The Peace Corps

  From the Peace Corps Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/PeaceCorps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Peace Corps ‏@PeaceCorps 52m52 minutes ago All Peace Corps Ecuador Volunteers are safe & accounted for. Staff in Ecuador are in close contact w/ Volunteers regarding safety & security

The first Peace Corps film was done by RPCVs from Nigeria, David Schickele and Roger Landrum, both Nigeria 1 (1962-64) PCVs. The film Give Me A Riddle was shot in 1966. The producer and director, the late David Schickele, said about making the film, Nigeria became an independent country in 1960. In 1967 it was torn apart by civil war. Between these two events Nigeria enjoyed a kind of golden age, full of cultural ferment and cross-tribal fertilization. Every kid out of the village was writing the great Nigerian novel. A spirit of great hope prevailed through the land. Give Me A Riddle is about this golden age, seen through the eyes of ex-Peace Corps Volunteer — Roger Landrum — returning to his host country a couple of years after his Peace Corps service as a teacher at the University of Nigeria. The film follows Roger as he looks up his former students . . .

Check the Peace Corps Third Goal for more details. thirdgoal@peacecorps.gov Peace Corps Recruiment * CA, Berkeley – 04/26 – Send-Off Party * CA, Hayward – 04/28 – CSUEB Career Fair * CA, Sacramento – 04/26 – Working in Women’s Empowerment Abroad * CA, Sacramento – 04/27 – Peace Corps Service in Latin America * CO, Denver – 05/01 – Make Your Encore Years Count * CO, Denver – 05/210 – Invitee Send-Off Brunch * DE, Newark, – 04/14 – Service Panel: Opportunities at Home and Abroad * FL, Gainesville – 04/19 – Success in Service: Hear from Returned Volunteers * FL, Tampa – 04/16 – Peace Corps Send-Off Party * GA, Brunswick – 04/22 – International Festival at Coastal College of Georgia * ID, Boise – 04/15 – Boise Send-Off * KY, Morehead – 04/26 – Morehead State University’s Networking Dinner * MD, Baltimore – 04/28 – Special Event: Peace Corps Send-Off Party * MN, Minneapolis – 04/15 – Peace Corps Social * NJ, Mahwah – 04/20 – Peace Corps at Ramapo . . .

FROM USA TODAY BY GREGORY KORTE APRIL 11, 2016 WASHINGTON — President Obama, often criticized by Republicans for constitutional overreach for his use of executive orders to get around Congress, signed the 254th executive order of his presidency Friday — allowing the Peace Corps to change its logo. In his seven years in office, he’s also used executive orders to change the name of the National Security Staff to the National Security Council staff, to allow the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to also consider the role of nutrition, and to prohibit government employees from texting while driving. And, showing that executive orders can attend to even the smallest details, Obama signed an executive order in 2014 to correct a typographical error in a previous executive order — which governed the format of executive orders. Executive orders are often thought of as the most muscular form of presidential . . .

Small Things: Bountiful bumble bees busily harvesting on sunflowers. Delicate golden grasses bending in the wind Plethora of rose hips blushing in ripeness The Colors of Water: Can the written word capture the true color of water? General Carrera Lake (Chelenko) on a cloudy day – steel, pewter, slate Catalina Bay in bright sunshine – bright teal, cerulean, azure Lago Negro – indigo, ultramarine Baker River – turquoise, aquamarine   The rhythmic sounds of indigenous place names: Pichi Mahuida – little mountain Chelenko – lake of storms Coyhaique – lagoon-camp Chacabuco – slopes of chacay trees   The Trail of Torture: The sign indicates 9.3 kilometers to Lago Leones. One way. The guide tells us it’s relatively flat most of the way. What he didn’t say that the flat was over a rocky glacial moraine. Loose rock. Boulders, pebbles. Angular, round, flat. He didn’t mention that we’d be balancing on . . .

Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68) will appear on Fox Business at 12PM PT/3PM ET to discuss the effect of North Korea, South China Sea, and ISIL on the presidential campaigns. John is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Peace Corps Response recently reopened programs in Liberia and Sierra Leone! The Peace Corps is currently seeking multiple STEM Educators, Literacy Educators, and STEM and Literacy Teacher Trainers in both countries to depart in August 2016. All positions are for 11 months. For more information, contact the agency at pcresponse@peacecorps.gov or (202) 692-2250.    Apply Now     

The Peace Corps presents the John F. Kennedy Service Awards once every five years to six individuals who have given outstanding service to the Peace Corps, both at home and abroad. Established in 2006, the awards recognize two currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers, two Peace Corps staff members, one Returned Peace Corps Response Volunteer and one Returned Peace Corps Volunteer for contributions beyond their duties to the Agency and the nation. Award recipients must demonstrate exceptional service and leadership and further the Peace Corps’ mission and it’s three goals: to help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and women; to help promote a better understanding of American on the part of the people served; and, to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. Each member of the Peace Corps family contributes to the agency’s success. The John F. Kennedy . . .

36 Hours Left To Help Help fund a once-in-a-generation documentary about the Peace Corps for wide release in 2017! We surpassed 435 donors in honor of Sargent Shriver and received an anonymous $5,000 donation! Now we’re over $77,000 closer to our $100,000 goal. It’s time we are able to capture 55 years worth of history, trials and triumphs told from these remarkable individuals all in A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary. THANK YOU for Your Story of the Peace Corps! Many Peace Corps documentaries tell the story of a single volunteer and how their experience changes their life and the lives of others. Our documentary is a rallying call for the Peace Corps Community to UNITE and tell its story. The real version—not the echo chamber. Time is of the essence. Memories fade. The architects and pioneering volunteers of Peace Corps pass away. $5 $25? $50? $100? What’s Peace Corps worth . . .

I spent the weekend going through files to find documents on the history of the Peace Corps that I might donate to American University and their collection of Peace Corps material. In the process I came across the address made by Sargent Shriver, first Director of the Peace Corps, at the One Hundred Sixty-fifth Annual Commencement of Georgetown University on June 8, 1964. I want to quote from the opening of Sarge’s talk as it focuses on two items that are important: one is on Ethiopia One PCVs in Ethiopia, and two is on Sarge’s vision of why the Peace Corps is important to all of us. • It is embarrassing for me today to confess that I remember only one quotatin from St. Ignatius. Fortunately it is only one word: “magis!“— “more.” The watchword of the Jesuit order has always been: Ad majorem Dei gloriam. But Ignatius was a man of action. . . .