Where is the Peace?
Those concerned with the state of global peace might be forgiven for succumbing to a melancholic, even defeatist point of view given the events of the past few years. The world is experiencing the highest level of violence since World War II, with armed conflicts simmering, enduring, or raging in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine, to name just a few. In 2022, more than 2 billion people lived in conflict-afflicted areas, and 110 million were displaced by violence, according to the United Nations. And the 2023 Global Peace Index, one of the most reliable measures of current levels of...
The Three Amigos
June 2022: We were on the short flight from Miami to Havana, Cuba. Tres amigos. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Mike Tulley, Rick Smith, and myself (all Honduras, late 1970s), we were on an adventure to the off-limits Latin American country that is so close, yet so far away. There is no group better able to transcend political differences than a group of Peace Corps Volunteers, so we set about our self-styled diplomatic “mission” to foster peace and friendship across the island. Before leaving, we checked out the confusing State Department requirements that have vacillated from one presidential administration to the...
Make America a Better Place by Leaving It
As country singer Merle Haggard sang “If you don’t love it, leave it” repeatedly in his 1970 hit “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” the Peace Corps released a recruitment poster encouraging the very same thing. Americans could improve their country by leaving it. Everyone thinks of the good Peace Corps Volunteers do where they serve. Just as important is what they bring home from their time away. Peace Corps’ on-the-job skills training prepares Volunteers to be diplomats, entrepreneurs, teachers, public health workers and more. When they return home, they invest what they learned back into their communities. Thousands of leaders...
Found Objects: Cabinet of Curiosities
If you had no smart phone, no laptop, no internet, and you had to walk, bike or ride a horse three villages away to make a call or post an aerogram, what to do at night? Turn up the wick on your kerosene lantern and pull your paperback copy of J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories from your library. Yes, for the first several years of Peace Corps, Sarge Shriver’s staff shipped to almost every Peace Corps site a curated library of about 200 books, a moveable post-graduate world study assignment. Not long after the first flights of Peace Corps Volunteers landed in Africa...
Hey, There’s A Peace Corps!
In September 22, 2019, A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Directed by filmmaker Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992–94) the documentary focuses on Peace Corps history along with its past and current struggles. Nearly four years after the film’s premiere, NPCA communications intern Megan Dial interviewed DeJoseph just before the documentary aired nationwide on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in September. Megan Dial: This edition of WorldView magazine focuses on the meaning of service. In a previous article (Summer 2015), you said Peace Corps acts as a prism for some of the nation’s hardest questions, such as the notion of service. What does service mean to...
The Stream: Streaming Video
WorldView Editor Picks: Five must-watch shows and documentaries Welcome to the The Stream, where WorldView highlights podcasts, videos and music from across the Peace Corps universe and on related issues and topics. In this edition, we take a look at new streaming videos selected by our editors. (more…)
The Stream: Podcasts
WorldView Picks: Five must-listen podcasts focused on national service, women's leadership, and national security Welcome to the The Stream, where WorldView highlights podcasts, videos, and music from across the Peace Corps universe and on related issues and topics. In this edition, we take a look at podcasts focused on national service, women’s leadership, and national security. Extra-Ordinary Women Latanya Mapp Frett, President and CEO of Global Fund for Women In the first podcast of Extra-Ordinary Women, Women of Peace Corps Legacy interviews Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Latanya Mapp Frett, President and CEO of Global Fund for Women. Latanya, who got her...
Reel vs. Real: Peace Corps, Pop Culture, and Public Perception
In the ever-evolving landscape of pop culture, the Peace Corps has not only made its mark as an international force for world peace but has also found its way into the hearts and minds of creative storytellers across the decades. From the early sixties to the digital age of today, Peace Corps has left an indelible imprint on the silver and small screens, offering the community a unique thrill — spotting those unmistakable Peace Corps references that hit close to home. The experience of volunteering abroad is a tapestry of triumphs, trials, and transformation. Peace Corps’ complex tapestry has been...
Keeping it Real: Narrative Integrity and Ethical Storytelling
This year’s Peace Corps Connect conference offered a 360-degree view on all things Peace Corps. For advocates, Congressman John Garamendi, the only RPCV currently serving in Congress, gave his views on Peace Corps funding and its role in U.S. foreign policy. For observers of the agency, Director Carol Spahn shared her vision for the future of Peace Corps, including greater efforts to combat climate change, expand youth development, and address gender equity at new posts being added regularly since the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic. For champions of the work RPCVs do at home, awards were announced, and a new platform for the continuation of...
A Bipartisan No-Brainer
The existence and efforts of the National Service Caucus are indicative of the power and potential of national service in the United States, something that should be continuously celebrated and cultivated. The National Service Caucus was established in 2004 by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. David Price (D-NC), Rep. Tom Osborne (R-NE) and Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN). The caucus became bicameral in 2008 when Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) established a companion caucus in the Senate. “My ambition when I was in college was to be in the Peace Corps and maybe serve in some public way in government…and give that to discussions when I was growing up by Kennedy and others,”...