The Peace Corps

  A former Peace Corps volunteer says the organization remains relevant 60 years after its founding during the Kennedy administration.   Other nations have development programs, yet the Peace Corps is unique, said Dane Myers, now the assistant director of the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at Illinois State University. “A lot of the focus of the early Peace Corps years is sustainable agriculture, digging wells, and things like that. And it has evolved. Many of the areas where Peace Corps volunteers serve are undergoing vast economic, social, political, and technological changes,” said Myers. “But each location has such specific challenges, that the fact the Peace Corps sends volunteers directly into these communities where they are immersed for a period of two years, just helps them to understand the culture of the problems in a way other development efforts can’t.” The Peace Corps is celebrating six decades of . . .

  What Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a top contender for Biden Supreme Court pick, has revealed about her personal side. She has recounted in a 2017 speech that her parents, wanting to show pride in their African ancestry, asked her aunt, who was then in the Peace Corps in Africa, for a list of African girl names. Taking one of her suggestions, Jackson’s parents named her Ketanji Onyika, which she said they were told translates to”lovely one.”  

  US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has released a statement on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Georgia. In her statement, Ambassador Degnan talks about the relations between the two countries during this period and explains why Georgia is important to the United States. And she speaks about the contribution the Peace Corps has made in Georgia since 2001. Her remarks about the Peace Corps and Georgia reads as follows: Embassy Tbilisi currently implements one of the largest exchange programs in the region, with nearly 20 different programs a year, sending around 200 people to the United States who contribute to an incredibly rich exchange of ideas and culture. And of course, our wonderful Peace Corps Volunteers have played an important role in connecting America and Georgia for years. Since 2001, more than 500 Peace Corps volunteers who learned Georgian and have lived in communities throughout Georgia, making . . .

by William Josephson (Peace Corps staff 1961–1966) • Anyone who has read Tricia L. Nadolny, Donovan Slack, Nick Penzenstadler, and Kizito Makoye’s multi-page December 21, 2021, USA Today story about the Tanzanian Peace Corps staffer who killed a Tanzanian while dangerously driving his car in Dar es Salaam, has to have a sense of outrage not only at the staffer’s behavior the night before and the morning of the killing but at the Peace Corps’ apparent complicity in obtaining his release and getting him out of the country. If leaving the scene of a crime is a crime in Tanzania, the Peace Corps staffer committed that crime in addition to how Tanzania prescribes vehicular homicide. If aiding and abetting is a crime in Tanzania, then probably the Peace Corps staffers, including the Peace Corps country director, were aiders and abettors. Original and long-standing Peace Corps policy reflected in the Peace . . .

 Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Archive Project  January 2022 Newsletter  Welcome to the inaugural issue of the RPCV Oral History Archive Project (OHAP) newsletter. We plan to use the newsletter to keep you informed on OHAP developments. We will let you know about important ways in which you can help us achieve our mission to preserve Peace Corps experiences through in-depth oral interviews of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), evacuated volunteers, Peace Corps staff and, we hope soon, host country counterparts.  2021 recap  Our numbers are soaring! As of the end of 2021, OHAP volunteers have conducted over 1300 oral history interviews with RPCVs and Peace Corps staff. Of these, about 800 audio interviews, conducted from 1990 through 2019, are archived at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.  Since June 2020, more than 550 video interviews have been conducted remotely using a . . .

Dave Harden (Botswana 1984-86) WE NEED RPCVs IN CONGRESS ! I grew up in Carroll County on a small farm in Westminster – we raised chickens, steers, and horses. I spent my summers shucking corn and listening to the Orioles play ball while I mowed more grass in a few years than most people do in a lifetime. I started first grade at Mechanicsville Elementary school in Gamber and graduated from Westminster High School many, many years ago. I’m a public school kid – and those schools did right by me. I learned to think critically, apply reason to problems, and envision a bigger world. In the 12th Grade, long-time English teacher Barry Gelsinger taught us how to write – to craft – A-level college term papers so we could compete with prep school kids from around the country. With Barry Gelsinger’s push, I did well in college and was . . .

  Jan 18, 2022 to Jan 30, 2022 Capitol 2 E. Main St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703   This exhibit of photographs was coordinated by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison about life in the Peace Corps draws from some 60 years of photos from the yearly RPCV of Wisconsin International calendar. This weekend includes a half-day in-person question-fielding session at the Capitol, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Jan. 22, with current recruiters who can answer questions about volunteering. The Capitol is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. For the last 34 years, the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin – Madison have celebrated Peace Corps service every month of the year by producing the International Calendar. For this 60th Anniversary, they have prepared a traveling exhibit from their photo archives of photos that demonstrate the beauty and diversity of the countries and people. These will be on display at the Capitol Rotunda for . . .

by Tricia L. Nadolny, Donovan Slack and Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY; Kizito Makoye The mother of a man killed in a 2019 car crash involving an American woman who left the United Kingdom and avoided prosecution said she was stunned to learn a similar incident occurred just days before in Africa. In that case, U.S. officials whisked from Tanzania a Peace Corps employee who killed a mother of three in a car crash after drinking at a bar and bringing a sex worker back to his home. Charlotte Charles — whose 19-year-old son Harry Dunn died when the wife of a U.S. State Department employee driving on the wrong side of the road struck him with her car — called U.S. officials “barbaric” for helping Peace Corps employee John M. Peterson avoid prosecution in Tanzania after he fatally struck Rabia Issa. The U.S. Department of Justice has also declined to pursue charges against Peterson, citing . . .

  Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Win the 1960 Election  Martin Luther King Jr. faced a harrowing nine days in a dangerous prison in 1960. In his book, GW Alum Paul  Kendrick tells how King’s ordeal changed politics as we know it. • A review by John DiConsiglio,  January 11, 2022, GWToday   In October 1960, a 31-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. not yet the civil rights icon who would inspire a nation, agreed to join a student sit-in at an Atlanta department store. King, who had never yet spent a night in jail, knew he faced a possible arrest. But the reality was even more harrowing. While the students were taken to local jails, King was transferred to a dangerous Georgia state prison where Black inmates endured violence by white guards. Just weeks before the presidential election, King’s ordeal was the ultimate “October . . .

Months are slipping by without a Peace Corps Director. Why is that? When Trump was kicked out of office, Director Jody Olsen (Tunisia 1966-68) ran for the door tossing the office keys to Carol Spahn (Romania 1994-96) who has now been declared Chief Executive Office of the agency. Over the last months, two ‘famous’ names popped up as potential directors. Joe Kennedy (the Dominican Republic 2004-06) was, I’m told, offered the job and he turned it down. Recently the story is that President Biden asked Michelle Obama if she would be the next Peace Corps Director. She also said no. What we also know is that the Republicans in the Senate are stalling all of Biden’s appointments to federal jobs. 150 government positions have no nominee. What might the Peace Corps agency do next? Limp along with ‘acting’  CEO and make-do staff and no PCVs in the field. Close the . . .

Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) Harvest Publisher 352 pages April 2015 $12.99 (Kindle); $19.18 (Hardback)   Award-winning author Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) began writing professionally for newspapers, magazines, and websites in 2004. She was the voice behind the food blog 5 Second Rule (5secondrule.typepad.com), which won the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) New Media & Broadcast Award for best culinary blog. Cheryl’s work has also appeared in Cooking Light, Sunset, Body + Soul, Health, Vegetarian Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Edible San Francisco, Culinate.com, The Kitchn, and Serious Eats; and in several books published by the American Heart Association and the EatingWell Media Group. Cheryl also served as a contributing editor at EatingWell Magazine, a daily food news blogger at iVillage, and the Fresh Talk columnist for . . .

Let’s Talk About Estate Planning by Virginia McArthur, Esq. (Ethiopia 1964-66) Cambridge Studio Publisher 280 pages September 2020 $8/99 (Kindle); $13.25 (Paperback)     Will your estate plan fail? If you don’t understand how it works, you could dismantle it yourself! Are you tempted to take free advice about planning? Do you avoid reading the fine print? Will joint ownership simplify or complicate your plan? What happens to assets left directly to a minor? Know it or blow it. Let’s Talk About Estate Planning defogs estate planning through invented, but true to life, conversations between friends, or between clients and fictional lawyer Rebecca Dalton. Some of these exchanges expose major errors, not all of them fixable. This entertaining and informative treatment of estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, beneficiary designations, titling of assets, powers of attorney, and gifts illustrates how these pieces fit together. Read it, and you will say “NOW I . . .

January 7, 2022 WASHINGTON – Today, Peace Corps Chief Executive Officer Carol Spahn released the following update regarding the 2019 crash that resulted in the death of Ms. Rabia Issa: “The death of Rabia Issa in Tanzania was a horrible tragedy, and we grieve the incredible loss to her family, friends and community. “We recognize the deep pain that was caused by Ms. Issa’s death, as well as the inequities that exist. Our ongoing work is grounded in a commitment to equity and ensuring our mission is clearly centered in our host communities. We expect all staff and every Volunteer to enter service with deep humility and respect as we seek to foster peace and understanding across cultures. We are committed to doing everything within our power to pursue policy, legislative, enhanced training and other solutions to bolster accountability. “We understand that many questions remain about the agency’s response to . . .

  The first Peace Corps HQ was at 806 Connecticut Ave across from Lafayette Park and within view of the White House. It was called the Maiatico Building and immortalized in the famous Washington Post photograph showing how the Peace Corps was working far into the night in the first days of the new agency. When the Peace Corps was “launched” JFK did so by signing an ‘executive order” to create the agency, an idea of Bill Josephson, co-author of the memo “Towering Task,” who told Kennedy he had the power to create the new agency by using the existing Mutual Security Act of 1954. Kennedy claimed that the establishment of the Peace Corps was an emergency. And it was. By doing so, the Peace Corps was created immediately without going through months of congressional debates. With the signing to create this new agency, Shriver, with the help of Warren Wiggins, obtained three . . .