Search Results for “gag rule” – Page 5

One mother’s story of how the Peace Corps failed her daughter

Apr 26 2016

This is a long, heartbreaking and true story of the experiences of a PCV who served in Malawi, became ill overseas as a Volunteer, and had the Peace Corps turn their back on her plight while overseas and when she was home again. Why the Peace Corps didn’t help Meghan Wolf receive medical care is the fault of the Peace Corps Staff and the Peace Corps legislation. Why the legislation hasn’t been changed is the fault of the agency, the US Department of Labor (the agency responsible for managing medical claims and loss of wages for Peace Corps service-related health issues) and Congress, which sets the budget and determines laws governing the care PCVs and RPCVs. RPCVs, the NPCA, and those who support the Peace Corps are also at fault for not having successful argued all these years to have the laws changed so sick and injured RPCVs are properly cared for . . .

“Notes on the Common Practice of Rape” by Bob Schacochis (Eastern Caribbean)

Mar 14 2016

Bob Shacochis wrote this essay for Roxane Gay who is putting together a rape anthology that will be coming out next year. After reading it, I asked Bob if we might put it up on our site, as in this piece he discusses several rapes that happened to women — and almost Bob — in the Peace Corps. As we know, the issue is a serious one for PCVs women, and what is being done about it — and not being done about it — continues to be a problem for Volunteers in-country and for the Peace Corps here at home. • NOTES ON THE COMMON PRACTICE OF RAPE by Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975–76) A friend, an architect in Manhattan, has a default mantra, an unwanted but repeated thought that loops through his brain as he walks from his Soho loft to his downtown office or further south to Battery Park — There is something wrong with us. . . .

This article about Rajeev Goyal (Nepal 2001-03) Written by Peter Hessler (China 1996-98)

Dec 20 2015

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker emailed this morning, December 20,2015, about The Business of Giving and remarks in his Introduction to a series of articles on ‘giving’ about Peter Hessler’s article on the Peace Corps, writing, “a volunteer in an eastern part of Nepal later becomes an expert fund-raiser for the organization, and within ten minutes at a dinner on Long Island raises eighteen thousand dollars.” That ‘volunteer’ was Rajeen Goyal (Nepal 2001-03). He then publishes (again) “Village Voice” an article written by Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) about Rajeen that appeared in the December 20, 2010 issue of The New Yorker. Here it is again, if you missed it the first time the piece was published. A Reporter at Large DECEMBER 20, 2010 ISSUE Village Voice The Peace Corps’s brightest hope. BY PETER HESSLER Rajeev Goyal in Namje, Nepal. Instead of introducing American values abroad, Goyal aims at the reverse. . . .

More About Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65)

Oct 14 2015

(This is a short essay I wrote years ago about Theroux and his ‘Peace Corps Experience’ and I am reposting it now to continue the discussion of his latest book.) Living on the Edge: Paul Theroux • He went — in the way the Peace Corps rolls the dice of our lives – to Africa as a teacher. “My schoolroom is on the Great Rift, and in this schoolroom there is a line of children, heads shaved liked prisoners, muscles showing through their rags,” he wrote home in 1964. “These children appear in the morning out of the slowly drifting hoops of fog-wisp. It is chilly, almost cold. There is no visibility at six in the morning; only a fierce white-out where earth is the patch of dirt under their bare feet, a platform, and the sky is everything else.” How many of us stood in front of similar classrooms . . .

Mark Wentling (Honduras 1967-69, 1970-73; PC Staff Togo, Gabon & Niger 1973-77) Says Goodbye to Africa

Jun 03 2015

After two years as a PCV in Honduras, Mark went to Africa in 1970 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, working in the southern Ewe district of Agu, near Gha. Next he was hired as an APCD for rural development. He left Togo in early 1975 to serve as the Peace Corps CD in Gabon and, briefly, in the Central African Republic. In 1976, he was transferred by the Peace Corps to Niger, and in 1977, started a long career with USAID in Niger, then onto Guinea, Togo, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Madagascar and South Africa. He worked as the USAID Mission Director in six of these countries. After USAID, his work with NGOs took him to Niger, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo and Angola. Work and travel has allowed him to visit all . . .

Those were the days my friend….We thought they'd never end

May 05 2015

Those were the days my friend We thought they’d never end A lot gets lost over time and 50+ years of history is a long time for an agency. Reading this past weekend the long, and deadly prose written report: The Peace Corps A Comprehensive Agency Assessment– published in June 2010 by the agency–I realized how much of the original spirit of the Peace Corps has evaporated in five decades of service. This report written by six people, with lots of advisory committees, attempts to evaluate the agency, and make recommendations for the future. It was done at the suggestion of Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams (2009-12) who said during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings that his intention, once confirmed as director, was to “carry out an agency-wide assessment of the Peace Corps as a means of strengthening, reforming, and growing the agency.” Aaron said that “the agency-wide assessment . . .

RPCV Brian Cummins (Dominican Republic 1990-92) Working For Justice in Cleveland

Dec 21 2014

Brian Cummins (Dominican Republic 1990-92) served in a small business program as a PCV. After stints as a trainer for a DR program in ’93 and a Latvia program later that year he was hired as Admin. Officer (AO) for the Russian Far East (1994-97), then transferred to Moldova (1997-90) as AO. He is currently on the Cleveland City Council. He and his RPCV wife, Gayle have two daughters. Ken Hill, Country Director in the Russian Far East (1994-96) recalls that Brian’s work at the challenging RFE post was “extraordinary and impressive, resulting in major improvements to post operations and volunteer support”. Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins was re-elected to Cleveland City Council for a thrid term in 2013 and represents the communities of Clark Fulton, Stockyard, and portions of Brooklyn Centre, Tremont and West Boulevard neighborhoods. Councilman Cummins previously represented the community of Brooklyn Centre and parts of Old . . .

Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978-80) publishes a new story in Superstition Review

Dec 08 2014

Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978-80) is the winner of the Peace Corps Writers Maria Thomas Award for his novel Stone Cowboy. A former Foreign Service officer, he has published more than 100 stories in magazines including The Atlantic, The Southern Humanities Review, The Idaho Review, The Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. His story How Birds Communicate won The Iowa Review fiction prize. In March 2015 Playboy magazine will publish “The Bull You See, The Bull You Don’t.” Set in Madrid, it is the story of a young American woman breaking free of her deadbeat husband. This story, “A Lonely Man Talks to His Pig” was recently published at the online publication Superstition Review. • A Lonely Man Talks to His Pig The property was happily situated, wandering downhill to the raggedy terminus of a gravel road the county would not soon get around to paving. Thanks to a screen of ancestral . . .

Peace Corps and the NPCA have signed a MOU to Cooperate by focusing on Third Goal Activities

Oct 23 2014

The National Peace Corps Association is a membership association for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. It is not an official part of the Peace Corps. However, it has always advocated for the Peace Corps Community. Now the Peace Corps has established a more formal relationship with the NPCA. This Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the NPCA’s annual gathering last June. Read the Memorandum of Understanding between the Peace Corps and the National Peace Corps Association by clicking MOU between Peace Corps and NPCA The following description of the activities is from that Memorandum of Understanding: “V. AREAS OF COOPERATION A. Under this MOU, subject to certain limitations applicable to each party, the Peace Corps and NPCA intend to collaborate on areas of mutual interest that may include, but are not limited to, activities and initiatives that serve to educate the public on the Peace Corps and its mission, programs, and . . .

Dead Calm by Carole Sojka (Somalia 1962-64)

Sep 16 2014

This short story by Carole Sojka takes place in Kenya in the early sixties. As Carole wrote me, “My husband and I were Peace Corps Volunteers in the Somali Republic from 1962 to 1964. We were with the first Somalia group. There were, I think, seven other Peace Corps groups sent to the Republic before the coup in 1969 that sent the country hurtling into its current state of chaos. I taught English in the secondary school in Merca, a town about forty miles south of the capital, Mogadiscio, where the language before independence was Italian. My husband taught English to the local officials, i.e., the D.C., the police chief, the harbor master. He also took photographs for the Ministry of Tourism. It was a hopeful time in Somalia. “The story of ‘Dead Calm’ came from an experience my husband and I had on a train trip in Uganda in . . .

Review of George W. Norton's (Colombia 1971-73) Hunger and Hope

May 05 2014

Hunger and Hope by George W. Norton (Colombia 1971–73) Waveland Press, Inc. 179 pages $18.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 2014 Reviewed by Ronald A Schwarz (Colombia 1961–63) In 1961 Sargent Shriver relentlessly cornered members of Congress to establish the Peace Corps. His assets were vision, passion, charm and chutzpah. If he returned to the agency today, he would have other tools in his box. One of the most useful would be Hunger and Hope by George W. Norton. In the early 1970s, George and his wife Marj were volunteers with the Coffee Federation in Colombia. Later he earned a doctorate in Agricultural Economics and began his career as a professor, international consultant and author (his list of scientific publications covers 20 pages). Hunger and Hope addresses the complex factors related to poverty, hunger and agricultural development in a readable and deeply personal manner. Anecdotes drawn from Norton’s Peace Corps years complement . . .

A Writer Writes: My Philomena Story

Feb 27 2014

A Writer Writes My Philomena by Tony Gambino (Zaire 1979-82) [Tony Gambino taught TEFL for one year in a rural high school and then spent two years teaching at the branch of the Zairian National University in Kisangani. In 2001 he returned to the Congo as the Mission Director for USAID. He is sure that he is one of a very small number of RPCVs who returned to serve as USAID Mission Director in their country of service. (Many RPCVs have become USAID Mission Directors, but didn’t do so in their country of service.) Today he is a consultant working on international issues and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. This essay by Tony appeared on February 25, 2014 on the website Slate. It is republished by Tony’s permission. It is the story of one son’s search for his biological mother.] Tony and his biological mother, Dorothy The story of Philomena Lee and . . .

Draft Strategic Plan 2015-2018 – Continuation of Service

Nov 11 2013

Third Goal Activities and the role of RPCVs are part of the Draft Strategic Plan. I have underlined the two items that caught my attention. Rather than the all RPCV run agency that Dr. Robert Textor envisioned with his “In, Up and Out” policy”, the Peace Corps agency will “Establish a competitive internship program where exceptional RPCVs compete for year-long positions within the agency and its strategic partners.” The other interesting item is the plan to engage RPCVs in a network “similar to a college alumni model”. I found the reference to college illuminating. I am beginning to think that the institutional model that best describes the Peace Corps best is that of a university. The “traditional” Peace Corps Volunteer is the undergraduate. The RPCVs in the lower level positions are the graduate assistants, soon to be replaced by the proposed “interns.” The other employees are the adjunct professors, on . . .

Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68) Speaking Up For The Peace Corps

Jul 19 2013

Review of Molly Melching (Senegal 1976-79) However Long the Night

Jun 07 2013

However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s (Senegal 1976-79) Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph by Aimee Molloy HarperCollins/Skoll Foundation, $25.99 252 pages 2013 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-95) Molly Melching sat by the bedside of her dear old friend and mentor, Alaaji Mustaafa Njaay, who lay dying in his small hut in a Senegalese village. He breathed with difficulty as he whispered to her., “You are trying to accomplish great things, but nothing is going to come easy for you. … Your work will be like electricity: it has a beginning, but no end. Continue to listen and learn from the people, and you will move forward together.” After a long pause, he spoke again, calling her by her Senegalese name. “Sukkeyna Njaay, things will become even more difficult for you. But always remember my words and never lose hope. Lu guddi gi yagg . . .

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