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 they are leaderless, the mass demonstrations against the repressive clerical regime in Iran are arguably the greatest threat the Iranian government has faced in 43 years. The risks that students, musicians, journalists, academics, athletes, and ethnic minorities shoulder to speak and act out against the government continue to be met with violent repression, judicial as well as extra-judicial killings, and...
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 demonstrated a commitment to civic engagement, service, diversity, inclusion, world peace, and to the Peace Corps’ Third Goal — to strengthen Americans’ understanding of the world and its peoples. An advocate for civil rights and an early architect of the Peace Corps, Franklin Williams also served as ambassador to the U.N. and U.S. ambassador to Ghana. The award was established...
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 a leader in the Peace Corps community. The School of Global Studies at Oklahoma State University announced the creation of the Dambach Peacebuilder Endowed Fellowship, a program for students with a career interest in global peace. Named after OSU alumnus and NPCA President Emeritus Charles “Chic” Dambach, the fellowship will provide funding for students in the school’s graduate program and support a...
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 October 2022. That includes work in 21 countries with more than 150 staff—providing crucial leadership for the region at a crucial time. It was the Peace Corps that first took her to West Africa; she taught high school in Guinea 1991–93 after earning her master’s at Columbia and teaching middle school for four years. It was also the Peace Corps...
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 and coordinates AP’s coverage of Ukraine, including text, photography, and video storytelling. Ayres has nearly two decades of reporting that covered U.S. state and national politics, international relations, and developing democracies—with bylines from Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Europe, and India. Christopher Miller (Ukraine 2010–12) has joined the Financial Times as Ukraine correspondent. He has previously covered Ukraine for Politico, BuzzFeed News, and Radio...
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, many of the first Volunteers began training on a campus in Brattleboro, Vermont, which is home to the School for International Training. Now there’s a marker honoring that legacy — and the roots of the Peace Corps in the Experiment in International Living. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, was himself a participant in the Experiment in...
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 a pioneer given that she was a woman who never trained in finance. She learned that on the job. First came the Peace Corps which, she said, taught her “that I enjoy life enormously…And also that I am enormously flexible.” She had sights set on becoming a Volunteer in 1963 when Maria Von Trapp almost talked her out of it....
Harris Bostic II Left a Career in Wall Street to Serve with the Peace Corps in Guinea
A remembrance of Harris Bostic II (1963–2022) By Steven Boyd Saum After studying at Morehouse College, Harris Bostic embarked on a career on Wall Street. He left that to serve with the Peace Corps in Guinea, West Africa, as a microcredit advisor 1988–91. He returned to his hometown of Atlanta to serve as a program manager for the historic 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The Peace Corps was fortunate to have him back as regional director for the western U.S., 1998–2005. He went on to work with Prepare Bay Area, the Clinton Foundation, and others. Since 2016 he served as senior advisor at Tides...
Bradley Broder Established the Kenya Education Fund to Support Young Kenyans
A remembrance of Brad Broder (1976–2022) By NPCA Staff In 1999 Bradley Broder joined the Peace Corps, working in a village at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro for two years. He forged friendships, learned Kiswahili, and witnessed families forced to take extraordinary steps to survive. It was this experience and his connection to the people of Kenya that inspired him to work with a colleague in public health, Dominic Muasya, to create the Kenya Education Fund. Its mission: work to eliminate poverty by sponsoring increased educational opportunities, primarily in high school, for those unable to afford the required school fees. Since...
Remembering Stephen Reid and Djeswende Pasgo Reid
Their life together carried them around the world, then back to Stephen’s home in Concord, New Hampshire. By Steven Boyd Saum Concord, New Hampshire, was where Stephen Reid was born and raised and where, decades later, he returned with his wife and love of his life, Djeswende Pasgo Reid. In between were years and continents and family. Peace Corps service took Steve to Niger 1979–81, teaching middle school English in the town of Madaoua. He returned to work for the Peace Corps agency in D.C.; it was there he and Wendy met. She was studying as an undergraduate after stretches touring internationally with...