Pride and Prejudice
In a small village in western Kenya, a Peace Corps Volunteer who, for safety reasons, will be referred to as Michael, is engaging in meaningful discussions about sexuality, where he encourages the people he meets to pursue life as who they are and safely explore relationships with others. Michael identifies as a bisexual man but has been careful about whom he shares this with during his service. In Kenya, many regu-lations make same-sex relations unlawful, and a majority of Kenyan society holds negative views toward LGBTQ+ persons. “If you do any sexual acts with a same-sex person, you can go...
The Admiral Thanks You for Your Service
Admiral James Stavridis, the former NATO supreme allied commander and past dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy speaks with WorldView editor Robert Nolan about the role of Peace Corps in national security, how national service can be better incentivized, and career opportunities for newly returned Volunteers. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Robert Nolan: As we were putting this issue together, it raised a question for many of us in the community about how we actually define the term “national service.” What are your thoughts on that question? James Stavridis: I’ll get to your question, but first let me say...
Call of Duty
The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national service sector has been a tale of two extremes. On one end of the spectrum, AmeriCorps members (and the many prematurely evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers who joined the effort) were instrumental in administering COVID-19 vaccines to communities across the United States, the latest in a series of examples of service workers meeting an essential need and making a difference at the community level. On the other end of that spectrum, the persistent, if diminishing, risk of being infected with COVID has wreaked havoc on recruitment for all forms of in-person, community-level service...
Partnering, with People
Following the reintroduction of the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act in Congress last March—on Peace Corps’ birthday no less—hundreds of NPCA members rallied around our National Day of Advocacy, including visits to nearly every office in the House and Senate. The same day we visited the Hill, President Biden introduced his 2024 federal budget, including an increase of $65 million for the Peace Corps. The proven impact of these advocacy efforts affirms our commitment to helping Peace Corps be the best it can be. While Peace Corps is now back in, or will soon return to 60 countries, there are many...
Found Objects: Two Medical Kits Filched from the Field
To assure that Volunteers had ready access to emergency medicine in the world’s remote and sometimes dangerous places, the U.S. Public Health Service issued medical kits to all serving Volunteers for their personal use. Thirty-five items were packed in each metal box. Contents included 100 Aralen tablets, 100 water purification tablets, 25 Band-aids, a small tube of Neosporin ointment, a thermometer, two ounces in insect repellant, a snake bite kit, a tourniquet, 50 tablets of Gantrisin, and five safety razor blades. Peace Corps prohibited Volunteers who had no training from using any of the kit’s contents to serve the health...
Mental Health Hurdles
Serving in the Peace Corps is hard. It’s right there in the tagline: “The toughest job you’ll ever love.” Arguably, the single most important trait of a Peace Corps Volunteer is the grit it takes to overcome the many challenges of working in a resource-poor environment. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began turning lives upside down, more people than ever before have seen their resilience tested. The impact of the pandemic on mental health has been significant across the board, but especially for the young Americans who make up the bulk of the Peace Corps’ Volunteer applicant pool. While the prevalence...
Doubling Down on the Future
As a Volunteer serving in Romania after the fall of communism, Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn worked with entrepreneurs who wanted to start businesses during a time when the country was shifting toward a market economy. Nearly 30 years later, she was sworn in to lead the Peace Corps as its 21st director and seventh woman director on January 11, 2023. After serving as Acting Director since January 2021, Spahn’s nomination was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December. Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) administered the oath of office after his opening speech where he proclaimed that “Peace Corps is Back” to...
A Walk in (the) Peace Corps Park
When scores of members of the Peace Corps community visited Congress in March 2022 for the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) Day on the Hill, those who made their way on foot from Union Station southwest toward the U.S. Capitol might have passed a spot that will soon symbolize the very Peace Corps ideals they hold dear. Just steps from the National Mall, in a triangular park bounded by Louisiana Avenue, 1st Street, and C Street NW, lies the future home of the Peace Corps Commemorative—the nation’s first commemorative work dedicated to the timeless search for world peace. It’s meant...
Department of D.I.Y.
When Jodi Hammer trained to serve as a community health worker specializing in child and maternal health in Ecuador in 1994, she learned about nutrition, malnourishment in children, and how to identify and treat common health conditions in the absence of health clinics or medical professionals to staff them. One lesson covered the basics of delivering a baby. The Peace Corps gave her a copy of “Where There Is No Doctor”, a basic health guide especially for people living far from doctors or medical facilities. Living in Urcuqui, a village in the highlands of the Andes Mountains, Hammer kept her copy of...
Coming Together in a Time of Crisis
Honoring three groups working to help the people of Ukraine By NPCA Staff The 2022 Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service honors three groups that have worked together to support the people of Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The RPCV Alliance for Ukraine, the Friends of Moldova, and Partnering for Peace have aided refugees and those in harm’s way. The award was presented at the Peace Corps Connect Conference in September 2022. Named for the widely admired tenth director of the Peace Corps, the annual Ruppe Award is presented by NPCA to outstanding affiliate groups...