Peace Corps Achievements — October 2022
News and updates from the Peace Corps community — across the country, around the world, and spanning generations of returned Volunteers and staff. By Peter V. Deekle (Iran 1968–70) Maggie Eckerson (pictured, Belize 2019–20), was awarded two United States Presidential Volunteer Service Awards and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her service in the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Sabra Ayres (Ukraine 1995–97) was named Chief Correspondent for Ukraine at The Associated Press (AP), leveraging nearly two decades of reporting that covered U.S. state and national politics, international relations, and developing democracies. Bridget Mulkerin (Senegal 2018–20) became the California Cone Corps Manager at American Forests, a nationwide nonprofit committed to protecting and restoring healthy forest...
Update: The Tragedy That Occurred with the Killing of Rabia Issa in Tanzania Must Not Be the End of the Story
An investigative story by USA Today published December 21 chronicles the killing of Rabia Issa, a mother of three in Tanzania, who was struck by a car driven by a Peace Corps staff member in August 2019. Members of the Peace Corps community have begun working to try to bring justice for her family. And they want greater transparency from the agency. By Glenn Blumhorst On December 21, USA Today published an investigative story chronicling the killing of Rabia Issa, a mother of three in Tanzania, who was struck by a car driven by a U.S.-born Peace Corps staff member in August 2019. What...
First Volunteers, 8/28/61
The legislation that permanently created the Peace Corps had yet to pass the Senate. But the Peace Corps had been launched by an executive order issued in March. And the first Volunteers were about to embark on service in Ghana and Tanganyika. A moment in time: August 28, 1961. Founding Peace Corps Director R. Sargent Shriver leads 80 Volunteers who are headed for Ghana and Tanganyika, now Tanzania, to the White House, where President John F. Kennedy will give them a personal send-off. JFK thanks them for embarking on their service, “on behalf of our country and, in the...
1961: Towering Task Edition
A look at the year in which the Peace Corps was founded with great aspirations — and the troubled world into which it emerged. Research and editing by Jake Arce, Orrin Luc, and Steven Boyd Saum Map images throughout from 1966 map of Peace Corps in the World. Courtesy Library of Congress. For the Peace Corps community, 1961 is a year that holds singular significance. It is the year in which the agency was created by executive order; legislation was signed creating congressional authorization and funding for the Peace Corps; and, most important, that the first Volunteers trained and began...
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 NPCA Staff Photo: Katherine Patterson and students of Bumbuta Secondary School in Tanzania. Patterson started the Save the Rain project to provide clean water for the school community. When Peace Corps Volunteers were evacuated from around the world, we heard from thousands asking for advice and help. They were not only worried about their own well-being, but time and again they wanted to know: What about the communities they left? the work they were doing? the projects developed...