Search Results For -Eres Tu

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2024 Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Non-fiction Award Winner!
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“Rethinking Wellbeing for Today and Tomorrow” by Deb Friedman (Guinea)
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Helping people in underserved areas live their healthiest lives
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Top Legal Post in Virgin Islands Goes to Ethiopian RPCV!
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RPCV Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia) writes “Why Support Trump”
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Tony Waters (Thailand) — Editor of Ethnography
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“Families — Four Stories” by Kathy Coskran (Ethiopia)
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“Establishing the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)
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“Writers from the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)
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Review | AUSTRALIA BY BUS by Steve Kaffen (Russia)
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“From Virginia Key to the Philippines with the Peace Corps” | Mary Simonne Dodge (Philippines)
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Published in American Diplomacy by Mark G. Wentling (Honduras, Togo)
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Review — YOU TRY PAA by Cynthia Ann Caul (Ghana)
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Michael Carson (Kenya) is new head of International Storytelling Center
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3rd Edition: CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN by John Perkins (Ecuador)

2024 Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Non-fiction Award Winner!

  The Showgirl and the Writer: A Friendship Forged in the Aftermath of the Japanese American Incarceration by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65)   The Showgirl and the Writer, A Friendship Forged in the Aftermath of the Japanese American Incarceration, by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65), is a hybrid memoir/biography. It encompasses Mueller’s own story, beginning at her birth to Caucasian parents in the Tule Lake Japanese American High-Security Camp in Northern California, and tells the tale of her long friendship with Mary Mon Toy, a Nisei performer who was incarcerated in the Minidoka Japanese American Camp in Idaho during WWII. The two met by chance in 1994. By then, Mueller was a published author, and Mary Mon Toy, by necessity of old age, had retired from an unusually successful career on stage and television, for an Asian American actor of her time. After Ms. Mon Toy’s death, Mueller penned the previously . . .

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“Rethinking Wellbeing for Today and Tomorrow” by Deb Friedman (Guinea)

    By Deb Friedman (Guinea 2002-04) 12 June 2024 ••• My client had recently taken the helm of a mid-sized travel business when I started coaching her. She had stepped into the role infused with positive energy, hopefulness, and sharp leadership instincts; she quickly developed an ambitious plan to transform her organization. She had inherited a team suffering from low-morale, high stress, and uneven performance. The goal she set for herself was to build an engaged and high-performing team, achieving sustainable growth and impact within 18 months. My client had already moved her family across the country for the job; now, she quickly found herself waking up early and working late into the evening. Hobbies were set aside and she regularly missed dinner with her husband and kids. Even when she was home with them, she was often lost in her phone – absorbed in emails and texts. When I . . .

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Helping people in underserved areas live their healthiest lives

Meet Samuel Edwards  June 10, 2024  By Ashley Bell David Geffen School of Medicine   Medical student Samuel Edwards remembers little from his early childhood in Accra, Ghana. When he hears the word “home,” he pictures Toledo, Ohio — where his parents eventually settled after moving to the United States. He counts his mother among his strongest motivations for pursuing a medical career. After she became sick in 2017, Samuel developed a more serious interest in learning as much about health and healthcare as possible. He’d thought about going to medical school previously, but her sickness anchored his future plans in a deeper sense of purpose. He began seeing medicine as more than something to study at school. “I realized medicine is what I’m called to do with my life.” After earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, Samuel joined . . .

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Top Legal Post in Virgin Islands Goes to Ethiopian RPCV!

  RPCVS IN THE NEWS     ST. THOMAS — Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. announced Monday that he has nominated attorney Gordon Rhea (Ethiopia 1968-69) to serve as the next V.I. attorney general. Virgin Islands as we continue to strengthen our justice system. His lifelong dedication to public service and legal excellence is exactly what we need in an Attorney General,” Bryan said.Rhea is a 40-year member of the Virgin Islands Bar, and was recently recognized with the Winston Hodge Award for his contributions to law and justice in the community. “I’m very excited about working as your Attorney General. I’ve got quite a background in prosecution, and civil matters and appellate matters, and so I feel like I was almost made for this job. And I also have a deep love for the Virgin Islands,” Rhea said. “I’m looking forward to helping hone the Justice Department and making it . . .

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RPCV Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia) writes “Why Support Trump”

— First Published on our site in June 2016 The Peace Corps is always accused of being overrun with ‘bleeding heart liberals” since the first days of the agency when Eisenhower declared  the agency was a “juvenile experiment,” and Richard Nixon said it was another form of “draft evasion.”  This was when the Daughters of the American Revolution warned of a “yearly drain” of “brains and brawn”…for the benefit of backward, underdeveloped countries.” However, the following year, Time magazine declared in a cover story that the Peace Corps was “the greatest single success the Kennedy administration had produced.”  Still we had many good Americans who hated the agency. Here in this short piece, Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia 1962-64) wrote for our site back in June 2016. Leo is a good friend and a very good writer. He wrote a wonderful piece about how his father deserted the Italian army during the North African . . .

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Tony Waters (Thailand) — Editor of Ethnography

  Tony Waters is the chief editor of Ethnography.com. He was at the Sociology department at California State University at Chico where he had been a professor since 1996. In 2016 he  found a new gig at Payap University in northern Thailand where he is on the faculty of the Peace Studies Department. He has also been a guest professor in Germany, and Tanzania. In the past, his main interests have been international development and refugees in Thailand, Tanzania, and California. This reflects a former career in the Peace Corps (Thailand 1980-82), and refugee camps in  Thailand and Tanzania. His books include: Crime and Immigrant Youth (1999), Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan (2001), The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: Life Beneath of the Marketplace (2007), When Killing is a Crime (2007), and Schooling, Bureaucracy, and Childhood: Bureaucratizing the Child (2012). His hobby is trying to learn new languages.  

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“Families — Four Stories” by Kathy Coskran (Ethiopia)

  Families — Four Stories by Kathy Coskran (Ethiopia 1965-67)   Families are complicated. We all have them, somewhere, somehow. Families are formed in many ways, none are perfect, all are heartfelt—and the heart feels pain as well as joy, anxiety as well as comfort, gratitude as well as resentment. There is no one way to portray a family; no idealized family; no perfect family. So these little stories offer snapshots of the idiosyncratic joys and complications of families.     Pearl   The earrings were all she took from her mother’s meager estate and now she had lost one. They were a wedding present from her father to her mother, tiny, perfect pearls set in gold and glued to an earring clip. She wore the earrings almost daily when she was a child. They were the central ornament in her dress-up fantasies, a gift from the king, she would proclaim . . .

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“Establishing the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

  Let me start with a quote from Gerard T. Rice’s book, The Bold Experiment: JFK’s Peace Corps “In 1961 John F. Kennedy took two risky and conflicting initiatives in the Third World. One was to send five hundred additional military advisers into South Vietnam; by 1963 there would be seventeen thousand such advisers. The other was to send five hundred young Americans to teach in the schools and work in the fields of eight developing countries. These were Peace Corps Volunteers. By 1963 there would be seven thousand of them in forty-four countries.” . . . Vietnam scarred the American psyche, leaving memories of pain and defeat, but Kennedy’s other initiative inspired, and continued to inspire hope and understanding among Americans and the rest of the world. In that sense, the Peace Corps was his most affirmative and enduring legacy. A historical framework Gerry Rice, in The Bold Experiment: JFK’s Peace Corps, points . . .

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“Writers from the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

  John writes — Since 1961, Peace Corps writers have used their volunteer service as source material for their fiction and nonfiction. Approximately 250,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps. Of these volunteers and staff, more than 1,500 have published memoirs, novels, and poetry inspired by their experience. Many former volunteers have gone on to careers as creative writing teachers, journalists, and editors, while others have discovered a variety of jobs outside of publishing where their Peace Corps years have contributed to successful employment. A Peace Corps tour has proven to be a valuable experience — in terms of one’s craft and one’s professional career—for more than one college graduate. The first to write The first book to draw on the Peace Corps experience was written by Arnold Zeitlin (Ghana 1961–63), who had volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1961 after having been an Associated Press reporter. That book, . . .

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Review | AUSTRALIA BY BUS by Steve Kaffen (Russia)

  Australia by Bus by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96) Independently published 313 pages April 2024 Kindle Unlimited $4.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by N. Waheed Nasser (Peace Corps Auditor 2002-06 & 2011-16) • • •  In Australia by Bus, author Steve Kaffen states at the outset, “Bus travel is an ideal way to visit Australia,” and he proceeds to tell us why and how and to show us Australia: its cities, scenic highlights, and historic and cultural sites including those of the land’s indigenous groups. His events timing is right on: Sydney for New Year’s Eve, Melbourne for the Australian Open, Perth for its Perth Festival.  For the author, bus journeys are integral parts of the travel experience as riders “observe the passing scenery, local color and lifestyles and enjoy the photographic opportunities and the camaraderie of fellow passengers and drivers.” On a personal note, I have been to Australia and visited a good number of . . .

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“From Virginia Key to the Philippines with the Peace Corps” | Mary Simonne Dodge (Philippines)

PCVs in the news— After earning her degree from the Rosenstiel School, Mary Simonne Dodge will begin a two-year deployment with the Peace Corps as a coastal resource manager in the Philippines. by Diana Udel d.udel@miami.edu 5-06-2024  • • •  Mary Simonne Dodge, originally from Amherst, New Hampshire, will earn her degree from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. A double major in marine biology and ecology and ecosystem science and policy, Dodge also earned a minor in political science and a certificate in sustainability from the University of Miami. Among her involvements at the University, Dodge served as a research assistant in the Climate Accountability Lab and on the Abess Center Atala Butterfly Project; a membership coordinator for It’s On Us; a peer counselor with the Rosenstiel Peer Counselor Program; a mentor with the Foote Fellow Mentoring Program; a member of the Rho Rho Rho Marine and Atmospheric . . .

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Published in American Diplomacy by Mark G. Wentling (Honduras, Togo)

  RPCVs in the news — Tough Love and the Diplomacy of Foreign Assistance May 2024 by Mark G. Wentling (Honduras 1967-69) & (Togo 1970-73) • • •  Providing aid to low and middle-income countries (LMIC) is at the heart of our relationships with those countries. The concept is that needy countries on this list of 132 LMICs, particularly the 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the bottom range of this list, require external aid for their development. However, almost all the countries on the LMIC list are the same as they were over 30 years ago, and they are no closer to graduating into a higher income category. It is highly doubtful if any LMIC will achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030. This raises several fundamental questions about the return on the US government’s investment. What are the cost-benefit and recurrent costs analyses? Do the returns justify the . . .

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Review — YOU TRY PAA by Cynthia Ann Caul (Ghana)

  You Try Paa: A Love Song in Translation Cynthia Ann Caul (Ghana 2008–10) Independently published 88 pages $9.99 (paperback), $6.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Dan Campbell ( El Salvador 1974 –77 • • •  Cynthia Ann Caul’s You Try Paa offers readers a poetic journey through her experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana. The book weaves a tapestry of encounters and insights, embodying the spirit of adventure and human connection. Through her poetic narratives, Caul captures the essence of Ghanaian culture with an authenticity and affection that can only stem from genuine engagement and respectful curiosity. The title “You Try Paa” reflects a common phrase in Ghana that expresses encouragement and acknowledgment of one’s efforts. This encapsulates Caul’s experiences in Ghana — constantly learning, adapting, and trying, even amidst challenges. The poems are structured around various themes such as community, resilience, cultural exchanges, and personal growth, each telling a story . . .

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Michael Carson (Kenya) is new head of International Storytelling Center

RPCVs in the news —   WJHL Tri-Cities   Michael Carson (Kenya 1989-91) is a non-profit executive who has devoted his career to social and economic development. His technical assistance and strategic advice has helped transform small businesses, community-led health clinics and schools, and agriculture enterprises in conflict settings and emerging economies. Michael has provided capacity building and organization development advice to organizations as diverse as the government of Guinea’s Ministry of Health, East African youth and women’s cooperative enterprises, the Arusha Municipal Council, the Zanzibar Handicraft Producers Association and Bosnian natural producers associations. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Michael started his international experience when he joined the Peace Corps. “I joined the Peace Corps in 1989 and went to Kenya and really gained a perspective for African culture, for international cultures,” said Carson. “And I have worked in International Affairs for almost 30 years.” Carson’s father grew up . . .

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3rd Edition: CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN by John Perkins (Ecuador)

  Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Ecuador 19968-70) Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 3rd edition February 2023 384 pages $16.49 (Kindle); $17.97 (Paperback); $21.91 (Audio CD)  • • •  How do we stop the unrelenting evolution of the economic hit man strategy and China’s takeover? The riveting third edition of this New York Times bestseller blows the whistle on China’s economic hit man (EHM) strategy, exposes corruption on an international scale, and offers much-needed solutions for curing the degenerative Death Economy. In this shocking expos, former EHM John Perkins gives an insider view into the corrupt system that cheats and strong-arms countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars and ultimately causes staggering income inequality and ecological devastation. EHMs are highly paid professionals who use development loans to saddle countries with huge debts and force them to serve US interests. Now, a new EHM wave is infecting the world, and at the . . .

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