Peace Corps Worldwide – Page 45 – promoting Peace Corps writers since 1989

RPCV Darlene Grant (Cambodia) now shaping Peace Corps efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion

Jun 23 2023

By Adrienne Frank June 23, 2023 • Darlene Grant became a Peace Corps volunteer at 49; 11 years later, she joined the agency’s top ranks. In seventh grade, with a bully on her heels, Darlene Grant slipped through a door at her Cleveland junior high school and found herself in the music room, staring at a line of students. Wanting to avoid a beating, she got in line, “like I was supposed to be there,” she said, and the music teacher handed her the last instrument in the closet: a bassoon. “That moment when you realize you’re where the universe needs you to be? That was one of them,” said Darlene Grant, PhD (SAS ’84). Today, Grant is senior advisor to Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn, with a mission to cultivate diversity in the worldwide agency and help remove barriers for underrepresented volunteers and staff and create a more just and equitable . . .

Review | THROUGH GRATEFUL EYES: The Peace Corps Experiences of Dartmouth’s Class of 1967

Jun 23 2023

Through Grateful Eyes: The Peace Corps Experiences of Dartmouth’s Class of 1967 by Charles A. (Chuck) Hobbie (Korea 1968-71) — Compiler/Editor iUniverse Publisher 273 pages July 2022 $2.99 (Kindle); $39.99 (Paperback); $31.95 (Hardback) Reviewed by Evelyn Kohl LaTorre (Peru 1964-1966) • “Talk less and listen more.” “Accept the values of the population you’re working with.” “Adapt to being comfortable being uncomfortable.” These are a few of the sage learnings found in this 2 ½ pound, 8 1/2” x 11” tome that relates the Peace Corps experiences of 19 members of the Dartmouth class of 1967 and several of their spouses. All served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties and early seventies, and their exploits are a sampling of the 30 Dartmouth ’67 graduates who went on to join the Peace Corps. Their fascinating, and often humorous, stories are punctuated with 146 photos that show the youthful volunteers . . .

Joseph Monninger (Burkina Faso) — GOODBYE TO CLOCKS TICKING

Jun 22 2023

Goodbye to Clocks Ticking By Joseph Monninger (Burkina Faso 1975–77) Steerforth Publishing March. 2023 208 pages $9.99 (Kindle); $16.99 (Hardcover), (Audiobook) An uplifting journey of truly seeing and appreciating what makes life worth living in the year following a terminal diagnosis • Goodbye to Clocks Ticking is an unforgettable book that tells the story of a singular year of challenges, insights, and peculiar gifts. It is also a sort of postcard from a place many of us will one day visit. After thirty-two years of teaching, Joe Monninger, an avid outdoorsman in robust health, was looking forward to a long retirement with the love of his life in a cabin beside a New England estuary. Three days after his last class, however, he’s diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, even though he has not smoked for more than 30 years. It was May, and he might be dead by early fall. Soon . . .

President Biden nominates David E. White to be Deputy Director of Peace Corps

Jun 20 2023

David E. White Jr. currently serves as Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO). Prior to this role, he served on the National Security Council as Senior Advisor to the White House Coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome, where he facilitated whole-of-government efforts to provide housing, health care, education, employment, and other resources at scale for nearly 90,000 Afghan allies resettled in the United States. An attorney by training, White joined the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Associate Counsel in PPO. He was previously a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team and an attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City. White began his career in public service as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army. He served on active duty in a variety of domestic and overseas assignments, including as a Scout Platoon Leader in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of . . .

CALLING RPCV WRITERS!

Jun 20 2023

Calling all RPCV Writers Are you writing a novel, a memoir, a scholarly essay, poems, and/or short stories? Whether what you’re working on is about the Peace Corps or not, you are invited to the Second Peace Corps Writers Workshop this October on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. The Workshop—open to a maximum of 15 RPCV writers—will be held from Thursday, October 5, to Sunday, October 7, at Shore Retreats on Broad Creek. The cost ranges from $100 to $500, depending on the applicant’s economic circumstances, and includes shared living quarters and most meals. If interested, please contact Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-87) at: tokamaphepa@aol.com. The Workshop, organized by Peace Corps Worldwide and supported by the Peace Corps Fund, will be led by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93), an English professor at West Virginia University, where he directs the Creative Writing Program and the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop. The author . . .

WORDS CREATE WORLDS: Poems by Ada Jo Mann (Chad)

Jun 18 2023

Words Create Worlds: Poems Ada Jo Mann (Chad 1967-69) Peace Corps Writers 147 pages April 2023 $14.99 (paperback) Words Create Worlds is a collection of poems that span the life of the author, Ada Jo Mann, who grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad from 1967-69. Her Peace Corps service led to a career in international development which took her to many countries around the world where she focused on building strong communities and organizations using a strength-based approach to change called Appreciative Inquiry. Upon the author’s retirement, she began taking courses at the independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, in Washington, DC. As a participant in the Poetry Circle she was inspired to try her hand at poetry and this collection of her poems was the result. In addition to the international focus of her poems, the author writes about memories of . . .

Do you have a book you want to publish?

Jun 17 2023

To publish with Peace Corps Writers imprint Peace Corps Writers — a component of Peace Corps Worldwide — publishes a line of books by writers who have served with the Peace Corps either as Volunteers or staff members. These books — fiction, non-fiction, travel, memoir, poetry, etc.— are printed by Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), a print-on-demand (POD) company and subsidiary of Amazon.com, carry the logo of the Peace Corps Writers imprint, are sold through Amazon.com, and are featured on Peace Corps Worldwide with an announcement of publication in addition to listing in “New Books by Peace Corps Writers,” an interview with the author(s), and a review, should the authors choose to have them. Books need not be about the Peace Corps, the author’s Peace Corps experience, or be set overseas in the country where served. Books by the family and friends of PCVs are also welcome to submit proposals if the . . .

Steamy SF is Out of This World | Donna S. Frelick (The Gambia)

Jun 16 2023

Donna Frelick (The Gambia 1976-78) was a voracious reader growing up—she loved Charles Dickens and recalls checking The Swiss Family Robinson out of her local library 15 times. One of her favorite books was an installment in the Ace Doubles series, which offered two SF books in one volume. One of the stories was written by Ursula K. Le Guin, who became a favorite. (Years later at her marriage ceremony, Frelick quoted from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.) Frelick’s interest in science fiction grew apace. Inspired by the cult favorite TV series Star Trek, which debuted when she was 13 years old, as well as Rod Serling’s fantastical anthology series The Twilight Zone and such film classics as The Day the Earth Stood Still —“I watched episodes through my fingers.” — her own writing began to boldly go where it had never gone before. What she loves about SF, she . . .

The Keys to Addressing People’s Needs in Morocco | Yossef Ben-Meir (Morocco

Jun 15 2023

Participatory Interfaith Dialogue By Yossef Ben-Meir (Morocco 1993-95 & APDC 1998-99) Twenty-nine years ago, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer living in a mountainous High Atlas village called Amsouzerte, near the southern side of Morocco’s Toubkal National Park. Back then, the journey from the village to the nearest city centers took almost 20 hours along unpaved roads and mountain passes. At the foot of a mountainside, fifty kilometers from Amsouzerte, I would sometimes catch sight of an old, white mausoleum that seemed misplaced among the earth-brick homes characteristic of rural Moroccan landscapes. Looking upon this eroding mountain area, I could envision huge swaths of terraces constructed above the mausoleum for the local Muslim community to build tree nurseries and derive generational benefits. Tree nurseries are very valuable for Moroccan farming communities because 70 percent of agricultural land in the country generates only 10-15 percent of agricultural revenue. Fruit tree cultivation . . .

Successful author Has PCV as love interest in her new novel

Jun 15 2023

She’s secretly burned for him for years. Derek Severson left his career as a firefighter after tragedy shook him to his soul. Running his uncle’s beachside bar on a south Texas island gives him the chance to heal, find peace, and avoid entanglements. That is, until Macey, his childhood friend, tracks him down. After two years abroad in a developing country, Macey Locke is ready to dive in to her Peace Corps-inspired foundation. But when she learns Derek is suffering, she can’t turn her back. Six weeks on a tropical island to help the guy she’s loved for years? No-brainer. Derek can’t help but notice she’s not the same girl he used to know. She’s more. More self-assured, more determined, more irresistible. But is she enough for him to let go of his newfound fragile peace and give in to the passion sparking between them? Playing with Fire is a . . .

“Test Preparation Authority” Lin Lougheed (Turkey)

Jun 14 2023

Dr. Lin Lougheed (Turkey 1968-70) is universally recognized as the leading authority in test preparation. As a best-selling author he has helped millions of English language learners prepare for the IELTS, TOEFL, and TOEIC exams. In addition to his test preparation books, teachers around the world in middle schools through university use his books to teach listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Dr. Lougheed started his EFL career in 1968 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey. He earned his doctorate in International Educational Development a joint program of the School of International Affairs, Columbia University and Teachers College, Columbia University. He has received two Fulbright awards: a scholar grant in Sri Lanka and a professor grant in Tunisia. In 1983, he founded Instructional Design International, Inc. to develop English teaching materials in all media. Lin is a past member of the TESOL Executive Board, and has served as . . .

208th Group Of Peace Corps Volunteers Arrive In Nepal

Jun 14 2023

June 14, 2023 Twenty-one new Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in Kathmandu this week. After completing an intensive 11-week Pre-Service Training, these trainees will swear-in as the 208th group of Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Nepal since the U.S. program’s founding in 1962. They are the first group to arrive since the global evacuation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new volunteers join nearly 4,000 volunteers who have previously come to Nepal to serve since 1962. Speaking at the training center in Bhaktapur, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks said, “With the more than 60-year partnership between the Government of Nepal and Peace Corps, we are pleased to welcome this first batch of volunteers to return to service in Nepal after more than three years. Peace Corps Volunteers working in rural locations throughout Nepal and in partnership with their communities demonstrate the strong and growing bonds between our two countries.” . . .

WAYWARD GUILT by H.M.S. Brown (Bulgaria)

Jun 13 2023

H.M.S. Brown (Yes – her real initials!) is an avid knitter, crocheter, and a voracious reader who stumbled into writing during lockdown in 2020 after complaining to her mom about a book she didn’t like. When her mom challenged her to write her own, the small town of Grant’s Crossing, Ohio, was born. H.M.S. Brown is a graduate of both Indiana University and The Ohio State University, as well as a returned Peace Corps volunteer,(Bulgaria 2001-02) so be prepared to see occasional mentions of the Hoosiers, the Buckeyes, and all things Bulgarian within her novels. She lives in central Ohio, doing the bidding of her evil, yet adorable cat, Michonne, along with keeping a day job to maintain a roof over her books and yarn stash. Wayward Guilt is H.M.S. Brown’s debut novel and Book 1 of her Heroes of Grant’s Crossing series. • Wayward Guilt H.M.S. Brown (Bulgaria . . .

Johnnie Carson (Tanzania) Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

Jun 12 2023

Ambassador Johnnie Carson was appointed as the Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation in December 2022. Formerly, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs from May 2009 to March 2013. Prior to this he was the national intelligence officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as the senior vice president of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (2003-2006). Ambassador Carson’s 37-year foreign service career includes ambassadorships to Kenya (1999-2003), Zimbabwe (1995-1997), and Uganda (1991-1994); and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs (1997-1999). Earlier in his career he had assignments in Portugal (1982-1986), Botswana (1986-1990), Mozambique (1975-1978), and Nigeria (1969-1971). He has also served as desk officer in the Africa section at State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1971-1974); Staff Officer for the Secretary of State (1978-1979), and Staff Director for the Africa Subcommittee . . .

The Eastern Caribbean welcomed a new batch of Peace Corps Volunteers

Jun 12 2023

PCEC incoming volunteers, PCVs and staff The Peace Corps Eastern Caribbean (PCEC) islands of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines are buzzing with preparations for the second batch of incoming Peace Corps Volunteers, since their initial return to the region in 2022, after the pandemic. The Volunteers will continue the important work of supporting the Education institutions of our host countries under the English Literacy in Primary Schools project. The project places Literacy Resource Volunteers in primary schools across the four islands, with the goal of helping students attain literacy skills to increase their academic and life opportunities. Prospective Volunteers are excited about getting to work with students, teachers, and their community members. Peace Corps provides an intense 9-week training program for the incoming Volunteers. Shirley, a Volunteer who first started her career with Peace Corps in the late 1970’s in Africa, is serving again and . . .