Peace Corps Polyglot

Peace Care for Global Health

We recently got news from RPCV Andrew Dykens (Mauritania 1997-99) about a new initiative he is undertaking to improve global health with a partnership with the Peace Corps. His project, called Peace Care, is one that would link US Residency Programs and the Peace Corps to improve the health of global communities. He let us know that he is working closely with the Peace Corps Masters International Program to develop a pilot project.

In the meantime, he is also seeking funding to get this pilot project off the ground.  He has also entered his idea into Google's Project 10 ^100, which proposes that people vote and choose 20 semi-finalists for projects that will make the most global impact.  Google is committing up to $10 million to implement the final 5 chosen ideas, so Andrew wants your help and support for his project.

You can find out more about Peace Care at www.peacecare.org and vote for the project at Project 10^100 starting Jan. 27.

Important Inaugural Parade Update!

Due to the overwhelming number of responses that we have received to march in the 2009 Inaugural Parade on behalf of the returned Peace Corps Community, we have set up an online secure form to collect information.

***  Everyone must submit their information on this form to be put into the lottery.  All previous messages will not be considered. ***

You can find links to the form plus other forthcoming information about Inauguration Weekend activities at www.rpcvw.org.

We will notify all selected marchers by December 23.

Thank you for your interest and please stay tuned to our websites for more information!  No phone calls, please.

Please forward this message to other Peace Corps listservs and fellow returned volunteers.

Sincerely,

The Inauguration Committee

-National Peace Corps Association (www.rpcv.org <http://www.rpcv.org> )
-Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC (www.rpcvw.org <http://www.rpcvw.org> )

2009 Presidential Inauguration: We're Marching!

The Returned Peace Corps Community has been selected from among groups around the country to march in the Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 20, 2009.

We've applied for each parade in recent history and last participated in 1997.

A total of 200 marchers will carry flags and banners from every Peace Corps country. Marchers will need to be available to meet at the starting point at 8:00am that morning to go through the security process. You must be able to stand OUTSIDE all day - perhaps until after dark - and carry a 5 lb flag while walking. The Parade will happen rain/snow/shine and all marchers should be prepared for a very cold day. Because of security protocol, we must submit marchers' names a month in advance and there are no substitutions.

Members of the National Peace Corps Association are encouraged to put your name into a lottery to be selected at random to march in the Parade. You must include your NPCA member ID number with your submission.

All entries are due by December 15. No exceptions for late entries. Incomplete entries and entries from non-NPCA members will not be considered. We will notify all selected marchers via email by December 23.

Full details are available on the NPCA website.

Global Youth Connect Announces Summer Programs

Global Youth Connect recently let us know about some exciting summer opportunities for young leaders interested in human rights.  Young people (ages 18-30) can apply for their summer 2009 international human rights training programs.  

The organization is an international human rights group which is building and supporting a community of youth who are actively promoting and protecting human rights, and educating and inspiring the next generation to work for peaceful change.  They have been organizing international human rights delegations since 2001. 

This summer, they are sending human rights delegations to Bosnia and Rwanda. To find out more about this summer's programs visit their website.  The deadline for applications is January 30, 2009.

 

Great Job for a Web-Savvy RPCV!: General Manager, PeaceCorpsConnect

If you have a passion for technology, and an interest in and/or experience with Peace Corps, and want to be involved in creating a game-changing website, you will be interested in this position.

As General Manager of PeaceCorpsConnect, you will be responsible for a wide range of functions including its products and features, content and community development as well as marketing and business development. You will work closely with the staff at the National Peace Corps Association and will have to understand and meet the needs of a wide variety of audiences including current Peace Corps Volunteers, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and members of the development community that have an interest in learning more about the areas where Peace Corps operates. You will also need to keep your finger on the pulse of the ever evolving and innovative technology that enables connections between and among these constituencies to thrive.

Click here for a complete job description.

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 [email protected]) or to start your online application, visit www.mba.neu.edu.

The Peace Corps-Rotary Connection

RPCVs get involved in service in a lot of ways once their service is over.  Two RPCVs told us about their connection to Rotary International and how this organization is helping them maintain the volunteering spirit.

Bill Schmidt (Malawi, 67-69) and John Strain (Malawi) told us about the global impact the Rotary has helped them create and how other RPCVs can get involved.  Local Rotary clubs can get a matching grants from the Rotary International Foundation, and because of Rotary’s wide reach, local clubs from across the globe can connect to organize, oversee and administer projects.  With 32,000 Rotary clubs worldwide in 200 countries, there are huge opportunities for involvement.  

Rotary was founded by Paul Harris in 1905 in Chicago as an organization of business and professional leaders, now united worldwide, who provide humanitarian services, promote high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.  It fits with the ideals and goals of the Peace Corps, Schmidt and Strain told us.  "If Paul Harris had been alive when John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Sargent Shriver started the Peace Corps,  we think  he would have joined, or at least been made an honorary Peace Corps volunteer, like JFK was made an honorary Rotarian," they said.

To learn more about the Peace Corps-Rotary connection, you can read this article from The Rotarian or visit Rotary International's website.

Inspiring Update from MorePeaceCorps

We just got an exciting update from the MorePeaceCorps campaign: they have reached 1,000 signatures on our letter to Senators Obama and McCain and are going strong! 

One of the most inspiring parts of this campaign has been the stories those who have reached out to support it have told us.  Judith Guskin (Thailand '61-'64) wrote this letter telling the truly inspirational story of her involvement with the creation of the Peace Corps. 

At 2 am on October 14, 1960 I stood with 10,000 students on the campus of the University of Michigan waiting to hear a speech by then Senator John Kennedy, a 42 year old Presidential Candidate. He had come to Michigan to go to sleep at the end of a long day of campaigning. He finally arrived, pointed at the crowd, and challenged us to use our skills to improve the lives of poor people in countries around the world.  He said that through this work we would show that our generation wanted to create a better life for thousands and a more peaceful world for everyone.

I helped organize a student group to respond to this challenge, and within two weeks our group collected a thousand signatures of students who said they would like to serve in a new agency which had this mission.

During the final days before the election, Senator Kennedy, encouraged by the U. of  M. student response, decided to declare he was committed to this idea of a Peace Corps (San Francisco Cow Place Speech Nov. 2nd.) and mentioned our group. The campaign contacted me and said he would like to meet the organizers of this group.

At the Toledo Ohio airport I looked into his eyes and told him of our efforts and showed him the petitions that students had signed. I asked if he was sincere in his promise to set up the agency and he replied: "Until Tuesday (Election Day) we will be concerned with the country, after that, the world!"

I treasure the memories of my Peace Corps experience in Bangkok very much and I have returned to see my Thai friends. I feel that the Peace Corps changed the work I chose to do and the way I see the world. I would encourage both Presidential candidates to support expanding the Peace Corps. Even in tough financial times, the benefits for people around the world and for our own country are certainly worth the comparatively tiny cost.

The Peace Corps represents our best values: a commitment to service and to working in harmony with others across boundaries of culture and language and disparities of wealth, in order to actively bring about development and peace. The Peace Corps inspires hope and tolerance in the world. At the time it was created, there was a Cold War with the USSR and a post-colonial world with many new countries; it helped personalize American aid in a new way. The enthusiastic smiling faces of volunteers put a "face" on our nation that was caring, working to touch the hearts and minds of others different from us, and open to be changed in return. In the words of the first Director, Sarge Shriver, volunteer/host country relationships allowed us "to share what is valuable in the spirit of each." In the words of Bill Moyers, the first Deputy Director, it made us "citizens of the world" and gave us a unique way of "being in the world".

Today America's image abroad is not positive. Our nation needs a new "face" not only with the leaders of other countries but also with the world's people. Instead of seeing only the power of our weapons and the troubles with our economy, an expanded Peace Corps will show our compassion and our hope for a better future for all those struggling to improve their lives. Sarge Shriver called it a way "to touch the deepest hopes of man." An expansion of the Peace Corps will show the world in a people-to-people way that we are a friendly, caring people and the volunteers will return to our country with wisdom as well as commitment to tolerance and respect for people both at home and abroad. I know my experience in Thailand changed my life and I hope as many others as possible will have the opportunity to make a difference through service in the Peace Corps."

Judith Guskin
Thailand 1961-64

The campaign is still collecting signatures.  To add your signature or learn more about how you can participate, click here.

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. 

Wanted: RPCV to Review Book about Joining the Peace Corps

The following query dropped into our inbox, and we're happy to pass it on:

Name: Melissa Peterson
Email: [email protected]
Title: Assistant Editor
Media Outlet/Publication: Atlantic Publishing Company

Deadline: 5:00 PM EASTERN - October 20

Query:

"I'm looking for a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer to review our new book titled "The Complete Guide to Joining the Peace Corps: What You Need to Know Explained Simply." Basically, I am looking for an RPCV to read over the book and provide comments. This person will be invited to provide a short testimonial that will appear on the back of the book. If you are an RPCV and are interested in reviewing this book, please contact me."