Travels and Ghosts: The 2022 Peace Corps Writers Awards
The people’s writer, love and marriage spats in Kazakhstan, mountain gorillas in Rwanda, a C-section by flashlight in Paraguay, and an epic journey by bicycle We make sense of the world and our interwoven lives through stories. Some of...
Peace Corps Volunteers Begin Service in Viet Nam
The end of the year began a new era — with a swearing-in ceremony in Ha Noi with Director Carol Spahn. By Steven Boyd Saum December 30, 2022, was a historic day for the Peace Corps: In a ceremony in...
An Accidental Stumble
Taking Stock of two decades of work by Tom Bissell. In 2022, Peace Corps Writers recognized him as the Writer of the Year. By Steven Boyd Saum Tom Bissell photo courtesy Penguin Random House It was at the Downtown...
IRAN: Protests, Repression, and Hope
The mass demonstrations against the repressive clerical regime in Iran are arguably the greatest threat the Iranian government has faced in 43 years. From an essay by Paul Barker Editor of the Peace Corps Iran Association Advocacy Bulletin Perhaps because...
Franklin H. Williams Award to Be Presented March 1
Celebrate Peace Corps Day by honoring the 2023 recipients of the Franklin H. Williams Award. By NPCA Staff The Franklin H. Williams Award is presented by the Peace Corps agency and honors ethnically diverse Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who have...
A New Fellowship for Global Peacebuilders
NPCA President Emeritus Chic Dambach has previously been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Oklahoma State University has launched a scholarship program in his honor. By Steven Boyd Saum Illustration by Matt Wuerker October brought a special celebration for...
Leading USAID in West Africa
Jo Lesser-Oltheten now heads work for the agency in the region. It was the Peace Corps that first took her there three decades ago. By NPCA Staff Jo Lesser-Oltheten assumed responsibilities as mission director for USAID/West Africa beginning in...
Reporting on Ukraine
Two returned Volunteers who served in Ukraine now play key roles as journalists reporting on that country. By NPCA Staff Sabra Ayres (Ukraine 1995–97) was named chief correspondent for Ukraine at the Associated Press (AP) in September. She manages...
Marking a Place in History
Celebrating Where Peace Corps Training Began By Tiffany James Photo at left: Students in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) with Roger Rhatton, a Peace Corps Volunteer from Bay Village, Ohio, 1965. Photo courtesy National Archives In the early years of the Peace Corps,...
Painting with Her Own Paint
A remembrance of Patricia Cloherty (1942–2022) By Steven Boyd Saum Illustration courtesy Columbia Teachers College When the New York Times and Wall Street Journal marked the passing of Patricia M. Cloherty, they saluted her as a trailblazing venture capitalist — all the more unlikely...