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. We have celebrated the legacy of the Peace Corps over the past weeks with anniversaries of the signing of the Peace Corps Act and of 60-year partnerships with Ghana, Tanzania, Colombia, and the Philippines. After attending these events – surrounded by partners, host community members, returned Peace Corps Volunteers, staff, and other supporters – I am in awe of the strength of the Peace Corps network, the values we live by, and the power of service to unite. This network has stepped up in countless, innovative ways to advance the Peace Corps’ mission of promoting world peace and friendship during this historic time. Those efforts have included virtual engagements with host country partners, staff programming outreach, interagency collaborations, and above-and-beyond . . .

  October 8, 2021 WASHINGTON – Today, the Peace Corps provided an update on the agency’s progress to strengthen its volunteer safety, and sexual assault risk reduction and response efforts over the last six months. “When I stepped into the role of Acting Director, I called for all Peace Corps staff to examine how our agency can better meet our service commitments to both volunteers and the community members we work alongside,” said Peace Corps Acting Director Carol Spahn. “This deep, structural work involves upgrading all of our systems, including and especially those related to sexual assault risk reduction and response. Peace Corps staff care deeply about the safety of our volunteers and, as an agency, we are continuously learning, wholeheartedly dedicated to reducing risk, wherever possible, and committed to providing victim-centered, trauma-informed care.” In the spring, the Peace Corps committed to making specific, systemic improvements to sexual-assault-related policies and . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ idea from Alana DeJoseph’s (Mali 1992–94) Over the last 60 years that the Peace Corps has been a part of America (and the world) it has influenced our culture in many ways. One of the funniest experiences for us RPCVs is when we hear a popular movie or television character referring to the Peace Corps. So let’s have a challenge: In the comments below, please list any popular media mentions of the Peace Corps! To get you started, here are two: 1985 — American comedy film directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Tom Hanks and John Candy: Volunteers 2018 — Animated TV series Rick and Morty: Season 4, Episode 8

 The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed Rep. Garamendi’s H.R.4996, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, last Thursday (9/30) by a strong bipartisan vote of 44 to 4. The 4 GOP no votes were Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Greg Steube (R-FL), and Ronny Jackson (R-TX). The Committee defeated the only other amendment to H.R.4996, offered by Rep. Perry, which would have effectively defunded the Peace Corps (indefinitely) and did not solve the problem it purported to solve. Here is Rep. Garamendi’s press release on Committee passage of his bill, which you are welcome to share: https://garamendi.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-foreign-affairs-committee-passes-garamendi-s-peace-corps-reauthorization The Committee’s ANS made some substantive changes to the bill necessary in order to earn the support of Ranking Member McCaul (R-TX) and also incorporate feedback from the Peace Corps on the overall reauthorization. Team Garamendi is still digesting those changes and hopes to send a more detailed update in the . . .

This is a blog item I published in 2016. As we talk about China recently on our site I thought I would repost this blog item. After reading The Inside Story of the Peace Corps in China, I thought we should remember the first group of PCV who went from China into international careers in journalism. — JC Although the Peace Corps has given a start to many well-known writers — Paul Theroux, Maria Thomas, Philip Margolin, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, among them — it has fostered relatively few journalists and editors. One of the first journalists was Al Kamen, a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic during the early 1960s. Recently retired after 35 years at the Washington Post, Kamen wrote a column, “In the Loop,” and also covered the State Department and local and federal courts. He assisted his Post colleague Bob Woodward with reporting for The Final Days and The Brethren. Other Peace Corps . . .

from THE HILL BY REED HASTINGS AND GLENN BLUMHORST, Opinion Contributors 09/30/21 Americans just spent the past two decades trying to rebuild Afghanistan from the top down. Our military led the way, with huge sacrifice, and the American people spent more than $2 trillion dollars on this effort. While hopes were raised, particularly for women, progress was fleeting. Our mission was not achieved. One could be forgiven then, for believing that American engagement overseas is a pointless task. And one could even be forgiven for thinking that Americans should choose to stop engaging the world because of what we’ve just gone through, and that instead, we should just retreat, self-isolate, and give up. Yet that would be a grievous mistake. Not only because it would undermine America’s security and prosperity, but because it just isn’t true. We’re writing this piece because we, as former Peace Corps volunteers, have seen the other side . . .

  By Daniel Schoolenberg (China 2013-15) SupChina Weekly September 30, 2021   When the Peace Corps pulled out of China early last year, it marked the end of a 27-year program that existed only thanks to the efforts of high-level American and Chinese diplomats. Could the program — with its ideals of U.S.-China cooperation — ever be restored?     On August 31, 1988, a small group of American officials arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials. They were treated like high-level diplomats: received with the utmost formality, treated to endless banquets, given the same villa that had hosted Nixon and Kissinger years before to conduct meetings. Led by Jon Keeton, the regional director for the Peace Corps’s Asia programs, the small delegation was tasked with negotiating the details of a Peace Corps program in China. Keeton remembers the high ceilings, ornate pillars, the beautiful potted plants, and the . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Rowland Scherman (PC Staff 1961-63)      By John Bidwell (Mali 1989-91) Daily Hampshire Gazette 9/24/2021   This month the Peace Corps turns 60. President Kennedy signed the legislation that created the Peace Corps in September 1961, deepening through action, our key national values of service, sacrifice, dedication, and learning from those we serve. The Peace Corps goals are to serve others in interested countries, bring a better understanding of our country to others, and bring a better understanding of others home. My wife, Kris Holloway, and I are proud to have served, joining more than 240,000 nationwide over the past six decades. I entered to bring my skills and commitment to others (and see the world, after growing up in a very small New Hampshire town). I departed enriched and grateful. My life was forever changed for the better. Kris and I worked . . .

  By Doug West (Jamaica 1968-71) September 22, 2021   I write this inspired by a New York Times op-ed earlier this year, “Should Young Americans be Required to Give a Year of Service?” I also note that this week marks the 60th anniversary of enactment of the legislation which created the Peace Corps. In 1968, my former wife and I were among 80 volunteers selected for two-year Peace Corps assignments in Jamaica, the fifth Peace Corps group to be sent to Jamaica following President Kennedy’s founding of the Peace Corps in 1961. Like many, I was inspired by JFK’s grand vision, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” (Dismissed by Richard Nixon as a refuge for draft dodgers, the Peace Corps created a deferment, but not an alternative to military service. When I returned in 1971, I narrowly missed the draft, . . .