Peace Corps Polyglot

Getting the Most Out of a Gap Year

A little while back, we got an e-mail from Sandy Pendoley (Republic of Kiribati, 02-04), telling us about Thinking Beyond Borders, a gap year program that brings young people around the world to engage in service and learn about global issues.  At that time, the program was looking for partners, advice, and the best ways to get off the ground.  Two months later, the first group of 16 students and three trip leaders started their journey around the world. 

Each program cycle includes six to seven months of traveling in five core countries. In each of those countries, Thinking Beyond Borders works with a service organization, with the intention of becoming intimately aware of the issues, communities, and people that they work with. The itinerary presents students with a broad set of experiences in international development, including education, public health, environmental conservation, and agricultural development.

The opportunity for students to connect with people around the world is enormous, whether working with an aid organization or eating dinner with a host family.  The focus of the program empowers students to think critically about the ways they can make change in our increasingly global society. 

The organization is currently accepting applications for the 2009-2010 program.  You can apply here. 

RPCV Helps Colombian Kids Get Connected

RPCV Maureen Orth--and the Colombian school named after her--made front page news in Medellin, Colombia recently for receiving over 200 laptop computers thanks to One Laptop Per Child.  The organization worked to get laptops donated by Chevron and an internet connection provided by Motorola to the students in the small town of Aguas Frias, Colombia. 

Orth formed a foundation to fundraise and administer the programs which will now be replicated in other Colombian schools.  In the U.S., she founded K12 Wired to "provide a superior, modern education specializing in English and information technology to children who would otherwise be denied this opportunity," according to her foundation's website. 

To read Orth's own account of this success, check out her article in Vanity Fair.

Friends of Malaysia wins the Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service

This year the Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service goes to Friends of Malaysia’s Project Wizard of the World (WOW).

The Ruppe Award is presented by the NPCA to an outstanding member group for a project or projects that promote the Third Goal of Peace Corps or continue to serve host countries, build group spirit and cooperation, and promote service. Eligible projects either have been completed within the past two years or have been on-going for at least three years. The award not only to recognizes the great work that NPCA's groups are doing, but also generates ideas that other groups may emulate in their communities.

Friends of Malaysia's Project WOW brings Malaysia RPCVs to grade school classrooms around the country in an effort to fulfill the Third Goal of Peace Corps - bringing the world back home - by promoting global awareness and cross-cultural understanding among young Americans.

The 42 RPCVs use Malaysian folktales as a gateway for children to gain broader cultural understanding of Malaysia. In 30 states, over 3,300 elementary school students have gained some familiarity with Malaysia via these folktales, multi-media presentations, flashcards, show-and-tell, discussion, and Malaysian memorabilia - all provided by Tourism Malaysia and corporate donors such as Tuttle Publishing, G2, Inc., with support from DHL, Malaysia. Project WOW has been has been remarkably successful in organizing the project, engaging RPCVs, and reaching out to their communities nationwide.

Congratulations to Friends of Malaysia!

(At right, May Maniam accepts the Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service on behalf of Friends of Malaysia. May was instrumental in developing the curriculum for the Wizards of the World project. Photo courtesy of Juliet Dervin.)

Teen Connects with PC (and Bono) to Make a Difference

Maybe making a difference runs in the family, because Macallan Durkin, the daughter of an RPCV who served in Botswana, certainly has made an impact.  After returning from living in Botswana for three years, Macallan, who is 13, started her own venture called Goody Goodies that sells T-shirts and beading kits in order to help take care of Botswanan children in need. 

Recently, Edun Live, a brand of organic T-shirts started by Ali Hewson and Bono (yep, of U2 fame), featured Macallan's work in their blog, remarking on her inspiring story and noting on her impressive achievements. 

Macallan has donated over $2,000 to organizations in Botswana that help feed, clothe, and start fundraising initiatives for children, many of whom are homeless and/or orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

One of the organizations Goody Goodies donates to was introduced to Macallan by PCV Katherine Courtnage.  The organization, called Windows of Hope, is a center that provides meals, games, counseling and support to children who are required to stay in school in order to participate.  Proceeds from Goody Goodies also go to a center for homeless children called Bana ba Letsati.  The center provides meals, counseling, afterschool care, and, for older teens, job placement.

What started out as the inspired efforts of a teenager has turned into a significant source of help for children in need.   

For more photos of Goody Goodies' products visit the Goody Goodies Flickr

Reaching for the Top: ServiceNation Summit (Part II)

Some of the best and brightest in the world of national service are getting together for the much-anticipated ServiceNation National Summit on Sept 11-12 in New York City.  The summit seeks to bring together powerful political, community, and corporate leaders from around the country in support of creating opportunities for all Americans to serve our country and solve the critical issues that face our nation today.

NPCA President Kevin Quigley, MorePeaceCorps Coordinator Rajeev Goyal and NPCA Board President Jan Guifarro will be representing the NPCA and the Peace Corps community.

The chance to speak out about increasing national service is not one we could pass up.  In fact, the goals of the Service Nation   movement align with many of the goals of our MorePeaceCorps campaign.  In an article about the value of and real need for "ten times the Peace Corps" (which we blogged about here) by NPCA President Keven Quigley with Lex Rieffel, highlights the positive effects increasing the size of the Peace Corps and service would have both nationally and internationally.

One of the great things about the ServiceNation movement is that while it focuses on national (American) service, it recognizes and celebrates the strong relationship between domestic and international service.  In its declaration, ServiceNation emphasizes that all communities help "build upon the strength of our nation’s diversity of ideas, experience, and perspectives as we unite to serve."  We've seen the correlation between service at home and service abroad and know that the unique perspective that service abroad brings enriches the service we do at home, and vice versa.

ServiceNation stresses the important point that service is essential to citizenship.  "By engaging individuals in a lifetime of service," ServiceNation says in its vision statement, "we will make service a defining ethic of what it means to be an American."  In supporting this movement we also know that service creates more than just state-bound citizens, it creates global citizens who are ready to meet the world's challenges with open minds and high spirits. 

Stay tuned to hear more about the ServiceNation Summit and the great things that happen when we all put our minds to making making a difference a priority!

40 Years Later RPCV Learns He Really Did Make a Difference

It is always inspiring to hear how the positive work of Peace Corps Volunteers endures long after their service has ended. Christopher Barnhart, a volunteer stationed in Somalia from 1966 to 1968, recently got such affirmation about the work he did more than 40 years ago. Barnhart was a member of the Somali V - School Construction Program and spent five months in Ceel Bur, Somalia helping the town build a four classroom school building. He recently received the following e-mail from a 50 year old Somali man named Adam Egal who was a 10 year old student in Ceel Bur during his service:

Hello Mr Barnhart,

I just saw the information about your work as a peace corps volunteer in Somalia from the internet.

I was a 10 year old kid when you were in the town of El Bur in central Somalia building a school there. People in El Bur still talk about the great job you did in building the school.

I am happy to tell you that the building is still as good as the day you finished and is in use today. It was renovated several times but the structure is still the same. I will try to send you current pictures of it. Everyone in El Bur is very appreciative of what you did. I also remember, that you left El Bur soon after the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

Most Somali people old enough to remember still fondly talk about the peace corps, the Kennedys', and the much admired USA. Unfortunately now it is a different story.

Anyway,it is great to find you your contact information and I wish you and your family well. On behalf of all El-Burners I want to say THANKS.

Sincerely,

Adam Egal

Barnhardt attests that he was blown away "to read this e-mail and to realize that the school building is still there and still functioning even though Somalia has gone through so much destruction and chaos of the last 40 years." Such stories are incredible reminders about the ability of Peace Corps Volunteers to have a postive and long-lasting impact.

Above are photos of El Bur taken in 2005 including the school Christopher Barnhardt helped build. 

Friends of Thailand Sponsors Current PCV Projects

Friends of Thailand, the official alumni organization of Peace Corps Thailand, has made helping out current PCV's one of its top priorities. The organization achieves this goal by providing financial support for Peace Corps Thailand Volunteer Projects. Friends of Thailand has sponsored 48 PCV projects in Thailand since 2002, in amounts ranging from $70 to $1300. Funded projects have ranged from assisting a local woman's cooperative develop a chili paste business to providing funds to build and install children's playground equipment in an urban housing project.

When Friends of Thailand was forming in 2001 then-current Country Director, Roger Harmon, specifically asked if they could help with PCV project sponsorship. This organization was able to make this a reality with the help of membership fees and special donations. Friends of Thailand President Carolyn Nickels remarked that providing this assistance to Peace Corps and the people of Thailand "has been our way of saying 'thank you' for all we have received as volunteers."

In 2007 FoT helped support PCV Welcome Bisson of Buriram in Northeastern Thailand assist a mushroom cooperative expand his base to include a new member (pictured above). Welcome assisted with the project and documented its successful launch for the Friends of Thailand community and website. Click here to see photos and narratives about the project.

"Making a Difference:" Santa Barbara Peace Corps Association Gives Mini-Grants

Through a regularly-changing feature on the homepage of our website the NPCA likes to take the time to highlight affiliated individuals and groups who are "Making a Difference." We look for projects that demonstrate service to others in domestic and/or international communities and can be replicated by inspired individuals.

We most recently acknowledged the difference-making work of the Santa Barbara Peace Corps Association. The SBPCA is offering project mini-grants to currently serving Peace Corps volunteers who have either lived in Santa Barbara County or have been recommended by an active member of SBPCA, and through the Peace Corps Partnership program. Already in 2008 $500 grants have been given to PCV's Daniel Alejandro and Suzanne Hartley. Daniel's grant will go to a stove making project in Sibinal, San Marcos, Guatemala, while Suzanne will be using the money to support a bead making project in Abampe, Ghana (pictured on right). To download the SBPCA Mini-Grant Application click here. Applications are reviewed and grants awarded on a quarterly basis.

To send in a nomination for the NPCA's "Making a Difference" feature click here. Remember no suggestion is too big or too small!