The Peace Corps | Peace Corps Worldwide

Cold Hand of History: The Peace Corps, Part I

Feb 01 2016

In 1989, Thomas G. Paterson, a Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, put together the first major reassessment of JFK’s foreign policies. It was a collection of essays on everything from the covert war against Fidel Castro to the Peace Corps. The essay on the Peace Corps is entitled “Passing the Torch and Lighting Fires: The Peace Corps.” It was written by Gary May, then and now, a Professor of History at …the University of Delaware. The essay is based mostly on a series of interviews he had with Ethiopian PCVs in the 1980s. Reading that essay on the Peace Corps–the 11th and final chapter of the book entitled Kennedy’s Quest For Victory: American Foreign Policy, 1961-63, published by Oxford Press– it is striking how negative, harsh, and also realistic we were twenty plus years after our tour. Well, as reported by Gary May and based on . . .

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev Wanted to be a PCV

Jan 31 2016

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, Wife Of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Wanted By Feds For Interview Katherine Russell was a talented artist, a good student who grew up Christian, the daughter of a suburban doctor. Then she went off to college in Boston. A few years later, she had dropped out of school, converted to Islam and was Katherine Tsarnaeva, wife of a man who would become a suspect in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings and a subject of one of the biggest manhunts in American history. Tsarnaeva attended North Kingstown High School, graduating in 2007. Her yearbook entry lists her plans as college and the Peace Corps. Her art teacher for four years, Amos Trout Paine, remembered her talent in painting and drawing and said she was at the top of her class. MORE AT: Several sources. huffingtonpost.com is one. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/katherine-russell-tsarnaev-feds-interview_n_3131242.html also People at http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20694041,00.html

Scott Ritter says “The Peace Corps is the Answer”

Jan 31 2016

Thanks to a heads-up from Tom Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) about the Huffington Post article “‘Digital Democracy’ and the ‘January 25 Revolution’ in Egypt” by Scott Ritter, author of Dangerous Ground writing about the fifth anniversary of the so-called “January 25 Revolution” of 2011, which led to the removal from power of Egypt’s President, Hosni Mubarak. The final paragraph in Scott Ritter’s Huffington Post article: There has never been a greater need for American leadership in the Middle East than today, and yet America finds itself hamstrung by its own hand. How and when America will be able to resume a leadership role based on the values of its ideas, as opposed to the strength of its military, is impossible to predict (there is an American model that does work — the Peace Corps, which promotes American values through constructive action while fully respecting the culture and traditions of the nation so engaged). . . .

Kellie Greene Peace Corps Former Director of the Office of Victim Advocacy Has More To Say

Jan 28 2016

Thanks to a ‘Heads Up’ from our blogger Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) who found this comment from Kellie Greene who was dismissed by the Peace Corps last April. It appeared on First Response Actions’ Faceobook. Kellie Greene for Victim’s Rights Hello and welcome! I am Kellie Greene. I was the Director of the Peace Corps’ Office of Victim Advocacy (OVA) until April 29, 2015, when Peace Corps essentially removed me from my position. Chances are you are here because you saw or read in the news that I filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) against the Peace Corps. It’s true. I have. You can find the articles under “In the News”. Before I continue, I need to inform you of two things. First, the content on this website is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps. Second, this post . . .

Alan Toth (South Africa 2010-12) Goes Free With Posh Corps

Jan 24 2016

Three years ago, I started working on the Posh Corps project. The idea was simple: to discuss the modern Peace Corps experience honestly. I wanted to cut through the mythology and the marketing, and capture the experience of volunteering in a rapidly changing world. I spent three months in South Africa shooting the film. I returned to the United States and spent six months editing the film. In 2014, I started selling the film and screening it around the country. By the end of 2015, Posh Corps sales had almost recovered the production costs, and I started thinking about making a change. Today, if you visit poshcorps.com, you’ll find that all the feature films on the site are free. In fact, almost everything on poshcorps.com is now free, with theexception of licenses. I still ask people to pay for public screenings and educational licenses, as this helps cover the costs . . .

Tino Calabia (Peru1963-65) Comments on "13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"

Jan 21 2016

Most RPCVs, new Volunteers, and staff know of RPCV Christopher Stevens’ model service as a PCV and then a U.S. Ambassador until he was slain in Libya in 2012. Many may be curious to see how Hollywood would portray him. Now we know. In “13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” Stevens is, in Hollywood-speak, “a bit player.” Nonetheless, “This is a true story” declares a typed preface rolling at the film’s start. The name of Libya’s second biggest city has become an epithet of scorn meant by many to besmirch Hillary Clinton’s record as President’s Obama’s first Secretary of State. The killing of Stevens and three colleagues had fanned the partisan flames of the 2012 Presidential campaign, and surely those flames will flare up again before this year’s Presidential election is over. But little in this movie can be easily argued to derail Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The reason? “13 Hours . . . .

I Was Raped in Burkina Faso

Jan 18 2016

Jezebel is a feminist blog. This piece by RPCV Yaara Zaslow was published on the site a few days ago. It is a profound and powerful account of what happened to her in Burkina Faso. It is also a sad story of what can happen to women in the Peace Corps. I’d served in Burkina Faso in West Africa with the United States Peace Corps. I was raped, and because I did everything “right” afterwards-I talked to the Peace Corps, talked to the Embassy, completed a rape kit-I didn’t understand the nausea that came over me whenever I did anything aside from hide in my bed. Soon after, I was evacuated from the country with a canvas backpack and a change of clothes. I stayed home, in Seattle, for three months, while the Peace Corps did a full investigation. In this investigation, the Peace Corps noted the three broken locks . . .

More on El Salvador and The Peace Corps

Jan 15 2016

Peace Corps suspends El Salvador program as violence surges Thanks to a ‘Heads Up’ from Barry Hillenbrand (Ethiopia 1963-65) By Jerry Markon January 14 at 5:14 PM Washington Post The Peace Corps has suspended its half-century-old program in El Salvador, highlighting the violence that has wracked the Central American nation and helped propel a wave of migration to the United States. In a statement, the agency begun by President John F. Kennedy said it is pulling out its 55 volunteers, who work on youth development and community economic development projects, “due to the ongoing security environment.” El Salvador has suffered a rash of gang and drug-related violence, though Peace Corps officials said no specific security incidents or threats triggered the suspension. The gang wars helped fuel a renewed surge in recent months of undocumented families with children flocking across America’s southwest border, the vast majority from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. That, in . . .

Bill Moyers and Harris Wofford: A Conversation at the New York Public Library

Jan 14 2016

On Wednesday night, January 13, 2016 at the New York Public Library there was a wonderful discussion between Bill Moyers, one of the founders of the Peace Corps and later deputy director of the Peace Corps, and Harris Wofford, former ‘everything’ in the government, including being the first Peace Corps Director to Ethiopia to then U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. Two hundred plus attended the library event to support a new documentary film being made by Jacob Finkel (jsfinkel@civicdocumentaries.org). Driving in from Kuntzville, Pennsylvania to attend were Ethiopia I (1962-64) Adrienne and Elton Katter. Among the Ethiopian RPCVs who attended the event were these Volunteers: (l-r) Margaret O’Brien Donohoe (1962-64); John Coyne (1962-64); Suzanne Wofford, Harris’ daughter, Dean of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. (Suzanne was ten when she went with her family to Addis Ababa); David Forster (1966-68); and Bill Donohoe (1962-64). Concetta Bencivenga (Thailand . . .

Talking with Aaron Kase (Burkina Faso 2006-08) about his book: MURDER IN BENIN

Feb 25 2015

We all blame Peace Corps Staff for something, and sometimes we’re right, but what went particularly wrong with the administration, both in Africa and in Washington, D.C., was what they did (and didn’t do) involving the tragic murder of Kate Puzey in Benin in 2009. What is particularly galling is that the Acting Director of the agency at the time of the murder was an RPCV Jody Olsen (Tunisia 1966-68) who has made a career of working for the agency, mostly through Republican connections from Utah (So much for In, UP and Out!) and she should have known how to take care of PCVs and their families, but she didn’t. Olsen was followed in the job by Director Aaron William (Dominican Republic 1967-70) and while eventually he apologized to the Puzey Family, he was famous for hiding under his deck when asked to speak to news agency. At one . . .