The Peace Corps

Preparing for the Peace Corps 60th Anniversary Next year the Peace Corps celebrates 60 years of service. Recently I received a gift of several early Peace Corps Volunteer magazines from Patricia (Silke) Edmisten (Peru 1962-64) that she is donating to the new NPCA museum. Leafing through the material this morning I came across the March 1966 issue of the magazine. In this issue was a special tribute to Shriver, who had just finished his 5 years of service, and an article on Jack Hood Vaughn, the second director of the agency. I don’t remember seeing the issue back in ’66, but then I was in Ethiopia as an APCD and must have been too busy to read it. (You know how ‘demanding’ those Volunteers can be!) The bulk of the issue had a section entitled: PEACE CORPS: 1976 That introductory paragraph read: This began as an anniversary puzzle: If the . . .

    Member of Kennedy family and her son identified as missing boaters in Chesapeake Bay By Rachel Weiner Peter Hermann Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post April 3, 2020 Two boaters who went missing in the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis on Thursday evening have been identified as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her 8-year-old son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. David McKean confirmed his wife and son disappeared on Thursday afternoon while in a canoe on the Chesapeake Bay. In a brief interview with The Washington Post, he said the family had gathered at a waterfront house owned by his wife’s mother, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, in Shady Side, Md. At about 4 p.m., children were kicking a ball back and forth in a yard and the ball went into the water. He said his wife and son “popped into a canoe to chase it down. They just got farther out than . . .

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/490877-lawmakers-call-for-unemployment-benefits-for-evacuated-peace-corps-volunteers?fbclid=IwAR0Y9ASBOptKrJNTzZam1IKQsjoJjoqaGW8kVOKLkT4RsmqK4idSfhMroF4 Lawmakers call for unemployment benefits for evacuated Peace Corps volunteers BY REBECCA BEITSCH – 04/02/20 03:37 PM EDT 32 242 Lawmakers are pressuring the Department of Labor to give clear guidance that Peace Corps volunteers are eligible for unemployment benefits after thousands of them were stripped from their posts due to the coronavirus outbreak. The letter, signed by nearly 40 lawmakers, comes alongside a push to allow those volunteers to be fast-tracked into another program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as they gear up to respond to the pandemic. The Peace Corps, in mid-March, began the process of evacuating 7,300 volunteers, abruptly returning volunteers from the 61 countries where they served. Volunteers are not eligible to apply for unemployment benefits at the end of their service, but lawmakers said the recent stimulus bill allows workers who would not typically qualify to take advantage of the assistance. “The place . . .

Dear Friends and Readers, Many people are doing something to ease the strain of the corona virus quarantine, so my friend and publisher, Peter Sarno, and I came up with the idea to offer a serialized novel. There is no charge for it. Peter and I aren’t collecting names or information in any way. It is meant simply as entertainment in bleak times. Like most authors, I have several books that, for one reason or another, have never seen the light of day. Bring Me a Higher Love is one of them. From time to time over the years since I composed it, I’ve gone back and read through it again and made changes, but it has basically been floating around in the clouds as in an e-copy, and sitting in a drawer in my office in a hard copy. For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by the relationship between sex . . .

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/2020-04-02-coronavirus-news-n1174651/ncrd1175106#liveBlogHeader Julia Jester A mostly Democratic group of Congress members led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is asking the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and FEMA to provide recently evacuated Peace Corps volunteers the opportunity to complete their service through domestic coronavirus response efforts. Current and former presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are among the supporters, which include more than 20 senators and 18 Democratic members of the House. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is currently the only Republican signatory. In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that while they supported the recall of the volunteers,  they “believe that terminating their service contracts and health insurance coverage — at a time when our country’s public health and economic crises are rapidly worsening — not only endangers the livelihood of volunteers, but also squanders their unique skillset. We therefore urge you to provide them opportunities to enlist in domestic efforts . . .

  On March 29th, RPCV writer Josh Swiller (Zambia 1994–96) posted the following on his FaceBook page:   Hi Everyone. Following up on the last post, I’m really seeing how important and supportive it is to share our stories and experiences. On that note, and in answer to the many questions I’ve received, what follows is a more in-depth account of what we went through. The first week of March, Leah attended a group therapy conference in New York City. It has now come to light that dozens of attendees at that conference tested positive or have shown symptoms but couldn’t get tested. In fact, the first person we learned was a confirmed positive was an attendee from Singapore. They tested him as soon as he got off the plane back home as a matter of policy. Leah had sat next to him for two days. Another person who has . . .

From NPR Coronavirus Sent Peace Corps Volunteers Home. It Could Also Give Them A New Mission April 1, 2020 ELENA RENKEN Photos by Adam Greenberg Peace Corps volunteer Adam Greenberg worked to develop fish farming in Zambia. He took this selfie on March 23, en route to San Diego, the final destination of his evacuation. Imagine this: One minute you’re a volunteer doing work that you find incredibly meaningful in a faraway place. Then you get a notice – evacuate immediately. Suddenly you’re back home, probably feeling down and definitely jobless. That’s the situation that over 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers found themselves in after an unprecedented evacuation order in mid-March. The reason: fear of coronavirus. The Peace Corps explains that it didn’t want its volunteers stranded abroad if travel became impossible. Yet they’re stranded in a way now that they are back, ineligible for unemployment benefits because of their volunteer status . . .

    Here is the story from Spectrum | News 1 —   Kentuckian in Peace Corps Shares Tale of Evacuation BY EILEEN STREET Published 10:10 AM ET MAR. 31, 2020   LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Peace Corps, a federal program for Americans to volunteer abroad, announced on March 15 that it was temporarily suspending all operations and evacuating all volunteers, a first in its history. According to the Peace Corps’ website, it was because of airport closures globally amid COVID-19, which could restrict evacuations for any non-COVID-19 illnesses for volunteers. One of the approximately 7,300 volunteers evacuated from 61 countries was Louisville native Shelby Durbin. “I was in my dream job, you know, in a culture that I was really connecting to, and that was kind of robbed from me,” said the 23-year-old, who has been back in Kentucky for less than two weeks. “So we got the evacuation notice a . . .

Living with Africa for a Lifetime by Mark G. Wentling (Honduras 1967–69, Togo 1970–73; PC Staff: Togo, Gabon, Niger 1973–77) My friends say I was born and raised in Kansas, but I was made in Africa. After a lifetime of doing almost nothing except dreaming, thinking, reading, writing about and working in Africa, I can see why this is said about me. I first stepped on the continent in 1970 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo and stayed much longer than expected. I ended up knowing firsthand in varying degrees each of Africa’s 54 countries. My marriages to African women, the raising of our children in Africa and my close involvement with my extended families taught me a great deal about what makes Africa tick. I never planned to spend a lifetime so wrapped up with Africa. One thing led to another and most of the time I did . . .

                                 But Not PCVs! They had to come home on their own.

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Mark Wentling (Honduras 1967-69) Evacuated Peace Corps volunteers face uncertainty back home For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, the Peace Corps suspended all operations and evacuated volunteers as the coronavirus pandemic spread around the globe. NBC News reporters Julia Jester and Maura Barrett spoke with returning Peace Corps volunteers about what it’s like to suddenly be back in an America that they don’t recognize. Read in NBC News: https://apple.news/Am4tMaTIeQrqRdZKr_MnF0A

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bea Hogan (Uzbekistan 1992-94) A World Turned Upside-Down In 1966, the writer Paul Theroux was in Uganda at a time of curfew and violence. It shaped his thinking about travel writing’s imperative to bear witness. Smoke rising in Uganda during the 1966 upheaval.Credit…Priya Ramrakha/Getty By Paul Theroux New York Times March 30, 2020 In this season of infection, the stock market little more than a twitching corpse, in an atmosphere of alarm and despondency, I am reminded of the enlightenments of the strict curfew Uganda endured in 1966. It was, for all its miseries, an episode of life lessons, as well as monotonous moralizing (because most crises enliven bores and provoke sententiousness). I would not have missed it for anything.   That curfew evoked — like today — the world turned upside-down. This peculiarity that we are now experiencing, the nearest thing to a world . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Matt Losak (Lesothe 1985-88) Volunteer recounts being part of global Peace Corps evacuation by Dennis Webb, The Daily Sentinel 3/29/2020   Steve Vanderleest was serving in the Peace Corps in Peru when he was sent back home to Colorado because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Vanderleest worked in water systems, sanitation and hygiene during his time in the Peace Corps. In this picture, he’s shown helping demonstrate how to shake hands dry after hand-washing. Up until this month, Steve Vanderleest was reveling in his experience in the Peace Corps, helping people in the high-country town of Cajabamba, in Peru, and taking in the Peruvian scenery and culture. All of that changed this month thanks to the COVID-19 crisis. Before he knew it, he found himself in Grand Junction, where he’s been spending two weeks in self-quarantine, as part of the first- ever total evacuation by . . .

The RPCV Community immediately reached out to the Volunteers as the evacuation was announced and begun.  RPCV Joshua Johnson (2009-2011) generated a Face Bookpage which is the “go-to” site for EPCVs. It is a private group and  now has over 8000 members.  This is what it offers: Fellow RPCVs share their concern and their support for the EPCVs, establishing that the EPCVs are not alone. Fellow RPCVs are offering support via leads on jobs, obtaining health care, and places to “self-quarantine”. ( EPCVs have been ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days.  Peace Corps should reimburse for expenses associated with this as some EPCVs can not go home because relatives may be at high risk.  Finding places immediately upon re-entry can be a problem.) The Facebook page organizes these offers. EPCVs are posting specific requests for help in specific locations. Any RPCV can offer help  by becoming a member of the . . .

    Jack Allison (Malawi 1966-69) presently serves as Professor Emeritus of Emergency Medical Care, College of Health & Human Sciences, Western Carolina University, where he teaches, performs research, and spearheads faculty development. In 2012 he volunteered during the month of February with Medical Teams International in Kenya and Somalia where he provided both emergency medical care and public health education to Somali refugees; and in October he volunteered with Marion Medical Mission on a public health project in Malawi and Zambia where he helped to install 112 shallow water wells. Allison’s avocation is singing/songwriting. He has written over 100 songs and jingles, and recorded over 80 of those. Since 1967 he has raised $150,000.00 with his music, and he & his wife, Sue Wilson, have given away all of these monies to various charitable organizations, including $30,000.00 to help feed Malawian children who have been orphaned because their parents have . . .