To Mark 30 Years, Peace Corps in Mongolia Is Honored with the Polar Star
The highest award given to foreign citizens was presented to Country Director Kim Mansaray. By NPCA Staff Photos courtesy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia For the 30th anniversary of the Peace Corps in Mongolia, last summer Country Director Kim Mansaray — who served as a Volunteer herself in Sierra Leone 1983–85 — was presented with the highest award given to foreign citizens: the Order of the Polar Star. In a ceremony with Deputy Foreign Minister Munkhjin Batsumber of Mongolia, the award was bestowed on Peace Corps Mongolia and its leadership for peace-building efforts in the country. Nearly 1,500 Volunteers have served in...
Working for a Peace Corps to Which I Can Return
A Volunteer evacuated from Mongolia on work to help members of Congress understand the value of Peace Corps service — and what they can do to help By Daniel Lang The summer of 2019 I was training to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia. More politically involved peers raised concerns that we should not take for granted that legislators would continue to fund the Peace Corps; more than 100 members of the House voted to defund it. That fall I swore in as a Volunteer and a close friend, Austin Frenes, began service in China. We both...
This is Not a Drill
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 Photo: Vyshyvanka Day, when schoolchildren don the traditional Ukrainian shirt — and here, pose as one. Photo by Kevin Lawson Kim Mansaray | Country Director, Mongolia JANUARY AND NEWS OF THE VIRUS came out in China. Mongolia says we’re not sending kids back to school. Our winter break became endless winter break. Then the virus exploded in China, and Mongolia went on hardcore lockdown — borders and...
Coming Home: Mongolia
Nobody wanted it to happen this way. Evacuation stories and the unfinished business of Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. Photo: Ceremonial first haircut for a young girl. Volunteer and photographer Antonio Mercatante was invited to observe. Mongolia | Lucy Baker Home: San Francisco Bay Area As Volunteers were being evacuated from China, in Mongolia, Lucy Baker and others watched their country go into lockdown. The government declared that February celebrations for Tsagaan Sar, the Lunar New Year, would be suspended. There were no confirmed cases of coronavirus, but the government wasn’t taking chances. And Volunteers were told to “stand fast.” Baker lived in...