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National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > Cameroon, Central African Republic, Solomon Islands, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Korea, Malawi, Philippines
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Solomon Islands, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Korea, Malawi, Philippines
By JoAnna Haugen on Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
CAMEROON
Dr. Shirish Balachandra has been appointed as the Commonwealth Health Center’s new medical director and the Division of Public Health program manager for the chest clinic’s new TB program. Balachandra is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley and went to medical school at McGill University in Montréal, Canada.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, SOLOMON ISLANDS
Wallace “Kid” Goode (Central African Republic 80-81, Solomon Islands 84-86) was recently presented an Alumni Merit Award from Elmhurst College. The award recognizes outstanding alumni who have achieved notable success in their lives, careers, country and community. Goode has served as the associate dean of students at the University of Chicago since 2005. Prior to that position, he worked as a special assistant to the mayor of Chicago, an assistant dean of students at Earlham College and the Illinois Institute of Technology and a manager of corporate education for international orientation resources. Goode serves on various school boards, and he served on the Elmhurst College Board of Trustees from 1996-2005. He has been awarded with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellowship and the Illinois Consortium for Educational Opportunity Fellowship.
ECUADOR
Since returning from his Peace Corps service, Dave Dumaresq has been leasing the Brox Farm in northeast Massachusetts, where he has continued to grow a widening array of fruits, vegetables and flowers. In 2003, he began to offer his products to his local community and began leasing the East Street Farm in Tewksbury. In 2006, Dumaresq purchased his own farm in Dracut. He now sells his products at the Newburyport Farmers Market.
ETHIOPIA
Father Aaron Pirrera, OSB (66-68) recently celebrated his 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. Pirrera is currently the pastor of St. Benedict Church in Subiaco, Arkansas. Between 1985 and 2001, he served at Subiaco Abbey and Academy as a teacher of English and religion, librarian, vocation director, formation director, development director, Coury House director and head of the English department. He became the academy’s headmaster in 2001. Pirrera received his degree from St. Ambrose College.
KENYA
Guy Consolmagno (84-85) is an astronomer and Jesuit brother for the Vatican Observatory, located in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Prior to this, he worked at Harvard University and MIT.
KOREA
Clarity Care board of directors has elected Bill Wresch (72-74) as one of its newest members. Wresch is the associate dean for the College of Business at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. He previously served on the board for the Habitat for Humanity in Oshkosh; he also served various roles in Rotary International and is currently the Rotary district governor for the southeastern region of Wisconsin. Wresch has his doctorate from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MALAWI
Dr. James Pressler and his wife, Kathleen (66-68), who served in the Peace Corps together, recently returned to Malawi after 42 years. Kathleen is a professor in the Department of Human Services at Westchester Community College and is currently on sabbatical while attempting to create a five-week program that would allow her to take her students to Malawi. She spent 18 years as a social worker with the Student Assistance Service Corp. in Westchester County before joining WCC in 1998. Kathleen was honored by the Westchester division National Association of Social Workers as the Social Worker of the Year in 2009. For the past six years, Dr. James Pressler, a pediatrician, has been working at Settlement Health & Medical Services, a community health center in East Harlem.
PHILIPPINES
In 2006, Kevin Lee joined Gemma Bulos in her mission to make sure people have access to clean water through the organization she founded in 2004 called A Single Drop. The demand for clean water was so great in the Philippines that ASD’s Philippines office, A Single Drop for SafeWater, was opened shortly after Lee came on board. In less than four years, the organization has provided more than 120,000 people with improved access to clean water and sanitation. Lee (who is now ASDSW’s executive director) and Bulos were awarded with an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2007.
