Peace Corps News

Jordan RPCV Lee Wilbur writes: I want people in the United States to realize that the Muslim world is vast and varied

Jordan RPCV Lee Wilbur writes: I want people in the United States to realize that the Muslim world is vast and varied
When I turn on my American television and see Muslims, I feel scared. I see acts of violence. I hear rants of anger and hate. I see war and threats and tempers boiling. You see, Muslims do not have a peaceful face on my American TV. They do not appear to be happy people. I feel these images and this anger, over and over, again and again, every time I turn on my American television.

These images are shocking to me. I do not doubt that they are real. Several parts of the Muslim world are experiencing unimaginable suffering from war, death, poor human rights and fear from social insecurity. What I know, however, is that these images of anger and hate are not universal traits across the Muslim world. I know this because I recently returned from Muslim lands and I experienced quite the opposite.

What I want is for people in the United States to realize that the Muslim world is vast and varied. In my experience it is also exceptionally welcoming. Since we do not see the everyday life in much of the Muslim world in the media, I encourage us to seek it out. Using the internet, we can easily contact people all over the world – perhaps their televisions give them as negative an imagine about us as ours does about them. We can also meet people in our communities and discuss images and assumptions we acquire from watching television. By reaching out in this way, we will gain a personal and more balanced image.

Most importantly, those of us with positive cross-cultural experiences should be vocal in counteracting stereotypes and assumptions. We can do this by simply sharing our experiences. I, for example, share stories such as the ones in this article in hopes of counteracting negative feelings and misperceptions acquired through the media. Though I do not reach audiences as wide as those reached by CNN and Fox News, I feel blessed to be able to spread positive news from the Muslim world to anyone who will listen.  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Jordan.

Read more about the Peace Corps and Islamic Issues.

Zambia RPCV Ben Bell attends Washington march to rally against Iraq war

Zambia RPCV Ben Bell attends Washington march to rally against Iraq war
Ben Bell would rather see peace than war and rather see money going to the Gulf Coast than to Iraq. Bell is one of many activists traveling to a march in Washington to call on Congress to end the war in Iraq. The march is being organized by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of over 1,000 groups that includes the Buddhist Peace Fellowship that Bell works with.

The rally is an interfaith event that will bring together Buddhist groups as well organizations representing Baptists, Lutherans and Catholics. Bell, a practicing Buddhist, said he's looking forward to joining with people of different beliefs for this common cause. "It's terrific that everyone can come together and show how they feel about this unjust war," he said. "A call for peace is needed from everyone." That call for peace is one that Bell has dedicated his life to answering since 2003. That's when he got involved with the Montgomery Peace Project, a local anti-war activist organization. Bell was involved in a peaceful vigil the organization put together in March 2003 at the State Capitol.

Bell served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the African country of Zambia. "I was living like (Henry David) Thoreau with no running water or other amenities," he said. There, Bell began to study Buddhism and was moved by the message for peace that he found in that philosophy. He was especially moved by the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism: life is suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable and there is a path to the cessation of suffering. "I think the Buddhist nature exists in everyone," he said.  Read more.

Caption: August 29, 2004 - New York and America Say No to Bush: In a march that stretched for miles and went on for hours New Yorkers and Americans said no to Bush.

Peacemaking: People have dozens of decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession

Peacemaking: People have dozens of decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession
National leaders get all sorts of advice in times of tension and conflict. But often the competing counsel can be broken down into two basic categories. On one side are the hawks: They tend to favor coercive action, are more willing to use military force, and are more likely to doubt the value of offering concessions. When they look at adversaries overseas, they often see unremittingly hostile regimes who only understand the language of force. On the other side are the doves, skeptical about the usefulness of force and more inclined to contemplate political solutions. Where hawks see little in their adversaries but hostility, doves often point to subtle openings for dialogue.

Social and cognitive psychologists have identified a number of predictable errors (psychologists call them biases) in the ways that humans judge situations and evaluate risks. Biases have been documented both in the laboratory and in the real world, mostly in situations that have no connection to international politics. Pychological impulses incline national leaders to exaggerate the evil intentions of adversaries, to misjudge how adversaries perceive them, to be overly sanguine when hostilities start, and overly reluctant to make necessary concessions in negotiations. In short, these biases have the effect of making wars more likely to begin and more difficult to end.

None of this means that hawks are always wrong. One need only recall the debates between British hawks and doves before World War II to remember that doves can easily find themselves on the wrong side of history. More generally, there are some strong arguments for deliberately instituting a hawkish bias. It is perfectly reasonable, for example, to demand far more than a 50-50 chance of being right before we accept the promises of a dangerous adversary. The biases that we have examined, however, operate over and beyond such rules of prudence and are not the product of thoughtful consideration. Our conclusion is not that hawkish advisors are necessarily wrong, only that they are likely to be more persuasive than they deserve to be.   Read more.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: More questions you were afraid to ask about the Peace Corps

Can I be a vegetarian in the Peace Corps?
Peace Corps Applicant "Peaceful Core" writes: "So it all started when I had my first conversation on Monday with Placement Officer J about me being a vegetarian. After 15 minutes it was apparent that the Peace Corps does not appreciate vegetarians and that being one during your 27 months service is not a good thing. She kept asking me how I was going to explain why I was a vegetarian to people in my host country, which will be in Africa. I tried to explain myself. She then said that with the language barrier, I would not be able to be understood. I got the feeling that she was basically asking me to eat meat. She then tells me that another Placement Officer, P would call me later this week. And that I should meanwhile think about how I will approach this."

Answer: They're not lying when they say that it's not culturally appropriate to turn down food that is offered to you. I'm sure that's as true in Africa as it is in Latin America, where I've studied and traveled. PC has told me several times that I'm perfectly welcome to try to keep any type of diet that I'd like, but that I should recognize how difficult it might be, both in terms of food availability and cultural norms. When it comes down to it (and it may), will you choose to eat meat to integrate into your community, or ET and come home? That's what PC wants to know. They want to know that if you were faced with that situation, your desire to serve is stronger than your desire to keep vegism." Read more.

Can I be terminated for being away from my site without permission?
Costa Rica Peace Corps Volunteer Gringa Perdida writes: This week we've lost a volunteer. Saturday, Mike is leaving on a jet plane. This is nothing less than tragic. Actually, I believe 'ironic' would be a better describer. Mike was faced with 'administrative separation' for not calling Peace Corps to tell them that he would be passing the night out of his site. He was working in San Jose, and simply forgot to call in. It's something I, in my gnat-like attention span and attention to detail, have done more than once. Peace Corps found out and he was given the option to quit or be fired. So he had 24 hours to pack his things, say goodbye to his community and get out of the country. There is a policy, of course. The new policy is 'zero tolerance' and he is being made an example of. Anytime subjectivity is removed from punishments, it always seems to fall on the people that deserve it the least.  Read more.

What is Peace Corps' policy on Tattoos and Piercings?
A Romania RPCV writes: "It has sadly come to my attention that Peace Corps is looking to become more discriminatory of applicants based on their artistic expression. Applicants who have tattoos will be heavily screened if not totally rejected from going to Asia, Central Asia and Eastern European regions because PC wants to give the world "a more professional view" of Americans.

According to Peace Corps, countries in Central Asia and also Ukraine have a view of tattoos as a sign you have been in prison. I know this is true to a certain extent because I know a few returned volunteers who have served in Central Asian countries. But as a lot of you RPCVs out there who have served in EE/CA regions can attest to is that tattoos are growing within the region in popularity with host country nationals, as are piercings. As a returned volunteer from Romania, I certainly can say this. Volunteers got facial piercings in-country, tattoos in country, did it compromise their job and the respect they had gained while there? No, not at all. Some of these volunteers ended up extending.

So my big issue here is where will Peace Corps draw the line? If there is a totally qualified primary education teacher trainer, certified with experience, who has a tattoo on her ankle, and then another primary education candidate with no certification and 6 months primary tutoring experience, with no tattoo, who are they going to choose? Is it about physical professionalism now in PC instead of what skills you can bring to your Peace Corps country?"  Read more.

Read more questions about the Peace Corps for Miss Lonelyhearts.

Is the Civilian Reserve just another throwaway applause line in Bush's State of the Union speech?

Is the Civilian Reserve just another throwaway applause line in Bush's State of the Union speech?
President Bush's call last week for a Civilian Reserve Corps to help troubled countries is either a solid idea whose time has come or yet another throwaway applause line in a State of the Union speech and it's up to Mr. Bush to decide how it turns out. Five years ago, Bush called for doubling the size of the Peace Corps.  That didn't happen.

The burden is on Mr. Bush to prove he is serious. Carlos Pascual, who worked on the idea when he was director of the State Department's Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization, says the lack of specifics "is indicative of the lack of leadership around it, the lack of commitment." One test will be whether the White House funds it in next week's 2008 budget proposal.

Mr. Bush's proposal last week found a mixed audience among bloggers, with some saying the idea is overdue, but others saying the details will matter. One blogger said he "was reminded of Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol," a comedy about bumbling police officers assigned to train a civilian force to fight crime.

Mr. Pascual said the initial setup costs would be in the neighborhood of $150 million over a few years, and have a recurring cost of $50 million to $70 million. During a deployment, costs would go up, he said.

The White House did request $25 million in the 2007 budget to get the program started, but Congress did not appropriate the funds. The concept has congressional supporters, including top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The Senate last year passed by unanimous consent a bill that would have authorized the program, but it did not receive a vote in the House.

Peace Corps Documentary "Jimi Sir" now available for free viewing on the internet

Peace Corps Documentary "Jimi Sir" now available for free viewing on the internet
Filmmaker Claude von Roesgen announces that "Jimi Sir," an original and intimate portrait of Peace Corps volunteer James Parks' experiences as a high school science, math and English teacher during the last 10 weeks of his service in Nepal, is now available for free viewing on "Google Video" at: Google Video: Jimi Sir. The film is also available for purchase on DVD at Amazon. "Jimi Sir" has been called the best movie ever made about the Peace Corps experience.

Take a journey to the rugged terrain that separates the barren Tibetan plateau and the plains of India. Live alongside Jimi, a Peace Corps volunteer in Melung, a days walk south of the trail from Kathmandu to Mt Everest base camp. Delve into the ways of the Tibetan Buddhist people living and farming side by side with the Hindu Sanskrit culture. Witness the Buddhist prayer wheels and flags alongside the Hindu puja rituals. Understand the challenges facing Nepal as its citizens struggle with overpopulation, deforestation, and drinking water quality. Celebrate the festival of Tihaar, a tribute to the animals. Watch Jimi as he strives to finish a water quality and educational development projects before the deadline of his completion of service.

Benefit from Jimi's two years of Peace Corps experience in Nepal as a high school math/science and English teacher by seeing Nepal through his eyes. Jimi speaks Nepali fluently and brings you into the culture. Come to understand what it means for a Westerner to spend two years in the Middle Ages where there are no roads, vehicles, electricity, plumbing, telephone or radio. Experience Jimi's unique perspective on our Western way of life.

A must see for anyone interested in visiting Nepal or has traveled there themselves. You'll feel like you're back in this enchanting land of mountain peaks that reach as high as the highest thunderheads. With rivers that churn their way furiously through narrow valleys flanked by rice paddies rising thousands of feet above the river bed. If you're a returned Peace Corps volunteer, interested in becoming a Peace Corps volunteer, or know anyone who did Peace Corps service you'll definitely want to watch "Jimi Sir."

Read more about Peace Corps Nepal.

Read more about RPCV Documentary Filmmakers.

First Peace Corps Volunteers to Serve in Cambodia

First Peace Corps Volunteers to Serve in Cambodia
Peace Corps is launching its program in Cambodia with an English as a foreign language project. Volunteers will teach English at the upper secondary level and support teachers in Cambodian provinces and districts to improve their English language and English teaching skills. The scope of the Volunteers’ work, however, will not be limited to classroom teaching. Volunteers will also collaborate with community groups and individuals to develop sustainable community activities to enhance the quality of life for Cambodians in the communities where they serve.  "We are excited to begin this historic new program for the Peace Corps in Cambodia," said Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter. “The Cambodian people have extended their warm invitation, and we look forward to working with them. We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to build lasting friendships and a mutual understanding with the people of Cambodia.”  Read more.

Emi Caitlin Ishigooka is among first Peace Corps volunteers to be assigned to Cambodia
Ishigooka is one of 30 volunteers who will leave for Phnom Penh Jan. 31. After three months of training in Cambodia's capitol, the volunteers will disperse to rural areas. Like Ishigooka, they will teach English as a second language to high school-aged children. To prepare for her assignment, Ishigooka has been spending the last three weeks receiving Khmer language lessons from Nanh Toun. On a Wednesday afternoon, Ishigooka and Toun sit together in Toun's upstairs apartment on 17th Street near Poly High. On a couch beneath a picture of the Angkor Wat temple complex taped to the wall, Toun and Ishigooka work through the Khmer alphabet from a first-grade level book. Toun patiently guides Ishigooka through subtle sound variations in the Khmer language. Occasionally, he gives her phrases and tips for conversation that she jots down in a notebook.  Read more.

From 2004: Peru RPCV John McAuliff, Executive Director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, hosts reception for Her Excellency Mme. SUN Saphoeun, Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Kingdom of Cambodia
"At the outset, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Fund for Reconciliation and Development (FRD), in particular Mr. John McAuliff, for organizing this regular meeting as well as for inviting the Cambodian delegation to take part in this important event. Every year, on the sideline of the UN General Assembly meeting, the Fund for Reconciliation has been constantly organizing this particular forum as an important venue for exchanging views and updating information on the latest development in countries, such as the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Cambodia.

Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea are Safe in Mali

Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea are Safe in Mali
All volunteers serving in Guinea are safe and are consolidated in Mali. Volunteers were moved to Mali as a precautionary measure due to the on-going strikes and demonstrations in Guinea. The duration of the Guinea Volunteers’ stay in Mali will be contingent upon the situation/events in Guinea. Families may contact the Peace Corps' Office of Special Services with any questions or concerns they may have. Special Services maintains a 24-hour a day, 7 days a week duty system. The telephone number during standard office hours is 1-800-424-8580, Extension 1470; the after hours number is 202-638-2574. The Office of Special Services can also be contacted via e-mail at ossdutyofficer@peacecorps.gov.  Read more.

Guinea awaits new Prime Minister after unions end strike
The unions called off their 18-day strike only after securing a deal with embattled President Lasana Conte that will see him replaced as head of government by the new prime minister. The prime minister should be nominated within days and be a "competent, honest high-ranking civil servant who has not been implicated at all in embezzlement," read the agreement. The strike, backed by 14 opposition parties, was initially launched on January 10 to protest economic hardship, endemic corruption and Conte's decision to personally free two senior aides charged with embezzlement. Guinea has not had a prime minister since April 2006, when Conte sacked the third holder of the office in the space of a decade. In all, 59 people have been killed by the security forces since the strike began, sparking international condemnation. On Monday alone, the darkest day of the protest, violent clashes between police and strikers left 49 people dead. Read more.

Peace Corps Volunteer Cami writes:  An unxpected Vacation in Mali
"I went to Sierra Leone for New years, only to come back and discover that the Guinean unions had planned a strike for January 10th. Thus, seven other PCVs and I headed to Boke to pass what we thought would be a quick seven days hanging out in the Boke house while the strikes ended. Well, the strikes did not end, and now i'm sitting outside of Bamako, Mali with 116 other volunteers after the most uncomfortable 960 kilometers of driving of my life, in order to consolidate us all outside of Guinea while the situation in Guinea stabilizes."

Read more about Peace Corps Guinea.

Caption: Striking workers from several unions meet at the National Confederation of Guinean Workers in Conakry. State and union officials in Guinea were drafting an agreement late aimed at ending a crippling 18-day general strike in which 59 people have died.(AFP/Georges Gobet)

PCOL Co-Editors will be out of the country until January 29

PCOL Co-Editors will be out of the country until January 29
"Peace Corps Online" announced today that their Publisher and Co-Editors will be out of the country until the end of January and that the web site will not be updated during that period.

"We will be out of contact with no internet connection.  During the next week we will not be publishing any new stories," Peru RPCV Hugh Pickens announced.

"Of course, the web site will remain open in the interim and we expect to begin adding new stories on January 29," he added. "In the meantime, we invite readers to read stories from among the 40,000 index entries in the Peace Corps Library and read about the History of the Peace Corps."

Caption:  Hugh Pickens, Publisher and Co-Editor of Peace Corps Online, with Dr S. J. Pickens, Co-Editor

James Rupert writes: Thais wonder how they will get through this crisis if they should lose the guiding hand of their aging king

James Rupert writes: Thais wonder how they will get through this crisis if they should lose the guiding hand of their aging king
The Thai junta is caught between a need to get tough on deposed Prime Minister Thaksin and his still-powerful loyalists, and to show a democratic, tolerant face to Thais who no longer suffer army rule as passively as in generations past. While Thailand has seen 18 coups and 16 constitutions since it abandoned absolute monarchy in 1932, this crisis is especially troubling because Thais cannot count for long on the stabilizing presence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has moderated political conflict here over a 60-year reign.

Thailand's all-powerful kings were displaced by nearly all-powerful generals who, after 1932, ruled directly or indirectly for 50 out of 56 years. Taking the throne in 1946, Bhumibol patiently rebuilt the monarchy's weakened authority with a personal crusade to develop Thailand's economy. He made countless visits to villages and towns, founding more than 3,000 projects - schools, fish farms, water supply systems, agricultural research stations and others. As education spread, Thais increasingly resisted army rule. Mass demonstrations from the 1970s to the '90s forced the military to limit or surrender its governing powers, and Bhumibol, perhaps reticently, became a political arbiter of last resort.

Deposed Prime Minister Thaksin's resistance to the king, and a perception that he was trying to tighten his personal grip on the army and build personal influence with the crown prince, led generals to overthrow him, said Thai and Western analysts. King Bhumibol, the world's longest-ruling monarch, is frail at age 79. His son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, is widely seen (although never publicly described) as a somewhat thuggish playboy who will be unable to play his father's stabilizing role. "Discussing the politics of the royal household is taboo [in Thailand], so you will please not quote me," said a Thai intellectual.

The problem now, voiced here only in whispers, is that the thrice-married crown prince is seen as an arrogant womanizer prone to eruptions of bad temper. Paul Handley, an American journalist and biographer of Bhumibol, wrote that army generals "did not want Thaksin in a position to exert influence" on the succession to Vajiralongkorn. After the coup, junta officers were shown on TV, prostrating themselves before the king, who assented to their takeover. They quickly moved army officers seen as Thaksin loyalists out of sensitive posts and named a civilian interim cabinet of retired technocrats to run the government for a year, oversee the writing of a new constitution and hold elections.

Thaksin is still popular in the villages, and his loyalists in the civil service, police and military are withholding cooperation with the government in hopes he can return to power, Kavi and other analysts said. Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has implied that Thaksin loyalists are the main suspects in the New Year's Eve bombings, although Thaksin has denied any role. The bombings put pressure on the government to get tough. On Jan. 10, it canceled Thaksin's diplomatic passport and ordered Thai media not to report his statements. While Bangkok liberals welcome moves to bring Thaksin to trial and uproot his influence, they agonize over whether this army-led government can produce a constitution with the civil liberties of the last one. And like all Thais, they worry about how they will get through this crisis if they should lose the guiding hand of their aging king.

Journalist James Rupert, head of Newsday's international bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan began his career abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching mechanics and welding in Morocco. Read more stories by James Rupert.

Top Photo: Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej   Photo: Sakchai Lalit

Bottom Photo: HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn Photo: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul

Peace Corps Volunteer Allyson Doby says getting used to women’s role in Kyrgyzstan culture proved challenging

Peace Corps Volunteer Allyson Doby says getting used to women’s role in Kyrgyzstan culture proved challenging
In Naryn, there’s a tradition of bridal kidnapping - “a man, especially from a remote area, can see a woman on the street … and say, ‘Oh I’m gonna take her,’” Doby said. And because there are so many rules about respect and shame, it’s virtually impossible for the woman to escape. “They can fight to a certain extent,” Doby said, but if the man succeeds in getting the girl back to his house and keeps her there for the night, then they’re married.

To keep the girls there - and they are girls; one of Doby’s 17-year-old students was threatened with a kidnapping shortly before she left Kyrgyzstan for good - the men will have their mothers stand in doorways because it’s disrespectful to harm an elder. Doby said she’d tell her students to put up a fight and call the police, but in reality, most of the policemen in Naryn had procured wives the same way. “There’s such a brotherhood of men there,” she said. Seeing all this helped Doby choose what her next step will be. Since she got back from Kyrgyzstan, she’s been applying to graduate schools with Human Rights programs and eventually wants to enter that field.

Journalist Petr Lom traveled to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to examine the practice of bride kidnapping
There is growing awareness in Kyrgyzstan that bride kidnapping is a significant problem. This is part of a growing concern about women's issues more generally. Kyrgyzstan signed the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 1995, and there are numerous NGOs working on women's issues today. Nonetheless, my impression is that bride kidnapping is still a taboo subject in Kyrgyzstan, for many people will not recognize the extent of the practice, how common it is. Bride kidnapping was illegal under the Soviet Union, but apparently still did occur then. I spoke to villagers who were involved in kidnappings during these times.

And I also heard stories about those who were imprisoned for taking part in kidnappings. The frequency of the custom has increased since Kyrgyzstan became independent in 1991. Some people think this is linked to a reassertion of Kyrgyz national identity and tradition. I'm not so sure about this theory -- I think "identity discourse" is a bit of a Western scholarly invention, or flavor of the day. What is certain, though, is that bride kidnapping is still very often perceived as a legitimate custom, and so though it is officially illegal now, it is hardly ever prosecuted.

Caption: Norkuz -- a kidnapped Kyrgyz woman -- resists entering her future in-laws' home in the Kyrgyz village of Soviet.

Read more about Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan.

Peace Corps Supporter Mark Udall to run for Colorado Senate Seat

Mark Udall to run for Colorado Senate Seat
No one can accuse Sen. Wayne Allard of giving would-be senators short notice when it comes to the 2008 Senate race. The veteran Republican's announcement  that two terms are enough clears the way for a number of GOP and Democratic candidates to get organized and run for the Senate over the next 18 months.

Although Congressman Mark Udall won't make a formal announcement until later, he has said he is running. His spokesman, Lawrence Pacheco, said Udall has campaign money left over from previous elections. "He kept his House account open," Pacheco said. The Colorado race is expected to be in national spotlight because the Senate is so closely divided -- 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats -- and because of Democrats' sweeping successes in Colorado since 2004. They have captured a U.S. Senate seat, two House seats, the Legislature and the governor's office, all previously held by Republicans.

PCOL Comment: Mark Udall has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps introducing and co-sponsoring legislation to expand and strengthen the agency.  Udall's mother served as a volunteer in Nepal.

From September 2003 - Udall Peace Corps Measure approved as part of Foreign Relations Spending Bill
The House of Representatives today approved a measure sponsored by Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO) that would expand and strengthen the U.S. Peace Corps. The House included the measure in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2004, a bill which authorizes $24.2 billion for State Department operations, U.S. contributions to various international organizations and foreign aid programs.  "After more than 40 years, the Peace Corps remains one of the most admired and successful initiatives ever put in place. We need an expanded and refocused Peace Corps that can take on the challenges that September 11th has presented us, and a Peace Corps that can be a strong symbol of our nation's commitment to peace," said Udall. “We need to better understand other cultures, and we need to do a better job promoting an understanding of American values abroad.”

The Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act would amend the Peace Corps Act to increase the number of Peace Corps volunteers to 15,000; encourage the Peace Corps to increase its presence in countries whose governments are seeking to foster a greater understanding by and about their citizens (particularly those with a substantial Muslim population); train all Peace Corps volunteers in the education, prevention, and treatment of infections diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; and create a fund to provide seed money to returned volunteers for community projects.

Sam Farr introduces legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq

Sam Farr introduces legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
Farr says he knows the president will never sign his bill, but he hopes his initiative will stir a public debate and give those who have voted to support the war in the past an opportunity to register their objections now. "This gives them a chance now to say, 'OK, you don't have it anymore. Mr. President, I'm repealing that authority'," Farr said.

Farr said Bush's call for escalation was a "tipping point" for him after three years of opposing the war and the deaths of at least six constituents in Iraq. Most surprising in Bush's announcement, Farr said, was that U.S. troops will now attempt to prevent Iran from moving arms and people into Iraq. "What does that mean?" said Farr, explaining that he's concerned that the troop escalation may signal invasions of other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Iran and Syria.

Farr, who is a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, said his bill is one of several expected to be unveiled by other caucus members following President Bush's speech on January 10. Farr said his bill will now move into the House's Armed Service Committee and likely will be up for discussion in the full House in a couple of weeks. "Meanwhile," he said, "I will be getting co-sponsors."

Congressman Sam Farr of California served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia in the 1960's. Read more about RPCV Sam Farr.

Bill Moyers returns to US public television with weekly "Bill Moyers Journal" starting in April

Bill Moyers returns to US public television with weekly "Bill Moyers Journal" starting in April
Bill Moyers is returning to PBS public television in April with a weekly public affairs series, "Bill Moyers Journal," that resurrects the name of his first public television series for a new century. "People keep writing or stopping me on the street to suggest stories that are not being reported and voices that are not being heard," said the former press secretary for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. "A lot of Americans long for more than convention wisdom, celebrity pundits, predictable opinions and safe analysis of the obvious."

The first episode on April 25 discusses the role of the press before the invasion of Iraq. Moyers' previous weekly series shut down in 2004. It became the center of controversy when it was revealed that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was monitoring the show for the political leanings of its guests.

Journalist Bill Moyers was the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps under founding Director Sargent Shriver.

Bill Moyers slams President Bush for "mind-boggling" contempt for proof of global warming and blamed what he called Bush's dependence on conservative Christians and multinational corporations
"Without the Christian right, the corporations that now control Washington would not have had the votes to eviscerate our environmental protections," Moyers said in a Chrysler Hall speech hosted by The Norfolk Forum. He also said Bush was "beholden to his corporate patrons and campaign contributors" and that corporations control the nation's environmental policy "lock, stock and barrel."

Religion is equally challenging because of the country's growing spiritual diversity, he said. "We have to ask, Can we avoid the intolerance, the chauvinism, the fanaticism, the bitter fruits that spring up when different religions are next-door neighbors?" Moyers said his wide-ranging interviews on subjects such as the book of Genesis showed him that each religion "offers a profound insight into human nature." "They have led me away from condescending toleration of other faiths to an anticipation and affirmation of positive engagement with them," said Moyers, who called himself both a journalist and a spiritual "pilgrim."

Bill Moyers delivers the Sol Feinstone Lecture on The Meaning of Freedom at the United States Military Academy at West Point
"This is a tough subject to address when so many of you may be heading for Iraq. I would prefer to speak of sweeter things. But I also know that 20 or 30 years from now any one of you may be the Chief of Staff or the National Security Adviser or even the President—after all, two of your boys, Grant and Eisenhower, did make it from West Point to the White House. And that being the case, it’s more important than ever that citizens and soldiers—and citizen-soldiers—honestly discuss and frankly consider the kind of country you are serving and the kind of organization to which you are dedicating your lives."

"People in power should be required to take classes in the poetry of war. As a presidential assistant during the early escalation of the war in Vietnam, I remember how the President blanched when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it would take one million fighting men and 10 years really to win in Vietnam, but even then the talk of war was about policy, strategy, numbers and budgets, not severed limbs and eviscerated bodies."

"In no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war and peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. Beside the objection to such a mixture to heterogeneous powers, the trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man. Twice in 40 years we have now gone to war paying only lip service to those warnings; the first war we lost, the second is a bloody debacle, and both rank among the great blunders in our history. It is impossible for soldiers to sustain in the field what cannot be justified in the Constitution; asking them to do so puts America at war with itself. So when the Vice President of the United States says it doesn’t matter what the people think, he and the President intend to prosecute the war anyway, he is committing heresy against the fundamental tenets of the American political order."

Caption:  Statue of Washington at West Point.

Read more stories about Bill Moyers.

Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, celebrates after Denver secures 2008 Democratic convention

Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, celebrates after Denver secures 2008 Democratic convention
National Democrats announced that they have picked Denver over New York for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. "Democrats in Colorado, and the West, have worked hard to demonstrate that this is the new frontier for the Democratic Party in America ... We have worked hard to reach voters across the state. The selection of Denver adds to the momentum, as we build a Colorado that is dedicated to serving all citizens," said Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Denver's selection brings the high-profile political gathering to the Pepsi Center in August 2008 -- exactly 100 years after the city hosted its first and only national party convention. About 35,000 delegates and journalists are expected for what business leaders hope will mean a more than $160 million boon for the city. "The West has had a lot of influence politically in the last two years. And there has been talk to move the party influence to all 50 states. It was important that Gov. Dean chose Colorado. This decision helps us build the party much more," added Waak.

Pat Waak, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Colorado, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil in the 1960's. She has a long history as a political activist.  She was the Deputy Campaign Manager for Sargent Shriver's presidential bid in 1976 and went on to serve in the U.S. Agency for International Development. She has been a senior advisor to Audubon, focusing on the relationship between people and the environment worldwide and was a candidate for Colorado's Fourth Congressional District in 2002.  Read more about Pat Waak.

Read more about Peace Corps Brazil.

Peace Corps volunteers in Namibia are producing a CD called "NamibiAlive!" that will raise awareness about Namibia's AIDS crisis inside the country itself

Peace Corps volunteers in Namibia are producing a CD called "NamibiAlive!" that will raise awareness about Namibia's AIDS crisis inside the country itself
PCV Amy Taylor and other volunteers are working with Namibian recording artists to create the CD, which will be distributed free to 5,000 combis, mini-buses that transport Namibians from town to town, in December. In her nearly two years spent in a Namibian homestead, Taylor said she's formed a bond with the people that compelled her to do whatever she could to help. Taylor teaches English classes in Namibia in which she incorporates AIDS education into the curriculum, and she's organized an HIV/AIDS awareness volleyball tournament, HIV/AIDS testing and peer training for students, an AIDS awareness week and World AIDS Day activities and events.

"'NamibiAlive! is important to me because the people of Namibia are important to me," Taylor said in an e-mail message. "I live with around 20 babies and children on the homestead. They call me Meme (mom) and I adore them. The women in the village all care for me like I was their child. "It hurts to know that, statistically, if something drastic doesn't happen to change the course of AIDS, these people that I love so much will not live past 45."

"The musicians are great," said Taylor. "We were already on the same page. Many of them had already released HIV/AIDS-related songs or been involved in AIDS awareness efforts. Everybody in Namibia, myself included, is desperate to do something to curtail the epidemic. You just can't imagine what it's like to wake up to a funeral gun (people in the villages shoot off guns to alert their neighbors of a death in the house), and know that someone close to you has fallen victim to HIV/AIDS. There are funerals all the time."

The CD was released on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. And after her service time with the Peace Corps is done Dec. 15, Amy says she'll stay in Africa until mid-March, touring the continent with friends.

Visit their web site for more information on "NamibiAlive!"

Learn more about Peace Corps Namibia.

Nepal RPCV Robert Buckley founds Himalayan Healers to preserve the rich history of healing and energy work in the Himalayas and benefit Sponsored Students from the Untouchable castes of Nepal

Nepal RPCV Robert Buckley founds Himalayan Healers to preserve the rich history of healing and energy work in the Himalayas and benefit Sponsored Students from the Untouchable castes of Nepal
Members of the Untouchable castes in Nepal are considered to be "impure" and "untouchable," and are restricted from entering the majority of community temples, have separate water supplies, and are deemed taboo to touch or be touched by. They are born into these roles, and have extremely limited opportunities to move ahead, living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth simply to survive. At the Himalayan Healers project we are training sponsored members of the Untouchable castes to become "Himalayan Healers" in the arts of Ayurvedic, Tibetan, and Indigenous/Nepali massage techniques, supported by a foundation in Yoga, Meditation, and Reiki.

While the initial focus of our work and our mission at Himalayan Healers is upon providing a credible, positive, effective avenue of social and individual change within the Untouchable community of Nepal, we also recognize that Nepal is a nation in need.

As such, our doors are open to provide assistance to qualified candidates from all backgrounds within Nepal, with a particular emphasis on those who are: Victims of Human Trafficking; those who have been Internally Displaced due to the Ongoing Conflict; Freed Kamaiyas (indentured servants and bonded laborers); and any others of Profound Need.  Read more.

Visit the Himalayan Healers web site.

Read more about what RPCVs who served in Nepal are doing today.

Martin Luther King: Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King: Letter from the Birmingham Jail
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides-and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face Jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My fleets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

RPCVs comment of President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq

Senator Dodd's Prepared Remarks at Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on the President's plan for a Surge
The time for blunt force is long past.  Instead, we ought to withdraw our combat troops from urban centers of sectarian conflict, where they are simply cannon fodder. We ought to focus on training reliable Iraqi security forces whose allegiance is to the greater Iraqi people, not to any specific sect. We need to redouble counterterrorism efforts and border security to deny al-Qaeda a failed-state foothold. And, perhaps most importantly, we must engage Iraq’s leaders and its neighbors to promote political reconciliation.

If the only solution to Iraq a is political one, diplomacy is the only weapon we have left.  What has the administration been doing in the last four weeks? Since the time the Iraq Study Group’s report was released, almost 100 American soldiers have been killed and by many estimates, four to five thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed in the widening strife.And the President’s solution to all of this was to ignore the most important recommendations of the Iraq Study Group – namely “robust diplomacy,” and instead settle on an escalation of our current combat strategy. This is a tactic in search of a strategy, and it will not bring us a stable Iraq.

Senator Dodd served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.  Read more stories about Senator Dodd.

Caption: Senate Dodd at the at Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing with Senators Kerry and Biden.

Michael O'Hanlon writes: A Skeptic's Case For the Surge
However mediocre its prospects, each main element of the president's plan has some logic behind it. On the military surge itself, critics of the administration's Iraq policy have consistently argued that the United States never deployed enough soldiers and Marines to Iraq. Now Bush has essentially conceded his critics' points. To be sure, adding 21,500 American troops (and having them conduct classic counterinsurgency operations) is not a huge change and may be too late.

But it would still be counterintuitive for the president's critics to prevent him from carrying out the very policy they have collectively recommended. Rather than deny funding for Bush's initiatives, Congress should provide it now -- but only for fiscal 2007 (meaning through September). By that point, or even the August congressional recess, we should know if the surge is showing promise. If it does, Congress could consider continuing its support. If not, the moment will be right to force the president's hand and move to a backup plan. If the surge fails, we will need a whole new paradigm for Iraq policy, and it is hardly too soon for Congress to start fleshing out our choices. But for now, Congress should also give the president the money and support that he requests.

Michael O'Hanlon, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Congo Kinshasa. Read more by Michael O'Hanlon.

Uzbekistan RPCV Tom Bissell writes: Rolling Estonia

Uzbekistan RPCV Tom Bissell writes: Rolling Estonia
The paths available to nations coping with the grim and often sanguinary legacies of communism are few. There is the Russian way: Retain, defend, and celebrate the most singularly awful aspects of communist rule. There is the Uzbek way: Swap the name of the Uzbek communist party for the People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan; carry on forthwith. There is the Vietnamese way: Preserve communism's ceremonial, revered-elders overlay; disown most of the economic advice. And there is the Chinese way: Change everything, admit nothing. In light of all this, it is sadly difficult to imagine a post-communist nation achieving governmental transparency, an uncorrupted economy, and lives for its citizens untouched by the tentacles of a busy secret police force.

"Estonians would kill me for saying this," Hillar Lauri, a Canadian-born ethnic Estonian who relocated to Tallinn in 1991, told me, "but it is essential to the Estonian psyche to say that we are not Russian. And this country is about proving that Estonia is not Russia. How do you prove it? By working harder, by reforming, by changing." Near-Shoring, Lauri's Tallinn-based company, does accounting for non-Estonian businesses operating in Estonia. His work, combined with his Canadian upbringing, gives him a panoramic view of both how far Estonia has come and how much further it needs to go. "Any area that is state-regulated," he went on, "is corrupt. Hospitals and health care are terribly unreformed areas. ... But it takes time. There are a thousand Soviet mindsets that linger."

"Estonia was an independent republic between the two world wars," Andrus Viirg, the director for Foreign Investments and Trade Promotion for Enterprise Estonia, explained to me. "This mentality has helped us because of the existing memory of a market economy and democracy. The cultural closeness to Finland also helped. We were able to watch Finnish TV. No territory under the Soviet Union had this opportunity. After regaining our independence, it was very easy for the government to proceed with Western ideas."

Author Tom Bissell served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan. Read more by Tom Bissell.