Wave of Inspiration
When thinking about the legacy of Peace Corps, we as a community often cite with pride John F. Kennedy's speech at the University of Michigan in 1960, where the idea of Peace Corps was first articulated, and the astounding reception his call to service received when more than 1,000 young Americans signed a petition in support of the idea and offered to join up. "How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your days in Ghana?" Kennedy asked. "Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and...
Once You’re In, You’re In
Like many of you, I consider my moment in my life. I shifted from a postcollegiate career in banking and insurance to a life committed to service, beginning with my Peace Corps service in the Comoro Islands at age 27 and followed by 20 years working in development in sub-Saharan Africa. As a Volunteer, I was driven by curiosity and adventure. What I did not know at the time was that I had become part of something much larger than myself—a member of a unique community of individuals committed to national service in the name of peace. Now, as I...
Kinder-Resilient
The Tongan village of Tu’anuku childhood education this past February, celebrating the soft opening of a brand-new climate-resilient kindergarten facility. This milestone marks the culmination of an international collaborative effort spear-headed by Friends of Tonga (FoT), a National Peace Corps Association–affiliated nonprofit organization based in Laurel, Maryland. Founded and operated by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, FoT remains dedicated to sustaining the spirit of service long after its members’ initial tenure in the Kingdom of Tonga. FoT built their first climate-resilient kindergarten in Ta’anga, ‘Eua, in 2021, in direct response to the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. Rather than just...
The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – Bestselling Books
BESTSELLING BOOKS Lifeboat at the End of the World: A Volunteer’s Story by Dominic Gregory Dominic Gregory writes about life on a volunteer lifeboat crew, from training routines to high-stakes rescues. When migrant boats begin arriving along the English coast, the work takes on new urgency. The book focuses on the people behind the response, capturing moments when decisions must be made quickly, and where the line between duty and humanity can blur. The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya by David Stuart Drawing on recent discoveries and decades of research, David Stuart presents a...
Peace Corps Forever
The Instagram account @pcvtattoos has been posting Peace Corps-inspired tattoos since 2019. Featuring simple and complex tattoos in many languages from Volunteers around the world, the account brings a new approach to sharing Peace Corps stories. WorldView curated a small selection of photos from the account, along with some comments from anonymous posters. “I got this tattoo in memory of my host family but especially my host brother. He passed away at 23 years old due to lung cancer. The leopard represents the tribe I was living in, and the roses and heart are for my host family” “Meaning behind...
The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – Podcasts
PODCASTS Fela Kuti: Fear No Man Higher Ground Jad Abumrad traces the transformation of Fela Kuti from Western-trained musician to revolutionary artist. What begins as a search for identity becomes a confrontation with power, as Fela turns music into a vehicle for political resistance and creates Afrobeat along the way. Missing in the Amazon The Guardian A gripping investigative series into the disappearance of journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in Brazil’s Javari Valley. Reporter Tom Phillips follows the trail through a remote region of the Amazon, where environmental, political, and Indigenous rights collide Soft Power/FulStories Christopher Wurst...
The Stream: Spring/Summer 2026 – Streaming Video
STREAMING VIDEO Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare HBO This documentary revisits the 2011 Fukushima disaster and its lasting impact on communities, environment, and policy. Moving beyond the initial crisis, it looks at what recovery means years later through the lives of those living with its consequences. My Father and Qaddafi PBS / POV This film traces one family's connection to Libya through the legacy of Muammar Qaddafi. What begins as a personal search becomes a broader look at power, memory, and the long shadow of political rule. Everybody to Kenmure Street BBC This film captures a moment when residents in Glasgow...
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...
Notable
How to Start a Tribal Art Museum Justin D. Bibee, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco from 2014 to 2016, founded the Museum of Fine Tribal Art, a Rhode Island–based nonprofit established in 2025. The museum focuses on collecting, preserving, and sharing tribal art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum began as Bibee's personal collection and has since developed into a public initiative. It includes masks, textiles, sculptures, jewelry, and ceremonial objects representing a wide range of cultural traditions. The collection could be valued at up to $6 million, based on preliminary research. Without a permanent exhibition...
The Jeep Driver’s Son
In 2003, Sam Sidiqi boarded a bus in Kabul in his best suit, heading back to the village on the outskirts of the city where his family had deep roots and where his uncle worked as a teacher. He was on summer break from business school in the U.S., and had just finished his first day of volunteering at Afghanistan’s central bank. Even though he'd left Afghanistan when he was 11 months old, the bus ride back home somehow felt familiar. When a man on the bus looked at him and asked where he was going, Sidiqi told him he...