From the Editor: Unfinished Business
The evacuation of Peace Corps Volunteers serving around the globe is unprecedented. So is the way our nation is coming to terms with the truth that Black Lives Matter.
By Steven Boyd Saum
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Pandemic has changed our community forever. Another disease we must fight: racism itself.
By Glenn Blumhorst
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What Guides Us
Equality and justice. Empathy and compassion. Join National Peace Corps Association and support work guided by Peace Corps values.
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Coming Home
Nobody wanted it to happen this way. Evacuation stories and the unfinished business of Peace Corps Volunteers around the world.
ASIA
China
• Maura Joul
• Reed Piercey
• Andrew Avitt
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Mongolia
• Lucy Baker
• Daniel Lang
• Antonio Mercatante
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Myanmar
• Quinton Eklund Overholser
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The Philippines
• Diane Glover
• Rok Locksley
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Nepal
• Jim Damico
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Thailand
• Sierra Drummond
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Timor Lesté
• Andre De Mello
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CENTRAL ASIA & EASTERN EUROPE
Kyrgyz Republic
• Jae Cho
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Moldova
• Jeremy Male
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Ukraine
• Kevin Lawson
• Jamal Marcelin
• Griffin Bouwens
• A Conversation with Nancy Bouwens, Parent
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North Macedonia
• Mia Richardson
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AFRICA
Ghana
• Meg Holladay
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Madagascar
• Danielle Montecalvo
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Malawi
• Danny Herres
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Mozambique
• Stacie Scott
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Namibia
• Charles Castillo
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Rwanda
• Ana Santos
• Diana Bender-Bier
• Levi Rokey
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Cameroon
• Sasha Kogan
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Togo
• Ryan Blackwell
• Sarah Bair
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Zambia
• Amber Cohen
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Guinea
• Colt Bradley
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NORTH AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
Morocco
• Joshua Warzecha
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SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
Ecuador
• Becky Wandell
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Guatemala
• Anna Zauner
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Panama
• Danielle Shulkin
• Eli Wittum
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Peru
• Aidan Fife
• Madeline and Clint Kellner
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Dominican Republic
• Benjamin Rietmann
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Jamaica
• Kate Rapp
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PACIFIC ISLANDS
Fiji
• Cynthia Arata
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Tonga
• Natalie Somerville
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The Unprecedented Evacuation
As told by counterparts, country directors, and Director of the Peace Corps Jody Olsen
Shoulder to Shoulder | Counterparts
Every Volunteer has a counterpart. That’s Peace Corps lingo for one person in the community tasked with helping make this endeavor possible.
Interviews edited by Steven Boyd Saum and Cynthia Arata
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This is Not a Drill | Country Directors
When times are good, being a country director for Peace Corps may be the best job in foreign affairs. This has not been such a time.
As told to Steven Boyd Saum
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Our Peace Corps Evacuation Journey
The Director of the Peace Corps chronicles the events that led to an unprecedented global evacuation of Volunteers. And the hardest decision she’s had to make in her life.
By Jody Olsen
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Crisis and Reentry
How the community stepped up — and a new program National Peace Corps Association created to help returning Volunteers
Evac Support via Facebook
A group to link evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers with the help they need. Sometimes that’s just someone to listen — and hear.
By Steven Boyd Saum
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Global Reentry: A Bridge between Peace Corps Service and a Lifetime of Peace Corps Ideals
By Dan Baker
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For the Community
Volunteers had projects and grants to fund them. They had to leave and the money was frozen. But that’s not the end of the story.
By Bethany Leech
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Work on the Hill
Here’s how we’ve been advocating for evacuated Volunteers — and a Peace Corps in a changed world.
By Jonathan Pearson and Steven Boyd Saum
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Lawmakers ask: How can we help?
In addition to legislation to support evacuated Volunteers, members of Congress have also taken time to share encouragement.
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We were evacuated from North Macedonia. So we set out to do work that reflects Peace Corps values at home.
The founder of RPCVs Serving at Home chronicles her work as a Volunteer — and launching a network to support communities across the United States.
Mia Richardson as told to Cynthia Arata
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Our Changed World
Grappling with racial injustice — and re-imagining Peace Corps after COVID
I’m Tired
Reasons why. And some serious advice. It’s a matter of life and death.
By Missi Smith
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Black Lives Matter
Voices and scenes from protests with the Peace Corps community.
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The Peace Corps in the Post-Pandemic World
COVID-19 upended systems. Now we’re focused on structural racism like never before. So how can Peace Corps help this nation live up to its ideals?
By Lex Rieffel
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In Memoriam
One Idea a Minute: A Remembrance of Bill Haddad
Journalist, counselor to JFK, candidate for Congress, and the man who created the inspector general office for the Peace Corps.
By William Josephsoon
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Richard Paul Thornell
At age 24, he was tasked with setting up Peace Corps’ regional office in Ghana. He would go on to teach generations of students and advise Nelson Mandela.
By Jonathan Pearson and Steven Boyd Saum
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Michael McCaskey
Longtime leader of the Chicago Bears — including during Super Bowl greatness. Service as a Volunteer in Ethiopia changed the way he saw the world — and began a decades-long connection with the country.
By Jonathan Pearson and Steven Boyd Saum
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Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean
Mother, wife, human rights attorney, and advocate for social justice, she went on to lead Georgetown University’s Global Health Initiative. She and son Gideon were tragically killed in a boating accident.
By Steven Boyd Saum
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You can make a difference.
Where We’re Going
Our work is just starting. Support Volunteers back in the States and their ongoing work around the globe.
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About WorldView
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Current edition: Summer 2020
Previous edition: Spring 2020. Read it here.
Submission Guidelines
We welcome pitches and, on rare occasions, completed pieces. What are we looking for? Stories that speak to the Peace Corps community. That might be focused on work connected to Peace Corps, returned Volunteers, communities and countries where Volunteers have served, connections to experiences and work in the U.S. and globally. We’re interested in ideas and impact and stories that connect with readers on a human level.
About the Editor
Steven is a native of the Chicago area and has lived on both U.S. coasts and in the South, with a good part of the 1990s spent in Central and Eastern Europe—starting with his Peace Corps service in Ukraine (1994-1996) as an assistant professor at Lesya Ukrainka East European National University. He also hosted a radio show and directed the Fulbright program and other academic exchanges for the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. He has lived and worked in the Czech Republic, and he serves as a consular officer for the Czech Honorary Consulate General in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. He has served on the board of the Northern California Peace Corps Association, appeared on panels representing returned Volunteers, and regularly serves as an election observer with the OSCE.
Steven studied English and philosophy at Emory University and writing at Johns Hopkins. He speaks Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, German, and some Slovak. He was a three-time champion on Jeopardy! and has it on good authority that hieroglyphics is not a language. You can reach him at steven@peacecorpsconnect.org.
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