Peace Corps Polyglot

Update on Planning for the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps

Today, September 22, marks the 48th anniversary of the enactment of the Peace Corps Act.  And two years from today we hope you'll be with us on the National Mall in Washington, DC as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Peace Corps. 

That's right.  It's only two years away!

It's going to be a big deal.

As you can imagine, a lot of planning for this significant milestone has taken place in the past four years...and much remains.  You can find information and resources concerning the 50th anniversary on National Peace Corps Association's regularly updated 50th Anniversary page.  Access the latest outline and brief description of events planned for the anniversary year.  Learn how to donate materials to the Peace Corps Collection at Kennedy Library or to the Peace Corps's Digital Library. And much more.

The most recent addition to the page is a letter from the NPCA Board Chair, Jan Guifarro, providing an important update on NPCA's activities around the 50th, including plans for a commemorative space near the National Mall.  We encourage you to read it.

Jan writes:

This modest but powerful space would commemorate the founding of the Peace Corps and its place in American history and speak to the values of service and empathy embodied in the Peace Corps. It would not be a memorial to the individuals who died in Peace Corps service, nor a monument honoring the Peace Corps. Rather, this space would commemorate the Peace Corps’s ideals and values. It would honor and celebrate the American values of service, empathy and peace, emphasizing their lasting significance in the American experience, and remind Americans and the world, of our continuing commitment to these values. Like all such proposals, the commemorative would have to be authorized by the Congress, agreed to by the President and the specific plans would have to be approved by the relevant governmental agencies. This review process ensures adherence to the laws and regulations related to use of public space in the heart of our nation’s capital.

As we develop our 50th Anniversary plans, including the commemorative, we will continue to reach out to the Peace Corps community. We recognize that not every community member agrees with every aspect of what the Peace Corps or NPCA does, nor will everyone support every aspect of the 50th Anniversary plans and activities. We do, however, firmly believe that based on extensive consultation there is broad consensus that now is the time for the establishment of a commemorative near the National Mall that honors the founding of the Peace Corps, its place in American history, and the values it represents.

[You can read Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps here, at the National Archive's website.  And this morning Garrison Keillor did a nice little piece as part of his daily Writer's Almanac show on National Public Radio.  You can read it or listen to it here.]

Peace Corps Community Online on MSNBC

A few months back, MSNBC producer (and Poland RPCV) Thomas Snowden approached NPCA about doing a story on the future of Peace Corps under the new administration.  He interviewed NPCA President Kevin Quigley, MorePeaceCorps Campaign coordinator Rajeev Goyal, acting Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen, Sen. Harris Wofford and others. On the morning of the Inauguration he tagged along with the marchers to do some additional interviews. He got so much great material that he ended up producing not just one but three segments.  You can now see them online at MSNBC (there is a short commercial segment beforehand):

March 26: Former Peace Corps volunteers express their hopes that President Barack Obama will keep his pledge to double the size of the agency within four years. NBC's Tom Snowden reports.

March 26: Peace Corps volunteer Rajeev Goyal speaks about how he represented America for most of the villagers he met while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal from 2001 to 2003.

March 26: Sunaree Marshall speaks about having to learn to rely on herself and others while working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia from 2005 to 2008.

Thank you to Tom for these great stories!  They are a wonderful way to introduce people to Peace Corps and the returned Peace Corps community. 

Obama Again Vows to "Double the Peace Corps by 2011"

On July 2nd, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill) delivered a speech at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in which he reiterated his vow to "double the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy". In his speech Senator Obama called upon all Americans to rally to the nation's needs at home and abroad by becoming involved in public service. He emphasized that increasing public service was not a promise he made lightly, but that it will be a "central cause" of his presidency.

Senator Obama stated that, on the eve of the 4th of July, it is time to recognize that public service is one of the most patriotic things we, as Americans, can do. He proclaimed:

The future of our nation depends on the soldier at Fort Carson, but it also depends on the teacher in East L.A, the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia. Americans have shown that they want to to step up, but we're not keeping pace with the demand of those who want to served.

Click here to read the full transcript of Senator Obama's speech.

Click here to watch a video of the speech.

Noted Journalist To Write History of The Peace Corps

Tireless Peace Corps community champion John Coyne always has his finger on the pulse of the publishing world when it comes to Peace Corps writers.  Since 1989 he and fellow returned Peace Corps volunteer Marian Haley Beil (both Ethiopia 62-64) have been furthering the Third Goal by fostering Peace Corps writing talent: first with the print newsletter RPCV Writers & Readers and since 1994 with the website PeaceCorpsWriters.org. Somehow John also finds time to maintain a lively blog that "comments on Peace Corps writers, Ethiopia, happenings, current affairs, golf, other people's blogs, etc. etc."

This morning he posted:

Stanley Meisler, an early evaluator at the Peace Corps who has had a long and distinguished career in journalism, before and after his Peace Corps years, has signed a contract with Beacon Press to write a history of the first 50 years of the agency. This is a major development in the telling the story of the Peace Corps, a history that will be written by a talented writer who knows the agency from the inside and from the early days, and a journalist who has observed PCVs at work around the world.

Meisler was with the Los Angeles Times as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent for thirty yers, living and working in Nairobi, Mexico City, Madrid, Toronto, Paris, Barcelona, the United Nations and Washington. He still contributes articles to the Los Angeles Times Book Review. He is the author of the biography Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War and United Nations: The First Fifty Years. Today he writes a News Commentary for his website, www.stanleymeisler.com.

Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011.

Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary Plans

NPCA staff, Peace Corps staff and others have met a number of times over the last few months to start formal plans to recognize the upcoming 50th anniversary of Peace Corps in 2011.  At our request, Deputy Director Jody Olsen compiled an overview document that outlines some of the key plans to date.   It can be downloaded from the NPCA website at http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/peacecorps50.  Peace Corps plans to launch their 50th anniversary landing page in January 2008. It should be a great place to share ideas.

50th Anniversary Activity Underway Thanks to Public Welfare Foundation Grant and a Generous Bequest

The Public Welfare Foundation recently provided NPCA with a $50,000 grant to honor Tom Scanlon for his years of service as chair of the Foundation Board. Tom served in Chile 1 and wrote one of the classic Peace Corps books, Waiting for the Snow.

The Foundation has been a long-term supporter of the Peace Corps community and under Tom’s leadership supported the 25^th, 35^th, 40^th and now the 50^th anniversary of Peace Corps.  It also provided support to develop the Emergency Response Network, which Peace Corps adopted as Crisis Corps and recently named as Peace Corps Response. Tom has asked that this very generous gift be used to support the planning and organization of the most successful Peace Corps gathering ever. 

“NPCA is enormously grateful for this splendid gift,” says NPCA President Kevin Quigley.  “It honors an outstanding Peace Corps individual who understands the importance of our association and its role in keeping Peace Corps vibrant and its spirit alive.”

NPCA is also the beneficiary of a generous bequest from the estate of Beryl Brinkman (Afghanistan 67-69), a founder of the West Cascade RPCVS and past member of the board of directors of the NPCA who died earlier this year.  Beryl was an ardent supporter of the greater Peace Corps community and her adventurous spirit touched countless lives.

“The Brinkman bequest will be used for a legacy project that is still being developed and aims to share our Peace Corps stories with hundreds of thousands of visitors, especially young people, who come to experience the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,” says Quigley. 

Peace Corps Stamps...redux

Last month I posted about Peace Corps stamps and said that surely there was one from The Gambia.  Well, I knew I could find it.  Here's a picture of a Peace Corps stamp back when Sir Dawda Jawara was President:

Looks like it was issued in honor of the 25th anniversary of Peace Corps.

The RPCV Archive Project: Preserving the History of Peace Corps

The RPCV Archival Project is an informal network of RPCVs who work directly with the John F Kennedy Library to preserve the Peace Corps’ legacy through oral history interviews and the collection of archival materials from those who served as volunteers in the field. In the five years of its existence, more than
40 RPCV interviewers have completed approximately 300 interviews. The Project’s basic resource is and will continue to be the unpaid voluntary efforts of those RPCVs who’ve participated, operating mainly through NPCA Affiliate groups.

Now, as we approach the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps, the Project plans a renewed effort (before it’s too late) to seek out those who were the pioneers of the Peace Corps, volunteers from the 1960s. We again appeal to those RPCVs willing to serve as interviewers. The Project Guide is under revision and, along with the required forms, will be available via e-mail PDF.

A modest goal for this renewed archival effort is to add 3000 1960s interviews to the RPCV Collection before the year 2011; that would be about 10% of those who served during that period.

Interested in helping preserve the history of Peace Corps?  Contact Bob Klein, Project Organizer at bobklein29@gmail.com.

Peace Corps Stamps...

  ...Or rather stamps of which Peace Corps is the subject.  I came across a news story recently which mentioned a Peace Corps stamp issued in Paraguay six years ago to celebrate the Peace Corps' 40th anniversary.  Which got me thinking.  I distinctly remember a Peace Corps stamp being issued when I served in The Gambia in the 80s, and no doubt other countries have issued Peace Corps stamps as well.  However a quick poke around Google Images didn't turn up much.  Just these:

 

The first two are U.S. stamps...the third is from the Solomon Islands.  I would imagine that many countries have issued Peace Corps stamps over the years.  And with the 50th  anniversary right around the corner, I imagine that others are in the works, including here in the U.S. 

So now I'm going to have to dig around in my old letters to see if I can find that stamp (I'll post the image if I find it).  But in the meantime, do you (or friends or family) have Peace Corps stamps?  Send them my way ... or simply post them in the "comment" section for this entry.

Peace Corps Anniversary Story Project Launches

As NPCA has hoped, we’re seeing the first ripple of activity in what is expected to be a groundswell of projects and events around the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps. Coming out of Fort Collins, Colorado, a group of returned Peace Corps volunteers has launched Peace Corps at 50: An Anniversary Story Project. The idea is for all Peace Corps volunteers, in-country staff and trainers to submit their best stories to a four-volume anniversary collection.  Complete information on the project, the editors, and writers’ guidelines is available at http://www.peacecorpsat50.org.

“Everyone who has served in the Peace Corps has a story,” said series editor Jane Albritton (India 67-69). “We tell them when we get together; our families know them by heart (our kids sometimes roll their eyes). We include at least some of them in job interviews and when we meet new friends.”

However the editors were concerned that even good stories can get lost in time, and with them important pieces of vital knowledge about Peace Corps and the Peace Corps experience. The editors will be looking for non-fiction stories that reflect the full range of experience in the Peace Corps.

“We are all aware that the Peace Corps experience was not always rosy or uplifting,” Albritton said. “Sometimes volunteers can’t avoid scary, ethically murky situations. We are prepared to include well-told stories that recount those parts of the Peace Corps experience along with the more familiar memories of just what do you do when presented with a plate of freshly fried crickets by a smiling girl from Chad?”

The series will include four volumes, each with its own editor: Africa and the Middle East edited by Dennis Cordell (Chad 68-70); Asia and the Pacific edited by Jane Albritton; South America, Central America and the Caribbean edited by Pat Alter (Paraguay 70-72); and After the Cold War: Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia edited by Jay Chen (Kazakhstan 05-07).

Each book will be divided into sections that focus loosely on Expectations, Peace Corps Tasks, Unexpected Shadows, and the Context of History.  If the Peace Corps were a person, these stories would be her memoir.

“These four books and the stories in them will document that we in this country can engage fully with other cultures, have our preconceptions smashed to smithereens, and live to tell the tale.”

First deadline for submission is January 2008.

Get writing!