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The Eastern Caribbean welcomed a new batch of Peace Corps Volunteers
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Maui woman embarking on Peace Corps mission
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Crafting a Plan to Meet California’s Carbon Neutral Goals | Shereen D’Souza (Honduras)
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“A Road Not Taken” by Jamie Kirkpatrick (Tunisia)
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THE MAGIC HOUR by Janice Durand (Philippines)
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Paul Neville (Tonga) First U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Tonga
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RPCVs in Akron, Ohio host movie by Alana DeJoseph (Mali) — A TOWERING TASK
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New List of RPCV & STAFF Authors
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Review | BIODIGITAL: A NOVEL OF TECHNOPOTHEOSIS by John Sundman (Senegal)
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New books by Peace Corps writers | May — June 2023
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The Volunteer Who’s Professional Career Focused on African Art, Architecture & Culture | Suzanne Preston Blier (Dahomey | Benin)
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REVIEW — THE CALL by Jamie Price
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SOFTBALL, SNAKES, SAUSAGE FLIES AND RICE | Philip Fretz (Sierra Leone)
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Malawi RPCV Christine Farber Passed Away in May
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The Peace Corps experience changed lives (Burkina Faso)

The Eastern Caribbean welcomed a new batch of Peace Corps Volunteers

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 . . .

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Maui woman embarking on Peace Corps mission

Melissa Tanji Staff Writer Wailuku resident and Seabury Hall graduate Renae “Bella” Lallo stands at El Cajas National Park in Ecuador. The 21-year-old is no stranger to visiting foreign countries and will soon embark on her Peace Corps mission in Panama later this month, making her among the first Peace Corps volunteers heading out for overseas service since the agency pulled many of its volunteers from the field at the start of the pandemic. While in college she stayed with a host family in Ecuador. — Photos courtesy Renae “Bella” Lallo For a 21-year-old, Wailuku resident Renae “Bella” Lallo has already seen more places than most would in a lifetime, traveling to Zambia and Iraq for medical missions, living with a host family in Ecuador and vacationing in countries such as Spain and Germany, to name a few.And, later this month, she will soon embark on another quest, perhaps more challenging . . .

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Crafting a Plan to Meet California’s Carbon Neutral Goals | Shereen D’Souza (Honduras)

  Shereen D’Souza’s (Honduras 2001-04) path to becoming an environmental leader began when she joined the Peace Corps straight out of college and was assigned to help hillside subsistence farmers in Honduras. D’Souza ’12 MESc went on to tackle urban food justice in Oakland, California, and agricultural issues in her ancestral home in India. Her interest in international work led her to YSE, where she was impressed by Michael Dove, Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology, whose work focuses on environmental relations of local communities in South and Southeast Asia. After graduating from YSE, D’Souza served in the U.S. Department of State as an adaptation and loss and damage negotiator, where she was engaged in the process that ultimately resulted in the Paris Agreement and its adoption. D’Souza is now deputy secretary for climate policy and intergovernmental relations with the California EPA. She is working with the team at . . .

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“A Road Not Taken” by Jamie Kirkpatrick (Tunisia)

A Road Not Taken Jamie   Kirkpatrick (Tunisia 1970-72; APCD 1974-76) June 6, 2023 •   Now that I am of a certain age, I’m giving myself permission to occasionally recount a story that has been locked away in my personal vault. This is one of those times… It was nearly fifty years ago, and I was working on the staff of the Peace Corps in Tunisia. (I had previously served as a Volunteer in that country, but that’s another story.) One day, word reached me that a Volunteer who was under my supervision was absenting himself from his job, ostensibly taking some time to watch a movie that was being filmed at a location out in the desert, not far from his work site. It would be a long drive, but I thought this would be a good time to go visit some of my Volunteers in the south. . . .

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THE MAGIC HOUR by Janice Durand (Philippines)

  The Magic Hour unfolds in the era when State Street was filling up with specialty stores selling soap, shoes, bikes, clothes, gifts, pets, records, dishes, books, tobacco, hats, ice cream and toys, run by a new kind of trailblazing entrepreneur.  It tells a story of personal success, failure, and retrenchment. A  national shopping spree explodes on the scene, ignited by globalization and a furious growth of monopolies that would radically change the nature of retail, the economy and the class system. This book blends U.S. history with the city of Madison and State Street’s history and the author’s personal life. The reader gets a lively course in economics and business ownership through the main character’s experience. About the author: A native of Chippewa Falls, Janice Durand served in the Peace Corps for two years in the sixties,  moving to Madison with her husband and two children in 1969.  In 1974 . . .

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Paul Neville (Tonga) First U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Tonga

United States Charge d’Affaires in Tonga Wednesday, June 7, 2023 – 19:37 Nuku’alofa, Tonga •     He made a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku in Nuku’alofa on 7 June. Mr. Neville was a U.S Peace Corps Volunteer from 2000-2002, where he served at Kolovai on western Tongatapu. On 20 May, in Nuku’alofa, a ceremonial flag raising was held to open the first United States of America Embassy in Tonga, held at the National Reserve Bank Building. A large scale opening is being scheduled for later in the year. The embassy opening comes less than one year after Vice President Harris announced that the United States would pursue discussions to establish an embassy in Tonga, and it is the beginning of a new chapter of U.S-Tonga relations. While a PCV in Tonga, Paul established Tonga’s first public internet cafe and highest-funded computer center in Peace Corps history. Directed beach restoration and income generating . . .

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RPCVs in Akron, Ohio host movie by Alana DeJoseph (Mali) — A TOWERING TASK

NORVA hosts free screening  of Peace Corps documentary Akron Beacon Journal   What does “global citizenship” really mean? Since 1961, more than 200,00 American volunteers have collaborated directly with everyday people around the globe in the name of peace. Follow their story in “A Towering Task,” an award-winning documentary on the history of the Peace Corps. The Northern Ohio Returned Volunteer Association presents a free screening at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, at the main branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, 60 S. High St., downtown Akron. Narrated by Annette Benning, the film chronicles the political machinations that led to an entirely new government agency during the height of the Cold War. It shows how idealistic American volunteers, past and present, work side-by-side with host country nationals to transform U.S. global relations.     “A Towering Task puts a human face on the Peace Corps and makes sense . . .

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New List of RPCV & STAFF Authors

Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in June 2023–the count is 488. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1962-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy Anderson (Togo 1962-64) James Archambeault (Philippines 1965-67) Ron Arias . . .

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Review | BIODIGITAL: A NOVEL OF TECHNOPOTHEOSIS by John Sundman (Senegal)

  Biodigital: A Novel of Technopotheosis John  (F.X, Compton, Damien) Sundman (Senegal 1974-76) Rosalita Associates 2015 $5.99 (Kindle) Review by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador, Costa Rica) • This is a novel by a computer, biology, and sci-fi nerd for other nerds in particular, and for anyone who strives to understand the space between technology that we know exists and that which either may currently exist or likely soon will exist in some form. Most of us are likely in this latter category! Sundman states that he is especially interested in the convergence of biological and digital technologies. He has been a hardware, software and science technical writer, and a manager of information architecture in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Biodigital is a sci-fi thriller about a fictitious Silicon Valley tech genius/messiah named Monty Meekman and the quasi-religious cult of transhumanist computer designers and brain hackers who are his devoted followers. It . . .

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New books by Peace Corps writers | May — June 2023

  To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  to order a book and/or  to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT.  See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our . . .

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The Volunteer Who’s Professional Career Focused on African Art, Architecture & Culture | Suzanne Preston Blier (Dahomey | Benin)

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65)   Suzanne Preston Blier is an American art historian who currently is a Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.  Her interest in African art began when she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Save, a Yoruba Center in Dahomey (now Benin Republic) 1969-71. She began her professional career at Vassar College serving as a lecturer from 1979 to 1981. She then spent the following years at Northwestern University as an assistant professor. In 1983, she began work at her alma mater, Columbia University until 1993, subsequently transferring to teach at Harvard University. In 1988, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Soon after, many other Fellowships followed, including from the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Amidst all these professional engagements, Suzanne managed to write in 2019 Picasso’s Demoiselles, the Untold Origins of a Modern . . .

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REVIEW — THE CALL by Jamie Price

  The Call: The Spiritual Realism of Sargent Shriver by Jamie Price, introduction: Charles Hefling 336 pages SSPI Press March 2023 $11.49 (Kindle); $22.00 (Paperback) Review by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76; Costa Rica 1976–77) • I think of Sargent Shriver as one of the all-time greatest examples of the truth of the saying, “If you want something done give the task to a busy person.” From his anti-racism work with the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, to his leadership role in designing and directing the Peace Corps, to his role in running the War on Poverty under President Lyndon Johnson, to his work with Special Olympics International, Shriver was always busy building peace. This book is not a biography or a historical account. This book attempts to answer the question of why he did what he did and how he discerned what could and should be done. The Call . . .

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SOFTBALL, SNAKES, SAUSAGE FLIES AND RICE | Philip Fretz (Sierra Leone)

Softball, Snakes, Sausage Flies and Rice: Peace Corps Experience in 1960s Sierra Leone by Philip Fretz (Sierra Leone 1962-64) Self Published January 2014 148 pages $0 (Kindle); $5.99 (Paperback) Just a few months out of student life on the rolling green lawns of Haverford College, Philip Fretz was living in a small, remote West African city amid insect invasions, deadly snakes and coups. It was the tumultuous 1960s, in both the United States and Africa, and he had become an early recruit to the Peace Corps, founded in 1961. He was the first volunteer to be sent to teach English at the Kenema Technical Institute in Sierra Leone, a former British colony that had been left in stark poverty and underdevelopment when colonialism ended. Half a century later, he began to pore through the diaries he had kept, sporadically, during those two years in Kenema. When his father died in . . .

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Malawi RPCV Christine Farber Passed Away in May

Christine C. (Milliken) Farber, 98, of Hyannis, MA, passed away peacefully on May 23, 2023 surrounded by her family. She was predeceased by her daughter Diane Carr, and is survived by her daughter, Gale Carr of Hyannis MA, grandchildren Niisa (Rick) Morton of Falmouth MA, Catherine (Donald) Wygal of Sherman Oaks CA, Christian Tyler (Robin) Olander of Portsmouth RI, and Matthew Busek of Las Vegas NV, her great grandchildren Alexia and Christian Tucker Morton, and many nieces and nephews. Christine graduated from Bourne High School in 1942 and from Sargent College, Boston University in 1946 where she was crowned Miss Sargenta. In 1955 she opened and headed the Cape Cod Hospital Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department for 32 years. Upon her retirement in 1987, Senator Edward M. Kennedy said “For many of us who live here on Cape Cod, Christine has been THE Cape Cod Hospital. Christine was always there, . . .

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The Peace Corps experience changed lives (Burkina Faso)

Peace Corps experience changed lives Scooter MacMillan, Editor MAY 25, 2023They came from all over the United States and were going to live in a foreign country for two years where most of them didn’t speak any of its languages. They were enthusiastic and idealistic. They were in their early 20s and had recently graduated, lots from Ivy League Schools. Some of them had teaching, clerical or administrative work experience. A few had done manual labor. In their bios for the Peace Corps, lots of them said they liked tennis and skiing. It wasn’t in their bios, but it goes without saying: They all were going to change the world. Maybe they did. It’s interesting to ruminate on how the world might be different if there had never been a Peace Corps. Jim and Susan Hyde of Charlotte were part of a group of 40 Peace Corps volunteers who were . . .

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