The Peace Corps

  Even the Geckos Are Starving Martin R. Ganzglass (Somali 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers 320 pages August 2023 $10.00 (paperback) In this collection of short stories, Somali refugees in a camp in northern Kenya confront the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Nairobi; a jet fuel spill at Pearl Harbor threatens Honolulu’s water supply; a trusted doorman turns to burglary and discovers a surprising partner; a seaman is seriously injured and is confined in an unknown place where no one speaks his language; and a high brow magazine runs a personal ad for sexual services with unforeseen consequences.

  In 1962 Father Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame University, went to Chile to visit the Volunteers who had trained at Notre Dame. One of them was Tom Scanlon, a recent ND graduate. Tom told Father Hesburgh a story about his job so far as a PCV. Hesburgh would write a letter to Sarge Shriver — a good friend — and tell Sarge what Scanlon said.  Shriver would write Hesburgh back and say, “I am delighted to hear it . . ..  In fact, all the people here at Peace Corps Headquarters liked it so much we’re using it as the opening section of our presentation to the United States Congress.” Shriver also would pass on what Father Hesburgh told him to his brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy. In the early days of the Peace Corps, President Kennedy greeted the first Peace Corps Trainees on the White House lawn and even invited . . .

    A Towering Task Coming to PBS Nationwide A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps is coming to PBS stations across the country. There will be a nationwide premiere of A Towering Task on the PBS World channel on Friday, September 29th at 8pm and Saturday, September 30th at 3am, 9am, and 3pm. In addition, individual stations are scheduling the film in local markets starting September 2nd. You can click this link to see the broadcasts that have been scheduled so far. And we are adding stations and dates every day. To help get the story of the Peace Corps to as many audiences as possible, you can encourage your local station to schedule broadcasts of A Towering Task for your region! Simply call your station and ask them to schedule A Towering Task. Your station’s membership services will take note! The film is available to PBS stations (through PBS distributor NETA) for the next three years – and possibly longer, if stations feel there . . .

By Susan E. Greisen (Liberia 1971-73, Tonga 1973-74) 26 August 2023     I have always been skeptical of habituating wild animals to humans. I’ve seen the damage this has done to the bears in the National Parks in the 60s when I vividly remember traveling in Yosemite as a 12-year-old with my family. Dad encouraged us to crack our car windows to feed bread to the bears…and, so we did. We have home movies of this insanity. Over ten years later when I tent camped there again as an adult, bears were rummaging campgrounds to access the campers’ delicacies. That night armed rangers roamed our campsite tranquilizing the bears as they ripped open a Fiat convertible seeking store-bought food. The damage humans have done is evident. My third blog on Rwanda provided me with another great lesson about humans and wildlife.   Now, 60 years later, what good would . . .

  Ursula Foster (Uganda 2001-03 & 2010-12) will read from her book, From Gulu With Love, and share about her time working with the Peace Corps in Uganda at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 at Revelation Vineyards, located at 2710 Hebron Valley Road in Madison, Virginia. The native of Esslingen, Germany, now a resident of Madison, has traveled the world to create “Völkerverständigung” (understanding between nations). She firmly believes “if we get to know each other, we would see each other as fellow humans and not as enemies,” according to a business release. This belief led her to spend time, in her retirement, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda.  “As a Peace Corps volunteer I had the opportunity to live alongside Ugandans pretty much in the same way they live, to become a part of their everyday life,” she said.  The things she values most from her time in . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Giles (Liberia 1964-66)   Peace Corps Liberia Empowers Educational and Health Sectors as 12 new Volunteers Assigned to Margibi, Bong and Grand Bassa By Gerald C. Koinyeneh August 21, 2023   MONROVIA – In a concerted effort to boost Liberia’s educational and health sectors, Peace Corps Liberia welcomed a new group of volunteers into its ranks for a two-year service in Liberia.  The 12 new volunteers are the first batch of volunteers to return to Liberia since 2020 when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers because of COVID-19. After 11 weeks of language and cultural training, the volunteers were sworn-in on Thursday, August 17, 2023, by USAID Mission director Jim Wright, who is also serving as acting deputy chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Monrovia. Wright urged the volunteers to exemplify the highest standards that the United States has to offer the world, . . .

Bishkek, August 25, 2023 – Twenty-six newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteers will co-teach English with local teachers in secondary schools across Chui, Naryn, Issyk-Kul, Talas, Osh and Jalal-Abad regions over the next two years. This is the 29th group of Volunteers to serve in the Kyrgyz Republic.  In attendance at the ceremony were U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Lesslie Viguerie, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aibek Moldogaziev, Head of the international cooperation and investment department of Ministry of Education and Science Aizada Apysheva, Peace Corps Regional Director for Europe, Mediterranean and Asia Rebecca Sharp, and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Volunteers, as well as local teachers and directors of schools where the Volunteers will serve as co-teachers.  “For 30 years, Peace Corps Volunteers and the communities in which they serve have collaborated to increase student and teacher capacity in English and have built relationships that continue long . . .

Ex-Peace Corps Volunteers Deserve Recognition by Victor Barbiero (Ethiopia 1973-75) ”We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough — more than enough — of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on, not toward a strategy of annihilation, but toward a strategy of peace.” President John F. Kennedy June 10, 1963, American University Candidate John F. Kennedy spoke to a crowd of 10,000 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and challenged the students to work and live overseas. He implored . . .

Westbury Imagined: Based on True Stories by Arthur Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67) Nsemia Publishers August 2023 $9.99 (Kindle); $32.00 (Paperback)   The first encounters between Indigenous people and Europeans, the enslavement of Africans and their fight for freedom, fox hunting millionaires and Italian immigrants, and the development of suburbia until the present day—all this is presented in Westbury Imagined, a book of history, fiction, memoir and poetry that celebrates this diverse Long Island community. Arthur Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67) has lived with his family in Westbury since 1969. He is Professor Emeritus of University Studies at Hofstra University and Leader Emeritus of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Bangla, Dutch and Spanish.