WorldViewFALL 2020 First Volunteers Return to Global Summit: Peace Corps African Americans and Service in January p. 12 Connect to the Future p. 20 the Peace Corps to Come p. 32
What’s the role of Peace Corps now?
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“Eller dislodged the idea of ‘this is what I can do,’ and pushed me to think I can be way more.”
CHARLES BRAND ’20 MBA/MPH BOREN FELLOW AND IRC INTERN Peace Corps Volunteer, Thailand, 2012-2014
Transform At Eller eller.arizona.edu/peacecorps BIG PICTURE 2 A.M., OCTOBER 14, 1960. Campaigning for president, then-Senator John F. Kennedy arrived at University of Michigan not planning to give a speech. But thousands of students were waiting. In an impromptu address he asked: “How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? … I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the e ort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past.” The idea caught hold. And within months the Peace Corps was launched. Photo courtesy Peace Corps The story: bit.ly/jfk-union
2 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 3 WorldViewNPCA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational and service Publisher Glenn Blumhorst DEPARTMENTS organization which is independent of the federal agency, Editor Steven Boyd Saum Peace Corps. BIG PICTURE Editor Emeritus David Arnold WorldView (ISSN 1047-5338) is published four times per 2 JFK at the Union Art Director Pamela Fogg year (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) by National Peace October 14, 1960: A founding moment at 60 Contributing Editor John Coyne Corps Association (1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20009-5708). Periodicals postage paid Contributors Luis Argueta, Juana Bordas, Harris Bostic II, LETTERS Ana Victoria Cruz, John Deever, Azura Fairchild, Elizabeth at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing oces. 6 Readers Write Fischer, Marieme Foote, Melvin Foote, Summer Gardner, Kul Submissions and Correspondence Chandra Gautam, Eldridge “Skip” Gilbert, Darlene Grant, Adam Write us: [email protected]. Unprecedented Times. Powerful stu . Greenberg, Markian Hawryluk, Valerie Kurka, Rok Locksley, We consider proposals and speculative submissions. Stories that brought tears. “I’m Tired.” Dwayne Matthews, Colin McLaren, William F. S. Miles, Jody And we welcome letters on specific articles. Detailed Olsen, Jonathan Pearson, Anthony L. Pinder, David Plunkert, contributor guidelines: worldviewmagazine.org PRESIDENT’S LETTER Casey Rogers, Edward Rooks, Mohamed Sheikh Nurein Said, Digital and Print Subscriptions Clintandra Thompson, Robert W. Wilson, Rahama Wright 8 Making Our Mark To receive WorldView, visit peacecorpsconnect.org and BY GLENN BLUMHORST WorldView magazine is published by National Peace Corps click on Join Now. Gift subscriptions available. Questions? Association, a national network of Returned Peace Corps 202-293-7728 | [email protected] Volunteers, former sta, and friends, to provide news and FROM THE EDITOR Advertise with Us comment about communities and issues of the world of In WorldView, the NPCA website, and email newsletters: 11 This Time serving and returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Diverse Scott Oser | 301-279-0468 BY STEVEN BOYD SAUM views published in the magazine are not intended to reflect advertising@ peacecorpsconnect.org the views of the Peace Corps or those of National Peace Corps Association. Postmaster FORWARD Send address changes to: 12 Peace Corps to Open in Viet Nam WorldView, National Peace Corps Association, 1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Volunteers return to Eastern Caribbean in Washington, D.C. 20009-5708 January. Peace Corps Connect 2021. Peace Copyright © 2020 National Peace Corps Association Corps Memorial design approved. More.
NPCA NEWS ADVISORY COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS 16 Meet the 2020 Winners of the Carol Bellamy Chair, Education Kenneth Lehman Chairman Maricarmen Smith-Martinez Nikole Allen for All—Fast Track Initiative Emeritus, Winning Workplaces Chair Mary Broude Shriver and Ruppe Awards Ron Boring Former Executive Dennis Lucey Corey Grin Evelyn Ganzglass Vice President, Vodafone Japan Vice President, AKIMA Vice Chair Kim Herman ADVOCACY Nicholas Craw Bruce McNamer Gretchen Upholt Jerey Janis President, Automobile President, The Builders Initiative Treasurer Chip Levengood Katie Long 18 Working for a Peace Corps to Competition Committee Gordon Radley Former Mary Owen-Thomas Jed Meline for the United States President, Lucasfilm Secretary Which I Can Return Robert Nolan Sam Farr Former Member, Hannah Wishart | Affiliate BY DANIEL LANG John E. Riggan Chairman Rhett Power U.S. House of Representatives, Emeritus, TCC Group Group Network Coordinator California Rogelio Quintenar Mark Schneider Senior Advisor, Glenn Blumhorst Faith Van Gilder John Garamendi Congressman, ex officio IN MEMORIAM Human Rights Initiative and Albert Whitaker U.S. House of Representatives, Americas Program, CSIS California 46 Remembering Some We’ve Lost Donna Shalala STAFF Mark Gearan Congresswoman, U.S. House of John Lewis, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Joseph Director, Institute of Politics, Representatives, Florida Glenn Blumhorst Marieme Foote Harvard Kennedy School President and CEO Community Outreach Blatchford, Walter C. Carrington Paul Slawson Specialist/Advocacy and Tony Hall Former Member, Former CEO, InterPacific Co. Anne Baker U.S. House of Representatives, Vice President Administrative Associate Ohio; Former U.S. Ambassador F. Chapman Taylor Jodi Hammer Senior Vice President and Dan Baker to UN Food and Agriculture Global Reentry Program Director Global Reentry Career Specialist Organization Research Director, Capital International Research Inc. Anne Boyle Director of Ella Dowell Community Carrie Hessler-Radelet Finance & Administration Technology Systems Coordinator President and CEO, Project Joan Timoney Jonathan Pearson Valerie Kurka Concern International Senior Director for Advocacy and External Relations, Women’s Advocacy Director Development Officer Sandra Jaee Refugee Commission Steven Boyd Saum Bethany Leech International Former Executive Vice President, Director of Strategic Programs Coordinator Citigroup Ronald Tschetter President, D.A. Davidson & Co. Communications Caitlin Nemeth Community William E. “Wilber” James Robertino Bogart Data Outreach Specialist Managing General Partner, Gaddi Vasquez Senior Vice Management Specialist Molly O’Brien Community RockPort Capital Partners President, Government Affairs, Edison International Ana Victoria Cruz Outreach Specialist John Y. Keer Chairman, Digital Content Manager Arianna Richard Atlantic Fund Administration Aaron Williams Executive Vice President Emeritus, RTI Kim Dixon Community Community Engagement Virginia Kirkwood Owner/ International Development Group Outreach Project Manager Associate Director, Shawnee Holdings, Inc. Richard M. Krieg Former President and CEO, CONSULTANTS The Horizon Foundation John Berry, Kirsten Anderson Scott Oser Programs Advertising INTERNS VOLUNTEERS Dawn Cacciotti Michael Kiernan, Joel Rubin Bella Almanza, Kaylee Jensen, Peter Deekle, Harriet Lipowitz, Human Resources Government Relations Jessie Sandino, Alexis Shetty, Russ Morgan, Betty & Lollie Commodore Jalina Porter Yuri Takubo, Anna Thompson K. Richard Pyle Finance Strategy, Advocacy and Communications Marvin LeRoy 18
Fundraising Without Borders Wilson / Photographers B. Ron Photo CONTENTS
FALL 2020 | VOLUME 33, NUMBER 3
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FEATURES 20 Peace Corps Connect to the Future What are the big ideas for Peace Corps, National Peace Corps Association, and the Peace 36 The West is Burning Corps community going forward? My rst season as a wildland re ghter. BY COLIN MCLAREN 21 Global Perspectives 28 From Ideas into Action 38 Hide Not Your Sorrow Relevance of the Peace Corps: Kul Chandra ree evacuated Volunteers and one with Gautam, Nepal. Luis Argueta, Guatemala. half a century of leadership experience on A phone call and a lesson from Niger in the Dr. Mohamud Sheikh Nurein Said, Kenya. how we can transform this moment. time of COVID. BY WILLIAM F. S. MILES
26 Peace Corps Today 32 African Americans 40 Putting a Face on the An update from the Peace Corps Director. and the Future of the ‘Invisible Enemy’ BY JODY OLSEN Peace Corps Elizabeth Fischer’s work on COVID-19. Ideas, insights, hard truths. Conversations BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK OPPOSITE: True colors: a schoolboy at Centro across generations convened by the Educativo Técnico Chixot in Guatemala, Constituency for Africa. a school built by Long Way Home.
ABOVE: Hurricane Laura, New Orleans. In the aftermath, returned Volunteers helped.
Photo Ron B. Wilson / Photographers Without Borders Wilson / Photographers B. Ron Photo / REUTERS Latif Adrees Photo COVER: Illustration by David Plunkert. LETTERS
6,892 Volunteers. eir stories were beauti- historians, community scholars, and others ful and so painful. I was buoyed up with an have united to present the dramatic history armation that Peace Corps is still making of strivers who refused to give up. More: its unique contributions worldwide. Not rpcvgcf.peacecorpsconnect.org just in the countries where Volunteers serve, Leita Kaldi Davis but also in the Volunteers themselves. Peace Senegal 1993–96 Corps must survive this global pandemic. Lillian Carter Award Recipient 2017 We need it now more than ever. Congratulations on the rapid launching We need to find of your Global Reentry program. NPCA has ways to make the risen to the challenges of today in so many Peace Corps in Unprecedented Times fabulous ways. ank you for your leadership. Diane Wood its current form We set aside the standard magazine playbook Paraguay 1977–81 “bigger, better, for our summer edition. We’re happy to bring bolder” and give back your le ers to continue the conversation. E, , and truly remark- the Third Goal able I’ve read it in print cover to cover, and more explicit I’ and will read it again online. is one’s a keeper. attention. thank you for the current issue of World- Peter de Groot View. It’s the most powerful thing in print PCV Benin 1980–82 I’ve seen from Peace Corps since I received Peace Corps Trainer, A ica, 1983–92 T packed with timely, important my acceptance leer in 1969. Congrats to news that helps put unprecedented issues everyone involved on a mammoth job so A with the stories from the country impacting the Peace Corps into perspective. I very well done. directors closing their sites. ese stories bring hope all past and future Volunteers and sta Stephen Barefoot a world of hurt thinking about what each will go through the magazine cover-to-cover. Kenya 1969–72 had to go through to plan their departures, I especially like“Our Unprecedented Times,” and the Volunteers having to say “goodbye.” tracing momentous events and decisions M W V , Kenton Hawkins which have changed not only Peace Corps both the quality of the product and the e ort Lesotho 1976–79 but also our nation and the entire world. it took to gather and edit the stories. What And Lex Rie el’s “ e Peace Corps in the we may have is the substance for a book, O RPCV G C Post-Pandemic World,” while controversial, proceeds from which would fund NPCA F : We were touched to read is worth pondering. I disagree with proposals services and support to returning Volunteers. the heartrending stories of so many evacuated to convert the Peace Corps into something Two quotes (both on page 9, China): “A lot PCVs, and especially Missi Smith’s eloquent other than an independent federal agency, of my students had never seen or interacted lament, “I’m Tired.” For our signature project, but I agree we need to nd ways to make the with a foreigner. For them, the experience we have dedicated ourselves to fundraising Peace Corps in its current form “bigger, beer, is transformational” and, “To assume that for and assisting the African American bolder” and give the ird Goal more explicit the Chinese government and people are the community in the heart of Sarasota called aention. We must have more conversations same is a fallacy.” Newtown, through its grassroots organization, about the ideals, relevance, and mission of Steve Ka en Newtown Alive. African American residents the Peace Corps in a rapidly-changing world Russia 1994–96 played a major role in the development of and make sure the Peace Corps truly reects Sarasota. Black labor cleared snake-infested America’s diversity and has the resources it I reading World- land for real estate developers, laid railroad needs to get Volunteers back into the eld View. e evacuation stories both broke my ties, harvested celery, helped plant golf as soon as it is safe to do so. heart and raised my spirit. I could not help courses, and labored in the homes of Sara- Michael H. Anderson but imagine myself being torn away from my sota’s power brokers cooking, cleaning, Malaysia 1968–71 community, friends, counterparts, programs, and rearing children. e men and women Board Member, Friends of Malaysia and much more, had I had to leave Paraguay fought for equal rights, triumphed over Jim (where I served) within 24 hours. Unbearable Crow segregation, KKK intimidation, and W a pleasure thought for me and yet excruciatingly real for vigilante violence. Today, a diverse group of to read, though my eyes ll with tears as I
6 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW learn Volunteers’ stories of their emergency service 50 years ago in the Philippines. e evacuations. at many returned Volunteers agricultural school where I was assigned is can continue to communicate with their now a full-edged university. Some current colleagues and friends living in remote places students are likely to be the grandchildren of is one bene t not a orded earlier Volunteers. students I taught while there. Best wishes for Nevertheless, the bonds are immutable; aer continuing Peace Corps ideals in the future. 40 years, I and a fellow RPCV returned to Steve Lahey the sites where we trained and supervised Philippines Group 36 health care providers and located many of them because of their long, successful S , my daughter was noti ed It is fabulous, and I would like to share among careers. We only had to ask a few strangers that she is on a list for training for Guinea. family and friends, to encourage some to join who recognized faces in old photos. (See She is diligently working on French. I hope the Peace Corps and others to take action. WorldView Spring 2018.) I hope evacuated this pandemic can be brought under control Missi Smith’s essay, “I’m Tired,” is powerful. Volunteers are able to return to their work, before many more months pass; she doesn’t e statements from the PCVs who were if they so choose. want to miss this opportunity. e issue of evacuated testify to the incredible impor- Beverly Hammons WorldView that tells the stores of the PCVs tance of the Peace Corps around the world, Ecuador 1970–73 being recalled was absolutely fabulous. especially as global ambassadors. I have just Joan Landsberg now made contribution to the NPCA and A , allow me Costa Rica 1964–66 will add it to my annual giving list. Keep up to say that you’ve done a great job. The the good work! e return of Peace Corps coverage of the withdrawal of Peace Corps W by dedicated individuals! I to the wider world is in my prayers. from its posts was absolutely terri c. e served in the rst group to go to Nyasaland Janet Stulting text cover, a brilliant graphic touch, was (Malawi) in 1963. ank you to those who Ukraine 2011–13 only the beginning of a fascinating issue. shared, captured the info, and created this issue. You managed to convey the urgency of the Linda Mille e I moment and the vast disappointment of so , the father of an evac- many. ese are terribly dicult times for us T . anks for your uated 25-year-old Volunteer from Botswana. all, particularly painful for Peace Corps and hard work in writing and puing it together. I told him I would keep this edition as a the many new, reluctantly-made, RPCVs. Angene Wilson keepsake for my nephew, saying it was Barry Hillenbrand Liberia 1962–64 historical and powerful and moving! If one Ethiopia 1963–65 can order second copies please let us know. F ! ought provoking and mean- We continue to support and pray for these F ! I’m sending my copy ingful, from the global evacuation to the Volunteers and communities! o to my granddaughter, who was considering pandemic to Black Lives Maer and the Julie Cominos joining. Here’s hoping she has the chance!! very future of the Peace Corps. Romania 1992–94 Virginia Davis James Skelton Namibia 2007–10 Ethiopia 1970–72 Indeed, we’re happy to send more! Support om NPCA members and donors makes it possible G S . I am I’m Tired for us to tell stories that ma er. Ed. missing my WorldView mags due to no mail from the States for months. Glad to know P -, this there is an online edition. COVID19 has held article by Missi Smith challenges us to No thanks up the reopening of the Peace Corps oce take action, giving us a clear list of things for Solomons this year and the bringing in we can actually do to move our society A : What kind of a journal of new PCVs in 2021. toward racial equality. has no place for readers’ responses and Dennis McAdams Peter Szydlowski simply takes current headlines and applies Solomon Islands 1974–78 Ecuador 1970–74, Nicaragua 1974–75 them to something entirely di erent? Do you really think there is systematic racism in this R W country and the Peace Corps is part of it? V brought back memories of my additional copies of the Summer WorldView? James Eric Lane
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 7 PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Making Our Mark A time to commit to building a legacy of inclusive peace
BY GLENN BLUMHORST
2020 ! The skills we learned, and advocated for legislative reform: What began as what many backed by our core for the John Lewis Voting Rights of us hoped might be a year values, are what we Act as well as police reform. And Wof “perfect” 20/20 vision to need to be of service many of us have taken small steps achieve our new year’s resolutions, business with family members and friends plans, and interpersonal goals turned out to at home in the United to deepen an understanding of be one of the most challenging years of our States. the gravity of what is happening in lifetime profoundly so for the Peace Corps communities across the country. As community. Shortly aer the beginning of Peace Corps Volunteers, we stand the year, we were concerned by legislation help heal old wounds from the past, as well for human rights; as peacemakers we also that proposed ending the independence as work to create new possibilities in the work for justice and to ensure our valuable of Peace Corps. Pandemic led to a global future that awaits us. skill sets are being brought to bear where evacuation of Volunteers in the spring. And is past year has, for many of us, opened they are needed most. by the time many of you read this message, our hearts and minds to what is happening Standing up for the safety of our fellow our country will be turning yet another in our country like never before. When American citizens is patriotic and exempli es important page in this chapter of life we we serve as Peace Corps Volunteers, we the leadership that each and every one of us are all experiencing together. It is our goal venture into unfamiliar territory; we may gained during service. We have already done at National Peace Corps Association that, witness strife or enforced gender roles that the same for the people in the communities no maer what the outcome of our 2020 we nd unseling. While we adapt to our that hosted us as Volunteers. So as this year elections, our leaders in the White House, new environments, learn new languages, draws to a close, let’s focus on making it a House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate and forge new relationships, we may do so cornerstone for the good of humanity. Let collectively support a beer and stronger amidst wrenching change in the communities us continue to have uncomfortable con- Peace Corps. So let us all lend a hand in where we serve. e skills we learned, backed versations that lead to lifelong connections transforming the Peace Corps so that we can by our core values, are what we need to be and hearts that are full: of peace, justice, and once again pick up the torch and build peace of service at home in the United States understanding. We are only as good as our and friendship abroad and work together particularly while we have no Volunteers legacy will allow us to be years from when to do the same thing right here at home. serving anywhere abroad. we all are no longer here. Let’s commit to Civil rights leader and Congressman John Peace Corps Volunteers are leaders in all building a legacy of inclusive peace and Lewis wrote: “Nothing can stop the power walks of life. Being a leader means standing justice all around the world. 1 of a commied and determined people to up for what is right, not just walking the Glenn Blumhorst is President & CEO of National make a di erence in our society.” While we walk only when it is comfortable to do so. Peace Corps Association. He welcomes your comments: cannot control what we face in the future, At NPCA, we have humbly taken a stand [email protected]. we can and should prepare for the problems in the ght against racial injustice aer the 3 August 28, 2020: New affiliate group Black we might face in this changed world. And killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, RPCV in the DMV (District of Columbia, while we certainly cannot undo the perils of Breonna Taylor, and too many others this Maryland, and Virginia)invited returned Volunteers from all over for the commemorative the past year, I would be remiss if I did not year alone. We have held town halls, worked March on Washington. August 28, 1963: the address what we are doing at NPCA now to with aliate groups, participated in marches, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Congress of Library / Leffler K. Warren photo 1963 DMV. the in RPCV Black / Gardner Summer by photo 2020
8 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW 2020 photo by Summer Gardner / Black RPCV in the DMV. 1963 photo Warren K. Leffler / Library of Congress What guides us?
Teaching health or English, Colt Bradley calls North Carolina Support work guided Equality working in youth development home now. He took this photo by Peace Corps values. or fisheries, nurturing of the primary school in Become an NPCA Mission and justice. enterprises or advising in Missamana, Guinea, where he Partner. agriculture. Building friendships was serving as a Volunteer until Empathy and to help the world understand he was evacuated in March. As compassion. our complex and troubled tough as the journey sometimes peacecorpsconnect.org/join nation, bringing understanding is, beauty and wonder are part of a wider world back home. of it, too. So is community.
Navigating lives as individuals
and parents, children and
siblings, citizens and friends
in a time of need. 10 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW FROM THE EDITOR This Time
BY STEVEN BOYD SAUM
summer faded, res were burning up and Because as we studied this Beat poet (now - down the West Coast of the United States 101!) I asked these future teachers and where tens of thousands and Canada, ful llment of Cassandra climate bankers, singers and city council members, A of Peace Corps Volunteers have change warnings that would visit themselves mothers and fathers and citizens notebooks, served, there are a few things we share. upon us within a quarter century if we didn’t please: What are you waiting for? One: a new grasp of time. Be it seasons or do something now. en here they were. how we count the days, a revised sense of To Louisiana came the named storms W for Volunteers to return punctuality or the value of hours in terms of Marco, Laura, Beta, Delta the second of to communities around the world, know- money or daylight, be it devoted to sleep or that lot blowing the ercest winds of any ing what’s ahead is uncharted for all. Yet preparing a meal or hiking to the well, be it tropical cyclone in modern history to make ambassadors and colleagues, students and in the presence of friends or alone with this landfall on the Bayou State. families have all asked: When? Because self you are becoming one of the gis: to e arc of a storm, the arc of history, the solidarity, not charity, calls. Yet we know be invited into a new way of measuring a path of the re or the pandemic of COVID or that the safety and security of communities life. Step outside of the this, then this, then hateful racism: Where will we nd ourselves in and Volunteers must circumscribe what is this. Also a gi: the dawning of the truth the time that maers? Digging the perimeter possible. And these cannot be empty words. that empathy and understanding are not to halt the ames, preparing meals for the Because we carry with sorrow and com- transactional stu , giver and receiver both rst responders, helping someone breathe? passion a tragic truth underscored in recent richer, stronger, wiser, more human. weeks. In January 2018, Bernice Heiderman, Now here we are: old strictures of time T , 2020 from Inverness, Illinois, was serving as a dissolved, pandemic time warping the dis- continued. Let us speak of world peace and Volunteer in Comoros. As a New York Times tance between today and last Monday until friendship. We’ve just begun commemorat- article detailed this fall, she contracted and that day is shockingly distant. When time ing six decades since this whole audacious died from undiagnosed malaria. Had it been itself has taken on new meaning or lack Peace Corps endeavor caught the 1960 treated, she might have made a full recovery. thereof. But how? election-year zeitgeist. Origin story: 2 a.m. She was 24 years old. It’s been nearly nine months since most at the University of Michigan on a drizzly To her loved ones, the Peace Corps Volunteers around the world got the news and chilly October 14, cut to San Francis- community sends the deepest condolences. via phone call or email or WhatsApp: Because co’s Cow Palace on November 2, and not And a pledge to ensure that the agency does of COVID-19, they were being evacuated. even six weeks aer inauguration day 1961 beer. As NPCA President Glenn Blumhorst e pandemic was burning its way across there’s the executive order on 3/1/61 JFK wrote in an open leer, “ e current challenge the globe. In this country and others, it still signs the Peace Corps into being. Youthful of suspended Peace Corps programming exacts a terrible toll. As we put this magazine idealism that set in motion something that provides a tremendous opportunity and to bed, globally there have been 43 million could and should be the best of what this clear responsibility for the agency to cases and 1.16 million people have died, nation aspires to be. engage global health experts, Congress, more than 226,000 lives lost in the United Perhaps not coincidentally, when I was and the broad Peace Corps community in States alone. teaching contemporary American literature a transparent dialogue on where improve- We look to a pandemic a century in the as a Volunteer in western Ukraine the ments in volunteer health care are needed past for lessons on enduring this one. And independent country then all of three years and what is needed to implement those we behold a future that came too soon. old the poem that most red my students’ improvements … And we must commit to In the San Francisco Bay Area, which I call imaginations was Lawrence Ferlinghei’s “I the care and well-being of these Volunteers home, this was the year of the Blade Runner Am Waiting.” It is a litany of an American in a changed world.” sky: Dry lightning sparked hundreds of res promise unful lled, ideals unmet, but that We can do nothing less.1 up and down the Golden State, including does not mean giving up: Steven Boyd Saum is editor of WorldView and director the largest blaze in California’s recorded and I am perpetually awaiting of strategic communications for National Peace Corps history more than 1 million acres. As a rebirth of wonder. Association. He was as a Volunteer in Ukraine 1994–96.
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 11 FORWARD
PEACE CORPS 60TH ANNIVERSARY Peace Corps Viet Nam: At 2 a.m. on October 14, 2020 the Peace Corps community kicked o Launching in 2022 60th anniversary celebrations with a once-a-decade gathering: We returned (virtually) to the steps of the student T J 10: inking of union at University of Michigan to an agreement between Viet Nam’s Minis- Hanoi commemorate the impromptu speech try of Education and Training and Peace by John F. Kennedy that helped launch Corps to formally establish a Peace Corps the Peace Corps. November 2 marks program. e occasion also marked 25 the anniversary of the speech Kennedy years of diplomatic relations between the delivered at the Cow Palace in San United States and the Socialist Republic Francisco—in which he formally called of Viet Nam. for a “peace corps” of talented young “We are thrilled to be entering into this men and women “from every race and historic partnership,” said Peace Corps walk of life.” As we mark the anniversary Director Jody Olsen. “I am honored and of the founding of the Peace Corps and deeply grateful to the people and government look toward reshaping it for a changed of Viet Nam for their willingness to open world, mark your calendar with these their hearts, schools, and homes to Peace served in Niger and Madagascar observed Copyright © Free Vector Maps.com dates. Corps Volunteers. is program, with its wryly: “Looks like Mrs. Olsen watched ‘Da emphasis on cross-cultural exchange and 5 Bloods.’” (Could be. Spike Lee’s lm was PEACE CORPS DAY | MARCH 1 capacity building, will bene t the people released in June.) Celebrations with the Peace Corps of both countries for generations.” Here at WorldView, we devoted a special community across the United States— e rst cohort of Volunteers is set to edition to Viet Nam and Southeast Asia in and around the world. Stay tuned for arrive in Viet Nam in mid-2022. ey will Fall 2016. Download the magazine app to more—and updates on how we’ll host focus on English education. Serving as read those stories: worldviewmagazine.org. our annual Days of Action on Capitol Hill country director will be Kate Becker, who at the beginning of March. previously directed the Peace Corps programs in Albania and Montenegro. First Volunteers return to e agreement has been years in the service in January 2021 making. In May 2016, on the eve of Pres- T ident Barack Obama’s historic visit to Viet P C HQ O 14. Nam, Peace Corps and the government of e Eastern Caribbean will be the rst Viet Nam announced plans to establish a to welcome back Volunteers. is news partnership that would bring Volunteers to comes aer more than eight months of work in education. “ is new partnership uncertainty, with Americans who have will further strengthen and deepen our two been invited to serve as new Volunteers countries’ people to people engagements,” said still on hold. PEACE CORPS CONNECT then-director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, “and What about other programs and regions? JULY 29–31, 2021 the Volunteers will learn the rich traditions, One answer, on the Peace Corps website as Howard University, Washington, D.C. culture and history of this great nation.” of mid-October: “Due to the complexity of + Online What’s the reaction been in the Peace the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallouts We hope that we’ll be able to come Corps community? “ is makes me want to in every post, we cannot address timing together in person for our annual join again. Congrats!” “ is makes my heart yet.” ough more news may be coming conference, hosted by Howard sing!” “We have come a long way.” “Glad to throughout the fall. Right now, plans for University. But wherever you are in nally see an update! I’ve been waiting since return include COVID testing and 14 days the U.S. or around the world you can they made the rst announcement years of quarantine when Volunteers arrive in join us—because we’ll have a robust ago. I currently live in Hanoi.” One post on the country where they are serving with digital program. Facebook included 18 exclamation points a caveat that quarantine periods may vary
Updates: peacecorpsconnect.org over two sentences. And one Volunteer who from country to country. Maps.com Vector @Free
12 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW DUMMYTEXT
Peace Corps has posted general esti- Volunteers trained in Puerto Rico beginning 10,000 mates for when Volunteers might return in June 1961. MEALS: to service globally: either mid-2021 or late The Peace Corps Prep program was All in a Day’s 2021, depending on region and sector. A inaugurated in 2007 and includes more Work for crowdsourced list on a Facebook group for than 125 schools. Also new to the ranks: the team evacuated Volunteers (featured in our summer Louisiana State University, Northern Ari- with World edition) has listed returns to service country zona University, San Diego State University, Central by country, specifying which month from SUNY-Stony Brook University, University of Kitchen January to November. Other ways Peace West Florida, and University of Wyoming. working in Louisiana in the aftermath of Corps expects service to change: Initial Hurricane Laura, helping feed refugees cohorts will be small, sites near a medical and first responders. “A very long (but unit, travel restricted. (See p. 26 for more.) Virtual Volunteering good!) day,” says Daniella DeLaRue, Another factor in the answer: Many of I right, who traveled from Texas to help the 61 countries in which Volunteers were ? It’s a propos- out—and support the work that Ackeem serving have not experienced the severity al in the report issued by the National Evans, left, was coordinating as project of pandemic that has hit the United States. Commission on Military, National, and manager for WCK. Evans asked NPCA Some Paci c island nations where Peace Public Service earlier this year. As Lex to put out a call for more volunteers. “It Corps Volunteers were serving have reported Rie el wrote in this magazine, the report was really wonderful to meet Ackeem zero cases of COVID-19. explicitly calls for “an expansion of Peace and tell him in person that I was there Universities in the United States o er Corps Response, making the program because of him,” DeLaRue says. “It has some lessons in the complexity of opening more accessible to older Americans and been some of the most humbling work up programs again. Some have managed to people with disabilities, with increased I’ve been a part of.” Evans served as keep the virus in check; others have not, and opportunities for ‘virtual’ volunteering.” a Volunteer in Albania 2019–20, and have had to shut down in-person teaching. Now Peace Corps has oated the idea to DeLaRue served in Togo. Both were evacuated Volunteers: asking them if they evacuated back to the States in March. would like to participate in what’s being called the Peace Corps Virtual Service Pilot. It’s an opportunity to apply to volunteer for 10 to 12 weeks with the country where they were serving in person. Participants will be able to test drive the program for a future, broader rollout. In the time of COVID, of course so much of our lives has become virtual. At the Peace Corps Connect to the Future A First for Puerto Rico Global Ideas Summit hosted by NPCA STORY SLAMMERS WANTED. U S C in July, Dr. Mohamud Sheikh Nurein The New York City Peace Corps S J has become the rst Puerto Said currently governor of the Red Association hosts the ninth season of Rican college to be part of the Peace Corps Cross in Kenya explicitly called on their Story Slams—all virtual this year. Prep program for undergraduate students. e returned Volunteers to look for ways to So you can tell and hear stories from certi cation program strengthens students’ leverage online meetings to sustain con- everywhere. Coming up November 19: professional and intercultural skills, combin- nections. Indeed, some Volunteers are “Global Reentry: Evacuation Stories” ing academic preparation with volunteering working on grants with communities, from Volunteers forced to leave the and an entrepreneurial project in areas such hosting English clubs, and more. And communities where they were serving as health, education, the environment, the Farmer to Farmer Program, for which last March. This season also included and community economic development, NPCA recruits experts based in the States stories on “Unexpected Americans: among others. to consult with farmers internationally, Experiences with Identity in the Alumni from Sacred Heart University, as has moved to remote consulting. Experts Peace Corps” and “Political Animals: it’s known in English, have served in Peace are paired up to work on capacity build- Encounters with the Political Process.” Corps for years. ose versed in Peace Corps ing for organizations and individuals in RSVP and sign up:
Illustrations from iStock. Photo courtesy Daniella DeLaRue Daniella courtesy Photo iStock. from Illustrations history also know that some of the very rst West Africa and South America. bit.ly/nycpcastorytellers2020
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 13 FORWARD
WE $120 Million for HBCUs BELIEVE in “T - empowering ,” Netix Founder people to Reed Hastings said when the news shape their broke in June. How big? He and own futures. This election season the wife Pay Quillin announced that coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll they were giving $120 million to across the country, leading to a stagger- Historically Black Colleges and ing decrease in the number of people Universities. able to work the polls. So National Hastings served as a Peace Corps Peace Corps Association partnered with Volunteer in Eswatini (formerly Power the Polls to recruit poll workers Swaziland) from 1983 to 1985, from the Peace Corps community to where he taught mathematics. And ensure a safe and fair election for all this summer Hastings and Quillin began Investing in the more Black students future:1 Patty Quillin voters. powerthepolls.org changing the equation for scholarships to and Reed Hastings follow their dreams and HBCUs: $40 million each for Morehouse also encourage more WHY DOES DEMOCRACY College, Spelman College, and the United people to support these institutions MATTER? It’s about a system and a Negro College Fund. helping to reverse generations of inequity culture—and a shared commitment to e gi marks the largest donation ever in our country.” one another. to HBCUs. “We believe that investing in the ere’s also some education to be done At a time of education of Black youth is one of the best for much of the country when it comes to national divi- ways to invest in America’s future,” Hastings learning about the role of these educational sion, NPCA has and Quillin said. “Both of us had the privilege institutions, Hastings said. “Because there’s partnered with of a great education, and we want to help so much social isolation in America, there’s Democracy more students in particular students of just less awareness in the white community for President, color get the same start in life. We hope this certainly in my community of the role that a nonparti- additional $120 million donation will help HBCUs have played over the last 150 years.” san initiative to help individuals and communities bolster confidence in the integrity of the 2020 election. Created by research group More in Common, it’s a website that oers discussion guides, infographics, and more to help all Amer- icans—regardless of who they support in the election—strengthen democracy. democracyforpresident.com
NATIONAL SERVICE MATTERS NPCA has joined more than 80 leaders, including former cabinet secretaries and diplomats on a bipartisan Serve America Together letter calling on presidential campaigns to prioritize and expand national service. The goal: empower young Americans,
respond to PEACE CORPS COMMEMORATIVE Just in time for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the COVID-19, and Peace Corps, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has voted unanimously to approve the design concept help knit our for the national Peace Corps Commemorative. The commemorative will be located in the heart of Washington, D.C., one block from the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol building. The Peace Corps country back Commemorative will symbolize, honor, and celebrate the ideals and values that motivated
together. the establishment of the Peace Corps in 1961. Foundation Commemorative Corps Peace courtesy Rendering Photography. Altizer Drew by Photo
14 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW Q&A
Each Generation Must Do Its Part Darlene Grant on her task to help shape “a more just and equitable Peace Corps”
At a time of national reckoning with racial As a country director: It is from my injustice and the Peace Corps has heard calls own personal experience as a Volunteer om Volunteers to do be er in con onting sys- and my professional framework that I have temic racism as it a ects the agency a new top encouraged Volunteers when they feel level advisor has come on board to lead work to their work or presence is not valued to create “a more just and equitable Peace Corps.” get back to their why. Why do you want to Darlene Grant’s ocial title is senior advisor do meaningful work? Why did you join the to Director Jody Olsen. e excerpted Q&A Peace Corps? It is my rm belief that if you below gives a sense of the scope of her work. can get back to your why, and if you use the Some background on Dr. Grant: 18 years sta and peer resources around you, you will as a professor of social work at the University tap into your core resilience. of Texas at Austin, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in social justice, clinical As senior advisor: My primary role is practice, research methodology, and working to listen to and advise through the lter with at-risk youth. Named 2006 Social Worker of my experience as a clinical social work of Representative John Lewis, I have been of the Year by the National Association of Social practitioner; professor-researcher focused framing the dozens of calls for Peace Corps Workers. Took a leave of absence to serve in on anti-violence, anti-poverty, anti-racism, leadership to address organizational racial Cambodia’s third Peace Corps Volunteer cohort and oppression; returned Peace Corps Vol- inequities in terms of his life, his fearless as a teacher and teacher trainer. en country unteer; and former country director. I want commitment, and his devotion to this work. director in Mongolia and Kosovo. to create a space where I can truly listen to The challenges and importance of anti- people’s stories and recommendations on oppression, anti-racism, cannot be overstated. On volunteering in Cambodia: It chal- behalf of the agency. I aim to collaborate As I emphasize the importance of press- lenged everything I had learned from living with the Peace Corps’ Task Force on Diver- ing on, no maer how tired, no maer how life as an African American woman whose sity and Inclusion to connect the dots in skeptical that this e ort will lead to real parents were a part of the great migration terms of aitudes, policies, and practices change, one quote by Rep. John Lewis par- of the 1950s when they traveled from the that deliberately or inadvertently put up ticularly resonates:“Freedom is not a state; South to northern cities for opportunities. barriers toward aaining the richest possible it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden It challenged everything from my academic diversity of applicants, Volunteers, and sta perched high on a distant plateau where we pursuits to what I taught as a professor about from underrepresented groups. can nally sit down and rest. Freedom is the empathy, resilience, social justice, diversity, continuous action we all must take, and each power, privilege, and oppression. Why do this? My unique skills make me generation must do its part to create an even e people-to-people work of a Peace sensitive to the desire everyone has to be seen, fairer, more just society.” Corps Volunteer living at the level of the heard, and respected for who they are, their As everyone who reads this response community in which you serve, building fears, what they have overcome, and their has undoubtedly done, I have ruminated relationships in the face of daily cross-cultural hopes and dreams. Peace Corps changed on the meaning of the intersection of the misunderstanding (that, in my case, included the trajectory of my life and career to be one pandemic, the evacuation, and the horren- helping others overcome stereotypes related focused on meaningful cross-cultural work dous killings of Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, to the package that I come in) armed my which, through an agency embedded within George Floyd, and too many others. ese commitment to my profession as it intersects our U.S. government, enables me (and us) to events have catapulted our society and this with the mission of the Peace Corps. It solid- work for a beer America and a beer world. agency to a tipping point with a feeling of
Photo by Drew Altizer Photography. Rendering courtesy Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation Commemorative Corps Peace courtesy Rendering Photography. Altizer Drew by Photo Rooks Edward by Illustration i ed my passion for this work. Aer hearing the sad news of the passing real possibilities for change. 1
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 15 NCPA NEWS
Meet the 2020 Winners of the Shriver and Ruppe Awards Recognizing Service to Humanity and the Community
- construction of Centro Educativo Técnico e Shriver Award is presented annually by , National Peace Corps Chixot, a grade school and vocational school NPCA to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who A Association hosted our Annual that uses green building as a pathway for continue to make a sustained and distinguished General Membership Meeting via Zoom teaching principles of environmental stew- contribution to humanitarian causes at home or on September 25. Along with a recap of the ardship and active democratic participation. abroad, or who are innovative social entrepre- year and updates from President and CEO e school itself serves as a model for green neurs who bring about signicant long-term Glenn Blumhorst, one of the highlights was building, constructed using 500 tons of change. e award is named in honor of the the presentation of awards to honor work repurposed waste and over 15,000 used rst Peace Corps Director, Sargent Shriver, who inspired by and connected to the Peace tires. School walls are built from eco-bricks founded and developed Peace Corps. Corps community. (plastic boles stu ed with unrecyclable so plastics) and tires rammed with trash and earth. Skylights are made from recycled glass LORET MILLER RUPPE AWARD SARGENT SHRIVER AWARD FOR boles. Roof shingles are made from alumi- FOR OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY DISTINGUISHED HUMANITARIAN num cans and liter-sized soda boles. SERVICE SERVICE e curriculum is project based; students FRIENDS OF KOREA AND FRIENDS MATTHEW PANEITZ | FOUNDER, are taught to assess and address local oppor- OF TONGA LONG WAY HOME tunities. ey conduct surveys to identify Friends of Korea: A guide to understand F 18 , Mahew Paneitz has devoted development issues in communities: poor the transformation of a country his life to the redress of ethnic violence and smoke ventilation, access to clean water “W K, but Korea never le systemic oppression perpetrated against the and sanitation, and earthquake-resilient us,” Gerry Krzic wrote recently. Krzic serves indigenous peoples of Guatemala. Peace infrastructure. Guided by results, students as president of Friends of Korea, a group Corps brought Paneitz to Guatemala in work with teachers to build stoves, water founded by Returned Peace Corps Volun- 2002. Home is now San Juan Comalapa, tanks, latrines, and retaining walls for families. teers who served in the Republic of Korea a town of 40,000, primarily indigenous e curriculum bears the apt name “Hero from 1966 to 1981, when the Peace Corps Kaqchikel Maya, located in Guatemala’s School.” In 2021, CETC will refine and program was closed. Western highlands. It’s also where Paneitz expand curriculum to all grades, K–11, and Friends of Korea was established in 2002 saw rsthand the brutal aermath of the begin to build the infrastructure to deliver to foster connections between people in U.S. Guatemalan Civil War, a colonialism-driven the Hero School model at partner schools and Korea and between Korean-American conict that claimed hundreds of thousands in Livingston, Guatemala and Victoria communities stateside and wider communi- of lives, mostly indigenous people. Falls, Zimbabwe. ties. In 2016, Friends of Korea began work In Guatemala, extreme environmental On a global scale, Long Way Home has on “Study Guide to Accompany e Korean challenges, inequality, and high rates of engaged more than 2,000 volunteers, work- Transformation,” a manual for educators unemployment and illiteracy stymie equitable ing with organizations such as Engineers and workshop facilitators teaching about and sustainable development. So Mateo, as Without Borders to secure access to clean the dramatic economic, social, and political colleagues know him, founded Long Way water for more than 1,000 families. Paneitz development of Korea. e guide can be Home, a nonpro t organization that utilizes collaborated with green building experts used independently or in conjunction with green building, employment, and education to publish A Guide to Green Building, and the “Korean Transformation” DVD made to mobilize people to actively participate in he has contributed to humanitarian green by Friends of Korea. democracy and create innovative pathways construction projects in Colombia, Vene- e guide includes extension activities to economic and environmental justice. zuela, South Africa, Sierra Leone, and the so that students can use it to understand In 2009, Long Way Home began the United States. diversity in their local community, and
16 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW learn about the Peace Corps, community Hasse and Collee had served as Peace Hero School Kids: In Guatemala’s western highlands,1 their project-based learning is service, and transformative learning. ere’s Corps Volunteers in Tonga, 2012–14. In the focused on building a stronger community. one story in particular that Friends of Korea wake of that devastating storm, they and other The school itself is a model for green building. highlights: Korea is the rst Peace Corps returned Volunteers mobilized. And the partner country in the world to launch its nonpro t Friends of Tonga was formed to own government-funded overseas volunteer ameliorate the devastation, but also to help Named for the widely admired 10th Director of service corps, “World Friends Korea.” ll gaps in delivering education in Tonga. the Peace Corps, the annual Loret Miller Ruppe As one project, Friends of Tonga designed Award is presented by NPCA to outstand- Friends of Tonga: Helping kids tell their and implemented a pen pal exchange program ing aliate groups for projects that promote stories and building connections across between schools in the United States and the ird Goal of Peace Corps “strengthen the world Tonga. Teachers are provided with a guide Americans’ understanding about the world “O F 11, 2018, Cyclone Gita, with that gives an overview of the program and its and its peoples” or continue to serve host winds that topped 233 km/h category 4 process. When possible, a Friends of Tonga countries, build group spirit and cooperation, hurricane strength slammed into the Paci c representative has gone to participating schools and promote service. island nation of Tonga,” Michael Hasse and to introduce both Tonga and the project to the Chiara Collee wrote for WorldView. “It was teachers and students. When Friends of Tonga Announcing the awards this year was Mary the worst storm in over 60 years and wrought is unable to deliver a presentation in person, Ruppe Nash, daughter of namesake Loret horrendous damage on the islands of Ton- slideshows have been created for both Tongan Miller Ruppe. gatapu and ‘Eua, resulting in two deaths and and U.S. teachers to orient their students to numerous injuries. More than 2,000 homes the other culture. is program enhances Nominations for 2021 for the Shriver and Ruppe were damaged, crops were destroyed across literacy rates in Tonga, raises awareness of awards, and the Harris Wo ord Global Citizen both islands, and 80 percent of the Tongan Tonga and its people, and has increased event Award 2021 are now open. Find out more and
Photo by Ron B. Wilson / Photographers Without Borders Without Photographers / Wilson B. Ron by Photo population was le without power.” participation and donations. 1 submit nominations: bit.ly/npca-awards
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 17 ADVOCACY
Working for a Peace Corps to Which I Can Return
BY DANIEL LANG
2019 I serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia. TMore 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. at fall I swore in as a Volunteer and a close friend, Austin Frenes, began service in China. We both received assignments as university English instructors. In January 2020, Austin learned his cohort would be China’s last; the program would, in Peace Corps terms, graduate. Mongolia began to restrict travel amid a preemptive quarantine. Peace Corps China consolidated in ailand then ended. In February, Peace Corps Mongolia evacuated; we were put on administrative hold. A week later, home in Nevada, I got word that our service was closing. I’m waiting to hear when a webinar and learned NPCA had no doc- RPCVs in the Show Me State: A district meeting1 with staff from U.S. Senator Roy Blunt we might reinstate. umented meetings of returned Volunteers (R-MO) included Kirsty Morgan (Kazakhstan 1998–2000), Erin Robinson (South Africa with Nevada’s congresspeople. 2005–07), Don Spiers (Venezuela 1973–75), I knew our legislators could do Joseph O’Sullivan (Brazil 1973–75), Amy Morros The possibility of making (Mali 1996–98), and Mia Richardson (North more to support Peace Corps. Macedonia 2018–20), founder of RPCVs important contributions NPCA’s Advocacy Director Serving at Home. like this are why, we Jonathan Pearson helped me to said, it was important decide which lawmakers to meet for Peace Corps to both with. He put me in touch with to arrange a Zoom call with the sta of my become better and to other Nevada RPCVs whose congressman, Steven Horsford (D-NV) redeploy. service spanned continents and in September. On the call were fellow Vol- decades. ey were strangers to unteers Alexis Zickafoose (Georgia 2018- me personally, but we had that 20), Alan Klawier (Liberia 1975-77), Taj I ’ for a leadership role common bond as Volunteers. They also Ainlay (Malaysia 1973-75) and Kathleen in organizing meetings with members of echoed advice I had heard in training: We DeVleming (Ethiopia 1972-74). Alexis Congress. I had no experience as a citizen might not know the greatest impact of our was just nishing her second year of service lobbyist. But in August I saw a call to action service for years to come. when she was evacuated. Alan and Taj shared email from National Peace Corps Associa- Earlier in the summer I had shared a stories of their service and the impacts of tion asking me to do exactly that, as part of story of my Peace Corps service with a high Peace Corps over the years reasons why a “virtual district oce initiative.” I aended school classmate. rough her, we were able we were asking our representative to support Morros Amy by Photo
18 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW GROUPS
Gratitude Thank you to the groups and individuals who have supported evacuated Volunteers and their communities around the world during this time of crisis.
H.R. 3456, the Peace Corps Reauthoriza- of Peace tion Act introduced by RPCV Rep. John Corps Volunteers, National Peace Corps Association Aliate Groups across the Garamendi (D-CA), and H.R. 6833, the country have been generous with time and support they have shown evacuated Vol- Utilizing and Supporting Evacuated Peace Iunteers. ey have provided service and assistance here in the United States during Corps Volunteers Act introduced by Rep. the COVID pandemic. A number of aliate groups have also made generous donations Dean Phillips (D-MN). to enable NPCA to provide vital transition support and services to the 7,300 recently Kathleen raised points about the skill evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers. is crucial support ampli es our community’s global sets of many Volunteers, and the importance social impact by providing small grants for the projects of evacuated Volunteers. And it of legislation aimed at puing RPCVs to sustains important connections with communities around the world during a time of crisis. work to help combat the pandemic here To all who have given support to NPCA’s Community Fund, the RPCV Benevolent Fund, and at home. She spoke about the work that to the Global Reentry Program: Thank you! We give special thanks to these NPCA Affiliate her husband, John DeVleming, had done Groups for their generous donations: to eradicate smallpox in Ethiopia while serving as a Volunteer and working with the Atlanta Area Returned Peace Corps Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Volunteers of New Jersey Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Friends of Colombia RPCVs of Northeastern New York e possibility of making important con- Friends of Jordan RPCVs of North Florida tributions like this are why, we said, it was Friends of Nepal Southeast Michigan Returned Peace important for Peace Corps to both become Heart of Texas Peace Corps Corps Volunteers beer and to redeploy. Association Tennessee Returned Peace Corps I realized a few things from this experience. Peace Corps Iran Association Volunteers North Carolina Peace Corps Western Montana Returned Peace is work is all in our ird Goal helping Association Corps Volunteers Americans, including our representatives and senators in Congress, beer understand the world. It’s also part of showing openness, adaptability, and exibility. And serving as a citizen lobbyist at home is much like engaging in citizen diplomacy abroad. Ultimately, all U.S. citizens can contact our leaders or, should I say, our public servants. I know we’re all called to act in di erent hours. I felt this as my hour. I hope you consider this, too. Let’s help make sure that Peace Corps endures as something even beer than it has been. 1
As of press time, RPCV advocates have organized 30 virtual district oce meetings across 16 states, with dozens of additional meetings being sought. A place to stay: Schoolgirls at Enukweni Community Day Secondary School in Malawi. A safe Make plans to participate in our next round place1 means access to education. Volunteer Lydia Babcock was working with community members to obtain grant funds to renovate the hostel where they live during school terms. Then Babcock of district meetings, coming in March 2021 was evacuated. NPCA groups and members stepped up and funded this project and others.
Photo by Lydia Babcock Lydia by Photo during our annual National Days of Action.
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 19 Peace Corps Connect to the Future Eight town halls
and a global ideas summit
to reimagine the Peace Corps
for a changed world. What are the big ideas for the Peace Corps, National Peace Corps
Association, and the Peace Corps community going forward?
To answer that, in July we convened eight town halls and a global ideas summit that brought together thousands of members of the Peace
Corps community. The reason: In March 2020, all Volunteers were evac- uated from around the world because of COVID-19. They came home to a country in economic turmoil and with a worsening pandemic, and soon wracked by protests against racial injustice. ¶ We heard loud and clear from the community that Peace Corps needs to change and adapt if we want it to endure. How? Areas we focused on ranged from diver- sity, equity, and inclusion to recruitment and recalibrating programs; from reexamining the three goals of Peace Corps to agency policies and funding; from helping Volunteers during readjustment at home to communication to, in, and about the Peace Corps community. ¶ As this magazine goes to press, we’re finalizing formal recommendations: for our community, including the agency, as well as policymakers and the American people. We’re approaching this work with humility and awareness of what’s at stake. In the pages that follow you hear voices from around the world and across generations, asking how we connect
Peace Corps to the uncertain future we’re making. —GLENN BLUMHORST
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 21 Peace Corps in a Post-COVID World BY KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM
- with the Peace Corps, since I was a 7th-grade student in the hills of Nepal. My wonderful Peace Corps teachers were Iinstrumental in helping transform my life. And the 4,000+ Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in Nepal have contributed immensely to my country’s development. I feel sad that because of the COVID pandemic the Peace Corps had to temporarily withdraw Volunteers from all countries, including Nepal. Today I join my fellow panelists from Guatemala and Kenya to address some weighty questions about the future of the Peace Corps from our perspective as global citizens, and that of our home countries. I deeply appreciate the soul-searching motivation for our reec- Returned Peace Corps tion at this time of historic convulsion in the U.S., triggered by not only the COVID crisis but also the Black Lives Ma er movement, Volunteers can instill and other crises facing America and the world. Recent events have a sense of a more made all of us introspect deeply about combating systemic racism, and more broadly, promoting social justice, and ending the long enlightened America legacy of racial, ethnic, religious, and gender-based disparities. We nd these phenomena not just in America, but in all countries as part of, not apart where the Peace Corps serves. Let me try to address these issues in a historic and holistic perspective. om, a more just, During the past century, the United States has been the world’s peaceful, and greatest superpower. ere have been three major sources of Amer- ica’s super power status in the world its economic prosperity, its prosperous world. military strength, and its cultural vibrancy. America has been the richest country in the world for nearly two centuries. e U.S. has only 4 percent of the world’s population but 15 percent of the world’s GDP, and 30 percent of the world’s bene ts for America. e trillions of dollars America spends on its billionaires. But we also nd in America grotesque inequality, and military is increasingly becoming counterproductive. Instead of great poverty in the midst of plenty. It is the only rich country in winning friends, America’s military might is turning people into the world without universal health coverage. In terms of people’s enemies and even terrorists. health and wellbeing, the U.S. is no longer a world leader. e fact Look at what the trillions in military spending have produced in that the U.S. has more cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Arab world, and even in Latin America other country in the world is a telling example of how America’s a wave of anti-Americanism. I believe it is time now to reorient the vast wealth fails to protect its people’s health. American economy, drastically reduce military spending, and redirect America’s military strength has also been unparalleled in recent it to end poverty, to reduce inequality, to provide health care and qual- history. Currently, the U.S. spends more than $700 billion annually on ity education for all, and to protect the earth from the climate crisis. defense; that is close to 40 percent of the world’s military spending. is is where America’s third strength comes into play. America’s
But this is increasingly becoming a burden without proportionate educational, scienti c, and cultural vibrancy have earned the U.S. Gautam Chandra Kul courtesy Photo
22 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW tremendous so power in the world. Forty percent of the world’s the multiple crises facing the U.S. and the world into opportunity Nobel Prize winners have been Americans. More than 50 percent for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. I know from of the world’s Nobel laureates were trained in America. And 60 of my own personal experience and observation that Peace Corps the world’s 100 best universities are in America. e American Volunteers can make a transformational impact on the lives of many scienti c, technological, and cultural innovations have enveloped ordinary people, and future leaders of host countries. the whole world. at is what gives America a positive so power Our increasingly interconnected world demands global soli- for the good of the world. darity, not charity, to solve global problems that transcend national I consider the Peace Corps as one element of that benevolent borders like the specter of war, terrorism, racism, climate change, American so power. I dare say that the less than half a billion dollars and pandemics like COVID-19. I sincerely believe that the Peace that America spends annually on the Peace Corps touches more Corps can be a great organization dedicated to promoting such ordinary people’s hearts, and helps nurture peace and friendship global solidarity at the people-to-people level. in the world than the many billions the U.S. spends on military aid Let us remember that solidarity, unlike charity, is a two-way to developing countries. street. e Peace Corps experience is just as important for the at was precisely the vision of President John F. Kennedy education and enlightenment of the Peace Corps Volunteers as it when he established the Peace Corps. Kennedy envisioned the is for them to help their host communities. Peace Corps as an opportunity for young Americans to be er More than any other group of Americans, I believe that Returned understand the challenges of living in a developing country, to Peace Corps Volunteers can instill a sense of a more enlightened impart their knowledge and skills, and to help overcome poverty America as part of, not apart om, a more just, peaceful, and pros- and underdevelopment. ose are precisely the building blocks perous world. So, I hope and count on the Peace Corps to survive for peace and prosperity. and thrive, and help build an enlightened post-COVID America It is that spirit of solidarity and empathy that makes America, or and world. Nepal, or any other country truly great. To paraphrase the late Sen. Kul Chandra Gautam is the 2018 recipient of the Harris Wo ord Global Citizen Ted Kennedy, to make America great again: “It is be er to send in Award. He is a diplomat, public policy expert, peace advocate, and former deputy the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps.” I so wish that President executive director of UNICEF. Trump had been a Peace Corps Volunteer. If he had the Peace Corps experience, he would have tried to “Make America Great Again” by responding to the greatest challenges of our times the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic racism, global poverty, and the climate crisis in a completely dierent manner. How can the Peace Corps be a true partner with host countries A Time to Reect in the new post-COVID world? And how must the Peace Corps change to be relevant for the 21st century? Even before COVID-19 BY LUIS ARGUETA invaded and destabilized the world, we already had a universally agreed global agenda called the Sustainable Development Goals. ose goals, with dozens of speci c and time-bound targets to be achieved by 2030, include ending extreme poverty, promoting pros- because of this pandemic. It is a perity with equity, protecting the environment, and safeguarding perfect time to ask some very basic questions about human rights. ey were endorsed by all countries of the world, Whumanity in general and about the Peace Corps including the United States, at the United Nations in 2015. ey in particular. From what I have seen in Guatemala, the pandemic comprise a nonpartisan agenda, so all of us can support them has revealed the vast dierences between a small group of people whether you are a Republican or Democrat or neither. who have a lot and the large majority who have very li le. It has Peace Corps Volunteers already promote these goals in their revealed in its stark nakedness the structural de ciencies of states work as teachers, health promoters, agriculture extension workers, like Guatemala, where the economic disparities are tremendous. and a variety of other vocations. What is needed now is to re ne the But also where the neglect of the large population has caused the skills of the Peace Corps Volunteers to ensure that their services current critical situation where, for over 50 years, people’s basic are provided to truly empower local people and communities. needs like education and today, it’s obvious, health have not Like all other institutions are doing at this time, the Peace Corps been addressed. too would bene t from an organizational soul searching to root out e response in Guatemala has been to create hospitals and any trace of racism, gender discrimination, or a colonial mentality augment the number of beds that can be occupied by people who that may occasionally and inadvertently inuence its work and are ill with COVID-19. at looks like a great solution. But in a mission. I honestly believe that the Peace Corps can help transform system where we don’t have basic access to minimal healthcare,
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 23 migration, and asylum seeking. e current situation is not making those things be er. And even if borders today are closed, once they open and we hope that will be sooner than later people will be forced again to leave their homes. What is the Peace Corps to do at a time like this? I think it is to go and work at the very basic community level and help be er conditions that are making it impossible for people to stay at home and be with their family and prosper and be healthy. I don’t think that this is a time to be shy about our common links and our historical connections. e same way that in the streets of the United States and in other countries but especially in the United States people are protesting racial inequality and people are coming to terms with our own privileges, it is a time for the Peace Corps to realize that every Volunteer who comes to a host country comes with great privilege. And it is to the be erment of everybody that we reect on our position in these communities. At the same time that we self-reect on our role and our privileges, and the privileges of Volunteers, we should look at the historical ties between the host countries and the U.S. It is a time of many contradictions. Guatemalan immigrants, and immigrants from many other countries, are today in the U.S. working and are considered, in many instances, essential workers. However, they also are risking being detained and deported. ey’re suering the eects of the At the same time that pandemic in larger numbers, as are other minorities and more we self-re ect on our vulnerable populations in the U.S. We must recognize this. We must recognize that the Peace Corps does not operate in a role and our privileges, vacuum. It operates as part of a larger government structure and that, yes, it represents the best America can oer. But it also has to and the privileges of be very conscious of the current image of the U.S. around the world, because of very unfortunate isolationist policies. Volunteers, we should So at the same time that we’re reaching out to host coun- look at the historical tries and hopefully, we will be receiving many more Peace Corps Volunteers in the future they’re not issuing visas for my fellow ties between the host Guatemalans to travel to the U.S. ere is the threat of cu ing visas even for exchange students who pay full tuition at U.S. universities, countries and the U.S. let alone temporary workers who pick the crops in the elds of the U.S. So we must be conscious of these contradictions. And we must relearn the history between our countries. One of the privileges that we should look at is the fact that, this is not the solution. By addressing this particular need, and as the pandemic was declared, Peace Corps Volunteers were sent by the Peace Corps focusing on the basic health needs of rural home. Fortunately, they were able to go home and are now with communities, we can start focusing on the future. Because when their families. However, this took them away from a place where you need to go to a hospital to treat a minor illness that could be they had commi ed to work and where people without that treated by a local health post when there’s not even a clinic in privilege, that choice, had to remain in a more vulnerable position. the rural areas I think we would be serving the communities in This is a time of meditation, of self-reflection, and self- a very dierent way. analysis and, as hard as it might seem, to look forward to the Something that I have been particularly focusing my work on future with hope. for the past 12-plus years is migration. And these major structural Luis Argueta of Guatemala is a lm director and producer whose work helps audiences de ciencies in the country have provoked what, to me, is one of beer understand people on the marginsincluding “e Silence of Neto,” Guatemala’s the most crucial issues of our times: forced displacement, forced rst Oscar submission. He is the 2019 recipient of the Harris Wo ord Global Citizen Award. Argueta Luis courtesy Photo
24 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW People are saying that America, this democracy, is usually the rst to harass other countries when there is abuse of human rights. As human beings, we should all learn to live with each other and respect each other and work together.
Volunteers couldn’t go too deep in some areas. As things changed, Empower People especially in Kenya, they had to be pulled out; that was very sad. Now there is a reckoning because of this pandemic. I think this BY DR. MOHAMUD SHEIKH NUREIN SAID is a big blow to the Peace Corps itself especially in Kenya, because we were just planning to bring in new Peace Corps Volunteers. We were ready to receive them, a er they were pulled out about seven K knew very li le about the United years ago. ey were coming back. States. With the coming of the Peace Corps Volunteers, e other issue is the American situation. Recently people who worked mainly in rural areas, people came to know were really shocked when the [government] said that international Pmore. at was during the Cold War. Discussions took students who are there had to come back. I’m happy that decision place, and people felt at home with the Volunteers and the Vol- was revised. Such decisions sometimes aect ordinary people who unteers themselves felt at home. us that aim of the Peace Corps have children there and who are starting their own family; they was achieved immediately. hope that they will get the education they need in America and then e majority of the Volunteers were teachers. I’m happy to say come back. So if all of a sudden they said that “No, because of this that most of the people who went through those schools special pandemic, you have to go back,” it becomes dicult. high schools because of the Peace Corps, did well in school and But also, what has happened recently in the States especially they have really served the community. at’s the main aim of the the brutality which is going on: at aected people all over the Peace Corps: to empower the people. world. I’m glad that things are being worked out, and I hope things As years went on, especially in other elds, what Volunteers which should have changed a long time ago would change now, did was marvelous. In technical terms, whether in agriculture or and people should be respected. People are saying that America, in otherwise empowering people, they did a good job. e policy this democracy, is usually the rst to talk about and harass other of the American government was seen on the ground; to see and countries when there is abuse of human rights. And here people talk to people and exchange ideas is when you learn more about are looking at the security guys themselves doing such things. As the country. And it came as a cultural exchange: We learned human beings, we should all learn to live with each other and respect technical elds, and we learned more about American culture each other and work together. 1 and American people. Dr. Mohamud Sheikh Nurein Said of Kenya is a volunteer, philanthropist, and human- A er the Cold War came the era of terrorism, which aected the itarian engaged in medical service and human rights activities locally, nationally, and
Photo courtesy Red Cross Kenya Cross Red courtesy Photo work done by Volunteers in several countries. In some countries, the internationally. He is the 2013 recipient of the Harris Wo ord Global Citizen Award.
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 25 Peace Corps Today REMARKS BY PEACE CORPS DIRECTOR JODY OLSEN AT THE GLOBAL IDEAS SUMMIT | JULY 18, 2020
’ . I want to say countries with critical responsibilities towards our return. Our “Peace Corps Future,” “Peace Corps Going Forward,” return begins with an external review process, which assesses a because this is about the future. And I’m talking about wide range of external factors, both domestic and international, Tour plans for returning to our global presence. But I have including medical, security, administrative, and logistical criteria. to refer to them as our global future plans exist today: Saturday, July When a country meets these external review criteria, Peace 18. Why do I give a date for this? Even as we’re largely in charge of Corps noti es Congress an important step that we are initiating our process for returning, we’re not in charge of the virus. It dictates a planning for reentry process, and this triggers the internal review. the time. It dictates the place. And in this global pandemic, its time, its place changes every day. e idea of Peace Corps that Volunteers could serve their We will be stronger country for the cause of peace by living and working in other countries struck a chord with thousands in the early ’60s, myself for what we have been included; 1964 was when I rst heard about Peace Corps. at through together. e enthusiasm continues today. We must work together to ensure that the mission continues into the future, that Volunteers return to the Peace Corps mission eld when safely possible. While the mission remains relevant, the world has changed. e COVID-19 pandemic has not only high- of world peace and lighted racial and social economic inequities in our country, but in countries abroad including all current Peace Corps countries of friendship is as relevant service. e pandemic has also highlighted global interconnected- ness, and with it an increased need for people who can eectively today as it was in 1961. and sensitively navigate cross-cultural dierence to build joy and equitable systems and sustainable peace. We take this few months of pause in our in- eld service as Our internal review is an exhaustive process by which a post prepares an opportunity to build into our plans a strong, self-aware, and for every part of supporting Volunteers, sta, and communities. It equitable environment for all sta and Volunteers. Peace Corps’ involves everything from host families to counterparts, to trans- focused goal, which is fully supported by Congress, is to return to portation in country, to precautions in the workplace, and to how a full global presence as soon as we possibly can. to treat a COVID case if it should arise. ere are a multitude of Much uncertainty remains about when and where we will be checks and balances in this system because we cannot risk anyone. able to begin reestablishing operations overseas. We don’t control e oces of Safety and Security, Health Services, Global the disease or its course, but we do control our process to ge ing Operations, and Regions will each thoroughly review and approve overseas. We have some of the brightest and most commi ed each post’s individual plans. e Peace Corps is already working in people on our team working hard to plan for reentry to the eld in close partnership with our host country governments, local com- a way that is strong and sustainable, while assuring the wellbeing munities, and in-country stakeholders to ensure that the timing of of Volunteers, sta, and communities. We have developed a com- our return is safe and according to each country’s local conditions prehensive, two-part process whereby posts work alongside oces and requirements. And no two countries are similar. at Peace Corps Headquarters to plan for reentry and to prepare to Multiple mitigation measures will assure that we’re respectful of receive Volunteers. Our host country sta are in place in our 61 our host country’s management of the pandemic, including testing
26 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW for all Volunteers prior to departure and a 14-day mandatory making, and a joyful moment for so many people. Viet Nam quarantine once they arrive. All posts will have an emergency will be our 143rd country to host Peace Corps Volunteers. I response plan, with detailed guidance on responding to any was in Viet Nam in December. ree of the English teachers I COVID-19 emergencies. Posts are eager to welcome Volunteers was spending time with when I talked about Volunteers living again for service. We hear this every day. And they are fully engaged with host families raised their hands and said: “Can I be a in this detailed planning process. We will provide reorientation and host mom?” at’s what friendship is. at’s what families are. training on how to operate in a dierent environment. And there will be more training and preparation for Volunteers and sta to manage the dierent challenges of service during COVID-19. is is about assuring our host governments that we are keeping Go back humble. Volunteers and their host families, counterparts, and communities healthy and safe. A lot of uncertainty remains. We face returning And better. to countries where life, public education, health, agriculture, and food processing, distribution, and other systems and people have W that can have a signi cant been impacted by COVID-19. Most important, people all over the impact on global challenges. Addressing these challenges starts world have been observing, and even participating in racial justice with maintaining our focus on ge ing Volunteers back into the and equity protests, particularly those in the United States. We are eld. However, we’re not going back to the eld the same as we navigating a world that is in transition. Simultaneously, each of us were before. We’re going to go back be er. For 59 1/2 years, as individuals and so much within myself we are transitioning Peace Corps sought assurances from countries where we serve in our own personal connection to the issues of race, social justice, that our Volunteers will be safe. We must now be prepared to and inequality. Given this time to focus and to grow, we will return assure the same countries that we have taken the steps necessary to our posts with renewed eyes, renewed clarity of what it means for everyone to be safe. to serve, and renewed expectations of ourselves. At the agency More than ever before, we and our country counterparts, we we’re making central to our return to operations a workforce that and our country leaders in each of our countries, are true partners. is representative of the diversity of America by uncovering Returning be er also relies on implementing the improvements and removing barriers to equal opportunity for multiple groups, that I have highlighted with respect to how we recruit, train, and including Black invitees, Volunteers, and employees. support Volunteers. Peace Corps Volunteers should represent ese eorts to date have included intentional holding of very the best of all of us in all our diversity that best represents us as dicult dialogues throughout the agency globally dialogues that Americans. Going back and how we go back is so important, will continue going forward. We have projects that reduce work not just to the countries where we serve, but to the entire world. and service barriers for both sta and Volunteers. We’re assessing As we go back, we will be humble. We will be be er. And we and strengthening diversity recruitment and diversity pipelines will be stronger for what we have been through together. e Peace through new and expanded partnerships. A new agency-wide task Corps mission of world peace and friendship is as relevant today force on diversity and inclusion will track our internal progress as it was in 1961. toward equity and diversity as we return to service, enhancing So what is our call to action? What is it for all of us for me, communication about noncompetitive eligibility in the federal the agency, our countries, our posts, returning Volunteers? Our government as an opportunity to leverage U.S. government eorts continued relevance and ability to carry our mission only holds true to increase diversity across all federal agencies. as long as we are able to continually grow and challenge ourselves Our task force has been charged with leveraging agency data to set the standard for community development. and all recommendations received to date from the eld, from Our continued relevance requires that we become increasingly sta, and RPCVs so that we cra and subsequently implement diverse and inclusive. But our work doesn’t stop there. A diverse and concrete and meaningful strategies for change. inclusive community requires nurturing learning, and requires us to face challenges by participation in these very dicult dialogues: that we must evolve our models of service, our training and support, to meet these challenges. Ultimately, the people we serve in more Peace Corps Viet Nam than 61 countries abroad deserve and expect nothing less. ere are no easy answers. And the process will be neither quick nor O J 10, we signed the implementing agreement between simple. But I truly believe that our Returned Peace Corps Volunteer the Peace Corps and the Ministry of Education and Training community, our incredible sta, and the Peace Corps family we of Viet Nam to ocially establish the Peace Corps program in are all up to this challenge. We are staying strong and we stay a English education in Viet Nam. is has been many years in the leader in our mission of world peace and friendship. 1
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 27 From Ideas to Action Reimagining a Peace Corps for the future. The big question: How can we transform this moment?
Marieme Foote Rok Locksley Juana Bordas In conversation with Evacuated Volunteer, Evacuated Volunteer, Returned Volunteer, Glenn Blumhorst Benin 2018–20 The Philippines 2018–20; Chile 1966–68 President & CEO, NPCA; Returned Volunteer, Moldova, Returned Volunteer, 2005–08; former Peace Guatemala 1988–91 Corps Recruiter
Marieme Foote: If you want NPCA and the Peace Corps to move into a be er future, we need to push for radical shi s in order to con- We are given three months tinue to push the envelope. If not, we risk losing Peace Corps to time. of training to integrate When I returned a er being evacuated, I was part of a group with Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS). into a community. At best We created a report that received over 450 responses on the expe- riences of evacuated Volunteers. We’ve used this report to advocate we’re given a three-day to Congress on behalf of Volunteers for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, healthcare, and other topics. Close of Service conference to readjust Juana Bordas: Intergenerational leadership is key in all commu- nities of people of color. It’s been 54 years since I was in the Peace to the States, but then Corps. I want to share things that have happened since, that were based on my decision a decision all of us made: to put our lives no real support from the in the service of humanity. at’s what makes people powerful, agency. has made me powerful, and Peace Corps powerful. I’ve spent my career building organizations for communities of color, particularly Latinos and Latina women, doing work in race and equity and trying to build the compassionate, good society. a paper in the ’90s. ey took it from NASA, because reentry is recognized as dicult. In a paper called “Psychological and Readjustment Problems Associated with Emergency Evacuation of Peace Corps Volunteers,” Di culty Upon Reentry we see Peace Corps, recognizing through surveys and research, that Volunteers were having trouble with reentry. Evacuated Volunteers Glenn Blumhorst: As we envision the reentry process, what are the were seeing double the diculties. So, 265 Volunteers were evacu- most important things to consider when supporting Volunteers? ated from Liberia, Philippines, and Yemen. Evacuated Volunteers coined the term “crisis of reentry.” Fi y-one percent of all RPCVs Rok Locksley: e rst time I nished my service, I came back to found reentry very dicult, the highest diculty rating on the the 2008 economic depression. I started doing research, especially survey; 30 percent experienced some sort of depression, whereas when I went to work for the agency: Peace Corps has known for a 60 percent of evacuated Volunteers experience depression. en long time that Volunteers have more diculty upon reentry than we see the stats doubling: 30 percent for a feeling of disorientation; going into service. Peace Corps itself used the term “reentry” in 12 percent for periods of crying; 39 percent for a dicult transition
28 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW doing microenterprise work with women. I go to get interviewed, Leadership as service and the guy stops me and he says, “I’m really sorry, but we only hire people that have a master’s degree in social work.” is was the state and as social change are of Wisconsin. I’m the rst person in my family to graduate from absolutely pivotal in college. My mother had a h-grade education. I thought this was ridiculous. I had just come back from where I thought I had made communities of color. a contribution. I slammed my papers on the oor and said, “You don’t understand. I was born to be a social worker.” He looks at me and says, “We can go down to the University of Wisconsin, we’ll help you get a master’s degree if you’ll come back to work for us.” back; 26 percent diculty making decisions; 15 percent reported Now, I understand I had certain privilege for the rst time in avoidance of thinking about Peace Corps as an experience; and 12 my life, because I am Latina and I was able to speak Spanish. But I percent reported disturbing dreams. Take those percentages and had that sense of empowerment that I got through the Peace Corps. double them, and that’s generally what evacuated Peace Corps And I invite everyone just to stop and realize that, yes, it’s dicult Volunteers have been dealing with. to come back, particularly under these circumstances. But the most We are given three months of training to integrate into a com- important thing we can do as Peace Corps Volunteers is to have munity. At best we’re given a three-day Close of Service conference that banner that says: “I’m a global citizen. I’ve made contributions to readjust to the States, but then no real support from the agency. across this globe. I’m here to build this new world that’s coming.” Especially with discontinuation of the RPCV Career Center, pre y Especially today, with our problems in foreign policy, with the cur- much all we have is our RPCV groups and National Peace Corps rent administration, the work we need to do in the future is absolutely Association to help us make this transition. We need to provide a critical. It’s our lifelong commitment to building peace in the world. landing pad. We know it’s dicult. e agency knows it’s dicult. ere are two ways to do this. First, we have to ood the world Marieme Foote: We realized, when we created the WCAPS report: with our stories. Our greatest return on investment is the stories Facebook and social media were huge in terms of bridging connec- of Volunteers. When I was interviewing people [as a recruiter], tions. A lot of RPCVs were oering all types of help. If you’re not on the most common response to my question “How did you hear Facebook, or not in speci c chats, you wouldn’t know. So guring about Peace Corps?” was: a teacher, parents, a friend who served, out how we can get this information to Volunteers who need it is my uncle or aunt served. People were coming to us not because of important when considering reentry for the future. recruitment eorts, commercials, or radio spots; they were coming because of one-on-one connections with people who shared these very beautiful, very intimate stories. Our stories are really our greatest resource. We need to be Where’s the ‘peace’? sharing those at all opportunities so we can both inspire people into service, and then when they return, they know to look for Glenn Blumhorst: It’s great how a community comes together RPCV groups who can help them nd jobs and help them make organically and helps. We saw that emerge during the evacuation: this transition, so we can start to minimize that trauma. when the group started forming, and then speaking with NPCA and sharing what their needs and expectations were from the community, from NPCA, and from Peace Corps. Shi ing to recruitment: What does the future recruitment process need to look like? Learning Leadership Rok Locksley: It goes back to a question brought up in one of the Juana Bordas: I teach leadership, and I learned it in the Peace town halls: “Where’s the ‘peace’ in Peace Corps?” For me, peace is Corps. Futurists say there are two shi s that we’re going through. not like harmony and no conict. It is absolutely a place of conict, One is to become a global community. e second is to create an dicult questions, expanding our comfort zones, learning about inclusive, diverse, and equitable society. I think we reframe the other people and our world. What breaks the peace is when we Peace Corps as something that taught us leadership, that made us have a disagreement that leads to violence. global citizens, that made us inclusive and able to relate and embrace A question I was asked a lot as a recruiter was, “What is the people of all cultures and ethnic groups and ages and generations. Peace Corpse?” Let’s not be the Peace Corpse, because that’s not In the ’90s, I worked with National Peace Corps Association to do good! We’re de nitely the Peace Corps, right? a leadership program for Volunteers who were re-entering. When I As a recruiter 10 years ago, we started a big initiative with the came back from the Peace Corps, I went to get my rst job; I had been Oce of Diversity and Inclusion to recruit at Historically Black
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 29 Colleges and Universities and increase diversity numbers. I was in a conference room with other recruiters; most of us were white, Early termination rates and there was one Black recruiter. We were talking about strategies: How do we recruit Black people? Or persons of color and Latino for Volunteers of color community members? We were saying, We need to get this Black are signi cantly higher recruiter to come with us on campus to talk to the Divine Nine, or talk to dierent university groups. He looks at us and says, “I recruit than white counterparts. on white universities. You don’t need to be a certain race or color to recruit these people.” at was such an enlightening moment: It’s not just about Even in the Peace Corps, as a recruiter, my blinders are so on. at recruitment. It’s about: was 10 years ago. Recruitment has a long way to go. And it’s full of dicult conversations and lots of apologies. How do we also retain
Marieme Foote: My father served in Peace Corps in Ethiopia and these Volunteers? in Eritrea. I’m one of the few who has that connection. e fact that there were lower numbers of Volunteers who are people of color they don’t have that connection white Volunteers might smart because I didn’t have professors, teachers, congresspeople. have. It’s important to see how that could aect recruitment. Identity building becomes really important. Peace Corps has to be When Peace Corps was created, it was exciting radical, really. relevant to the many dynamic, critical issues that we face. As we go forward, the population in the U.S. changes and a new What I learned in Chile I was able to bring back. I helped start generation comes about: they’re dual national, all types of dierent a center for Latina women that had a business center; that followed backgrounds, they have dierent expectations what they want to the microenterprise principles I worked on in Peace Corps. It’s that do and be a part of. ey’re questioning neocolonialism. ey have a weaving together of needs and challenges in communities of color. lot of questions about Peace Corps overall. So how will Peace Corps It’s building partnerships. It’s making Peace Corps relevant, and an and NPCA shi ? A lot of Volunteers I know who are Black or Asian, experience that you can bring back to enrich your community. At or people of color, don’t feel NPCA or Peace Corps is for them. How the same time, for Anglos who come back from the Peace Corps, do we expand that discussion and make them feel they are a part of you need to join organizations and become multicultural yourself this? For me, without the work with WCAPS, I’m not sure if I would so we can start building bridges across communities. have been as involved with NPCA. at is a concern that I have for recruitment and ge ing people involved with NPCA and Peace Corps.
Glenn Blumhorst: I appreciate that, because it’s incumbent upon Barriers to Entry us to help create a more inclusive and welcoming community here on the part of NPCA for the greater Peace Corps community. Glenn Blumhorst: How will diversity and inclusion impact the Peace Corps in the future? Juana Bordas: Servant leadership and leadership as service and as social change are absolutely pivotal in communities of color. Marieme Foote: Looking at stats for Peace Corps, you see diver- I joined the Peace Corps the year that John F. Kennedy was killed. sity at least Volunteers serving from dierent backgrounds going ere was tremendous upheaval in our communities about what we up. However, there isn’t really support in place; early termination could do to support this vision: young people going and learning rates for Volunteers of color are signi cantly higher than white about the world and contributing. Today we have similar kinds of counterparts. It’s not just about recruitment. It’s about: How do reasons for us to be able to go global and to try to help and work we also retain these Volunteers? How do we keep them interested? with communities. How do we get them involved with NPCA? ere are le ers that When I graduated from college, my goal was to give back, Volunteers have wri en to their country oces, on racism and because I’ve been given so much. I’m an immigrant. I came here, discrimination, going around the community. Volunteers of color I became educated. I had that sense of service, which is pivotal in are creating WhatsApp chats, Facebook groups. ese resources are communities of color. at’s how we’ve go en where we are, is to not compiled in one place. It’s important for us to create seminars, collaborate to help one another, and to serve. spaces for Volunteers to meet each other, meet older RPCVs, RPCVs Growing up, I didn’t know I was smart; how could I if I didn’t working in dierent elds, so that they can get motivated and feel know the language when I entered school? If I didn’t understand like Peace Corps and NPCA are for them. Holding NPCA and the system? You begin to think everybody in your community is not Peace Corps accountable for that is something we all have to do.
30 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW Glenn Blumhorst:A great point because we are a community-driven changes or also we’ll not exist, because the next generation won’t organization. And all we do should respond to the community and accept it. When I was joining Peace Corps, I had a lot of questions the expectations that you set. What are the potential barriers you from friends: “Why are you joining this organization? ere’s not see to joining the Peace Corps or NPCA? a lot of people of color there. It’s mostly white people.” ere were a lot of preconceived ideas of what my Peace Corps experience Rok Locksley: ere’s a lot of barriers. For me, coming in at 40 years would be. ere was a lot of fear of joining it, and being a part of a old, to clear medical cost $6,000. I had quit my job to join Peace neocolonialist [enterprise]. So if Peace Corps really does want to Corps, so I was unemployed. I was backpacking through dierent exist, it does need to shi from the foundation in terms of its mission countries, but I had no home of record in the U.S. Ge ing back to statement and what it does and how it does it. the States and having to rely on other services, because I had no medical insurance: It was $6,000 that we put on our credit cards Glenn Blumhorst: at’s a powerful statement. And I take that to and then paid o with our readjustment allowance. at’s a major heart. I think you’re absolutely right: If we don’t shi , we will not exist. barrier. I know I’m older, I’ve had some medical issues but the cost involved with the medical application alone is prohibitive. Rok Locksley: Peace Corps the rst groups were Kennedy’s kids, right? Shriver’s kids. And if Kennedy was building Camelot, then Peace Corps is his Excalibur. It was the best thing that was If Kennedy was building created, and it was on the edge of social justice and change. Now, we know like it’s sort of steeped in neocolonialism, white savior Camelot, then Peace complex but most people didn’t have those terminologies back then. But if Peace Corps wants to remain this cu ing edge social Corps is his Excalibur. justice thing, it cannot remain reactive, as it has been. It can’t just It was the best thing that wait for and prepare for the worst case scenario and be quiet. And during our evacuation, that’s all the evacuated Volunteers have expe- was created, and it was rienced quietness. Our main source of our cu ing edge Excalibur has been Facebook. We need the agency; we want to support you. on the edge of social is thing has hurt us. We gave our lives to this organization, and justice and change. our hearts are in it. And we believe in social justice and change. So I want to see Peace Corps return to its roots of being this cu ing edge of social justice and change. Embracing that would lead to a revolutionary new wave of applicants whose hearts are full, who Juana Bordas: Well, if I had to pay $6,000 for medical, I wouldn’t are young and active and ready to serve and really get to the core have been in the Peace Corps. I had no money. Now students are of the agency, which is world peace and friendship. graduating with debt. Again, going back to leadership and com- munities of color: We need to dedicate ourselves to public policy Juana Bordas: I just want to say that we are the association. We are change. is cannot be that people have to pay. ese barriers the Peace Corps. I served on the board of NPCA for six years, I are ways to not expand Peace Corps to where it should be at this developed the leadership program for the association. We want to time, in this multicultural age. continue engaging; it’s not somebody doing it for us. It’s each one of us making that long-term commitment. For everybody who’s Glenn Blumhorst: Financial barriers are one of the most signi cant been out in the demonstrations, who’s been out there trying to things that we need to look at to remove them so that anybody make this change: Keep it up. As an elder, I did that in the ’60s. I who wants to serve can, regardless of their economic situation. did that for women, for the Vietnam War, for civil rights and then What do you envision future Peace Corps Volunteer values to be? there weren’t that many people marching. We have to do this. It’s a lifelong commitment. It’s up to each Marieme Foote: If you look at the next generation, you see even one of us. e Peace Corps has prepared us to be leaders in this new the Black Lives Ma er movement at least when I went you saw global and international and multicultural age. So I would like to a huge amount of the next generation there present. ey’re calling see us say, Yes, each one of us is going to step up our commitment. for change. ey’re calling for accountability. And if Peace Corps We’re going to reach out to other communities, we’re going to join and NPCA and these organizations don’t shi , they won’t exist. organizations that aren’t white, if we’re white; we’re going to join If we really do care about Peace Corps, we want Peace Corps dierent organizations from dierent perspectives. And we’re going to exist and to continue, and we care about the mission, we also to keep this going. And it does take an advocacy commitment for have to be open to changing Peace Corps and making these radical all of us to do our part in creating the future. 1
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 31 African Americans and the Future of the Peace Corps Recruitment, support—and what next? It’s a conversation we’ve had again and again. Here are some ideas, insights, and hard truths.
September 15, 2020, the Constituency for Africa convened a group of past, present, and future Peace Corps leaders for the annual Ronald H. Brown African Aairs series. It’s a timely and needed conversation—with all Peace Corps Volunteers evacuated from around the world because of COVID-19, and as our nation grapples with pandemics of coronavirus and systemic racism. The conversation was moderated by educational consultant Eldridge “Skip” Gilbert, who served as a Volunteer in Sierra Leone (1967–69). Edited excerpts here.
1. Melvin Foote: I served in Eritrea and Ethiopia in the early ’70s. Black-identifying individuals to drive the narrative of who they are Peace Corps is the reason I’m doing what I am today. Constituency Volunteers who can show the strength, resilience, ingenuity, beauty, for Africa is a policy advocacy organization; we help to educate richness of our culture in the spaces where they walk, live, and serve. Americans about Africa, improve cooperation and coordination It is critical that African American Volunteers work collaboratively between organizations, and help shape U.S. policy toward Africa. with Latinx, white, Asian, and other identifying Volunteers, so that Now Peace Corps has gone through the trauma of evacuation of when they return to the United States, they are able to eectively Volunteers worldwide, trying to gure out when and how it will return communicate across dierences. To mobilize diverse communities, to the eld. We want to increase the number of African Americans form coalitions, make the U.S. and the world a be er place. and Americans of African descent in Peace Corps. It comes at an Two, in today’s world, a college degree is not enough to impact interesting time for our country, as Black Lives Ma er and the forces socioeconomic mobility of oneself or one’s family. Peace Corps of coronavirus have taken over our lives. How do we strengthen the service pays dividends. We must be er communicate those divi- Peace Corps going forward? at is what this conversation is about. dends so that our Black-identifying and African American sisters Melvin Foote, Founder & CEO, Constituency for A ica (Ethiopia 1973–75) and brothers can communicate to their families, schools, businesses, churches, mosques the value of leaving to come back stronger, big- ger, badder, leaner, meaner. Peace Corps oers a signi cant resume value, on-the-ground international development experience, for- Each One, Reach One! eign language immersion, small grant writing and implementation skills. It oers interaction with State Department, USAID, United 2. Darlene Grant: I’m speaking from Birmingham, Alabama, Nations sta, and other communities and opportunity to take where I am steeped in my family’s and our nation’s history of the Foreign Service test. I was 50 years old at my mid-service, and overcoming overwhelming odds, injustice, and disparities to I was thinking, “Man, if I had known about all of this when I was ful ll our ancestors’ wildest dreams. We know what it means preparing to graduate from college, where would I be today?” So that we’re stronger together. at it takes a village to help I’m making sure my grandkids know and nieces, nephews. individuals realize their full potential. at is what we have to My rst leave of absence from Mongolia as country director I oer the Peace Corps. I have six points to make. visited my niece’s rst grade class. I was a secret reader of the day. I One, focus primarily on the health, safety, and security of Vol- read a Halloween story. en I held up a Mongolia ag, told stories unteers. Peace Corps partners with communities abroad to develop of Mongolia to a bunch of rst graders in a predominantly white sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems and elementary school in Birmingham, Alabama. en I invited them challenges. It’s critical to empower more African Americans and to go home and tell their parents they were going to grow up to join
32 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW the Peace Corps. at poor rst grade teacher’s eyes got so big she for Veterans Day, for Tuesday! Her parents were very supportive thought I was starting a ruckus she would not be able to control! of her service. My parents were a li le lukewarm. When I saw the But that is what we must do: Start early and o en in the schools. support white Volunteers had from their community in the way ree, in many African American and Black-identifying fam- of care packages, visits, sponsored trips to other places, social media, ilies particularly in lower income communities if you have phone calls I said to myself when I returned, there’s de nitely earned a college degree, you are the family’s bootstraps, by which something we can do to li ourselves up. I reached out to RPCV families have a chance to see a bigger world, a broader view, a hope friends and asked if they would help me send le ers, care packages, for dierent tomorrow. make calls to Volunteers in service. I started out small on Facebook Four, the role of African Americans in post-pandemic U.S. Peace and was overwhelmed with the response; there are way more current Corps is to describe and design the doors for others to walk through. Volunteers who wanted to be matched with a Black RPCV. Five, the pandemic has highlighted racial and socioeconomic I started the Adopt a Black Peace Corps Volunteer exchange to inequities in our country. It has done so in countries abroad as well. help and encourage Black Volunteers, to allow them an opportunity ey must see a more diverse volunteer corps to be er understand to reach out to Black RPCVs who’ve been there who know what and to be er grow their own worlds. those slights and comments might sound like, what it’s like when Finally, this pandemic and everything else going on have high- your community kind of shuns you, what it feels like to be the only lighted global interconnectedness and with that an increased need American for miles and miles and hours and hours of travel. e for people, for African Americans, who can eectively and sensitively Adopt a Black PCV exchange has been around since 2015. I usually navigate cross-cultural dierence for the purpose of building a just gear up in September in anticipation for sending out a Halloween and equitable world and systems, a just and equitable peace. card, anksgiving card, Christmas card, Christmas care package.
Clintandra Thompson Dr. Darlene Grant, Senior Advisor to Peace Corps Director (Cambodia 2009–11) , Communications Professional; Creator, Adopt a Black PCV Exchange (Senegal 2012–14) Recruitment Why Peace Corps? 3. Dwayne Matthews: When I was in the application process, I asked, “What is Peace Corps doing to gain African Americans?” 5. Harris Bostic II: A er a decade of swimming in all things Peace I wrote a list of things I wanted to do. I didn’t nd out about Corps as a Volunteer, agency employee, and NPCA board mem- Peace Corps until going to community college. I was watching an ber I stayed ashore for awhile. Now as the waters again beckon for episode of “A Dierent World” and heard the character Whitley help with diversifying this 60-year-old organization, I’m ready to say, “Well, why don’t you just ship me o to the Peace Corps?” at dive back in. e years I spent in Africa as an advisor to a microcredit prompted me to look into it. When si ing in the village, I knew I program and local Guinean small businesses have directly impacted wanted to target Historically Black Colleges and Universities. My my career, my personal life and, frankly, my mere being. e Peace rst event as a diversity recruiter was doing an HBCU tour up and Corps was great for me. I do admit that it is not for everyone. But it down the East Coast and the South coast. From there, I did the certainly should be a viable option for more Blacks than it is now. HBCU barbershop tour: 23 barbershops gave me the platform. Shortly a er I concluded my service, I landed a position with We have to be more creative in the ways that we’re a racting folks. the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Commi ee for the 1996 Cen- I’m from Little Rock, Arkansas. Peace Corps just wasn’t a tennial Olympic Games. My boss chose me from a large number conversation. My folks didn’t travel. My dad’s a truck driver, my of applicants because of my Peace Corps experience: having a vast mother’s a housewife. Now, in this COVID-19 pandemic and racial knowledge of the world beyond U.S. borders, the ability to embrace pandemic, I was able to speak with the Peace Corps powers that be, the unknown, push through ambiguity, work with limited direction and we are in the process of creating an HBCU video where we’re and guidance, and continually learn about oneself and others. I talking to returned Volunteers who graduated from HBCUs about became director of the 54 African Olympic National Commi ees, their experiences how Peace Corps has set them up for their life. then advanced to the oce of the chairman, Ambassador Andrew Dwayne Matthews, Oce of Peace Corps Diversity Recruiter (Malawi 2013–15) Young, where we were instrumental in negotiating South Africa’s return to the Olympics a er a 30-year sanction due to apartheid. 4. Clintandra Thompson: Senegal is predominantly Muslim, At the Peace Corps agency I participated on many task forces. predominantly Wolof speaking. My community was Catholic and e “How to Quantify the Peace Corps Service” task force was Sarare. I was in my language group with one other Volunteer, a white incredibly important, but it lost steam due to the Peace Corps ve- woman from Utah. I remember her dad sending cards and le ers at year rule, continual turnover, and loss of institutional knowledge. least twice a week. She got one for administrative professionals day, Today I challenge the agency, NPCA, and RPCVs, to come together
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 33 1 2 3 4 5
and create crisp messages on all the salient reasons to join the Peace university programs as well; you got to have tools in your toolkit. Corps and bene ts of service that target speci c audiences: Blacks, I did not want to just be the diversity guy. I wanted to have more folks from lower socioeconomic levels, people of color, etc. Career juice among my own communities as I moved around the country and grad school recruiters scour resumes, applications, and essays and helped manage 11 regional recruiting ocers. I have worked in search of various experiences. O en they see military service, an in other spaces where the robustness of the folks in leadership MBA, law degree, formal sports experience and they associate positions was absent. And it’s awkward to bring up questions and discipline, decision making, critical thinking, teamwork, striving strategies that bene t a particular community when certain people for excellence. Recruiters should see Peace Corps and think of all aren’t at the table. We were able to go into the HBCUs and negotiate the core competencies associated with it. awesome, big events, not just for minority recruitment, but for the Another call-to-action: Consider rebuilding the Peace Corps agency. e rst group of Volunteers we sent to South Africa was to a ract Blacks and those from lower socioeconomic levels, who on my watch. We did a dramatic sendo in Atlanta, at Morehouse o en just can’t aord to join the Peace Corps. ey have college College, and also at Emory at the Carter Center. loans, credit card debt, need to support families back home. Unlike Representation is important as is supporting diversity at the the military, the Peace Corps is unreachable and sometimes country director level. As we talk about increasing recruitment of seemingly more suitable for whites and privileged individuals. people of color, Black folks in particular, what happens when they Allocate budgets to support those at lower socioeconomic levels get in country? Will there be advocacy for the dierence that they so they can see Peace Corps as not only tenable but viable. Market bring, for the ingenuity and the wonderful things that make their and package Peace Corps service in such a way to a ract Blacks by experiences so rich also for so many people alongside them? li ing up the quanti able bene ts of Peace Corps service. Look at what it takes for the successful completion of the volunteer e goal is for Peace Corps to assemble at the same table a group experience, as well as leadership positions within the agency. is of both likely and unlikely allies to work toward identifying solid conversation is not a new one. bene ts of service; quantifying, or translating them to understandable We’ve talked about the awkwardness of a ve-year rule. Why is competencies; then market and package them into sellable traits and it, as one of the few minority directors of Peace Corps, as a country a ributes that recruiters value and seek, especially among people director, I’ve never go en a call from Peace Corps? I have leveraged of color, and from diverse backgrounds. Imagine what a group of the awesome experience that Peace Corps was into a career in higher RPCVs business and community leaders, media, social scientists, ed and other areas. We should know who each other are, the strengths academics, and changemakers could accomplish by pu ing their and resources we possess, so another person following Dr. Grant heads together and brainstorming how the agency can not only does not have to start from scratch trying to identify stakeholders. quantify what it means to serve in the Peace Corps, but also give We should not have to revisit this topic again. every PCV and even parents the proof that their service ma ered. Dr. Anthony L. Pinder, Associate Vice President of Internationalization & Global Harris Bostic II, Strategic Senior Advisor & Client Services, Tides (Guinea 1988–91) Engagement, Emerson College (Ecuador 1987–90)
6. Anthony Pinder: Peace Corps has run through the veins of my understanding of what a global citizen is. I started as a Volunteer, Coming Home came back to the agency as a country director in Central Africa and Equatorial Guinea, then came back to Washington as a national 7. Marieme Foote: Peace Corps is almost in my blood. My director for minority recruitment. Removing barriers for underrep- mother is Senegalese and grew up in Senegal, surrounded by resented communities and creating a more just and equitable Peace Peace Corps Volunteers, where she learned English and then Corps we have always been concerned with that. It’s not enough came to the U.S. to pursue her graduate degree. My father was to be concerned about increasing numbers. What are we going to a Volunteer. Before that, he had no understanding of Africa as do when we get them in the pipeline? In the Oce of Minority a whole. His career has been shaped by it. is has transformed Recruitment, the rst thing was change the name to the Oce of their lives, and other Black lives across the world, and has Minority and National Recruitment Initiatives. I was given some transformed my own.
34 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW 6 6 7 8 9 10
I’m still reeling from the diculty of being pulled suddenly from Black and Brown people not in a “we want to support diversity and Benin. With the reality of COVID-19 in the U.S., I’ve seen Volunteers inclusion by bringing more people to the table” but really building going through homelessness, unemployment, lack of health insur- an entirely new table. We need to reimagine Peace Corps. ance. COVID exposed a wound that hadn’t really been addressed. As Rahama Wright, Founder & CEO of Shea Yeleen Health & Beauty Company Volunteers, we were rapidly trying to adjust to the reality of Blackness (Mali 2002–04) within the U.S. Within weeks of ge ing back, a er quarantine, I was on the streets, protesting in front of the White House. African Americans are disproportionately impacted by socioeco- nomic issues in the U.S. For many Volunteers, what is provided in It’s About Ubuntu terms of support when returning is not enough. Evacuees are facing issues with paying for health insurance or paying for their Close of 9. C.D. Glin: For me, this conversation is about Ubuntu: “I am, Service medical exam and not being reimbursed. If you don’t have because we are” because of this community. Because of Tony the money in the rst place, how do you even pay for it? Pinder leading minority and national recruitment, because Peace Corps does have the capacity to transform lives, which is of Harris Bostic in San Francisco as regional recruitment why it’s so important that we make sure that when Black Volunteers director. From being in the rst Peace Corps Volunteer group do return, they have support they need. that showcased diversity as a strength to a new South Africa: Marieme Foote, Advocacy & Administrative Support Associate, National Peace Corps 32 volunteers four African Americans, four people identi ed Association (Benin 2018–20) as Latinx, ve people over 55, ve Asian Americans. Having an African American country director, being greeted by the 8. Rahama Wright: In Mali I served at a community health center. Mission Director to South Africa and the ambassador being I also started working on developing cooperatives and small and African American men Aaron Williams and James Joseph. medium enterprises. I was so impacted by my experience seeing “Why are we still having this conversation?” We’re having this many women in my community struggling to care for themselves conversation again, and again. I went to South Africa in February and their children. And I became obsessed with learning about 1997. It was a transformational time for our country but also for making shea bu er. When I came back to the U.S., I launched South Africa, with a democratically elected president who had ba led Shea Yeleen with a goal of helping women who make this amazing back the racial oppression of apartheid. at historic moment was product bring it to the U.S. market in a way that was sustainable. an opportunity to showcase the America that we all are people My parents met when my dad did the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso of dierent backgrounds coming together for a cause. in the ’70s. I grew up in upstate New York in a family where I knew I at entry point into Peace Corps opens up the world. But if we would do Peace Corps. But I did not know the impact it would have: as people of color, as African Americans, are not part of that, the rest changing everything I thought about the continent of Africa, about doesn’t happen. Looking at foreign assistance and national security people who lived in rural communities experiencing what they were and diversity in all its forms: 189 Americans are serving as U.S. because of global social, economic, and political issues outside their ambassadors. Seven are people of color: three African Americans, control. We have been given tools and experiences as Volunteers that four people who identify as Latinx. Many in the State Department we can use to make sustained, longterm impact in communities we and foreign service, where did they start their careers? Peace Corps. serve. We have the knowledge and cultural competencies that a lot We’re not in the pipeline if we’re not being recruited by people like of Americans don’t. Most Americans don’t have a passport. Dwayne, supported by people like Dr. Grant. Now, what we’re dealing with in terms of Black Lives Ma er and ere was a full court press at the agency from the mid ’90s to COVID: e humanity of Black and Brown people is under a ack early 2000s to recruit diverse Volunteers. is was beyond race not only here in the U.S. but globally. We have to rise to the occasion and ethnicity; this was ability, people over 50. ere was a real and say, “We’re not going to allow the things that we’re seeing without intentionality. We lost some initiatives because they were never taking a stand.” at is so important, especially when we’re thinking institutionalized. about the future of Peace Corps. Everyone wants to build back be er. For Peace Corps, that means centering the role and contributions of A ican Americans and the Future of the Peace Corps continued on p. 42
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 35 The West Is Burning My first season as a wildland firefighter
BY COLIN MCLAREN AS TOLD TO STEVEN BOYD SAUM
By October 2020, wildfires in the west- Canyon. Then the Big Horn fire, outside main fire and the area you absolutely ern U.S. burned an area larger than the Tucson (pictured). In between: Modoc don’t want the fire getting to. While state of New Jersey. A story from the National Forest in California, and the fire we’re doing that, embers get sucked up front lines. at Lava Beds National Monument. from the heat and convection currents Typically when we’re out on a fire, we California fires we worked around the and can be spit out as far as a mile away. work 16-hour days: up before six and clock. Everyone’s a little fatigued. Sep- We had spot fires from embers, and we finishing when the work is really done. tember we had maybe three days o. But really had to rush around. We’ve had to Recently two of the fires we worked over- it’s valuable work. This is my first year on run from fires a couple times—when it’s night, to 9 a.m. We were on the Cold Creek a hand crew. I’m part of the dig, typically gotten too hot or winds changed, and fire Fire in Wenatchee, Washington. Went using a tool called a scrape. Chainsaw could overtake you if you don’t hightail it. there directly from the Pearl Hill fire, east teams cut big stu out of the way. The A couple times people had to deploy fire of Lake Chelan. Before that, Chikamin fire, dig follows, scraping a perimeter in the shelters. One we ran from, it looked like a close to Leavenworth, the district we’re dirt to establish a line fire will not cross. volcano erupting—a scary moment. Then based out of in Washington. Earlier in the The fire we were on most recently we got in a safe place, organized, went summer I was in Arizona on the Mag- was pretty intense. We did a backburn in and did direct suppression and some
num fire, on the North Rim of the Grand to remove excess fuels in between the background stu to protect houses and Ambade Preshit by Photo
36 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW nearby agriculture. We worked all night. they get attention. Now the weather’s pre-monsoon season has gotten hotter In the morning, the fire basically put itself hotter and drier in September; histori- and drier; their whole agriculture calen- out because of work we had done. cally, the West Coast should be getting dar is changing. And communities have This is work I wanted to do after Peace rain sooner. This is one result of climate basically no safety buffer. Will they be Corps. It can be extremely difficult. change—and it will get worse. Some peo- able to adapt to a more intense climate? There’s a refrain that you’re not a hero ple don’t want to hear the direct connec- They’re not climate refugees yet, but until you die. In terms of paychecks, most tion between climate change and how it whole corn crops might be at risk. of us are the lowest level employees— has made the fire season longer. We’ve American society is not set up to technically “forestry aide” or “forestry certainly seen it in California, making the combat climate change. We’re some of technician.” After a disaster it’s: extremes more extreme. In Seattle, the the worst perpetrators on the global level. “Wildland firefighter died.” There’s a past weekend was the smokiest ever. The Peace Corps experience showed me discrepancy in how we’re treated as I lived for two years in Nepal as a Peace importance of community: how a strong, employees versus reporting. Corps Volunteer, 2017–19. I remember extended family structure is capable of If we’re able to stop a fire, that's a talking with older people in my village— dealing with shortages and bigger scale lot of carbon not being released into which was not in the mountains; most of problems that might cripple individual
Photo by Preshit Ambade Preshit by Photo the atmosphere. As wildfires get bad, Nepal is actually in the subtropics. The households. Helping each other out. 1 Hide Not Your Sorrow
A phone call and a lesson from Niger in the time of COVID
BY WILLIAM F. S. MILES
COVID-19 still abound; ies aict, diarrheal infants die. to that of Florida’s. As I write this, the Sun- , a phone call and e average per capita income is less than shine State has registered 726,000 cases of Eforwarded WhatsApp message from two dollars a day. But the spirit of solidarity COVID-19 and 15,000 deaths; Niger, with near my old Peace Corps site poignantly reigns supreme and resilience is second 3 million more inhabitants, has had 1,200 reminded me of the transnational compassion nature. So is the acceptance of mortality cases and 69 deaths. e U.S. as whole, with and solidarity that Peace Corps engenders. that comes with faith. Even if COVID-19 almost 14 times the population of Niger, Twenty years ago I had received a similar does in ltrate, it will not threaten the social has well over 3,000 times more fatalities urgent message of concern. en it was about fabric as it is already starting to do in more from the coronavirus. Not that Niger is a my 10-year-old son, Samuel, with whom patently “developed” societies. healthcare paragon. And there the govern- I had just visited my friends in the hinter- I am always humbled by such expressions ment-mandated closing of mosques has not lands of West Africa to se le an inheritance of concern from my materially impoverished been without controversy in a few pockets dispute over my Sahelian horse. My friends friends, be they about illness from an acute even violent protest. But there has been no were greatly afraid for Sam’s safety, for they new virus or the chronic one that periodically crowing that “their” God is a be er protector had heard on the radio chilling news about prompts the young among my people to kill than ours, no groundswell of protest against America: on March 5, 2001, a 15-year-old their schoolmates. ey do not turn their the mandate to wear masks in the capital city. high school student in California shot 13 back on their friends when disaster strikes; Whether through the U.S. Armed Forces schoolmates, killing two. It was the tenth we should not, either. or the Peace Corps, hundreds of thousands school shooting since the Columbine massa- of Americans have forged close relationships cre, two years before. From what my African E , print space, and with “host country nationals” in the devel- friends were hearing in the local language, airwaves have been colonized by coronavirus oping nations where they have served. Even thanks to Voice of America and the BBC, news, we should not forget our global respon- in this moment of national health crisis, we our children go to school in the morning and sibilities. rough no virtue of our own, most should remember our friends from abroad. I are regularly shot to death by other children. Americans happen to have been born into a am sure they are all like Faralu, who called Now Faralu my former horse groom, prosperous nation. Not all of our co-citizens again during the fast of Ramadan to convey he who had defended my property rights in are prosperous, of course an inequitable fact his concern remembering us. And I am also Niger even a er a decade since my previous that is being made more and more obvious quite certain that they have the equivalent visit there is asking: Are my children, wife, as coronavirus rages. Yet we still won the of this proverb in Faralu’s native language: and mother safe from this new sickness that global lo ery by the luck of birthplace. Even “From the friend who weeps in hearing of is raging everywhere in the world? Every- if the current pandemic is challenging casual your sorrow, hide not your own.” 1 where except at least for now, thanks to cheerleaders of globalization and I admit William F.S. Miles served as a Volunteer in Magaria, Allah his own nation, Niger. to having been one of them we should not Niger, 1977–79. His daughter Arielle Miles also served Life in Niger has long been one of daily succumb to the temptation of restricting our as a Volunteer in Kenya 2009–11. Bill teaches political science at Northeastern University in Boston. An earlier struggle anxiety from inadequate rains, compassion by citizenship. If the pandemic version of this article was published at e Wisdom Daily li le money, children dying from simple is a global crisis, the solution must be no less under the title “Interfaith Pandemic Solidarity.” infections. Few Nigériens have running global and personal, too. 3End of shift: Early morning, a nurse with water or electricity. Beggars and blind folk Niger’s population of 24 million is close CURE Niger heads home.
38 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW Photo by Ana Psiaki / CURE Niger CURE / Psiaki Ana by Photo
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 39 COVID-19
Putting a face on the ‘Invisible Enemy’
WORDS BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK | IMAGES BY ELIZABETH FISCHER
in the far there to try to convey that this is an entity, to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes western reaches of Montana, Elizabeth try to demystify it, so this is something more COVID-19. e images allow people to see FFischer is trying to help people see tangible for people,” says Fischer, one of the a virus as elaborate biological structures with what they’re up against in COVID-19. Over country’s leading electron microscopists. weaknesses that can be exploited, yielding the past three decades, Fischer, 58, and her Now her renderings of the coronavirus clues for researchers about how to develop team at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, ash across screens worldwide. Working treatments and vaccines. part of the National Institutes of Health’s in one of the nation’s 13 “Biosafety Level “If there is a disease, we have seen it,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious 4” labs those equipped to safely handle she says. Diseases, have captured and created some of the most dangerous pathogens Fischer Originally from Evergreen, Colorado, the more dramatic images of the world’s most and her team visualize the world’s deadliest Fischer completed a degree in biology at the dangerous pathogens. “I like to get images out plagues from Ebola to HIV, salmonella to University of Colorado-Boulder. She taught math and science for two years in Liberia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She trained in electron microscopy and since 1994 has been based in Hamilton, Montana, about 50 miles south of Missoula. She is chief of the lab’s microscopy unit. The coronavirus is about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. One of Fischer’s photographs of viral particles being released from a dying cell infected with the virus led NIH Director Francis Collins to write: “ is image gives us a window into how devastatingly eective SARS-CoV-2 appears to be at co-opting a host’s cellular machinery. Just one infected cell is capable of releasing thousands of new virus particles that can, in turn, be transmi ed to others.” Despite the deadly nature of the viruses, Fischer appreciates the “beautiful symmetry in many of them,” she says: “ ey’re very elegant, and they’re not malicious in and of themselves. They’re just doing what they do.” 1 Markian Hawryluk is a writer for Kaiser Health News, where this story rst appeared.
40 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW ABOVE: Viral particles being released from a dying cell infected with coronavirus. The doz- ens of small, blue spheres emerging from the surface of a kidney cell are the virus particles.
RIGHT: The lab receives samples from all over the world, and was sent viral material in early February from one of the first U.S. patients to be infected with the novel coronavirus. Often, Fischer’s samples come from vials that have been stored in a freezer for decades, or from cultures routinely grown in a lab. “It’s very sobering when you know it came from a human patient.”
LEFT: “Making SARS-CoV-2 tangible helps to demystify the challenges that all of us now face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” NIH Director Francis Collins wrote on his blog in noting the value of Fischer’s images. “The hope is it will encourage each and every one of us to do our part to fight it, whether that means digging into the research, working on the front lines, or staying at home to prevent transmission and flatten the curve.”
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 41 A ican Americans and the Future of the Peace Corps continued om p. 35
People who are not traditional Volun- teers they’re not looking for adventure, they’re looking for a way to enhance their professional portfolio: the Foreign Service exam; universities looking for returning vol- unteers in the Peace Corps Fellows Program, in the master’s international program; a leg up in international development work. ese are critical to tell people who are nontraditional recruits, predominantly African Americans, who come from places that represent and sort of look like some places where we are sending Volunteers. When I arrived in my community in South Africa, there was a welcome: major- e es and a band at the school where I was going to serve. I had studied U.S. foreign policy toward Africa at Howard University, I’d been a Foreign Service intern in Ghana. I got to South Africa and knew this community was waiting for me. e Land Cruiser pulled up and I hopped out, and everyone was still looking around and looking over me and almost through me because I wasn’t the American that they were waiting for. I didn’t look like the volunteer they were told they were A MSIH DOCTOR going to get. Just by showing up, I knew I was Is More Than Just a White Coat going to transform the way that they thought about the U.S. I took it as a challenge. is is an opportunity for us as people of color, as African Americans, to show up, to represent. I saw examples of what Peace Corps could do for careers by those who mentored me. I’m grateful to be “a success story” because of all those who’ve come before me and to have reached back as I climbed. When I see • Study medicine in Israel at the premier medical school dedicated to Global Health Curtis Valentine on the chat, I remember a call from the country director in South Africa, • Clinical exposure in the first year Yvonne Hubbard, saying there’s a young • Fourth-year electives in the U.S. and Canada, brother here who’s a Morehouse man who including our affiliate, Columbia University Medical Center wants to talk to you. Curtis Valentine has • 8-week global health rotation in a resource-poor setting gone on to Harvard and become a leader in • 93% average US residency match rate education throughout the state of Maryland. I lead the U.S. African Development Foundation. Almost half of our sta are (212) 995-1231 • msih.bgu.ac.il • [email protected] former Peace Corps Volunteers. e foun- Beer-Sheva, Israel dation, second to Peace Corps, is probably the government’s best kept secret.
42 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW e realities of today are not unlike the Anthony Pinder: It’s not about creating past. But what got us here, where we have safe spaces, but brave spaces. I had some so many success stories they need to be really courageous supervisors; if you’re leveraged. When I was a Peace Corps diversity going to empower me to do something, I recruitment specialist, it was my job to think need you to advocate for me, even if I do about successful African Americans who had something wrong. done Peace Corps. I got to know Ambassa- ere needs to be a holistic strategy dor Johnnie Carson, returned Volunteer, people empowered to be great, and hired three-time ambassador, and an icon in the because of their innovation, genius, cou- Foreign Service, now a mentor to me. A er rageousness. When you have directors volunteering on the Obama campaign and and all levels throughout the organization leading the transition team at Peace Corps, to empowered, so we are not in isolated roles, join the sta of Aaron Williams as the second we don’t have to have major conferences African American, rst African American about inclusive excellence; it’s gonna happen. male, to lead the Peace Corps to focus on I am now at a predominantly white global partnerships and intergovernmental institution as a vice president. We are having aairs this was a true honor. the same kinds of conversations. is is not It’s our duty to use our experiences to peculiar for Peace Corps; this is a national make young African Americans more aware dialogue, some systemic things we need to x. of opportunities Peace Corps can provide. It’s e agency has to be braver than it has been. incumbent upon the agency to ask us to do more give back in new ways, such as Adopt Harris Bostic: I like to ask hyperbolic ques- a Black RPCV. ere is a recruitment issue, a tions in situations like this: What if the goal pipeline issue, a retention issue. We also want of Peace Corps was to have 90 percent of to focus on advancement and leadership. It is Volunteers be people of color? What would about the intentionality that we need to bring. be done dierently? How would recruitment Let’s be innovative and institutionalize the and bene ts be explained? How would the initiatives so 10 years later, we aren’t having application process be dierent? Reentry? the same conversations again. Take it further: What if, in 1961, when Guest Speaker: C.D. Glin, President of U.S. A ican De- they were designing the Peace Corps, they velopment Foundation (USADF) (South A ica 1997–99) were designing it for people of color and people from the lower socioeconomic 90 percent? How would the Peace Corps have been developed? Q&A Like I said, hyperbolic questions. But think about Peace Corps in 1960–61: Who 10. Skip Gilbert: What policies would you did it appeal to? A young, white, usually implement to increase African American female, from middle or upper class. It has presence in this new Peace Corps? grown from there. To the structure over 60 years how do Dwayne Matthews: I was looking at an old we rebuild? We can’t forget that equality is Ebony magazine from 1978, with Moham- dierent from equity. We don’t have to treat med Ali on the cover. It had Peace Corps everyone the same. If people coming in are Director Carolyn Payton inside talking people of color, Black, lower socioeconomic about the same thing we’re talking about levels they should be given dierent ben- today. But she had a three- or four-page ad e ts and opportunities, a dierent return. about African Americans and the need for ere’d be pushback. But ask those bold them in Peace Corps. I don’t know where questions if we really want to get high that money is being allocated to. I do know numbers of people of color in the Peace that if they’re trying to target us, the budget Corps what we have to do, or what we needs to be bolstered. have to stop doing.
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 43 over, I thought that Tarzan would be at the This Coalition airport to take us to the village. at’s the level of knowledge we had about Africa. I Melvin Foote: is is just the tip of the was shocked when I got to the airport and iceberg. Before I joined Peace Corps out people were in suits and ties and carrying of Gunnison, Colorado, I had a column in luggage and doing the things that people a newspaper called “ e Back of the Bus.” do at airports. I wrote about the experience of Black How far we have come and how far people. My audience were cowboys, folks we have to go. I’m an advocate. My message up in the mountains. A guy wrote me is: Don’t agonize, organize. You could get a note white guy from Michigan mad all the time; here in Washington you’re and we met over coee. He told me always mad. Figure out what constructively COMMUNITY that he went to Ghana as a Peace Corps you can do to shape policy. I’ve had my LEADERSHIP Volunteer, fell in love with a Ghanaian hand on just about every U.S. policy toward woman, and what is my opinion about Africa everything from PEPFAR to the GRADUATE interracial marriage? “You love who you Rwanda intervention to President Obama’s love. I can’t tell you about that. But,” I said, Young African Leaders Initiative. PROGRAMS “what is this Peace Corps?” I wanted to go We have to nd constructive ways to to Africa. I put in my application. add our voices, educate people about the A few months later, they wrote: You’re Peace Corps, raise the issue with members of going to Ethiopia. I thought: Ethiopiathe Congress who ought to be more supportive Middle East, because of the Bible stories. I of the Peace Corps. We’re a coalition of the went to the library, found an atlas Ethiopia, willing who want to help continue the legacy right in the heart of Africa. When we ew of the Peace Corps. 1
THE 2021 INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Peace Corps! international calendar Put the wld yr wall! Preparing chad
In an open tent that serves as a portable Leaders to classroom, an art lesson for the children of pastoralists, who move with their grazing herds outside of Chad’s Zakouma National Park, teaches crucial lessons. While coloring in an outline of an elephant, the children learn the importance of protecting their enormous neighbors from the ivory poachers who have decimated the elephants within the park. Between ps volu 2002 and 2012, the elephant population fell or nt from 4,000 to 400. Today, village elders alert c e park rangers when they spot poachers, e e and with such community cooperation, c r the number of Zakouma elephants is s now over 600. a o Charles Eilers © 2018 e PCV Nigeria and Ethiopia 1966–1969
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DEC 2021 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 All Saints’ Day (X) 26 27 28 29 30 31 Kite Festival Guatemala Diwali (H; Jain; Sikh) m Ind. Day Antigua-Barbuda (UK 1981) All Souls’ Day (X) n Ind. Day Dominica (UK 1978); Panama Lakshmi Puja (H) a Daylight Saving Time Confucius’ B’day (Ch) Arbor Day Samoa d o (Colombia 1903); Micronesia (USA 1980) Thanksgiving Liberia i s ends (fall back) Bhai Tika (H) Nepal Constitution Day Tonga (1875) Día del Puno (Inca) Peru 7 Nat’l Pride Day/G.Khan’s B’day Nunes Pereira Day Portugal 8 Mongolia 9 Constitution Day Dominican Republic 10 11 12 13
New York City Marathon B’day of Baha’u’llah (Baha’i) Army Abolition Day Costa Rica (1949) Veterans Day USA Sargent Shriver’s B’day St Demetrius Day Bulgaria Republic Day Maldives (1562) Ind. Day Cambodia (France 1953) Galungan Bali: Gods visit Martin Luther’s B’day Ind. Day Poland (Germany 1918); 14 Angola (Portugal 1975) Republic Day Austria 15 Meteor Showers Sun Yat-sen’s B’day Taiwan 16 Vietnam Vets Memorial dedicated 17 l Beaver Moon DC (1982) 18 Full 08:57 UT 19 Transformative ll Eclipse 20
Father’s Day Sweden Children’s Day India Tree Festival Tunisia Day of Repentance Germany Republic Day Brazil Ind. Day Morocco (France 1956); Statia America Day St Eustatius President’s Day Marshall Is. Rights of the Child Day UN Latvia (Russia 1918/dec) Nat’l Revival Day Azerbaijan (1988) Kuningan Bali: Ancestors visit Vertières Day Haiti Nanak’s B’day (Sikh) 21 Revolution Day Mexico (Díaz 1910) Enjoy the beauty and diversity of the world with the 22 Pushkar Mela (ends; H) Rajasthan, India 23 Elephant Round-up Surin, Thailand 24 25 26 27
Totensonntag (Prot.) Germany Virgin of El Quinche Ecuador Ind. Day Lebanon (France 1943) Thanksgiving USA Onion Market Bern, Switzerland Day of the Covenant (Baha’i) Labor Thanksgiving Day Japan Tegh Bahadur Martyred (Sikh) Ind. Day Suriname (Netherlands 1975) 28 Nat’l Day Bosnia & Herzegovina (1943) 29 Chadian Diary: A Peace Corps Republic Day Mongolia (1924) 2021 International Calendar. Every month you’ll learn 30 Experience, Norman and Dorothy Ascent of Abdul Baha (Baha’i) Time to order 202 2 Kehmeier, 2010 A Teenager in the Chad Civil INTERNATIONAL War: A Memoir of Survival CALENDARS 1982–1986, Esaie Toingar, 2006, Notecard sets and the AGES Advent (begins; X) 16–18 RPCV Perpetual Calendar Ind. Day Mauritania (France 1960); Albania Chanukah (–6th; J) GriGris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, are also available. Social (Ottoman Emp. 1912); Timor-Leste (Portugal Nat’l Day Myanmar/Burma 2013 See inside back cover or our 1975/dec); Panama (Spain 1821) Butter Lamp Festival (B) Tibet Traditional music of Chad Nat’l Unity Day Vanuatu (1994) website www.rpcvcalendar.org Ind. Day Barbados (UK 1966) Daraba: Chadian Stew for ordering information. Salade du Tchad: Chadian Salad about a different Peace Corps country and its peoples, ELEPHANTS © J.OLSEN RETURNED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS OF WISCONSIN–MADISON CHAD AREA 496K mi2; 1.3M km2 ARABLE 4% IN POVERTY © 2021 Jumhuriyat Tshad POP 16.9M (34/miles2 2 47% LIFE EXP 58 years ; 13/km ) INFANT MORT animist/other 1%, none 3% GOV’T Presidential republic 69/1K live births (5th) HEALTH 5% november LITERACY 22% of GDP EDUCATION 3% of GDP (140th) CAPITAL N’Djamena (1.4M) LANGUAGES French (off.), Central Africa Arabic (off.), Sara, and more than 120 MILITARY 2% of GDP (45th GDP/CAPITA $2,300 ) LABOR FORCE UNEMPLOYMENT languages and dialects Agriculture 80%, industry 20% N/A WEALTH OWNED BY TOP 10% RELIGIONS 31% 52%, Protestant 24%, Roman Catholic Muslim 20%, PCVs 1966–1979, 1987–1998, 2003–2006 Change culture, and economy. Every day you’ll discover holidays CURRENT: 0; TTD: 726 or holy days observed somewhere in the world. All year vo rps lun co te e e r long you’ll appreciate all that this calendar has to offer. c s a e o
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44 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW Inclusive Economic Growth LEARN ABOUT OUR TOP-RANKED MA AND MPP PROGRAMS AND Security APPLY AT KORBEL.DU.EDU Social Justice Sustainability Democracy Find your cause.
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WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 45 IN MEMORIAM
Man of Peace A Remembrance of John Lewis BY JONATHAN PEARSON
J 17 half a century. Lillian was a Peace in the struggle for racial justice. Corps Volunteer, serving for two OAs a very young man in the early years as a volunteer in Nigeria. 1960s, John Lewis pushed the boundaries Just last year, Lewis spoke of and fought against power used unjustly. those early Volunteers, of how He never, ever stepped away from speaking “the inspirational mission of the truth to power. corps led hundreds and thousands He tried to hold America accountable to of Americans to believe that they its proclaimed ideals“until true freedom had something meaningful to share comes, until the revolution of 1776 is com- with rest of the world, while they plete,” as he said at the March on Washington received a deeper understanding in 1963. Indefatigable ghter, public servant, of humanity in return.” He spoke and friendhe was a wonderful supporter admiringly of how love, peace, and nonvi- the day when we will “‘One man, one vote’ is the African cry,” of the Peace Corps. And that comes as no olence underpinned that work“helping live in a world nally John Lewis said. small surprise. In 1968, Lewis married Lillian our world community to fulll the vision of at peace with itself.” “It must be ours!” Miles, who would become his wife of nearly a Beloved Community, and he helped hasten He was 80 years old.
JOSEPH BLATCHFORD lily-white, middle-class people may have The answer to the question is also best (1934–2020) had a very valid point,” he told an audience exemplied in the nearly 40,000 Volunteers T P C , at Harvard University in 1970. “I think that who have now served in the Peace Corps Joseph H. Blatchford led the agency during has changed.” and returned home. Aer living among the turbulent times. He was 34 when he was In May 1970, a group of returned Volun- poor abroad and struggling in the agonizing tapped for the post by President Richard teers occupied Peace Corps headquarters for process of change, they are not satised with Nixon in May 1969. He came with nearly a several days in protest of the U.S. invasion of ‘band-aid’ cures.” decade’s experience organizing international Cambodia. at same U.S. military campaign Under Nixon, Peace Corps was folded volunteers: In 1961, he had launched the led to the shootings at Kent State University. into a new umbrella agency, ACTION, along organization Accion International to send In fall 1970, writing for the journal Foreign with other domestic agencies including U.S. volunteers to work in Latin America. A airs, Blatchford noted, “It is common for VISTA and Teacher Corps. And Blatchford e U.S. was riven over war in Vietnam; Americans to ask today, ‘Why go overseas was named head of ACTION. internationally, countries were increasingly when there is so much to be done at home?’ In recent years, Blatchford was a regular, seeking Volunteers with greater expertise. enthusiastic participant in bipartisan eorts Blatchford called for a “wider spectrum” of of past Peace Corps directors to support the volunteers, seeking to enlist “trade union agency and defend its independenceinclud- members and blue collar workers, mature ing in January 2020 joining nine other former persons in mid-career.” He oated the idea of directors to write an open leer opposing U.S. a “reverse Peace Corps” to bring volunteers Senate legislation that would fold Peace Corps to the U.S. to help in anti-poverty programs. administration into the State Department. He introduced agency changes under He died on October 7 at age 86. the banner “New Directions.” at included creation of an o ce for minority aairs. New Directions: Peace Corps “People who characterized the Peace Corps Director Joseph as an organization made up primarily of Blatchford, 1971 Congress of Library courtesy photo Lewis John Congress. of Library / Leffler K. Warren by photo Blatchford Joseph
46 FALL 2020 WORLDVIEW Sorrow and Gratitude A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
together: Moritz v. Commissioner , but she did it of Internal Revenue, a tax case in “Rby convincing people to agree an appeals court in 1972. Marty with her, instead of destroying the people argued the tax side of things; Ruth who disagreed with her.” ose words were argued the gender discrimination spoken two years ago by Daniel Stieple- side. It was, as a character in the mannephew of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lm put it, an “opening salvo in the associate justice of the U.S. Supreme a new civil rights war.” Court who died on September 18 at age 87. Stiepleman served as a Peace Stiepleman helped us understand Gins- Corps Volunteer in Kiribati; there burg in a deeply personal way: He wrote he met fellow Volunteer Jessica Hawley, Taking it to the As for Ruth Bader streets: RBG in the screenplay for “On the Basis of Sex,” who worked in public health. Stiepleman Seattle Ginsburg convincing the biographical lm released in 2018 that has spoken about how the couple looked to and not destroying: “I chronicled both Ginsburg’s commitment to Marty and Ruth as a model for their marriage. love the idea that we could reclaim that justice and gender equality and her marriage to Indeed, the associate justice o ciated at sentimentthat we could both try to per- aorney Martin Ginsburg, who died in 2010. their wedding in her robes and trademark suade others and be open to persuasion It was at Martin Ginsburg’s funeral, lace collar. Stiepleman was a school teacher ourselves,” Stieplemen has said. “As opposed hearing tributes to his uncle, that Stiepleman before embarking on his screenwriting career; to thinking we know all the answers and we understood Marty and Ruth’s life together in Hawley studied medicine and this summer have to destroy anyone who disagrees with a new way. It was also at the funeral that he became an assistant professor of medicine us. at ideal is what Ruth reveres about the learned about the one case the couple argued at Columbia University. court and the Constitution.”
WALTER C. CARRINGTON service came at a critical time; Carrington (1930 – 2020) spoke for human rights and democracy and O against the dictatorial rule of Sani Abacha. appointed by Sargent Shriver in 1961, He stood down a confrontation when armed Walter C. Carrington led Peace Corps pro- police interrupted a reception near the end grams in Tunisia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone in of his appointment. the 1960s before serving as Regional Director Nigerian leaders praised Carrington for for Africa. But that was just one facet of a his contributions leading to that country’s remarkable life. Prior to that, at Harvard he return to democratic rule. He taught at many founded the chapter of the NAACP. He was institutions of higher learning, including the youngest-ever member of the Massachu- the Massachuses Institute of Technology, ses Commission Against Discrimination, Simmons University, Marquee University, and in the late 1950s his commission work and Howard University, where he directed included leading an investigation into the Walter Carrington Jimmy Carter, Car- the international aairs department. He died was a diplomat racist practices of the Boston Red Soxlast and lifelong rington served as U.S. August 11, just a few weeks aer celebrating team in the majors to break the color barrier activist for ambassador to Senegal, his 90th birthday. 1 civil rights. on its roster. and under President Bill Each month we share news of members of the Peace Corps
Joseph Blatchford photo by Warren K. Leffler / Library of Congress. John Lewis photo courtesy Library of Congress of Library courtesy photo Lewis John Congress. of Library / Leffler K. Warren by photo Blatchford Joseph Rogers Casey by photo mural RBG Carrington. Arese courtesy photo Carrington C. Walter He was a diplomat: Under President Clinton as ambassador to Nigeria. That community whom we have lost: peacecorpsconnect.org
WORLDVIEW FALL 2020 47 Where we’re going.
That’s true for the Peace Corps What we do know: Working Our work is just starting. We’ve got community. For this nation. For together as partners is essential. Support Volunteers back in this planet. Rok Locksley is the Volunteer the States and their ongoing some learning who took this photo in the work around the globe. We’re facing hard questions Philippines. He supported and some and grappling with systemic Nibarie Nicolas in work peacecorpsconnect.org/give work to do. injustices that have been developing sustainable projects centuries in the making. We for communities and protecting envision a vibrant and united marine areas. They quickly community, here at home and learned to paddle together, around the world. learned new ways of seeing.
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