The Peace Corps

  Peace Corps returns to duty abroad after pandemic forced sudden evacuations   The organization is recruiting volunteers as it promises to focus on issues such as diversity, transparency and sexual assault.   March 3, 2022, 2:00 PM EST By Julia Jester The Peace Corps will begin redeploying its volunteers later this month after suspending all operations and evacuating its 7,000 member force from more than 60 countries at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic — a first in the organization’s history. Nearly two years later, Peace Corps volunteers will re-enter service in a phased approach, with  Zambia and the Dominican Republic receiving the first cohorts, including new and previously evacuated volunteers, Peace Corps CEO Carol Spahn said in prepared remarks Thursday. The organization is actively recruiting applicants for 24 countries, which must clear a final approval check a month before receiving volunteers, she said. In addition to their primary assignments, all volunteers . . .

      Press Release Peace Corps Volunteers Arrive in Dominican Republic and Zambia for First Time since 2020 Evacuation 3/24/2022 7:30 PM WASHINGTON – Today, the Peace Corps announced that 35 Peace Corps volunteers have arrived in the Dominican Republic and Zambia, and are among the first volunteers to return to overseas service since the agency’s unprecedented global evacuation in March 2020. The Peace Corps suspended global operations and evacuated nearly 7,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a historic moment at a pivotal time in the world. We are witnessing the largest vaccination effort in history, ongoing concerns about COVID19 and a war that is expected to broadly impact food security,” said Peace Corps CEO Carol Spahn. “The return of Peace Corps volunteers to the Dominican Republic and Zambia is just one step in returning volunteers to countries around the . . .

  https://www.facebook.com/peacecorps The first group of Volunteers to serve in Dominican Republic in two years left for the island of Hispaniola this morning! During service, they will focus on supporting communities to overcome the educational and economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay tuned to follow their journey with us! #PCVolunteersReturn #PeaceCorps #BacktoService 154154 7 Comments 4 Shares  

Zamboanga Adventure: Exploring Asia’s Latin City (Yakan Weaving Village) Wazzup Pilipinas! •    Located in upper Calarian, northwest of downtown lies the Yakan Weaving Village. The place does not look like a village because it’s quite small and you’ll surely miss it so easily because the only signage available is a dirty and worn-out tarpaulin that says Yakan Village Weaving Association with the word “Association” blocked by a wood used to put the signage in place. There’s another signage beside it situated on top but its obviously not helping much because majority of the signage only displays a cola brand advertisement. It seems they desperately need some funding to come up with a more decent signage. I hope the government could at least support them to become at least more visible for potential tourists. I admire what the Department of Tourism (DOT) is doing by inviting members of the media on a media junket and introducing . . .

  Long-time Book World freelance reviewer Dick Lipez, with two of his Donald Strachey mysteries, which will be released later this month. (Author photo courtesy of Joe Wheaton; book covers courtesy of ReQueered Tales)     Richard “Dick” Lipez,(Ethiopia 1962-64) whose freelance work appeared in The Washington Post for more than 30 years, was a good friend to Book World and a trusted reviewer for our readers. Dick died this week at his home in Becket, Mass. He was 83. My colleague Nora Krug looked forward to editing him, both for the pleasure of his essays and the charm of his emails. “All of his reviews were witty and wise,” she says. “He always had something insightful and droll to say about every book, even ones he didn’t like.” (His most recent round-up of new thrillers and mysteries ran last week.) Dick was not only an astute critic of mysteries; . . .

Peace Corps Commits to Broadening its Approach to Sexual Assault Prevention in New Brief and Roadmap   March 17, 2022 WASHINGTON – Today, the Peace Corps released a brief and roadmap detailing the agency’s commitment to further strengthen its systems, programming and approach to sexual assault prevention and to improving trauma-informed approaches to supporting survivors. Based on recommendations from the independent Peace Corps Sexual Assault Advisory Council (SAAC), feedback received during a public call for input, current research and best practices in the field of sexual violence prevention, the brief outlines how the Peace Corps will broaden its approach to addressing sexual assault. Over the past decade, the agency has intentionally and continuously enhanced its Sexual Assault Risk Reduction and Response (SARRR) program to address sexual violence through an individual-level public safety approach. The brief and associated roadmap detail the agency’s commitment to broaden its focus to also include a . . .

There will be no Government Shut Down.  The Government is funded through September 30, 2022.  Unfortunately, Peace Corps did not receive higher funding, as had been hoped.  Here is the statement from the National Peace Corps Association: Congress has finally passed a budget for fiscal year 2022. It keeps funding flat for the Peace Corps for the seventh year in a row. To ensure a better and stronger Peace Corps as Volunteers return to the field, and to enable the agency to make needed reforms, Congress needs to provide more funding.   By Jonathan Pearson   Congress has completed its work on a budget for fiscal year 2022, passing a $1.5 trillion spending package. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, for a seventh consecutive year, instead of providing new resources to better meet the needs of a changed world, it keeps Peace Corps’ baseline funding flat at $410.5 million. We are nearly . . .

Here is our list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently, the count is  446. 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 1962-65) 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) 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 (Philippines 1965-67) Ron Arias (Peru . . .

About 1,500 pounds of supplies are on their way to Ukraine from Massachusetts. Three former Peace Corps volunteers in Stoughton collected clothing, medical supplies and food to send to two shelters in western Ukraine and a children’s hospital in Lviv. The group has also collected more than $3,500 in cash to help them ship the supplies overseas. “I thought it would be a few friends and family I bribed to help, and my house (Friday) had 800 pounds of boxes that we dropped off (Saturday),” said Norfolk resident Katie Yanosick, who helped organize the effort. Yanosick said 60 boxes totaling 1,500 pounds were shipped on Saturday. The group is going to keep collecting supplies to send to Ukraine. If you are interested in supporting their mission, click this link to reach their Amazon Wish List. Donations can also be made to @katherine-yanosick on Venmo. Yanosick said some of the donations will . . .

March 11, 2022, UPDATE:  Late on the night of March 10, 2022, the Senate approved the Appropriations Bill funding the federal government until the end of this fiscal year, September 30, 2022.  The House had already passed the Government Funding Bill.  The Bill goes to President Biden for his signature, which he has promised.  No more  “Continuing Resolutions” are necessary.  There will be no government shutdown.  Peace Corps will be able to continue its intention to send Volunteers once more to host countries. Congress must approve a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government. The deadline to pass the CR is this Friday,  March 11, 2022.  The Resolution must pass both Houses of Congress.  If no  Continuing Resolution is passed, the federal government would “shut down” in the absence of funding, until or unless a new budget is approved or a new Continuing Resolution is passed. Last September 27, 2021, . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) On Saturday, Rep. John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68), a senior member of the armed services committee spoke with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Russia’s invasion. He joined a one-hour briefing with 50 members of Congress. Garamendi, who represents parts of Northern California between Sacramento and San Francisco, shared his candid conversation with Zelenskyy. “He knows that he is at the top of the kill list, and he knows that his life is in jeopardy but he has pushed that aside to lead this nation. An incredible man of courage and leadership,” Garamendi said. Garamendi said Ukraine’s president emphasized that Russian forces are moving away from targeting the Ukrainian military and are now attacking communities. “He went into detail about high schools, kindergarten schools, apartment buildings, government buildings, presumably with the intent of breaking the wheel of the Ukrainian people,” Garamendi . . .

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press, March 5, 2022 The Peace Corps will start sending volunteers overseas again in mid-March after it evacuated them from posts around the world two years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government program announced Thursday. An initial group of new volunteers and those who were evacuated in March 2020 as the coronavirus began to spread across the globe will go to Zambia and the Dominican Republic this month, according to a Peace Corps statement. The Peace Corps plans to return volunteers to their posts throughout the year, based on the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital capacity in the host country and the Peace Corps’ ability to transport volunteers to medical evacuation centers if there’s an emergency. It is currently recruiting for 24 posts. Besides their primary work on local issues, volunteers will be involved in COVID-19 response and recovery, the Peace Corps . . .