The Peace Corps

by Becky Wandell (Ecuador 2018 –20)   One afternoon, I overheard Margarita, my host-mom, talking on the phone. I usually didn’t understand much of what she said — or much of what anybody said during my first weeks living in Ecuador — but on this day, I clearly heard “Becky is a good baker, she can make the cakes.”  Ummm… Margarita? What am I going to do? After finishing her conversation, she pulled me over to the table and patiently explained that her husband Jose’s Dad, Victor, was having a birthday this weekend and they needed some cakes for the celebration. I had been around long enough to know that usually the family just goes to Tio Sam’s bakery for saccharine sweet gelatinous cakes, so if they were asking me to bake them, this was a big deal! And besides, I would do anything for Victor who had welcomed me to . . .

Help Ensure A Towering Task Airs Nationwide A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps is coming to PBS stations nationwide, starting September 2. But your help is needed to make sure this documentary airs in your region. With PBS stations sometimes scheduling programming two to three months before airdate, now is the time to reach out to your local station. The PBS World channel will host a nationwide broadcast premiere on Friday, September 29 at 8 p.m. Eastern with repeats on Saturday, September 30 at 3 a.m., 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. Eastern. Your local station program managers will decide whether to schedule the film and how often over the next three years. View a list of confirmed stations and air times so far.That’s where you come in. CALL your station today and ask that A Towering Task, which is distributed by NETA, be included in the line-up. Then, help get the word . . .

  Who Stole My Bible: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny by Rev. Jennifer Butler (Belize 1989-91) Faith in Public Life Publisher October 2020 180 pages $9.99 (Kindle); $15.99 (Paperback); (Audio book) The Bible has been hijacked. We’ve all seen examples of sacred scripture being used and abused to justify racism, sexism, reactionary politics, and even violence. If you have ever found yourself wondering what Bible some of your fellow believers are reading, if you’ve ever asked yourself “Who Stole My Bible?”, then you are not alone. With a foreword from Brian McLaren, Who Stole My Bible?: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny shows how the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is an inspiring handbook for resisting tyranny. Jennifer Butler loved the Bible and her Christian faith, but then was disillusioned when it was used against her as a woman. Instead of leaving religion, she found a fresh . . .

  “There’s no success like failure and failure’s no success at all.” Bob Dylan • I ignored the summons the draft board sent to my remote Ethiopian village midway through my second year of Peace Corps service, and dropped its greetings down the shintabet (the long-drop) hole, sending it to fester with the rest of the used toilet tissue. And I did not inform the Peace Corps staff in Addis Ababa that I had been drafted. The police curfew that kept Goba locked down while Haile Selassie’s troops fought pitched battles with rebel shifta in the nearby mountains had finally lifted, the unending rainy season that hijacked two consecutive dry seasons had finally abated, and after eighteen months of mud and fear, I could finally hike and ride in the gorgeous Bale Province countryside. But end of service was near. In 1968, the Viet Cong’s Tet Offensive had driven America . . .

  HESPERIAN HEALTH GUIDES is the publisher of the beloved Where There Is No Doctor and 11 other books published in multiple languages that have been used by Peace Corps Volunteers serving around the world to support individuals and communities in their struggles to realize the right to good health since the early ’60s. Hesperian invites PCVs and RPCVs to share your stories of how any of the Hesperian books helped you during your Peace Corps service  in your efforts to give care to the people of your communities. AND, if you have them, any photos of our books in action can be sent with your stories. Please email your submissions or any questions you have to vanessa@hesperian.org . Winners will be chosen at random. The deadline to enter this contest is August 25, 2023. PRIZES: 4 winners will be able to send a complete Hesperian Library set to a . . .

The winning Six-Word Stories selected by noted RPCV novelist, Richard Wiley (Korea 1967-69) are . . .   Arrived tired. Mali inspired. Living unmired. by Bill Moseley (Mali 1987-89)   Piped water frees girls for school.    by Bob Gribbin (Kenya 1968-70)   Peru: She returned with blinders off. by Patricia (Silke) Edmisten (Peru 1962-64)   In making his selection, Richard Wiley writes, “I read them all a dozen or more times, and came up with three that I like best, two of which seem to emphasize what being in the Peace Corps did for the volunteer (and writer!), and one that highlighted a good Peace Corps outcome for the country.What was hard about this was deciding how I wanted to order these final three.  It was a very close call. Thank you for allowing me to have a role in this and congratulations to the winners.

John Chromy (India 1963-65) writes: For forty years the RPCV/Hawaii group has joined with local Rotary Clubs to raise funds for all kinds of community development and family assistance projects on the islands. Today, after the horrible Hurricane driven fire that consumed the community of Laihani, killed 80 people and left thousands homeless, the RPCV/Hawaii group is asking Peace Corps people everywhere to help the victims of this tragic double storm. Could you please ask/urge Peacecorpsworldwide supporters to extend the Peace Corps spirit by sending donations to: Maui Fund RPCV/Hawaii P.O. Box  29462 Honolulu, HI   96820-1862  

  Hey Buddy! Portraits of Friends Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) KDP, an Amazon.com Company 144 pages August 2023 $18.00 (paperback) Reviewed by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-67) • Think of this collection of vignettes as a mixed bouquet of flowers, some colorful, some a bit wilted, a few missing petals. Lawrence Lihosit recounts strangers who became friends in his years of traveling and working from Alaska to Argentina, Honduras to California. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras (1975-1977). The prose is suitable for scan reading—no multi-layered metaphors, or nifty timeline shifts, or illusions and allusions that require association. Lihosit tells the tales as he would to someone sitting on the neighboring barstool. No literary pretense, but rather people being themselves. So, enjoy the humanization without the polishing rub of a professional hand. (One of Lihosit’s previous books, Years On and Other Travel Essays, was awarded Best Travel Book . . .

Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in August 2023–the count is 515. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1963-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Jack Allison (Malawi 1967-69) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy Anderson (Togo 1962-64) James Archambeault . . .

  You Are Not Here: Travels Through Countries that Don’t Exist by Eric Czuleger (Albania 2011-13) Independently Published 360 pages June 2023 $0.99 (Kindle); $18.27 (Paperback)   American journalist Eric Czuleger dives into the twilight zone of statecraft by living in unrecognized nations in order to discover what a country really is. He begins his journey as a third-grade teacher in Iraqi Kurdistan at the height of the Kurdish independence movement. Banned by Turkey, he pivots to Kosovo where he reports during the nation’s 10 year anniversary celebration. Moving on to The Black Hole of Europe, Transnistria, he arrives in time for the Russian election. Finally, Czuleger infiltrates the world’s first crypto-anarchist nation, Liberland, where he parties with Bitcoin millionaires and falls into his most challenging position yet: Liberland Ambassador to Somaliland. There, in the never ending desert, he discovers the real cost of drawing a new line in the . . .

Falls Church VA resident honored with Military Women’s Award August 3, 2023    On August 17, Winifred “Winnie” Evans (Togo 1962-64), a resident at Chesterbrook Residences Assisted Living Community, will receive the Military Women’s Memorial Award: Living Legend Proclamation. For Evans, this is just another achievement in her impressive over-a-century lifetime.  At 105 years old, Evans has experienced and accomplished so many feats that the title “Living Legend” may be the best description for the Falls Church resident. A former nurse, author and supporter of various causes, Evans has expressed “genuine joy and heartfelt appreciation” upon receiving the Military’s Women’s Memorial Award, according to her niece, Patricia Garrett. “With enthusiasm, she exclaimed ‘I am overjoyed and thrilled to be acknowledged as a living legend,’” Garret recalled of Evans. The granddaughter of Horace Bennett, a sergeant in the Civil War under the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, Evans was born in 1917 . . .

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway won a bet by writing the six-word story “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”  Tell us your Peace Corps focus story in six-words.  I’ll post it on our site. jcoyneone@gmail.com Also send your name, country and Peace Corps years.  

New List of RPCV & STAFF Authors AUGUST 2023 Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in August 2023–the count is 505. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1963-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Jack Allison (Malawi 1967-69) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri . . .