A Collective Memoir of Peace Corps Libya
101 Arabian Tales How We All Persevered in Peace Corps Libya Edited by Randolph W. Hobler Lulu Books Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson Randy Hobler has taken on the herculean task of writing a comprehensive history of the Peace Corps in Libya, in the form of a collective memoir of 101 Volunteers. He interviewed as many Libya RPCVs as he could find and asked for journals and letters. The result is a collection of tales covering the brief span Volunteers served in Libya, from the training of Libya I to the termination of Libya III before they left their training...
Stories of the Human Heart
Founded in 2003, StoryCorps shares stories to deepen connections between people and create a just, compassionate world. Sandra Clark is the first woman of color to lead the nonprofit as StoryCorps CEO. By Tiffany James Photo courtesy StoryCorps In February Sandra Clark (Guinea-Bissau 1990–94) took on a new role as CEO of StoryCorps — the nonprofit organization that, through stories, has sought to deepen connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world since its founding in 2003. Clark is the second person and first woman of color to serve as StoryCorps CEO. During a panel discussion at NPCA’s 2022 Shriver Leadership Summit in March, Clark spoke about how...
More Nonfiction from the Book Locker
Under the Influence Putting Peer Pressure to Work By Robert Frank Princeton University Press Reviewed by NPCA Staff Robert H. Frank (Nepal 1966–68) is a pioneer and champion of behavioral economics, and in his many books, essays, and interviews he addresses moral sentiments, positional goods, expenditure cascades, the ever-widening income gap, the role of luck in our lives, and, most recently, the power of behavioral contagion. In Under the Influence, Frank tackles behavioral contagion, seeking to explain how to unlock the latent power of social context and harness it for good. Our environments encourage smoking, bullying, tax cheating, sexual predation,...
Applying Lessons Learned from Decades in Development
How to Improve the World Quickly By Chris Roesel Peace Corps Writers After Chris Roesel served as a Volunteer in Guatemala 1973–75, “how to help those most in need was the question that drove me,” he writes. The result, chronicled here, brings together analysis of and on-the-ground lessons learned from projects in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, including NPCA affiliate group TCP Global, which enables community-based microloans. Roesel is founder and president of P2P Inc., a nonprofit organization providing water, sanitation, hygiene, malaria elimination, and income improvement in Uganda. The organization was named a 2021 Top-Rated Nonprofit.
Good News from Maryland: Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Will Now Get In-State Tuition
It’s a change long overdue. And advocacy from NPCA and dozens of returned Volunteers ensured support for bipartisan legislation signed into law in April. By Jonathan Pearson Far too often, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are left behind at the state government level when it comes to benefits that are afforded others for their service to our nation. In the state of Maryland, a bill was just signed into law to address one of those inequities: who qualifies for in-state tuition. Marylanders seeking in-state tuition have to prove they have lived in the state for the past two years. Because...
From the Editor: Honoring Your Stories
Sixty years of Peace Corps. Volunteers returning to service. And a first for this magazine. Illustration by Tim O’Brien By Steven Boyd Saum A year ago the cover of WorldView bore the image of a dove encaged by a COVID-like molecule and asked: “What’s the role of Peace Corps now?” It’s a question we’re still seeking to answer. There were then, as now, no Volunteers in the field — though staff in posts across the globe were sustaining connections with communities. And tens of thousands of returned Volunteers, whether they had been abruptly evacuated because of the pandemic or had...
Letters: Readers Respond to the Summer 2021 edition of WorldView and Snapshots of Peace Corps History
Peace Corps Response at 25. Sarge leads the first Volunteers. Budget advocacy. Remembering 9/11 two decades later. JFK at the Cow Palace in ’60. Letters, emails, LinkedIn and Instagram comments, Facebook posts, tweets, and other missives: Readers respond to the stories in words and images in the Summer 2021 edition of WorldView, special digital features, and the conversation on social media. We’re happy to hear from you there and here: worldview@peacecorpsconnect.org An anniversary. A pandemic. Peace Corps Response. Great magazine — I always read it cover to cover. Congratulations! Nancy Hatch Nepal 1966–69 Big Picture: Sarge Leads Photo courtesy John F. Kennedy Library and...
Meet the Team Behind the 60th-Anniversary Edition of WorldView
The editorial and creative teams who put together the special anniversary edition of WorldView magazine for digital and print PUBLISHER | Glenn Blumhorst EDITOR | Steven Boyd Saum EDITOR EMERITUS | David Arnold ART DIRECTOR | Pamela Fogg CONTRIBUTING EDITOR | John Coyne ASSOCIATE EDITOR, GLOBAL STORIES | Tiffany James DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER | Orrin Luc WORLDVIEW INTERN | Nathalie Vadnais CONTRIBUTORS COVER Tim O’Brien ILLUSTRATION Anna+Elena=Balbusso, Melinda Beck, Miguel Davilla, Edward Rooks PHOTOGRAPHY Al Golub, Sheldon Johnson, Bebeto Matthews, Kimberly Mazza, Yoichi Okamoto, Anthony Ricci, Abbie Rowe, Rowland Scherman, Eli Wittum WRITING Baktash Ahadi, Glenn Blumhorst, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, Reed Hastings, Bill Josephson, Jonathan Pearson SPEAKERS...
The Peace Corps at Sixty: A Timeline of Six Decades of Service — and Snapshots from the Wider World
Some moments that have defined the Peace Corps from 1960 to today. Plus a year-by-year look at countries where Peace Corps programs began. Researched by Ellery Pollard, Emi Krishnamurthy, Sarah Steindl, Nathalie Vadnais, and Orrin Luc At right: the 10th-anniversary Peace Corps stamp, issued in 1972. Image courtesy Peace Corps As part of the 60th anniversary of the Peace Corps in 2021, WorldView magazine has published a series of timelines tracking Peace Corps’ beginnings — and we’ve traced the 25-year history of Peace Corps Response. Explore more here: Annotation: Changing World | The Globe in 1961, the year the Peace Corps was founded...
A Life-Altering Detour — And a Summer Camp Project That Became Part of National Educational Curriculum in Jordan
We wanted to understand the world through action, and we wanted to serve. That changed the path of my life. By Shaylyn Romney Garrett Photo: Students in Jordan work with Shaylyn Romney Garrett on critical thinking skills and activities — a summer project they launched that turned into a national initiative. Courtesy Shaylyn Romney Garrett My husband, James, and I had been married for a little over a year. We were on track to create careers as academics — he in psychology, me sociology, anthropology. We love to study the world, but we also wanted to be...