and administrators. They worked on a crash basis primarily with colleges and universities which at the time had not had much experience in training Americans to work overseas. The Training Division’s activities were informed by a series of conferences the Peace Corps had held in 1961 on how to train Volunteers for service in particular nations . . .

  For a short period of time in the very first years of the Peace Corps all Volunteers were given booklockers by the agency. The lockers were meant to provide leisure reading for the PCVs and then to be left behind in schools, villages, and towns where they served. There is some mystery as to who first thought of the lockers and one story has it that the idea came from Sarge Shriver’s wife, Eunice. From my research, this seems to be a true story.  Also from my research, I learned that the first locker was put together by a young Foreign Service officer. A second selection was done in 1964, and that same year Jack Prebis was made responsible for the 3rd edition of the locker that was assembled in the fall and winter of 1965. Here is Jack’s account of putting together the third edition of the legendary . . .

Dear Friends: If you’ve been following National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and opening my steady stream of emails, you know that there is an unprecedented sense of urgency to NPCA’s mission. With that in mind, I’m going to ask you to consider making NPCA a priority for your personal philanthropy this giving season. Over the last four years, I’ve had the privilege to lead NPCA through a historic transition from a passive alumni association to a community-driven social impact organization. As we became increasingly cause-oriented, we eliminated membership dues, understanding that our community is less inclined to pay-to-join but deeply committed to engage and invest in the causes that are near and dear to our hearts. It was the right move. Since 2015, the level of Peace Corps community engagement in our three strategic priorities— advocacy, community-building, and development impact — has surged. In the process, we built a better . . .