The Peace Corps

  After 5 years on staff in Nepal and PC/W, I was hired on a short-term personal services contract to form and lead a team to revise the entire Peace Corps Operations Manual.  Don Romine (Ethiopia APCD 1965-67) was with Administration & Finance at the time, and I asked him to join me. Shriver,  Wofford, Wiggins, Josephson and a half dozen others created the Peace Corps in two rooms of the Mayflower Hotel in thirty days in the immediate days after the election. Then Kennedy signed an Executive Order to create the new agency. The next job was selling Congress. Don Romine told how he had been an intern during those days and worked with the task force to sell Congress on the idea of a Peace Corps. Several days a week the task force would invite state congressional delegations to breakfast or lunch at the Capitol.  Shriver would make . . .

  Aaron S. Williams, former Director of the Peace Corps, joined Nat Chediak, Coral Gables Art Cinema’s Director of Programming, for a virtual engagement Q&A in conjunction with the documentary A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps.  Watch the June 11th  40-minute interview here: https://youtu.be/iKMF2yfaQXo

A Writer Writes The Big Bad Brown Swiss By John Coyne I was seven or eight years old when I got so drunk at a family party that I ran out of our farmhouse, down to the barn, and attacked our big brown Swiss cow with a broom. I don’t remember this act of animal cruelty, but the next morning, when I woke from a stupor, my mother—as well as my brothers and sisters—told me in detail how I had impishly sipped booze left in cans and glasses on the dining room table until I was so intoxicated my suppressed rage at one of our milking cows exploded into violence. I was quite a sight, I was told, reeling away from the summer afternoon gathering on our farmhouse front porch and running yelling down the driveway with my brothers and sisters and all the relatives in pursuit, amused by my . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dan Campbell (El Salvador 1974-77)   Academic rigor, journalistic flair by Wendy Melillo, Associate Professor, American University School of Communications         The Peace Corps, a service organization run by the U.S. government that dispatches volunteers to foreign countries, is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, none of its volunteers is stationed anywhere. To many Americans, the Peace Corps represents the best of American generosity abroad. That’s in line with its stated mission to promote world peace and friendship. But having researched the Peace Corps’ backstory while studying the messages in its early advertising, I see this pause as a chance to learn more about how it came to symbolize U.S. goodwill abroad in many Americans’ minds. I’ve learned how American perceptions of the agency were shaped by ads promising heroic adventures to the volunteers who signed up. In 1968, . . .

  Thank you to RPCV Alana deJoseph for this announcement from the British Volunteer Service.  Here is the statement of intent from the Volunteer Service Overseas in which British Volunteers work. • “Where it is safe to do so, and in line with national government rules, we will continue to work directly with communities. Volunteers who are already based in communities are key to delivering this approach: our volunteers form deep relationships, built on trust, with the people with whom they work. It’s through these strong relationships that we’re working to tackle the crisis together – ensuring that our response plans are driven by the needs of the people we serve, and using our existing networks to share essential messages. Most of our community and national volunteers have been able to continue their work since the crisis began. Almost half of our international volunteers have continued with their placements; in . . .

We Hold This Truth to Be Self-Evident: It’s Happening Before Our Very Eyes BY BILL MOYERS | JUNE 5, 2020 At 98, historian Bernard Weisberger has seen it all. Born in 1922, he grew up watching newsreels of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler as they rose to power in Europe. He vividly remembers Mussolini posturing to crowds from his balcony in Rome, chin outthrust, right arm extended. Nor has he forgotten Der Fuehrer’s raspy voice on radio, interrupted by cheers of “Heil Hitler,” full of menace even without pictures. Fascist bullies and threats anger Bernie, and when America went to war to confront them, he interrupted his study of history to help make history by joining the army. He yearned to be an aviator but his eyesight was too poor. So he took a special course in Japanese at Columbia University and was sent as a translator to the China-Burma-India theater where . . .

  by Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978–80) Evergreen Review   Sue McNally – Maroon Bells, CO (2014)   O, let America be America again — The land that never has been yet — And yet must be — the land where every man is free. — Langston Hughes from “Let America Be America Again”   In 1990, in the run-up to the first Gulf War, I did a long string of media interviews. I was working as embassy spokesman in Tegucigalpa, and interest in hearing the US case for intervention in Iraq was high. The State Department was regularly sending out updated talking points by cable to be used by people like me. I memorized those points, made them my own in Spanish, then went to the newspapers, the radio, and TV stations ready to be grilled. I was aware, of course, of anti-intervention sentiment in the US and did not dismiss the . . .

In these sad days of the virus, Donald Trump, and demonstrations and riots on our streets, I thought I might publish the speech given by Sarge Shriver at the second national conference of RPCVs held at Howard University. Thanks to Geri Gritchley (Senegal 1971-73) who had Sarge’s address to the packed auditorium, I am able to share his words of wisdom, hope, and common sense at this moment when our elected leaders appear to have few ideas of their own. Read what Sarge had to tell us that long-ago afternoon in D.C. when we listened to him and realized how fortunate JFK and the New Frontier had him to create the agency that changed all of our lives for the better. — JC Note. •     HONORABLE SARGENT SHRIVER SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FORMER PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1981 HOWARD UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON, D.C.   It’s a . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dan Campbell (El Salvador 1974-77)   Leadership during a Pandemic Will you be ready when a crisis strikes? June 3, 2020  Doug Teschner (Ukraine & Guinea 2008-16) NHBusiness Review   Watching the Covid-19 pandemic unfold has a déjà vu feeling for me. From 2008 to 2016, I was a Peace Corps country director and, in July 2014, transferred from Ukraine to Guinea in West Africa. Soon after I arrived, there was a spike of Ebola cases, and we evacuated the Peace Corps volunteers back to the United States. I stayed behind with the American and Guinean staff, and we collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an innovative community education effort that helped end the Ebola epidemic in 2016. Of course, I had moments of concern for my own health, fueled by “media optics” and pleas from some back in the U.S. . . .

The focus of Common Sense Media is information and recommendations for parents. There is also a comment section for children! From the Movie review by Lynnette Nicholas, Common Sense Media “This timely, informative (if slow) documentary sheds light on a truly unique American agency and the goal of using it to create global citizens striving to make an impact on future generations. The film’s overall tone is inspirational, and screenwriter Shana Kelly does a very detailed job of weaving together the personal experiences and testimonials of past and present volunteers, clearly creating correlations with the political climates of particular time periods and their direct impact on global cultures and communities. Not only does A Towering Task showcase the powerful function of the Peace Corps and its history, it also shares the agency’s many struggles, including its high leadership turnover. Vanessa Carr’s cinematography is a great asset to the film. Beautiful aerial shots capture unique locations around the world. A Towering . . .

  Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) works internationally, supporting refugees and local communities affected by war and natural disasters. Her first book, Pit Stop in the Paris of Africa (2013), is a collection of narrative essays and verse, highlighting the profound personal connections she experienced overseas. She is also the author of White Moon in a Powder Blue Sky (2016), a book of poetry that includes “thought experiments” on the nature of reality. Borderland: An Exploration of States of Consciousness in New and Selected Sonnets (2018) explores how nature and science collide to create our collective consciousness. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dargis holds an M.A. in Education and Human Development from the Gorge Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in Integral Health from the California Institute for Human Science, a research facility dedicated to the mind-body-spirit connection. “That Family” appears in  See You in My Dreams: A Daughter’s Journey with her Father through . . .

The Mike McCaskey most didn’t know — far away from Soldier Field By JOHN COYNE CHICAGO TRIBUNE | MAY 26, 2020 | 5:23 PM Mike McCaskey with children in his Peace Corps village in Ethiopia. (Associated Press) I met Mike McCaskey in the fall of 1965, not at Soldier Field but in Fiche, Ethiopia, a small village perched high on the escarpment above the Blue Nile River, far from the shores of Lake Michigan. Mike was a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to teach in an elementary school. He would live for two years in a tin-roofed, whitewashed house made of dirt and dung and teach in a two-room school. Those two years, he later told me, gave him an entirely new perspective on the world, one for which he was profoundly grateful. At first, that change wasn’t obvious. After the Peace Corps, he returned to the U.S. and earned a doctorate, spending the next . . .

  Anthony Ross reviews the Peace Corps Documentary, A Towering Task, and gives it an A-.  Ross also interviews  Producer/Director RPCV Alana deJoseph and the link to the interview is on the webpage.  During the interview, deJosph describes the process of producing the wide ranging documentary of the Peace Corps.  She also talks in depth about her Peace Corps expereience in Mali.  Finally, Alana deJospeh analyzes the Peace Corps at the crossroads today and the possible direction which it may take or may be forced to take. Here is the review by Anthony Ross. from his webpage. The Story of the Peace Corps A TOWERING TASK Review by Ross Anthony Full disclosure: I volunteered in Africa under an American NGO. I was not Peace Corps, but we served in similar ways. Additionally, on some weekend trips to the nearest city, we’d hang out with Peace Corps volunteers and trade stories and . . .

  On this Memorial Day, it is good to remember those who served in the Peace Corps and lost their lives.  From the webpage about the Fallen  Peace Corps Volunteers Project: ” The Fallen Peace Corps Volunteers Memorial Project, Inc. is a non-profit corporation. It is independent of the U.S. Peace Corps and the National Peace Corps Association, though we are supportive of their missions and have been grateful to receive their encouragement since our inception in 2003. The Fallen Peace Corps Volunteers Memorial Project began as a very personal project envisioned by Chelsea and Donna Mack and inspired by Jeremiah Mack. We maintain this website and a Facebook page, write and respond to letters and emails, attend events and memorial services when possible, and generally do what we can to support others who have also lost a loved one while serving in the Peace Corps and are seeking community. . . .

These 11 short essays — funny, touching, insightful — unique glimpses into the overseas experiences that in many ways shaped the lives and careers of these talented writers. Now that everyone has plenty of time to stay inside and sit in front of their computers I thought I would republish them so you might read them again, or for the first time. Read what RPCVs writers have to say from Guyana, Mongolia, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Zaire, and Eastern Caribbean.n — JCoyne, ed. • Telling Time Katherine Jamieson (Guyana 1996–98) For two years I lived in a country with no seasons. We measured time by other means than falling leaves or snow, new buds on trees. There was a fresh breeze in the air, the ash of burned sugar cane floating in the window. There were times to go to work, times to stay home, an election, . . .