The Peace Corps

Joanie Laurer, who overcame a troubled home life in Rochester, N.Y., to win an international following as the pro wrestler Chyna, has died at age 45, according to her official website and World Wrestling Entertainment. Police found her body at her home in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Wednesday, according to local media. After college, and after 1992, she writes in her book that she joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Guatemala. More at the Washington Post.  

Peace Corps reported that all Volunteers in Ecuador were safe. I could not find any notice of  organized plans to help survivors of the Earthquake on the official Peace Corps site. However, RPCVs want to help. Bob Arias, (RPCV Colombia 1964-1966Response Volunteer:Panamá 2009-2010, Paraguay 2010-2011Colombia 2011-2013, Panamá 2013-2014 CD Uruguay, Argentina) emailed from Panama that RPCV’s want to get involved, it is part of the Third Goal. Bob also said  “we offered our services to Director Carrie as former Volunteers and Response Volunteers.” The RPCV group, Friends of Ecuador, has both a website and a Facebook page.  Both offer ways on how you can help.  Go to the website for further information on how to help and where to send donations. Here is the link to the  website: http://www.friendsofecuador.org/2016/04/ecuador-earthquake-how-you-can-help/      From the website: “Current Peace Corps volunteers have expressed an interest in helping and many of them who live along the coast . . .

Rachel Mannino is a new novelist and at the Peace Corps she is also Grants Writer in the Office of Gift and Grants Management. (And you thought writing grants had nothing to do with fiction. Ha!) This what they have this to say about Rachel: Rachel Mannino is a passionate writer who creates characters and settings that allow readers to explore power dynamics in relationships, the empowerment of women, and the ethical and moral dilemmas love can create in our lives. Rachel also uses her writing skills to raise thousands of dollars for entities that enrich our lives and create community change around the world.  She has worked for the Peace Corps; the Humanities Council of Washington, DC; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; and the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events in Boston, MA. Her first novel, Love or Justice, was published by Limitless Press in November, 2015. Her second novel, Fractal, . . .

  From the Peace Corps Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/PeaceCorps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Peace Corps ‏@PeaceCorps 52m52 minutes ago All Peace Corps Ecuador Volunteers are safe & accounted for. Staff in Ecuador are in close contact w/ Volunteers regarding safety & security

The first Peace Corps film was done by RPCVs from Nigeria, David Schickele and Roger Landrum, both Nigeria 1 (1962-64) PCVs. The film Give Me A Riddle was shot in 1966. The producer and director, the late David Schickele, said about making the film, Nigeria became an independent country in 1960. In 1967 it was torn apart by civil war. Between these two events Nigeria enjoyed a kind of golden age, full of cultural ferment and cross-tribal fertilization. Every kid out of the village was writing the great Nigerian novel. A spirit of great hope prevailed through the land. Give Me A Riddle is about this golden age, seen through the eyes of ex-Peace Corps Volunteer — Roger Landrum — returning to his host country a couple of years after his Peace Corps service as a teacher at the University of Nigeria. The film follows Roger as he looks up his former students . . .

Check the Peace Corps Third Goal for more details. thirdgoal@peacecorps.gov Peace Corps Recruiment * CA, Berkeley – 04/26 – Send-Off Party * CA, Hayward – 04/28 – CSUEB Career Fair * CA, Sacramento – 04/26 – Working in Women’s Empowerment Abroad * CA, Sacramento – 04/27 – Peace Corps Service in Latin America * CO, Denver – 05/01 – Make Your Encore Years Count * CO, Denver – 05/210 – Invitee Send-Off Brunch * DE, Newark, – 04/14 – Service Panel: Opportunities at Home and Abroad * FL, Gainesville – 04/19 – Success in Service: Hear from Returned Volunteers * FL, Tampa – 04/16 – Peace Corps Send-Off Party * GA, Brunswick – 04/22 – International Festival at Coastal College of Georgia * ID, Boise – 04/15 – Boise Send-Off * KY, Morehead – 04/26 – Morehead State University’s Networking Dinner * MD, Baltimore – 04/28 – Special Event: Peace Corps Send-Off Party * MN, Minneapolis – 04/15 – Peace Corps Social * NJ, Mahwah – 04/20 – Peace Corps at Ramapo . . .

FROM USA TODAY BY GREGORY KORTE APRIL 11, 2016 WASHINGTON — President Obama, often criticized by Republicans for constitutional overreach for his use of executive orders to get around Congress, signed the 254th executive order of his presidency Friday — allowing the Peace Corps to change its logo. In his seven years in office, he’s also used executive orders to change the name of the National Security Staff to the National Security Council staff, to allow the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to also consider the role of nutrition, and to prohibit government employees from texting while driving. And, showing that executive orders can attend to even the smallest details, Obama signed an executive order in 2014 to correct a typographical error in a previous executive order — which governed the format of executive orders. Executive orders are often thought of as the most muscular form of presidential . . .

Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68) will appear on Fox Business at 12PM PT/3PM ET to discuss the effect of North Korea, South China Sea, and ISIL on the presidential campaigns. John is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Peace Corps Response recently reopened programs in Liberia and Sierra Leone! The Peace Corps is currently seeking multiple STEM Educators, Literacy Educators, and STEM and Literacy Teacher Trainers in both countries to depart in August 2016. All positions are for 11 months. For more information, contact the agency at pcresponse@peacecorps.gov or (202) 692-2250.    Apply Now     

The Peace Corps presents the John F. Kennedy Service Awards once every five years to six individuals who have given outstanding service to the Peace Corps, both at home and abroad. Established in 2006, the awards recognize two currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers, two Peace Corps staff members, one Returned Peace Corps Response Volunteer and one Returned Peace Corps Volunteer for contributions beyond their duties to the Agency and the nation. Award recipients must demonstrate exceptional service and leadership and further the Peace Corps’ mission and it’s three goals: to help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and women; to help promote a better understanding of American on the part of the people served; and, to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. Each member of the Peace Corps family contributes to the agency’s success. The John F. Kennedy . . .

36 Hours Left To Help Help fund a once-in-a-generation documentary about the Peace Corps for wide release in 2017! We surpassed 435 donors in honor of Sargent Shriver and received an anonymous $5,000 donation! Now we’re over $77,000 closer to our $100,000 goal. It’s time we are able to capture 55 years worth of history, trials and triumphs told from these remarkable individuals all in A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary. THANK YOU for Your Story of the Peace Corps! Many Peace Corps documentaries tell the story of a single volunteer and how their experience changes their life and the lives of others. Our documentary is a rallying call for the Peace Corps Community to UNITE and tell its story. The real version—not the echo chamber. Time is of the essence. Memories fade. The architects and pioneering volunteers of Peace Corps pass away. $5 $25? $50? $100? What’s Peace Corps worth . . .

I spent the weekend going through files to find documents on the history of the Peace Corps that I might donate to American University and their collection of Peace Corps material. In the process I came across the address made by Sargent Shriver, first Director of the Peace Corps, at the One Hundred Sixty-fifth Annual Commencement of Georgetown University on June 8, 1964. I want to quote from the opening of Sarge’s talk as it focuses on two items that are important: one is on Ethiopia One PCVs in Ethiopia, and two is on Sarge’s vision of why the Peace Corps is important to all of us. • It is embarrassing for me today to confess that I remember only one quotatin from St. Ignatius. Fortunately it is only one word: “magis!“— “more.” The watchword of the Jesuit order has always been: Ad majorem Dei gloriam. But Ignatius was a man of action. . . .

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 25, 2016 – Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet is saddened to confirm the death of Peace Corps volunteer Andrew Jennings Farr. Andrew, 25, passed away in an automobile accident in Mozambique on March 25, 2016. “Andrew was passionate about learning as much as possible from his Mozambican community members and dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others,” Director Hessler-Radelet said. “He was respected by his fellow teachers and a wonderful role model for his students. We are devastated by this tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Farr family during this difficult time.” A native of Irmo, South Carolina, Andrew served as an education volunteer in Mozambique, where he taught secondary school physics in the village of Chitima, Tete Province. In his Peace Corps application, Andrew wrote that in order to adapt to the Mozambican culture, he planned to “simply listen, . . .

While most people know Harris Wofford for his work on civil rights and his time as a U.S. Senator (D-PA), he is known best in the Peace Corps as a special assistant to President John F. Kennedy, close friend of Sargent Shriver, and a key person with Shriver in creating the Peace Corps.  Harris will celebrate his 90th birthday on April 9 and the NPCA is preparing a proclamation from the Peace Corps community to honor  to honor Senator Wofford on his birthday. The NPCA is inviting all RPCVs to send along letters, cards, and gifts which they will deliver to Harris along with the proclamation. Please send along anything you’d like to include to their office to arrive no later than Friday, April 8.  Address cards,letters and gifts to: Senator Harris Wofford c/o National Peace Corps Association 1900 L Street NW, Suite 610 Washington, DC 20036  

  In 2014, the Peace Corps modified its application process to make it more efficient. The first full year of the new process was 2015. The fiscal year for Peace Corps ends on September 30. The applications received during 2015 could still be in the “pipeline” on the September 30th fiscal deadline. So the following statistics are just a snapshot of the status of these applications as of that date. I made a Freedom of Information request to receive these statistics. I will submit a new request for further information asking about the final determination of all the applicants received during 2015, specifically, how many invitations were finally issued to those who had submitted applications in 2015 and of those, how many accepted. Finally, I will ask how many host country requests could not be filled because Peace Corps did not have funding for those Volunteer positions. Here are the statistics, as of September 30, 2015 APP: number of candidates who reached . . .