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Letters Spring 2020: WorldView Readers Write

Zambia Microfinance

I am a Peace Corps Volunteer posted in Zambia. I lent a copy of [the Spring 2019] WorldView to some members of my community and they saw the article about TCP Global, “Empowering a Village.” They’re interested in microfinance and would like loans to help with various projects they want to pursue in our village. Then they formed a group of ten and asked me to get in touch with Helene Dudley at TCP Global. The leader of them is Stanley Shikoki.

Would it be possible for TCP Global to provide micro-loans in my community?

Calvin Yahn

Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia
One of the virtues of print — it’s easy to share a magazine with friends! TCP Global responded in the affirmative regarding micro-loans, sent materials to Calvin Yahn, and requested mentoring support from Friends and RPCVs of Zambia. Let us know how we can help you connect with the broader Peace Corps community. —Ed.

 

Required Reading

I want to say how pleased I am with WorldView. So many great stories from countries everywhere in the world. I wish all middle and high school students had access to a subscription to our magazine through their school libraries and/or their social studies teachers. When my nephew was a social studies teacher, I was sending past issues and Madison’s International Calendar to him for his classroom or the school library.

The Peace Corps community should be especially grateful to hear from our Latin America veterans in the Summer 2019 issue on the Northern Triangle, and El Paso, too. Those articles make me feel so proud to be an RPCV. Sadly, I later read reports that the State Department deputy secretary for Latin America, Kimberly Breier, apparently resigned over a dispute regarding White House plans to make U.S. asylum seekers apply first in Guatemala. What have we come to?

I like the changes in WorldView, too. I used to have trouble reading the text because of the lack of contrast between the typeface print and the white pages. The new type looks great. The font is still a bit small but the darker print makes for great easier reading. I also need to check out the digital version.

Kathy Parker

Côte d’Ivoire 1965–67

 

We hope you’ll all check out the digital version, too! You can find more than a decade’s worth of archives on our app right now. Right now that’s free for everyone in the Peace Corps Community. Write us for details. And if you’d like to support a gift subscription, let us know. You have great stories to tell. —Ed.

 

Diplomatic Archive

In your Winter 2019 issue on page 6 it was very good to see the terrific story about Ron Venezia drawn from his 1996 oral history. You credited the Library of Congress for conducting this interview, but while such oral histories are also filed there, the credit really goes to the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, which is the home of this and thousands of other fascinating oral histories of State and USAID people, many of whom also served in the Peace Corps. This diplomatic archive is a tremendous resource and deserves recognition for its wonderful ongoing oral history program. I urge your readers to check it out at ADST.org.

Alex Shakow

Peace Corps staff, 1963–67

 

Explore and  contribute to the RPCV oral history project as well: peacecorpsoralhistory.org

—Ed.