News
In Memoriam – November 2019
The Peace Corps community mourns doctors, a teacher and interpreter, and the "voice of Wisconsin Public Television" this month. Chidinma "Chi" Ezeani (1989-2019) had recently been approved for a third-year extension as an agriculture Volunteer in Ghana. After suffering injuries sustained from an accident in her home, Chi died during treatment at a South African hospital. After graduating from the University of California, Riverside in 2011 with degrees in accounting and finance, Chi was hired by the financial firm Foresight ASG. During this time, she volunteered her services as an accounting and business consultant for several non-profit organizations in the San Francisco...
Register Now for 2020 National Days of Action
As 2019 winds down, advocates for a strong and vibrant Peace Corps will reflect on a year which saw introduction of comprehensive legislation in the House of Representatives to further support and honor the Peace Corps community, a proposed (and defeated) vote to eliminate all Peace Corps funding in the current fiscal year, Senate legislation to place Peace Corps under the State Department, and a pending decision to support stable – or slightly higher – funding for the agency. These challenging issues will be front and center in March 2020 for the 16th consecutive National Days of Action in Support of the Peace Corps....
Community Achievements – November 2019
Community News - Achievements of RPCVs Author: Peter Deekle November 2019 BENIN Molloy Sheehan (2016-2018) recently received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research on preventing diseases in Togo. Her scholarship will study four main behavioral risk factors: nutrition, exercise, alcohol, and tobacco use. ECUADOR Amanda Sliva (2017-2019) shared her Peace Corps story and experience with the local Ashland Rotary Club (NE) in October 2019. Sliva is planning a six-month return to her Peace Country, Ecuador, offering English tutoring. GEORGIA Paul Stephens (2005-2007) is co-founder and executive director of the Transcaucasian Trail project, creating a long distance hiking trail in the Caucasus Mountains....
A Service-Oriented Week in Belize
NPCA embarked on a new adventure this October. In collaboration with the Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) at Arizona State University (ASU), and Discover Corps, a RPCV-founded service travel company, a group of 25 ASU Alumni embarked on a one week, service-oriented trip to Belize. The program, dubbed OLLI Corps, joined together travelers with the community of San Igancio in Belize to volunteer their time towards a number of community development initiatives, and to learn about the unique way in which Peace Corps Volunteers engage with their communities. Working alongside Discover Corps’ local guide, OLLI Corps members had the opportunity to volunteer in a...
In Memoriam – October 2019
As we honor the 58th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Corps Act, we remember the accomplishments of those who recently passed away with the distinction of being known as Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Dr. Thomas Andrew Boyd (1942-2019) served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia before beginning his distinguished international teaching career. Dr. Boyd studied at Wabash College; The Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands; and earned his Doctorate at Cambridge University. Dr. Boyd’s diverse assignments included teaching at West Virginia Wesleyan College, Wolfson College, The Hague, Netherlands; and University of Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa. He was a visiting professor of sociology at Zhongshan...
Record Number of NPCA Affiliate Groups Sign Funding Letter to the President
With a new federal fiscal year underway and Congress yet to determine if Peace Corps funding will get an increase or continue to remain stagnant, it may seem strange to be turning any attention to the next budget cycle. But within the executive branch, staff at the Office of Management and Budget are hard at work preparing their recommendations for Congress for the 2021 Fiscal Year budget, which the president will present to Congress early next year. Since 2013, NPCA has responded by seeking the assistance of our affiliate groups to bring the voice of the Peace Corps community to the White...
Community Achievements – October 2019
Community News - Achievements of RPCVs Author: Peter Deekle October 2019 CHILE Diane Bammel (1967-1969) worked part time during her Peace Corps service in an orphanage for girls and part time in a small Baptist kindergarten in the major slum of Concepcion. One of the orphans became her foster daughter. In October 2018, Diane sold her home and car, and moved to Chile to live with her foster daughter Anita and her husband Carlos, where she became involved in the same slum of Concepcion, called Aguita de la Perdiz. COSTA RICA Kirti Mathura (1984-1986) is a popular and frequent public speaker and horticultural consultant. She recently shared...
Apply for the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship Program
Applications are now being accepted for the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program. Applications are due Tuesday, November 19, 2019 by 8:00 pm EST. The CLS Program is a fully-funded intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Students spend eight to ten weeks abroad studying one of 15 critical languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu. Most CLS languages do not require previous study of the target language. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured...
Breaking Barriers: How RPCVs Advocate for LGBTQ Volunteers Here and Overseas
Gay and lesbian RPCVs and staff joined together during Peace Corps’ 30th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. in 1991 to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights in the Peace Corps community and around the world. What we knew but many others did not realize was that when John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961 as a federal agency it explicitly barred people with “homosexual tendencies” from service in a federal agency. That’s a far stretch from where the agency is now, placing same-sex couples and transgender Volunteers in service in many countries. The change is...
Bring the World Home
I believe the Peace Corps community is at a historic turning point. At a time when achieving the Third Goal is more important than ever, big things are about to happen that will elevate our primary goal of greater cross-cultural understanding and raise high the banner of the Peace Corps. It all starts on September 22 as we host a celebration of the opening — most appropriately — of a major expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in their new REACH living theater. The day’s events include the premiere of “A Towering Task — The...