Peace Corps Worldwide – Page 65 – promoting Peace Corps writers since 1989

ST. PETERSBURG BAY BLUES by Douglas Buchacek (Russia)

Nov 08 2022

St. Petersburg Bay Blues is Douglas Buchacek’s account of serving in Western Russia from 2001 to 2003, in what ultimately turned out to be the final Peace Corps cohort to serve in the country. He has documented his service, which began three weeks before 9/11, up through the ultimate closing of the program in February 2003, amidst accusations of espionage against Peace Corps Volunteers. The Russia he lived in was a world caught between worlds — the after effects of the end of the Soviet Union, the chaos of the 1990s, the beginnings of Putinism — and that struggle affected his service, and everyone he encountered . . . Russian and American. The book is also a story of youth, of growing up, of friendship, of curiosity. It is a meditation on the joy of adventure, as well as on sadness and loneliness, and a portrait of a society . . .

Mark Gearan gives talk on National Service

Nov 08 2022

Former Peace Corps Director Mark. Gearan will join the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Rochester’s (NY) Fall Forum series, delivering a guest presentation on the state of public service in the U.S. and possibilities for its future. Gearan is nationally known for his tenure in higher education and national service. His public talk, “National Service in the 21st Century,” will be held in-person and online beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the Rochester Academy of Medicine. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR PRESIDENT GEARAN’S TALK AT THE HARVARD-RADCLIFFE CLUB OF ROCHESTER. Mark Gearan, president again of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, recently served as Vice Chair of the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service created by the U.S. Congress. Gearan is a past chair of the Board of Directors of both National Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service.The event is hosted by the Rochester-area . . .

Review — WHILE I WAS OUT by Jerry Redfield (Ecuador)

Nov 07 2022

While I Was Out: Two Years That Changed America — A Peace Corps Memoir by Jerry Redfield (Ecuador 1963-65) Peace Corps Writers Imprint 292 pages July 2022 $22.00 (paperback) Reviewed by Cynthia Nelson Mosca (Ethiopia 1967-69) • Shortly before “Hell no, we won’t go!” there was the Peace Corps. While I Was Out by Jerry Redfield, takes place during the years 1963 to 1965. Early years for the Peace Corps, turbulent years for our country. This book is a real story taken from the author’s journals and letters home. Our hero, Jerry, vacillates between confusion, frustration, and impatience. Will he be able to put aside his attitude in time? Will he fall in love? Will he develop long term friendships? And ultimately will he fall in love with the people of Ecuador? In the ’60s we were nothing if not assured. Half of the youth of our country was absolutely certain . . .

A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps

Nov 07 2022

Film Screening & Discussion Mon Nov 07 2022 at 05:00 pm to 08:30 pm DePaul University – Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Building | Chicago, IL What role should the Peace Corps play in the 21st century? Come view the film and share your thoughts about the future of the Peace Corps. A Towering Task is an independent documentary produced and directed by Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992-94), a returned Peace Corps volunteer and documentary filmmaker. She has been a member of the production teams that produced The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film and Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time. She works alongside Dave Steinke (film producer, cameraman and former Forest Service public affairs director) and Shana Kelly (screenwriter and book editor). All three strongly believe in the urgent need for an objective, in-depth look at the history and future of the Peace Corps. . . .

THE VEGETABLE GROWS AND THE LION ROARS by Gary R. Lindberg (Ivory Coast)

Nov 07 2022

The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service is a memoir about author Gary R. Lindberg’s experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ivory Coast in the 1960s. This book offers a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to be a PCV in the early days of the program. This one-of-a-kind memoir presents how he decided to apply for the opportunity, how he trained, his project, the daily life activities, and the friends he made while he was there. He also shares highlights from the travels he took when on vacation breaks, such as his experience on a safari and his visit to the legendary city of Timbuktu. This memoir combines historical elements with personal vignettes as Lindberg elaborates on his many adventures – such as having a broken radiator in the middle of nowhere and how he and his companions got help. In . . .

Laura Ann Twagira’s (Mali) EMBODIED ENGINEERING — finalist for award

Nov 06 2022

Finalist for the 2022 African Studies Association Best Book Prize Steve Scarpa | The Wesleyan Connection Associate history professor Laura Ann Twagira’s (Mali 2000-01) book begins with a song – Malian women sing and boast about the quality of their cuisine. From that domestic moment, Twagira found the keys to a technological revolution. “Women brag and praise each other. They make food that everyone enjoys and that enlivens life. To do that, they need a set of key technological skills,” she said. Embodied Engineering: Gendered Labor, Food Security, and Taste in Twentieth-Century Mali was named a finalist for the 2022 Best Book Award by the African Studies Association (ASA). The winner of the award will be announced in November. The ASA presents the award annually, recognizing the most important scholarly work in African studies published in English and distributed in the United States in the previous year. The . . .

The Peace Corps is Back

Nov 05 2022

By Jeff Walsh (South Africa 2016-18) Ukraine, a sovereign country in Eastern Europe, was attacked this past February. Other previously neutral European countries are bolstering their military arsenal and are scrambling to join NATO for protection. The 101st Airborne has arrived in Poland. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has set the doomsday clock to 100 seconds to midnight. Doctors Without Borders stated that due to persecution, war, hunger, gender orientation. and climate change there are now 100 million refugees worldwide. Polar ice caps are melting, as we lose Arctic sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade as the Arctic could be ice-free by the summer by 2040. We need a hero. We need someone who actively understand and promotes world peace and friendship. We need the Peace Corps. On March 15, 2020- all Peace Corps operations came to a grinding halt. All 7,000 volunteers in over 50 . . .

Establishing the Peace Corps, March 1, 1961

Nov 04 2022

This article I wrote in 1999 and I repost it now so new Volunteers will know the early history of their agency. JC 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 thousands 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, . . .

Former Peace Corps General Counsel reacts to “5 Peace Corps Scandals”

Nov 03 2022

William Josephson writes….. Five Peace Corps scandals could have benefited from some fact checking, editing and consultation. The overall impression is that they are characteristic. They are not. They occurred over a very long period of time. “Scandal” is a misnomer in many of these cases. The Kate Puzey 2011 murder is so well known that it engendered a congressional reaction, and the Peace Corps’ continuing efforts to develop effective policies that reduce Peace Corps volunteer sexual harassment or worse. The death of the PCV wife of a Tanganyikan PCV dates to my 1960s time as Peace Corps General Counsel. Not so incidentally, the husband’s verdict was “not proven,” not not guilty. The Scottish system of three verdicts, guilty, not guilty, not proven, was followed there at that time. The Tonga killing occurred in 1977. Sex would seem to have been a, or the, motive. Tragic it was, . . .

Review — THE DELCO YEARS by Bill Owens (Jamaica)

Nov 03 2022

The Delco Years: A Dystopian Novel Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964–66), Francesca Cosanti (Illustrator) Delco Years Publishing April 2022 $32.85 (paperback), $42.58 (hardcover) Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76) & Costa Rica 1976-77) • This is an interactive graphic novel by Bill Owens. The author claims to be channeling Ned Buntline, the narrator of the story. The many great illustrations are the work of Francesca Cosanti. According to Buntline: “’The Delco Years’ was written in 1999 and put away for 21 years. Then in the Fall of 2020, for some unknown reason (COVID-19), I started re-writing and added illustrations.” Due to the accidental release of a weaponized strain of anthrax, the human population of the world has been nearly wiped out. The only people who survived were drinkers of unpasteurized craft beer. The two major themes of the novel are, the series of events leading to the apocalypse, and the . . .

The Volunteer Who Provided a Clear-eyed Look at Africa — Mark Wentling (Honduras, Togo)

Nov 02 2022

(A major portion of this profile was drawn from an article in the Foreign Service Journal & Peace Corps WorldWide) by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963–65) • Mark Wentling served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras, 1967-69, and in Togo, 1970-73. He retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 1996, after serving as principal officer in six African countries. Mark worked in Africa for the Peace Corps, non-governmental organizations, and as a contract employee for USAID. He has published eight books, including the three-volume African Memoir Years: 54 Countries, One American Life. (Vol I, Vol II, Vol III Mark recently published an article entitled “Much Cause for Worry” in the September issue of the Foreign Service Journal, giving readers an uncompromising perspective of Africa in a contemporary context. His views emanate from having lived and worked in every corner of this continent, visiting 54 countries over the past 50 . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | September – October 2022

Nov 02 2022

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 Third . . .

Peace Corps swears in 31 new Volunteers in Zambia

Nov 02 2022

Peace Corps Zambia swore into service 31 Volunteers following 11 weeks of training in technical skills, language, and inter-cultural understanding. The Volunteers will work with community members in rural areas of Zambia on education and health programs in the Central, Eastern, Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Northwestern, and Southern provinces. Eighteen of the Volunteers will serve under the Ministry of Education to support teachers in primary and lower secondary schools (grade 5 to 9) in developing innovative and gender-equitable teaching methodologies, in addition to teaching English. The remaining 13 Volunteers will serve under the Ministry of Health to support community health workers in promoting strategies to improve maternal, neonatal, and child health, in addition to teaching about malaria control and prevention methods. The Minister of Education, Honorable Douglas Syakalima, was the guest of honor at the ceremony. His Royal Highness Chief Chamuka VI of the Lenje people, and Director of Public . . .

Review — GOD HOLDS YOU by Sarah S. Scherschligt (Malawi)

Nov 01 2022

God Holds You by Sarah S. Scherschligt (Malawi 1996-98) Independently published October 2022 357 pages $17.99 (Paperback) Reviewed by Ben East (Malawi 1996-98) • Sarah S. Scherschligt is the Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Originally from Minnesota, she lives near Washington, D.C. with her husband and two daughters. She studied at Valparaiso University, Yale Divinity School, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Prior to becoming a pastor, she served in the U.S. Peace Corps (Malawi 1996-98) and worked for Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education & had experience in both Minnesota and Namibia. She is an environmental activist and amateur potter. Her writing has appeared in The Christian Century, The Presbyterian Outlook, BoldCafe, and The Washington Post. God Holds You offers a chronicle of hope. As we entered the pandemic wilderness in March 2020, progressive Lutheran pastor Sarah Scherschligt began publishing daily reflections about adapting to the . . .

What RPCV Handed Out Treats on the White House Lawn?

Nov 01 2022

President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, doled out Halloween candy Monday to trick-or-treaters dressed up as everything from Spider-Man to a flamingo to a monk to a zombie founding father at a soggy celebration on the south side of the White House. It was the Bidens’ first time welcoming trick-or-treaters as president and first lady. They were in Europe for Halloween last year, their first in the White House. They had the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the executive mansion lit up in orange for the spooky holiday. Despite rainfall Monday, some 5,000 guests — children and their adult chaperones — were expected to stream through the event, where Biden and his wife handed out treats as part of this year’s “Trick-or-Treating in the President and First Lady’s Neighborhood.” The invitation list included children of local firefighters, nurses, police officers and National Guard members invited through local community groups, labor unions and other organizations, the White . . .