The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – RPCV Book Reviews
RPCV BOOK REVIEWS FEATURED REVIEW We Called It a War by Sargent Shriver Shriver's posthumous memoir—written in 1960 but only recently rediscovered in the archives of the Shriver Peace Institute and edited for contemporary readers—offers a detailed account of the 1964–68 War on Poverty. The narrative illuminates Shriver's political acumen, details with equanimity his relationships with allies, adversaries, and leading figures of this time—most notably LBJ—and displays the strong spiritual fidelity with which he appears to have approached everything. Among the memorable anecdotes of his efforts to make a meaningful impact on poverty in the U.S. is one in which...
Patchwork of Peace
The Patchwork of Peace quilt, created in 1990 at the National Peace Corps Association conference in Eugene, Oregon, is both a historical artifact and a symbol—a tactile expression of memory, advocacy, and collective identity among RPCVs. Measuring 27 feet in length and composed of 100 panels contributed by individual Volunteers, this community quilt reflects the intersection of art, activism, and social memory. The project was led by Lisa Greenberg (Sierra Leone, 1984–86), who facilitated the collection of the panels during the conference, and construction was completed by Diane Jeffcott (India 1967–69) in the months that followed. More than three decades later,...
Peace Corps Off-Broadway
On the eve of the new millennium, a young American Volunteer stationed in Dakar finds himself pulled into an unexpected web of intrigue. A car crash, a cryptic State Department operative, and a rapidly shifting world order set the stage for Dakar 2000, the latest play from Rajiv Joseph. But this is more than just a thriller: it’s a work shaped by lived experience. Joseph, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Senegal from 1996 to 1998, has long credited his time abroad as a defining force in his writing. “Being in Senegal, more than anything else in my...
Ubuntu in Action
Ubuntu is a word most Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are familiar with. It’s the belief that an individual’s humanity is fostered through their relationships with others, often summarized as “I am because we are.” Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu leveraged Ubuntu during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy emphasizing empathy, collective responsibility and restorative justice. Last month, the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience (MPCE) launched its first exhibit of 2025, Ubuntu in Action: Exploring the Peace Corps and Shared Humanity, hosted by the International Peace Museum in Dayton, Ohio. This inspiring exhibit delves into the spirit of service,...
Time, Space, Presence
Very few people represent the values of Peace Corps better than Jody Olsen. Olsen, who served as director of the agency from 2018 to 2021, is one of just a handful of directors who also served as Volunteers before ascending to that position. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Olsen made the unprecedented decision to evacuate all 7,000 Volunteers in the field to bring them safely home. She’s also a longtime champion of women’s economic empowerment. Today, she serves as co-chair of the RPCV group Women of Peace Corps Legacy, and chair of the Peace Corps Park advisory committee. Her most recent endeavor is the publication of her memoir, A...
Metaphors for Thought
As a Peace Corps Volunteer in south India in the mid-1960s, Joel Shapiro taught villagers how to dig latrines, build smokeless ovens, and utilize night soil for more productive vegetable gardens, among other sustainability initiatives. More than 50 years later, his sculptures and works on paper are in the permanent collections of museums all over the world: New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art; down south at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas; out west at California’s Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and across the Atlantic at the Tate...
Saving Lives Through Art
Three San artists from D’Kar, Botswana, recently traveled to the United States for the first time for an exhibit and sale of their unique, colorful folk art. The artists—Jan Tcega John, Xhoma Simon, Ndodonyane Ditsheko-- and the Kuru Art Director Maude Brown, spent 11 days in Santa Cruz, California as guests of the exhibit organizer, Peggy Flynn, RPCV Botswana (2013-2016). Fifteen oil paintings were sold via live and silent auctions; 37 original linocuts were sold, and a seven-day safari for two in the Okavango Delta of Botswana was auctioned as were three Annieglass © plates that were hand painted by the San artists a...
In Memoriam – January 2018
An iconic country music songwriter. An RPCV whose journey to the Peace Corps began in Nazi Germany. Leaders in the fields of mediation and conflict resolution. There's a long, lifetime of accomplishments among those we honor who recently passed away, and we are especially saddened by the untimely death of a serving volunteer. The Peace Corps community mourns the recent death of Bernice Heiderman (1993 - 2018), who passed away suddenly while serving as a volunteer in Comoros. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Bernice was an education volunteer, teaching English at a junior high school on the island...