The Peace Corps – Page 32 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Exploring the Peace Corps’ sixty-year history in Thailand

May 12 2023

Peace Corps in the news Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-66) by Samantha Rose Thaiger Latest News The Peace Corps is a United States agency established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to promote peace and friendship worldwide. Peace Corps volunteers have been working in Thailand since 1962, assisting Thai government agencies in various fields. Currently, they operate in two main projects: Teacher Collaboration for Development and Youth Development. Over 5,500 volunteers have worked with Thai communities for more than 60 years, but their work was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, Peace Corps volunteers returned to Thailand and underwent a 10-week training programme before being dispatched to 29 provinces across the country. Their swearing-in ceremony coincided with the 60th-anniversary celebration of Peace Corps cooperation in Thailand. It is always exciting and impressive when encountering foreigners who can communicate excellently in the . . .

Peace Corps Volunteers touched many lives in eSwatini

May 11 2023

US EMBASSY CHARGE D’AFFAIRS EARL MILLER: “Peace Corps Volunteers touched many lives in eSwatini.” MBABANE: His Excellency Earl Miller, the United States Embassy Charge d’Affaires has hailed the impact that the Peace Corps Volunteers had in the Kingdom of eSwatini. (formerly named Swaziland ) Speaking during the swearing-in of eight(8) Peace Corps Volunteers, Miller said eMaswati have expressed of their wonderful experiences with the Peace Corps. “Everywhere I travel in Eswatini, I meet people who tell me how Peace Corps Volunteers touched their lives. Senior Government policy and decision makers, civil society leaders, teachers, health workers, students of all ages, talk of their wonderful experiences with Peace Corps Volunteers.” said the US Embassy Charge d’Affaires as quoted by the Government online platforms this week.

PC Response Volunteer Nancy Nau Sullivan (Mexico) writes mysteries

May 11 2023

RPCVs in the news • MICHIGAN CITY, IN — The Lubeznik Center for the Arts presented “Read Between the Crimes: An Evening with Two Mystery Writers” from 5 to 8 p.m. CDT May 5 at 101 W. Second St. Local writers Nancy Nau Sullivan (Mexico 2013-14) read excerpts from her newest book and participate in a question-and-answer session for LCA’s May First Friday event. Sullivan invented the life and times of Blanche Murninghan in her four-part mystery series, which debuted with “Saving Tuna Street” in 2020. Sullivan’s other titles in this series include “Trouble Down Mexico Way,” “Mission Improbable: Vietnam” and “A Deadly Irish Secret,” which will be released July 11. A former newspaper journalist, Sullivan taught English in Argentina, in the Peace Corps in Mexico and at a boys’ prison in Florida. • Nancy has also published The Last Cadilac: A Memoir [2016].

To Die On Kilimanjaro by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

May 10 2023

I posted an earlier version of this essay on this site in 1997 To Die On Kilimanjaro When I first visited the Blue Marlin Hotel in Malindi, Kenya, in the summer of 1963, it was after my first year of teaching at a PCV in Addis Ababa. The hotel was located on the edge of the Indian Ocean and crowded with British families in the final days before Kenya’s independence from Great Britain. We were the only Americans in the hotel. I didn’t return to Kenya or the Blue Marlin until the early ’70s when the hotel was now filled with German tourists and the few English-speaking tourists gravitated to one end of the bar. It was there traveling through Africa and writing for Dispatch News when I met a British couple and their two little girls. Phillip and April were ‘on holiday’ as the English like to say. Phillip . . .

Cornell University revisits Vicos, Peru

May 08 2023

Cornell was involved with the community of Vicos, Peru in the ’50s and the ’60s. Decades later, the Vicos community invited Cornell University to return and evaluate what happened with the Cornell innovations after so many years. In the sixties, Cornell University also trained Peace Corps Volunteers to work in Peru. I believe this report should be a model for all RPCVs and Peace Corps staff. It simply, at the request of the host community, reviews and reports what worked and what did not. That is what, I believe, Peace Corps should do. A half-century later, Cornell revisits a small Andean village By Bill Steele July 23, 2009 More than 50 years ago, a Cornell mission to a small village in the Andes introduced social changes that made a profound improvement in the life of the village. Today, echoes of that mission are still visible and may help the community . . .

Two Peace Corps Legends: Moritz Thomsen and Patricia Wand

May 06 2023

Patricia Wand (Colombia 1963-65) wrote this article for our site in May 1997. Finding Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador) “THE MESSAGE FROM ECUADOR TODAY IS: NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.” So wrote Moritz Thomsen on June 29, 1990, and what he meant was that he was angry at me. He was angry because I nominated him for the Sargent Shriver Award; because I suggested his traveling to the U.S. when I knew of his frail health; and because I described his living conditions in my letter of nomination. But this all happened after I got to know him a bit. Let’s start much earlier than that; when I read his first book. Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle spoke to me and for me. Moritz Thomsen captured the essence of Latin American village culture as I too knew it. I saw in his village the same people, the same breadth of character, the same . . .

CUMBERLAND by Megan Gannon (Gambia)

May 04 2023

In the fictional coastal town of Cumberland, Georgia, fifteen-year-old twin sisters Ansel and Isabel Mackenzie have lived with their eccentric grandmother since a car accident killed their parents and paralyzed Isabel. Over the past seven years the responsibility of caring for her sister has fallen increasingly on Ansel. However, as she cultivates a romantic relationship with a local boy, as well as an artistic apprenticeship with a visiting photographer, Ansel’s growing desire for independence compromises her ability to care for her sister, threatening their sororal connection, and ultimately, Isabel’s life. Juxtaposing Ansel’s traditional narrative against Isabel’s poetic prose, Cumberland highlights the conflicts between independence and familial duty, the difficulty of balancing the dark draws of the body against the brighter focus of the mind. Megan Gannon was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is a graduate of Vassar College (BA), the University of Montana (MFA) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln . . .

Peace Corps Director Spahn visits Colorado State University

May 04 2023

Over the course of the day, more than 120 students, staff, alumni and community members came to campus to welcome Carol Spahn and to honor the Peace Corps. Colorado State University has a long history with the Peace Corps, dating back to 1961 when researchers Pauline Birky-Kreutzer and Maurice Albertson published one of the original feasibility studies that led to the creation of the organization dedicated to international development and cooperation. The largest event included more than 90 guests, who were able to hear more about current affairs and the future for the Peace Corps during a facilitated dialogue between Spahn and KUNC’s Stephanie Daniel. Another highlight involved students from across campus, who were able to learn more about Spahn’s international career path and opportunities with the Peace Corps. Thanks to CSU’s commitment and the generosity of several donors, CSU has most of the funding needed to fully construct the . . .

“Coming to Grips with Poverty in Africa”

May 03 2023

American Diplomacy May 1, 2023 by Mark G. Wentling (Honduras 1967-69 & Togo 1970-73) • Reducing poverty has been at the heart of U.S. foreign assistance in dozens of low-income countries for more than a half-century. Despite U.S. foreign policy objectives, much work, and hundreds of billions of assistance dollars expended, the poorest of the poor have not advanced. While some low-income countries have made some small progress, after decades of aid most are still in the bottom ranks of absolute poverty. All the countries in the Least Developed Country (LDC) category have more poor people than ever before. Thirty-seven of forty-seven of these LDC countries are in Africa. Although a handful of countries have graduated from LDC status, this disturbing ranking remains basically unchanged since the LDC list was established by the UN General Assembly in 1971. This unchanging list of extremely poor countries tells us that a better . . .

Paul Ebner (Paraguay) Animal Sciences Professor

May 02 2023

“Growing up, I was not involved in agriculture at all,” Paul Ebner, professor of Animal Sciences. “I had never heard of 4-H or FFA or animal science until after I graduated from college.” Story by Nyssa Chow Lilovich • Throughout his career, Animal Sciences Professor Paul Ebner has demonstrated his commitment to global agriculture and food systems in his research and teaching. His path started at Kalamazoo College where he pursued a degree in political science. He went on to complete graduate degrees in animal sciences from the University of Tennessee, a postdoctoral fellowship at Louisiana State University in molecular biology and joined the Peace Corps. It was during his time in Paraguay, South America (1994-96) that he started working with livestock production. He worked in a small rural village with an original focus on water sanitation and eventually directed his efforts to chickens and pigs, receiving funding . . .

Diary of a Peace Corps Volunteer by Jack Maisano (Korea)

Apr 30 2023

Diary of a Peace Corps Volunteer By Jack Maisano (Korea 1971-73) Self Published 239 pages May 2020 $8.88 (Kindle); $9.98 (Paperback) It was a serendipitous day when I found my diary from my Peace Corps days in Korea. I was in the Peace Corps from the end of 1971 to the end of 1973. Somehow my diary – an old, red, five-by-eight inch, lined book, filled with addresses, phone numbers, stamps, and poems – had followed me…for nearly 50 years. It was filled with two years of youthful prose describing my life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea and a few years beyond. And now here it was, sitting accusingly on my desk, practically daring me to record it in print. The first task was to read it, something I had never done before. With some trepidation, I started on page one…and the memories came flooding back. . . .

Very Sad News: The Death of Pat Wand (Colombia) in Spain

Apr 28 2023

Pat Wand suffered a stroke this week preparing to hike the El Camino in Spain. She had arrived in Europe on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 and died on Thursday, April 27th. What follows is an article by Jerry Norris published on July 2021 on our site that sums up Pat’s amazing life and career, and her great contributions to the Peace Corps. She is a woman who will be missed by everyone that she helped here and around the world. — John The Volunteer Exemplar for the Peace Corps’ 3rd Goal–Pat Wand (Colombia) by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Patricia A. Wand, Pat to her hosts of friends and associates across planet earth, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia from 1963 to 1965 after graduating cum laude in history from Seattle University’s Honors Program. As a rural community development and health education volunteer she taught nutrition, sewing, knitting, . . .

One Day in Ethiopia

Apr 26 2023

This is a letter I wrote when I was a PCV in Ethiopia. It was published in the collection Letters From The Peace Corps in 1964, selected and edited by Iris Luce. She wrote in her introduction to her book. It was my good fortune one evening to be seated with the wife of Senator J. William Fulbright, whose daughter was working here in Washington at Peace Corps Headquarters. Mrs. Fulbright suggested that someone should compile a collection of letters from Peace Corps Volunteers in the field to give Americans a firsthand report on the triumphs and the hardships that these people have experienced while working in the Corps “One Day in Ethiopia” was a letter I had written home to my family and friends, several at the agency in Washington that Iris Luce found and included. In her introduction to the chapter, “One Day in Ethiopia,” she wrote: . . .

Harry Belafonte, Cultural Advisor to the Peace Corps

Apr 26 2023

Journalist, author and Kennedy family member Maria Shriver spoke to Belafonte’s relationship and shared humanitarian work with her father, Sargent Shriver. “Harry Belafonte wasn’t just a singer, he was an architect of change. He was an activist of the Civil Rights Movement, and he was also the first appointed Cultural Advisor to the Peace Corps,” she wrote on Instagram. “His whole life was devoted to making a difference, whether it was raising the awareness of justice or the HIV/AIDS crisis or women’s rights. Today, I hope you will not only listen to Harry Belafonte’s music, but learn a little more about what he fought for throughout his life, who he was as a man, and get inspired.”

Catherine Trevathan (Bulgaria) | New school superintendent

Apr 25 2023

RPCVs in the news Meet Catherine Trevathan, Hillsdale Local’s new well-traveled superintendent By Linda Hall MOHICAN TWP. OHIO − Catherine Trevathan will bring a world of experience to the Hillsdale Local School District when she becomes its new superintendent in August. She has crisscrossed the globe as an educator since graduating from the College of Mount Saint Joseph in Cincinnati, having held positions in Bulgaria, Turkey, the Hopi reservation in Arizona and most recently, the Little Miami Local Schools in Ohio. “I’ve been blessed with a lot of interesting experiences,” Trevathan said. She recalled sitting outside on a starry night with her dad when she was in eighth grade and telling him she wanted to join the Peace Corps. He may have considered it a youthful dream and been a bit surprised following her college graduation when she said to him, “Guess what? The Peace Corps accepted me.” . . .