Peace Corps Worldwide

  Acting Director’s Message Welcome back to Inside Peace Corps, where we share updates on our work, both at headquarters and in the countries where our Volunteers are invited to serve. Today is International Day of Friendship, a good day to reflect on the power that relationships have to achieve world peace. I am incredibly grateful that the Peace Corps has given us the gift of friendships that span the globe. As a Country Director in Malawi, I heard countless Volunteers share that the relationships they developed with their host community – with local leaders, neighbors, counterparts, and friends – were what they valued most from service. In a similar way, I was frequently approached by Malawians seeking to reconnect with a Volunteer with whom they had worked side-by-side. As we continue to support staff, partners, and communities around the globe and navigate the ongoing complexities of COVID-19, we are . . .

    Recognizing that a collaborative effort is needed to battle the harsh effects of climate change, the Peace Corps and the Office of the President on Wednesday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and Guyana’s sustainability efforts. The MoU was inked at the Office of the President by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira and Peace Corp Country Director Dr. Nadine Rogers. US Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch, a former Peace Corps Volunteer herself, said that the renewed agreement comes as the need for impactful action on climate change requires strong international cooperation and local engagement. She added that “…through this new agreement, the Peace Corps can continue to contribute to environmental education and awareness in Guyana with the inclusion of ecological fundamentals, climate science, biodiversity, ecosystems services, global and local environmental issues and how to address them.” With the MoU . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bill Preston (Thailand 1977-80)   Writing didn’t serve the purpose I wanted it to, which was to fix the fundamentally broken relationship between myself and other people. By Kristen Roupoenian (Kenya 2003-05) The New Yorker, August 5, 2021   My favorite literary magazine is one you probably haven’t heard of. It’s called Resonance, and it’s a small annual publication featuring a mixture of fiction, poetry, and art. Although a new issue of Resonance has appeared every year since at least the early nineteen-nineties, I have read only six of them, the ones published between 1993 and 1999. I have those issues virtually memorized, as I reread the entirety of each issue, on average, once a year. I’ve probably read my favorite poems and stories in the magazine upward of a hundred times, so I think it’s safe to say that I’ve read the writing in Resonance more carefully than . . .

The House Votes a Boost in Peace Corps Funding. And Registration Is Opening Soon for Peace Corps Connect 2021. We got some good news from Congress on July 28: The House of Representatives approved a $430.5 million Peace Corps budget for fiscal year 2022. That’s an increase of $20 million — nearly 5 percent. It could point to the first meaningful increase in funding in six years. We’ve also seen increasing bipartisan support for the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021, introduced by RPCV Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) and colleague Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA). The legislation would bring some much-needed reforms for a better and stronger Peace Corps. If you’re meeting with your members of Congress in the weeks ahead, support for this legislation — and funding — are critical items to have on the agenda. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet taken up the State Department/Foreign Operations bill, which would include funding for the Peace Corps. But . . .

Pedals for Progres by Zachary Sherry Borgen Magazine August 5, 2021 David Schweidenback (Ecuador 1978-80) founded Pedals for Progress after his time in the Peace Corps. It is now one of the largest distributors of used bikes to developing nations. Since 1991, Pedals for Progress (P4P) has operated as a non-profit organization in New Jersey. It started when Mr. Schweidenback noticed an abundance of bikes thrown into garbage in his neighborhood during a bleak financial time while working as a carpenter. Connecting his experience overseas with what Americans were wasting at home, he chose to make a difference. Schweidenback spoke with The Borgen Project in an interview. He explained, “I decided if I wasn’t doing anything and I’m not making money and I’m just sitting here bored, I’m going to go out and collect a dozen bikes and I’m going to ship them back to Ecuador. Just like a freebie, a . . .

  A Commitment to Nonprofits, and to Each Other     In 2014, Derek Owens and Chelsea Segal randomly sat next to each other at the orientation session for their two-year stint in the Peace Corps. “Two of you will get married, it always happens,” the facilitator told the cohort of 48 people on the crest of their placement in Panama. “I was certain it would not be me,” said Mr. Owens, now 32. After growing up in the small town of Bluffton, S.C., Mr. Owens graduated from Clemson University in 2011, and then worked in a family-owned printing company. “I went into the Peace Corps wanting to learn more about myself and the people I would be living with,” he said. “I was absolutely committed to not getting attached.” Ms. Segal, now 30, felt similarly. After a childhood in Miami, she attended the University of Michigan, from which she . . .