Peter Pan Syndrome
From the air I view the Congo river, a muddy, meandering waterflow whose breadth where it separates Brazzaville from Kinshasa is truly impressive. Though I first came to Africa twenty years before, such names still captivate me even if I can now lecture on the difference between Congo-Brazza and Congo-Kinshasa, between Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, and Equatorial Guinea. Though I graduated college without knowing the difference between Niger and Nigeria, I have since written books about them. And still, a journey through Africa excites me as much as my original atlas explorations did as a boy. All thanks to the Peace Corps....
RPCVs Addressing the Development Aid Gap
The idealism and optimism that gave birth to Peace Corps 65 years ago live on in the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) community and have never been more needed. With drastic international aid reductions, RPCV programs can be a critical source of support in marginalized communities. In the Yumbe District of Northern Uganda where two RPCV programs have expanded over the last six years people do not have water or electricity but what they do have in abundance is optimism. With the help of affordable loans from TCP Global, they move from selling on mats in the hot sun to...
Carrying the Torch of Liberty
Here in the Washington, DC area, where public service, education, and community roots run deep, we understand the quiet impact one life can have. My father, Victor Joseph Corbin, is one of those lives. As part of the Peace Corps’ earliest pilot program under President John F. Kennedy, he served in Costa Rica in the early 1960s. He didn’t observe from a distance. He immersed himself fully, working alongside local families, helping build infrastructure, teaching English, and becoming part of daily life. He didn’t just serve the community. He became part of it. That mattered. In the early 1960s, during...
Wave of Inspiration
When thinking about the legacy of Peace Corps, we as a community often cite with pride John F. Kennedy's speech at the University of Michigan in 1960, where the idea of Peace Corps was first articulated, and the astounding reception his call to service received when more than 1,000 young Americans signed a petition in support of the idea and offered to join up. "How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your days in Ghana?" Kennedy asked. "Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and...
Once You’re In, You’re In
Like many of you, I consider my moment in my life. I shifted from a postcollegiate career in banking and insurance to a life committed to service, beginning with my Peace Corps service in the Comoro Islands at age 27 and followed by 20 years working in development in sub-Saharan Africa. As a Volunteer, I was driven by curiosity and adventure. What I did not know at the time was that I had become part of something much larger than myself—a member of a unique community of individuals committed to national service in the name of peace. Now, as I...
Kinder-Resilient
The Tongan village of Tu’anuku childhood education this past February, celebrating the soft opening of a brand-new climate-resilient kindergarten facility. This milestone marks the culmination of an international collaborative effort spear-headed by Friends of Tonga (FoT), a National Peace Corps Association–affiliated nonprofit organization based in Laurel, Maryland. Founded and operated by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, FoT remains dedicated to sustaining the spirit of service long after its members’ initial tenure in the Kingdom of Tonga. FoT built their first climate-resilient kindergarten in Ta’anga, ‘Eua, in 2021, in direct response to the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. Rather than just...
No Light. No Water. No Chance.
In rural Ethiopia, miles of rugged terrain born’s survival. The journey to a clinic often happens on foot. It happens in the dark. It happens when every second counts. For many women living in the country’s West Omo Zone and Bench Sheko Zone, access to a clean medical facility or a skilled provider is not a given. Village Health Partnership works where the pavement ends. Our mission is to end maternal and neonatal deaths. We are building the systems that make medicine possible. In 2023, the national maternal mortality rate in Ethiopia was 195 deaths per 100,000 live births. This...
The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – Bestselling Books
BESTSELLING BOOKS Lifeboat at the End of the World: A Volunteer’s Story by Dominic Gregory Dominic Gregory writes about life on a volunteer lifeboat crew, from training routines to high-stakes rescues. When migrant boats begin arriving along the English coast, the work takes on new urgency. The book focuses on the people behind the response, capturing moments when decisions must be made quickly, and where the line between duty and humanity can blur. The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya by David Stuart Drawing on recent discoveries and decades of research, David Stuart presents a...
Peace Corps Forever
The Instagram account @pcvtattoos has been posting Peace Corps-inspired tattoos since 2019. Featuring simple and complex tattoos in many languages from Volunteers around the world, the account brings a new approach to sharing Peace Corps stories. WorldView curated a small selection of photos from the account, along with some comments from anonymous posters. “I got this tattoo in memory of my host family but especially my host brother. He passed away at 23 years old due to lung cancer. The leopard represents the tribe I was living in, and the roses and heart are for my host family” “Meaning behind...
The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – Podcasts
PODCASTS Fela Kuti: Fear No Man Higher Ground Jad Abumrad traces the transformation of Fela Kuti from Western-trained musician to revolutionary artist. What begins as a search for identity becomes a confrontation with power, as Fela turns music into a vehicle for political resistance and creates Afrobeat along the way. Missing in the Amazon The Guardian A gripping investigative series into the disappearance of journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in Brazil’s Javari Valley. Reporter Tom Phillips follows the trail through a remote region of the Amazon, where environmental, political, and Indigenous rights collide Soft Power/FulStories Christopher Wurst...