Zaire – Peace Corps Worldwide

“Writers from the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

May 09 2024

John writes — Since 1961, Peace Corps writers have used their volunteer service as source material for their fiction and nonfiction. Approximately 250,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps. Of these volunteers and staff, more than 1,500 have published memoirs, novels, and poetry inspired by their experience. Many former volunteers have gone on to careers as creative writing teachers, journalists, and editors, while others have discovered a variety of jobs outside of publishing where their Peace Corps years have contributed to successful employment. A Peace Corps tour has proven to be a valuable experience — in terms of one’s craft and one’s professional career—for more than one college graduate. The first to write The first book to draw on the Peace Corps experience was written by Arnold Zeitlin (Ghana 1961–63), who had volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1961 after having been an Associated Press reporter. That book, . . .

“I Had A Hero” by Mike Tidwell (Zaire)

Sep 20 2023

IN ONE HAND HE CARRIED a spear, in the other a crude machete. On his head was a kind of coonskin cap with a bushy tail hanging down in back. Around his neck was a string supporting a leather charm to ward off bad bush spirits. Two underfed mongrel dogs circled his bare feet, panting. “My name is Ilunga,” he said, extending his hand. “My name is Michael,” I said, shaking it. We smiled at each other another moment before Ilunga got around to telling me he had heard my job was to teach people how to raise fish. It sounded like something worth trying, he said, and he wondered if I would come by his village to help him look for a pond site. I said I would and took down directions to his house. The next day the two of us set off into the bush, hunting . . .

Craig Sholley (Zaire) — African Wildlife Foundation

Apr 06 2023

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Tina Thuermer (Zaire 1973-75) Senior Vice President African Wildlife Foundation Craig’s experiences with wildlife and conservation began in 1973 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire. As an L.S.B. Leakey grant researcher in the late 1970s, Craig studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey and, in 1987, became director of Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla Project, of which African Wildlife Foundation was a sponsor. Craig has acted as Scientific Advisor for the award-winning IMAX film, “Mountain Gorilla,” and with National Geographic, he surveyed the conservation status of mountain gorillas in the aftermath of Rwanda’s civil war. Craig’s direct involvement with AWF began as a Senior Associate and member of AWF’s Board of Trustees. He became a full-time employee of AWF in 2001 and now serves as Senior Vice President.

Once Again: Five Great Short Stories About the Peace Corps Experience

Mar 13 2023

Five Great Short Stories About the Peace Corps Experience The Mending Fields by Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975–76) I WAS ASSIGNED to the Island of Saint Kit in the West Indies. Once on an inter-island plane, I sat across the aisle from one of my new colleagues, an unfriendly, overserious young woman. She was twenty-four, twenty-five . . . we were all twenty-four, twenty-five. I didn’t know her much or like her. As the plane banked over the island, she pressed against the window, staring down at the landscape. I couldn’t see much of her face, just enough really to recognize an expression of pain. Below us spread an endless manicured lawn, bright green and lush of sugarcane, the island’s main source of income. Each field planted carefully to control erosion. Until that year, Saint Kit’s precious volcanic soil had been bleeding into the sea; somehow they had resolved . . .

Using Peace Corps Literature to Teach Global Awareness, Critical Thinking, and Service Learning

Feb 21 2023

Thanks for the “heads up” from Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love: Using Peace Corps Literature to Teach Global Awareness, Critical Thinking, and Service Learning Christina Chapman, M.Ed. Instructor of Developmental Reading Coordinator of Developmental Communications Lewis and Clark Community College • I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) from 1988-1990. One of the first new words we were taught during the training was animation. Animation, a French word meaning liveliness, was what we called the process of teaching. This term signified a new way of thinking about the teaching process; movement and life through education. This idea of someone gaining energy and forward movement was a heady concept to try to apply to my job as an agriculture extension agent in central Africa. Now, as a developmental reading teacher in central United States, I realize that the . . .

Mike Tidwell (Zaire)| “Why I’m protesting the Congressional Baseball Game”

Jul 28 2022

— Opinion by Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985-87) I’ll be attending the 87th annual Congressional Baseball Game Thursday at Nationals Park. I won’t be there as a fan, peacefully cracking my peanuts. I’ll be there as a protester, peacefully engaged in civil disobedience. I’m a lifelong baseball devotee who attends games at D.C.’s Nationals Park mostly to forget about politics, not engage in them. You want to hand me literature outside the park or chant your message inside? Have at it. But make it quick, man. You’re annoying me. There’s one towering exception, however — one issue so huge, so all-consuming, that it transcends baseball and everything else. It’s called, you know, the burning up of the whole world! The Post reported this month that 1,000-year-old bristlecone pines are dying en masse in California. Meanwhile, Europe sets a new heat record almost daily, and scientists have declared a “code red” for . . .

RPCV who served in Zaire joins U.S. Mission in Dutch Caribbean as Consul General

Jan 22 2022

Press release: WILLEMSTAD Jan 21, 2022 The United States Consulate General in Curacao is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Margy Horan Bond (Zaire 1988-90) as the U.S. Consul General to Curacao and Chief of Mission to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten. Margy Bond is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with over 25 years of experience in the State Department, both at home and abroad. She assumed her duties as U.S. Chief of Mission to the Dutch Caribbean and Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Curaçao on January 21, 2022. Most recently, Margy served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central African Affairs after having been Director of Central African Affairs since July 2020. She was the Director of the Office of Economic and Development Assistance in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs from 2018-2020 where she focused on advancing sustainable development, . . .