Peace Corps Polyglot

A Time to Focus: Next Tuesday's MorePeaceCorps National Day of Action

from Jonathan Pearson
National Peace Corps Association Advocacy Coordinator

A lot can change in 48 hours in Washington. And I’m not just talking about the fickle weather, where a cold February day can be quickly supplanted by a brilliant feel of spring.

I’m also talking about politics and government and advocacy. It can be discouraging and hard to navigate and sometimes it can be downright nasty! But then, things can turn and renew the feelings of spirit and hope.

We’ve experienced that in the last 48 hours, as the last touches were placed on a delayed budget process for the current fiscal year that has strapped the operation of many government programs, including Peace Corps. Discouraging for sure, with a small increase in funding for Peace Corps, bringing current funding to only $340 Million. Many have responded to this and expressed their disappointment.

And now, new developments in the last two days give me reason for optimism – mind you, measured and cautious optimism – as we turn to the budget for Fiscal Year 2010.

Yesterday, President Obama put down his first true mark on a budget blueprint for America. And the indicators for Peace Corps - though still vague - are very positive. While a President normally has his complete budget to Congress by now, a new President is given some extra time. So, while the exact numbers are not expected until April, consider this: The International Affairs budget has dozens and dozens of individual line items, and Peace Corps was one of the few programs the President chose to single out. Included in the President’s Funding Highlights was this:

“…additional funding for key programs that advance U.S. foreign policy goals, including significantly increasing funding for energy initiatives, programs addressing global climate change, agriculture investments, and the Peace Corps.” (emphasis added).

That was yesterday. Then came today. I looked at the latest list of co-sponsors of the “Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009”. Not even two weeks in circulation, and nearly 1 out of every 5 Congressman/woman in the House of Representatives has signed on as a co-sponsor, including RPCV sponsor Sam Farr (D-CA) and the bi-partisan members of the House who served in Peace Corps: Mike Honda (D-CA), Tom Petri (R-WI) and Steve Driehaus (D-OH).

These are exciting developments. They are not guarantees and we need to be vigilant.

And that brings me to the first big advocacy action of the MorePeaceCorps Campaign. Next Tuesday’s MorePeaceCorps National Day of Action.

We need to build on the momentum of the Obama budget outline and the Peace Corps Expansion Act. MorePeaceCorps Campaign Coordinator Rajeev Goyal and I ask you to engage your lawmakers next week to positively reinforce these recent developments by urging them to co-sponsor the Farr legislation and sign onto Senate and House “Dear Colleague” letters that will be circulating. And if they do? We urge you to thank them! And if they don’t? We want to find ways to work with you and build momentum to turn that opinion around.

Next Tuesday, when you visit www.morepeacecorps.org, the site will be converted to focus attention solely on the Day of Action with links to your lawmakers and instructions that we hope will allow you to take quick, effective action.

So…what can you do to help right now? The easiest thing is to help us spread the word. Share this message, post on your blog, let’s make it happen.

Tuesday…March 3rd. You are about to bring the voice of the members and friends of the Peace Corps community to our nation’s capital, like it never has been heard before.

Sen. Bond Gives Strong Support to Peace Corps on Senate Floor

"Mr. President, I have come to the floor to recognize an organization that serves on the front lines of our Nation’s Smart Power efforts…the United States Peace Corps."

- Senator Kit Bond, Feb. 26, 2009, Floor Statements, US Senate

Today, U.S. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri made statements on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to support expansion of Peace Corps and smart power initiatives. 

Citing that 22% of the nations where Peace Corps volunteers serve are predominantly Muslim, the Senator made this potent observation: "And it is in these countries, in particular, where I believe the efforts of volunteers are positively shaping and improving the much beleaguered and much misunderstood image of America within the Muslim world."

**If you can set aside 10 minutes, please send a short thank you note to the Senator by clicking here.**  Or, if you would rather call, here is the Senator's DC office phone number: (202) 224-5721.   Senator Bond believes in the MorePeaceCorps campaign, and has gone one step further to urge his colleagues to take action as well.  This is a big moment for our mobilization and we need to support Senator Bond's initiative.

Text of the Statement:

February 26, 2009

Mr. President, I have come to the floor to recognize an organization that serves on the front lines of our Nation’s Smart Power efforts…the United States Peace Corps.

This week the Peace Corps celebrates their 48th anniversary during National Peace Corps Week.

Since the early 1960s, more than 195,000 Peace Corps volunteers have fostered positive relationships between the United States and nations across the globe through its grassroots efforts.

At present, 7,500 plus Peace Corps volunteers are active in over 75 countries around the world.

These volunteers are exposed to a diverse array of different cultures and languages during their time abroad.

Approximately 22 percent of Peace Corps volunteers are currently working in 16 predominantly Muslim countries.

And it is in these countries, in particular, where I believe the efforts of volunteers are positively shaping and improving the much beleaguered and much misunderstood image of America within the Muslim world.

But there is still much work to be done.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting an expansion of the Peace Corps and all of our nation’s Smart Power assets.

Smart Power initiatives are our non-military diplomatic efforts, including educational exchanges, free trade, public diplomacy, economic and agricultural development, humanitarian assistance, and English language teaching just to name a few.

All of these Smart Power initiatives contribute not only to a better life for so many in need, but also help create the conditions for a more stable, and peaceful world.

America and the developing world will benefit together from a greater investment in these initiatives, and in particular, in a revitalized and enlarged Peace Corps.

Over the past few years, the Peace Corps has received numerous inquiries about entering or re-entering countries where volunteers once served.

I have made similar inquiries, particularly with respect to Muslim countries in Southeast Asia like Indonesia.

Engaging moderate, mainstream Muslim countries like Indonesia with our nation’s Smart Power initiatives will enhance the conditions for lasting peace and stability.

Or, as I like to say, putting more sandals and sneakers on the ground will prevent us from having to put more boots and bayonets on the ground.

The work undertaken by Peace Corps volunteers serves as a fine example of the United States reaching out to foreign neighbors to foster a greater understanding and dialogue.
The willingness of Peace Corps volunteers to engage people at the local, community level is exactly how we ought to be providing effective and sustainable development assistance.

We need to get back out among the very people we are trying to help, which is why I also believe we need more USAID Foreign Service Officers as well.

Providing practical, hands-on assistance that is based on listening to the needs of the local population is a recipe for sustainable and lasting development.

Congratulations to all the members, current and past, associated with the Peace Corps on its 48th anniversary.

We thank you for improving the lives of so many and for helping America be a good neighbor to those in need.

Your country is grateful for your service.

Your country is grateful for the goodwill and the seeds of peace that you have sewn or are sewing.

Your country is grateful for your contributions to the safety and long-term security of our nation.

The efforts of you and your volunteers are needed now more than ever.

I will continue to work in supporting your important mission and expanding your ranks.

I can’t stress enough the importance of our Smart Power initiatives and the importance in investing in efforts like the Peace Corps.

I am glad to see the new Administration – particularly Secretary of State Clinton – give these initiatives an important public boos.

I look forward to partnering with the new Administration and leading the effort in Congress to make Smart Power initiatives a cornerstone in our foreign policy and in our efforts to combat extremism and terrorism around the world.

Thank you Mr. President.

-END OF STATEMENT---

One more bit of good news.  The Peace Corps Expansion Act has 83 Co-Sponsors.  We have doubled the number of co-sponsors.  LET'S DOUBLE IT AGAIN.

President Obama Proposes "Significant Increase" in Peace Corps Funding

Today, President Obama released his budget outline for Fiscal Year 2010 (which begins in October).

While specific line item figures may still be weeks away, today's budget outline indicates to Congress plans for "significantly increasing...the Peace Corps."

"We are very pleased with today's FY 2010 budget outline, which is consistent with the President's pledge to double the Peace Corps.", said NPCA President Kevin Quigley.  "Now we as a community need to work with our representatives in Congress to make sure they follow through with the President's request."

>> Read the President's Budget Overview for State and Other International Programs

 

"Rebuild the Peace Corps": Peace Corps Week Op-Ed in USA Today

It's Peace Corps Week, and in today's USA Today, you will find a great op-ed piece by RPCV writer Bob Shacochis. Please click on the link below to read, and leave a comment: 

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/02/rebuild-the-pea.html

A short excerpt from this the piece:
"Dollar for dollar, you cannot get a more reliable, cost-effective answer than the Peace Corps when the challenge is to win hearts and minds around the globe. For all of Africa's wars since President Kennedy launched the Peace Corps in 1961 <http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatispc.history.decades> , one of the continent's most liberating achievements in the intervening decades has been the education of millions of African children by Peace Corps volunteers. Those once illiterate students are now Africa's middle class, civil servants and leaders, struggling to meet their nations' basic needs."

About Bob Shacochis: 
Bob was a Peace Corps  Volunteer in the Eastern Caribbean from 75-76. He is the author of Easy in the Island, Swimming in the Volcano, Domesticity: A Gastronomic Interpretation of Love and other novels. He is the winner of the National Book Award for First Fiction, the Rome Prize in Literature, and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. A contributing Editor to Harper's Magazine and Outside Magazine, Bob is also a professor at Florida State University and Bennington College.  He is an advisory council member of the MorePeaceCorps.org campaign.

Go "Viral" with Your Peace Corps Experiences

In the fashion of Facebook’s viral “25 Random Things About Me” notes, RPCVs of Colorado has started Peace Corps. Three. Ten., a chance for RPCVs to share some of their Peace Corps experiences.

In honor of Peace Corps Week and NPCA’s third goal, RPCVs of Colorado has started circulating the note, which asks people to list their top ten volunteer memories, along with their country, years of service, and assignment.

We’re encouraging people to write their own and post them to their Connected Peace Corps and Facebook profiles.

Here's what I posted:

Peace Corps. Three. Ten. (Goal 3. Ten Things) A project of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Colorado

Let’s spread the word about our experiences overseas ~ it’s our Third Goal!

In honor of Peace Corps Week coming up at the end of this month (February 23 – March 2), take a few minutes to reflect on your Peace Corps service and come up with the top 10 memories/lessons/reflections of that time. Share them with your friends on Facebook and other social networking sites like ConnectedPeaceCorps. Write a note and tag other RPCVs and/or currently serving Volunteers. Upload a few pictures to go with your note. Use this opportunity to focus on the positive aspects of life in your country of service. Follow the format below or design one you see fit to call your own!]

Country (and location, if appropriate): The Gambia, West Africa
Years: 1987-1989
Assignment: Education

1. During training I started cutting hair for candy bars and would frequently have a line of customers at PCV gatherings. Of course, the joke was that everyone ended up looking like my husband, with whom I served.

2. Fed up with training and wanting to be alone, I faked sick one day. It was an utter failure. I had a steady stream of Gambian visitors.

3. My Gambian family was the best Peace Corps host family, and Bansang was the best village. Sorry. They just were. ;-)

4. There is nothing like the start of the rainy season. The gathering clouds, the smell of the dust, the way the wind roars through in the night like a freight train. A day later the entire landscape sports a fuzz of green and the croaking frogs in the rice fields are deafening.

5. I had a baby named after me.

6. I wish I had danced more.

7. I’m Erica Burman. My husband is Eric Burman. In Gambia, married women keep their maiden names. I once overheard a student explain to another, “Ms. Burman loves Mr. Burman so much, she took his first name AND his last name.”

8. My husband got a boil for every month we served. I got the mother of all leg ulcers our last week in country. So bad, that Eric interrupted his tetracycline course to give me his drugs. So big and so nasty that I still have a 1”x2” scar to show for it. The Peace Corps nurse commented, “Erica, you’re the last person I thought would ever get one of these.” Just thought you should know.

9. I cried at school on our last day of classes. And the next day everyone in the village knew.

10. I wish I had a do-over. I think I would be such a better volunteer.

It's Peace Corps Week!

Of course here at NPCA, every week, every day is Peace Corps Week...

Look for lots of stories about Peace Corps in the media this week, like this one by Joseph Zulker (Dominican Republic 65-67) in the Honolulu Star Tribune.  We'll be Twittering some of them and you can see our TwitterFeed on our new homepage, www.peacecorpsconnect.org. 

We also have a news feed of Peace Corps stories on the main page of the social networking area of our new site, www.community.peacecorpsconnect.org.

There you'll find over 5,000 profiles, close to 3,000 photos and 176 groups...and counting.

Visit the site, create a profile, upload photos and tell your Peace Corps story through your page's blog!   It's a great way to get connected to the Peace Corps Community.  And it's all at Connected Peace Corps, the social networking area of our newly launched website, www.peacecorpsconnect.org!   

Here's what some are saying about our new site:

• "Thank you for your efforts in helping to make this network happen. We have now found one of our members who everyone had lost contact with."
• "Just checked out the site. It looks great!"
• "PC Connect and Connected PC are both awesome....
• Easy to access; easy to navigate... so much there yet looking so simple."
• So what are you waiting for?  Join THE online Peace Corps Community now.

So what are you waiting for?  Join THE online Peace Corps Community now.

Peace Corps in Unexpected Places

My colleagues at the National Peace Corps Association often hear me say that Hollywood has it wrong: there are really only two degrees of separation between people in our community.

This is demonstrated time and time again and often in unexpected places. Recently, one of my tennis buddies, Neil Bernstein, who writes a parenting column for the on-line Examiner newspaper, told me--while we were on the tennis court--that he wanted to write about the Peace Corps. Neil really didn't know what, if any, role I had related to the Peace Corps.

Everywhere I go someone knows someone who did the Peace Corps or wants to know more about it. Having our new President speaking frequently about the Peace Corps is going to make these two degrees of separation even smaller. That's going to help us achieve our goal of expanding and enhancing the Peace Corp. That will be great for individual Americans, the communities they will work with overseas and the communities where they will return.

>> Read Neil's column, President Obama pledges to revitalize Peace Corps.

CNFA Farmer-to-Farmer Program: Looking for a Few Good RPCVs

NPCA has partnered with the CNFA Farmer-to-Farmer Program (FTF) to offer NPCA members--specifically farmers, agricultural, ag-finance, microfinance, and commodity value chain professionals--an opportunity to exercise their expertise during assignments overseas.  FTF provides voluntary technical assistance to farmers, farm groups, and agribusinesses in developing and transitional countries to promote sustainable improvements in food processing, production, and marketing.

Typically, volunteers spend three weeks overseas working directly with recipients in the host country.  CNFA arranges, and pays, for all travel, accommodation, visas, and other logistical issues for volunteers. 
This program affords a unique opportunity to use your abilities to improve the livelihoods of people in some of the world's most impoverished areas. 

Volunteering with the CNFA FTF Program has led to concrete benefits for people in developing countries such as: increased efficiency, sales and wages through new technologies, techniques and strategies, and personal satisfaction for volunteers.  Core countries in which volunteers will be working now include Angola, Georgia, Kenya, Malawi, Moldova, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda; others include the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and Belarus in Europe.

In order to register your interest in such an assignment, please visit the National Peace Corps Association/CNFA Farmer-to-Farmer website.

Farr Legislation Provides "Head Start" on MorePeaceCorps Day of Action

Getting pumped for the National Day of Action on March 3rd?  There will be a lot to do on that day (and in the days that follow) if we want to maximize our impact.

So...How about getting a head start on taking action?

RPCV Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA) has introduced House Bill 1066, the "Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009" which proposes robust funding for the Peace Corps over the next three years.  The other three RPCVs in the House, Mike Honda (D-CA), Tom Petri (R-WI) and Steve Driehaus (D-OH) are all original co-sponsors of the bill.  That's not all.  Congressman Farr worked the House floor and picked up 37 other original co-sponsors!

"This is a great step forward for our MorePeaceCorps Campaign, and a great buildup to our day of action", said NPCA President Kevin Quigley.  "This funding legislation will help show support to our new President, so he can realize his goal of doubling Peace Corps by the 50th anniversary in 2011."

Here's what you can do to take action:  Check and see if your Congressman/woman is already a co-sponsor.  Then, call the toll-free number for the Capitol switchboard (877-851-6437) and ask to be connected to your representative's office.  Leave this message:

"I am a big supporter of the Peace Corps and ask that Congressman/woman _____ becomes a co-sponsor of House Bill 1066, the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009."

(Of course, if your rep is already a co-sponsor, call to say thank you!)

Please note this is a House action only!  Don't call your Senators on this one.

But stand by...More action with your Senators and Reps coming on March 3rd...13 days away!

Only 3 Weeks Until Our National Day of Action!

Our advocacy team has been working hard preparing for the March 3^rd National Day of Action.  We have been updating congressional contact information. We have been posting resources on the state pages of http://morepeacecorps.org/. 

Another thing the advocacy team has been doing is compiling lists of  all the great comments from the More Peace Corps Petition into categories by state and district.  These comments will be taken to Capitol Hill on March 3^rd to be given to the senators and representatives so they can see that their constituents support the More Peace Corps Campaign. 

You can also get involved with the More Peace Corps Campaign by meeting with the district offices in your state.  Florida, Illinois, and Missouri advocates are already reaching out to their lawmakers in to give them a heads up on the National Day of Action. 

We are getting ready for our March 3^rd day of action.  This is the day that is most important for volunteers to get involved in the push for More Peace Corps.  We are looking for volunteers to join us on Capitol Hill on March 3^rd to bring information about the More Peace Corps Campaign to different congressional offices.  Do you want to help us in DC on our National Day of Action?  We are halfway to our goal of 30 volunteers. If you want to help our efforts for pushing More Peace Corps and you do not live in DC you can help us by calling or emailing your senator and representative on March 3^rd. 

If you want more information about the More Peace Corps National Day of Action or if you want to volunteer you can email the advocacy team at advocintern@rpcv.org or you can email Jonathan Pearson at jonathanpearson@npca.org. 

 

Join our advocacy team in their push for a bigger, better, bolder Peace Corps!