Peace Corps Polyglot

Host one of 100 Holiday House Parties!

The last 100 House Parties event for MorePeaceCorps was so successful (and so much fun!) that the campaign is kicking off a new set of house parties just for the holidays.  To sweeten the deal, two generous donors have agreed to match dollar-for-dollar every contribution made to the MorePeaceCorps Campaign through the end of the year, up to $35,000. 

Hosting a holiday house party for MorePeaceCorps on Saturday, December 6 (the day after International Volunteer Day) can help the campaign raise some much needed funds.  What does the campaign need funds for?  Even grassroots campaigns cost money.  MorePeaceCorps wants to continue its communications effort, hire interns, produce exciting MorePeaceCorps advocacy videos, organize visits to lawmakers in 2009, implement an email-your-legislator functionality on the website, and much, much more!

Hosting a house party and making a contribution will help make the vision of a bigger, better and bolder Peace Corps a reality.  The toolkit for hosting a party (it's easy and fun!) is available for download on the MorePeaceCorps home page.

If you can't host a party on December 6, try to do one any time before the end of the year. And if not, we hope you will consider making a tax deductible holiday gift to the campaign.

Peace Corps and the Inaugural Parade

We've gotten phone calls.  We've gotten e-mails.  Everyone is asking us:  Will the Peace Corps community take part in this historic inaugural parade?

NPCA and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, D.C. (RPCVw) have submitted a joint application to the Presidential Inauguration Committee to represent the Peace Corps community in the inaugural parade.
 
If our group is chosen to participate, about 300 marchers will be selected by a lottery system.  Members of NPCA will be able to submit their names in the lottery from December 10-20, 2008.
 
Regardless of whether or not we are chosen to march, RPCVw plans to assign special "viewing areas" for RPCVs who want to watch the parade together. The RPCVw website will publish these details in January.

We're as excited as you are for this opportunity, so stay tuned for updates!

For more information on what we know right now, visit our 2009 Presidential Inauguration page.

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You... PEACE CORPS CONNECT

The online networking site created by you, for you and with you is coming January 20, 2009!

The platform that is currently in development is going to help you to connect, inform and engage the Peace Corps Community and people around the world inspired by Peace Corps.

For the first time, easily find the people you served with--maybe even your host family!  Share your stories, photos, projects, and best practices.  Create groups around your areas of personal or professional interest--whatever they might be.  Learn what's happening in your Peace Corps country today...or what it was like years ago.  And more.

PeaceCorpsConnect will be an inspiring and easy way for people who share the values of Peace Corps to connect with one another.

This is one of the most crucial times in history to make these connections and to help create mutual understanding and respect for other countries, cultures and religions.  Be part of it.

Check back here for more updates, or join the newsletter to get the newest information sent straight to your inbox!

Spicing Things Up Thanks to PC Experience

After returning from her service in the Uzbekistan and her travel in the Middle East, Kristen Hoggat found that the way America eats is quite different from the way the rest of the world does.  So she and a (yet un-named) colleague decided to put together a multi-cultural cookbook with a twist: It is entirely vegan.  The idea is to emphasize that much of the world eats a vegan diet and that mulit-cultural vegan cooking can be both tasty and environmentally friendly. 

Kristen wrote to us in an e-mail to let us know more about the project:

Part of the motivation behind this project is a study conducted by Carnegie Melon that found that cutting down on eating meat and dairy has a greater effect on carbon emissions than does eating locally grown food, not to mention the moral impetus behind each of our lifestyle decisions.  With this cookbook, we want to emphasize that veganism can be fun, and you don't have to be vegan everyday of your life to make a difference.  We want this cookbook to be practical, but at the same time reflect our idealism, which is why we are going to combine veganism, Peace Corps service, and poetry. 

Kristen is looking for submissions of recipes from your country of service, vegan or not.  If your recipe isn't entirely vegan it might be changed to go into the cookbook, but, Kristen says " we will give credit where credit is due" 

You can send your recipe to: kristenhoggatt@gmail.com

NPCA Board Member on Foreign Assistance Transition Team

For past two weeks, all eyes have been on President-elect Obama's transition team.

We're proud to share the news that NPCA Board member Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 67-70) has been named, along with Gayle Smith, as a leader of the Foreign Assistance Agency Review Team.  As a leader of this agency-specific review team, Williams will be responsible for reviewing USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and giving strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel information prior to the inauguration.  (Read more about the Agency Review Teams here.)

Williams has over 25 years of experience in policy formulation, strategic planning, and the design and implementation of development assistance program and has directed a broad range of development assistance programs in the areas of economic policy development and economic growth, trade and investment promotion, banking and finance, democracy and governance, education, housing and urban development, and public health. We know his expertise will be of great benefit to the incoming administration. (Read Williams' full bio)

There are also other RPCVs are also working on the transition:  Vicki Huddleston (Peru 64-66) at the Dept. of State and Jon Weintraub (Barbados 67-69) at the Dept. of Education.

 

RPCV's Daughter Tells the Tale of Her Trip to Cameroon

We know the children of RPCVs often have unique experiences from their peers.  Some (like the founder of Goodie Goodies, we blogged about here) are moved to make a difference from what they know about other places in the world.  One RPCV's daughter recently wrote a letter describing her trip to Cameroon, the homeland of her father and the place her mother served as an PCV.  Here's what she had to say about the experience:

My trip to Africa was amazing.  I went to visit my family.  We go every three years because my dad was born in Cameroon and he met my mom while she was in Peace Corps.  It took a very long time to get there, 20 hours!!!!!. I went with my mother, my father, my sister and my brother.  When we got off the plane the airport was packed and extremely HOT!  My dad went to go look for our luggage. Usually I look for his black bald head, but there were so many black bald heads I couldn’t spot him!  The next stop was our hotel. The hotel was pretty boring.  

Whenever we go to Cameroon, the first stop is always Bandjoun, my father’s village.  My grandmother still lives there. We popped a tire on the way there so we arrived around midnight.  Every one was very happy to see us, but very tired.  Soon we were shown to our beds.  Despite Liza’s (my little sister’s) constant kicking I immediately fell asleep.  I discovered work in Bandjoun is very fun.  It’s very different from the work here in the U.S.A.  Liza and I thought it was much more entertaining than cleaning our rooms!  We helped my grandmother gather beans in her field, then we had to shell them, so that they cook them for dinner.  We also helped wash clothes in the morning, but not my brother’s diapers!!  I was also in charge of crushing up the garlic, onions, leeks, and ginger on a stone in my grandmother’s kitchen. Soon it was time to leave to head to the big city. Before I go on I just want to say that Africa isn’t just wilderness.  My cousins have a 2 story house with satellite TV and cable! Isn’t that awesome?! 

Finally the place I had been waiting for: Yaoundé!!  I couldn’t wait to play with my cousins, but when I knocked on the huge, dusty, orange gate I felt shy.  What if they were different?  Marlene (14) opened the gate she looked pretty shy herself.  I entered the compound and saw Anaelle (9).  She’s my cousin of exactly the same age.  She looked like my opposite, strong and determined.  She then said ‘bonjour’ so suddenly I jumped.  “Oh! Bonjour!”  I said and smiled.  We both ran off to play in the grass.  At night I asked Anaelle about the fireflies.  Last time there were millions!  She said that they never came back after I left.  Oh no! I thought.  Then Anaelle said “look!”  I turned my head and saw fireflies.  Our nighttime was booked solid.  Soon it was interrupted by Cyrielle (16) “Time to take a bath!”  She called. I rolled my eyes but reluctantly started inside. My brother, sister and I stayed here while my mother went to her village to visit the family she stayed with in Peace Corps.  When my baby brother gets a little bigger, we will all go visit her village.  It is a long trip to get there. Every day in Yaounde was filled with fun.  We played and played, watched Disney Channel in French and played even more.   “Noooooooooooo!!!!” I cried “I don’t want to go home!”  We loaded up the car.  We were headed back to Bandjoun to say goodbye to my grandmother and then to Douala to catch our flight home.  I missed Yaoundé already.  Bandjoun here we come. We said goodbye and then got our flight to Miami.  I miss Cameroon a lot, especially my cousins.

Northeastern offers Full Tuition MBA scholarship for RPCVs

Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Business Administration announced a scholarship program for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who enter the full-time MBA program.  Northeastern’s scholarship awards are valued at up to full tuition, approximately $70,000 over two years.  At least one full-tuition award will be made to an accepted Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who scores at least 630 on the GMAT and multiple awards are possible. 

“With the rising cost of graduate school, this scholarship will provide a wonderful opportunity to former Peace Corps volunteers with an interest in pursuing a career in business,” said James Arena-DeRosa, New England Regional Director for the Peace Corps.  “We hope the school benefits as well - and that Peace Corps volunteers will bring a unique international community development context into the classroom dialogue at Northeastern."

To be considered for the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Scholarship, you must apply and be offered admission to Northeastern’s full-time MBA program.  In its evaluation, the Admissions Committee will consider work experience, particularly with the Peace Corps, demonstrated leadership ability and potential, academic background and personal qualities. 

Northeastern is currently applications for Fall 2009.  For more information on Northeastern University’s full-time MBA program or the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Scholarship, contact Evelyn Tate, Director, Graduate Recruitment and Admissions (617.373.3258 or e.tate@neu.edu) or to start your online application, visit www.mba.neu.edu.

Another Update from Korea

Not too long ago, RPCV Kevin O'Donnell (Korea Country Director 66-70, Peace Corps Director 71-72) told us about his trip back to Korea as an invitee of President Lee Myung Bak and official guest of the Korean government.  Tom Coyner (RPCV Korea) recently updated us with this website full of really fantastic pictures of the reunion.  To get a view, visit his site here. 

PC Beneficiary could be CNN Hero of the Year

Ethopian children are gaining literacy skills thanks to Yohannes Gebregeorgis and his organization Ethiopia Reads.  He has been selected as one of CNN's Heroes of the Year for his outstanding work in bringing books--and the love of them--to Ethiopian children.  Gebregeorgis, who built a library in his own home in Addis Ababa, says he was tremendously influenced by PCVs during his youth and their efforts to better his life have inspired him to try to better the lives of others. 

His successes have been huge.  In addition to the original library in Gebregeorgis' home, the organization established the Awassa Reading Center and Ethiopia's first Donkey Mobile Library, a customized a donkey-pulled trailer-cart that now makes weekly visits to rural villages around Awassa. Ethiopia Reads recently held its fifth annual Ethiopia Children's Book Week.  In 2007, the group offered nearly 94,000 children access to its libraries in Addis Ababa, Awassa and on shady clearings along the Ethiopian countryside.

You can vote for Gebregeorgis to become CNN Hero of the Year and show the world the inspiring impact the Peace Corps can have. 

To see Gebregeorgis talk about his work, click here.

Create a Bigger, Better, Bolder Peace Corps? Yes We Can!

The Presidential campaign of 2008 brought national service, and in particular the Peace Corps, to center stage.  Both candidates advocated a stronger and bigger Peace Corps for a better and more diplomatic America.  We knew that whichever candidate won there would be big promises and bigger grassroots efforts to make the Peace Corps a priority.

We're happy to say that President-elect Barack Obama made some exciting promises about the future of the Peace Corps.  Throughout his campaign he showed a commitment to making national service a priority and in an article written for Worldview Magazine he outlined his plans for the future of the Peace Corps. 

Obama said that an integral part of his plan for expanding national service in this country is to grow the Peace Corps.  Noting President Kennedy's hope that the Peace Corps would eventually have 100,000 volunteers, Obama says he will "call on our greatest resource--our people" to increase the size of the Corps.  He says in no unclear terms "We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011." 

But his agenda isn't just about expanding the size of the Corps, it's also about expanding its possibilities.  "We'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on common challenges that confront all humanity," he said.  Additionally, he mentions that initiatives to recruit Volunteers over 50 in addition to the expansion of the Peace Corps will "open new opportunities for service to young and old, and help move America closer to the day when voluntary service... becomes the common expectation and experience of all Americans."

And Obama encourages us that his promises to Peace Corps are more than just rhetoric.  "This will not be a call issued in one speech or one program," he said, "this will be an important and enduring commitment of my presidency." 

We applaud this commitment and encourage you all to get involved in reminding Obama of his promises. The MorePeaceCorps campaign has created a petition for you to sign, asking Obama to act on his promises to the Peace Corps.  Tell your friends about this effort and ask them to sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/morepc/