Peace Corps News

Jack Vaughn writes: Finally, candidates 'discover' Peace Corps

After nearly half a century of staying out of politics, partly by intent but mostly by law, the Peace Corps now is on the verge of political greatness - or at least bipartisan flattery. And as with so many other Peace Corps triumphs over the years, this latest political achievement was reached through coincidence.

During my six years in the Peace Corps, I can recall but one other instance where political flirtation raised its pretty head. It came after a senior staff meeting to which I had invited Republican senatorial icon Barry Goldwater. After serious questioning on what Kennedy's new agency was all about, Arizona's Goldwater swore that the Peace Corps embodied virtually every one of the most noble aspects and values of the Republican Party.

What the Peace Corps set out as its goals in 1961 coincides almost exactly with what most of our presidential candidates in 2008 have promised to seek at home, e.g. bringing real change, better health care, improved environmental protection, peace by means other than bludgeoning, burnishing the U.S. image abroad (an area in which the Peace Corps has no rival), promoting nonpartisan solutions, better education at all levels, with a major focus on helping the poor and disadvantaged.

As gratifying as it is for us old Peace Corps types to see our presidential candidates getting real about what the world needs now, a very significant question remains. Literally every Peace Corps volunteer comes home recognizing he or she got more than they gave, learned more than they taught and were changed for the good forever. Question: Is there a chance our next president, having talked the Peace Corps talk so faithfully and so long, will be able to stay real and walk the Peace Corps walk (while increasing the Peace Corps budget)?

Read more.

Jack Vaughn: Peace Corps Legend

Jack Vaughn: Peace Corps Legend
Jack Vaughn, a lifelong Republican, was appointed the second Director of the Peace Corps in 1966 by Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson and led the Peace Corps on a non-partisan basis for three years through some of the agency's most challenging times.  Vaughn at 87 is still as dedicated to the Peace Corps at ever. Read some excerpts from our profile of Peace Corps Legend Jack Vaughn:

Before joining the State Department Vaughn fought professionally under the name of "Johnny Hood." "I was bumming around Mexico one summer when I ran out of money," Vaughn said. "I decided I would take my boxing and turn pro, but I didn't know enough Spanish at the time to tell whether the agent said I would get 60 pesos for four rounds or four pesos for 60 rounds. You can guess which figure was correct." Vaughn fought 26 featherweight bouts as a professional. Vaughn tells the story that the first time he fought professionally in Mexico, the fans cheered enthusiastically but he couldn't make out what they were saying and he thought they were cheering him on. It was only later that he learned that what the fans were shouting was "Kill the Gringo!" Mata al Gringo! later became the title for Vaughn's unpublished memoirs.

Vaughn was appointed Peace Corps Director on February 16, 1966. Vaughn was in a bar at 12:30 on M Street in Georgetown when the bar telephone rang and the bartender asked, "Is there a Mr. Jack Vaughn here?" Vaughn answered yes the bartender says, "it's someone who says he's the president of the United States." "Let me finish this drink," replied Vaughn taking his time before picking up the phone and saying hello. On the line was President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself. "Vaughn," said LBJ. "How would you like to be the director of the Peace Corps?" "Mr. President," Vaughn replied calmly, "I thought you'd never ask."

When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, Vaughn found himself out of a job. One report says that Vaughn was asked by Nixon's Secretary of State William P. Rogers to stay on as Peace Corps director to emphasize the nonpolitical nature of the Peace Corps. Instead, Vaughn was informed in March, 1969, that he would be replaced after all and reports that Vaughn had been asked to stay on as Peace Corps Director in the Nixon administration were reported in the media to be untrue. "I was the first bureaucrat Nixon fired when he took office," Vaughn said. "But when he found out I was a Republican, he asked me if I'd be his ambassador to Colombia."

Vaughn opposed George W. Bush's nomination of Gaddi Vasquez to become Peace Corps Director in 2001. "As they say on the racing tout sheet for a horse that is not in the running: 'Nothing to recommend,'" Vaughn said. "He has little experience . . . and little to indicate that he understands how to run the Peace Corps or any international organization. It's clearly a political payoff, and it would be a shame to see him approved." As a Republican it pained Vaughn to have to oppose a nominee by a Republican President, but Vaughn came to Washington on his own and appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to speak out against the appointment of Vasquez. However Vasquez cleared the United States Senate Foreign Relations committee by a vote of 14-4, and was accepted in the full Senate on a voice vote.

Read the story as published on Peace Corps Online or read the scholarly version with citations on Wikipedia.

Top Photo:  Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn meets with reporters and answers questions in fluent Spanish in Honduras in February 1969. From the Peace Corps Volunteer magazine May, 1969.

Bottom Photo: Caption: Jack Vaughn, the second Director of the Peace Corps, (center) with C. Payne Lucas, President Emeritus of Africare (left), and Hugh Pickens, Publisher and Co-editor of Peace Corps Online. The photo was taken in 2007.  Photo cannot be not be used without permission.

United Nations Secretary-General Visits Peace Corps

United Nations Secretary-General Visits Peace Corps
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter welcomed the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to speak to Peace Corps staff as part of the Loret Miller Ruppe Speaker Series on Friday, October 12. The Loret Miller Ruppe series serves as a forum for distinguished individuals to speak about issues related to the Peace Corps' mission, such as volunteerism, international peace and development, and public service. "The presence of the Secretary-General today honors our Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide," said Tschetter. "Our missions and goals are similar–world peace and the betterment of people's lives around the world. Peace Corps Volunteers work with many UN Organizations on the ground. We are proud of this collaboration and hope it will continue."

During his speech, the Secretary-General talked about his first visit to the U.S. as a high school student when he was invited to meet the then President, John F. Kennedy, saying the visit "offered me a personal occasion to learn the ideas and principles the United States stands for and that, in turn inspired, a life of public service. President Kennedy gave life to his vision of global partnership." "Let me pay tribute to thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers who work around the world in 139 countries," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Peace Corps has provided invaluable, critical support for the United Nations' Volunteers. Together, we can work toward results. Together, we can pursue our joint mission for a peaceful and prosperous, just world."  Read more.

Ron Tschetter completes one year as Peace Corps Director
The Director has visited 23 countries to date, including some locations never before visited by a Peace Corps Director, such as: Malawi, Bolivia, and Cape Verde. The Director has attended Peace Corps anniversary events in Niger, Paraguay, Cameroon, and the Dominican Republic. Also this year, Tschetter traveled to swear-in the first group of Volunteers to serve in Cambodia. Additionally, Tschetter has visited many of Peace Corps' regional recruiting offices across the United States.

One of the Director's main initiatives has been to attract and retain older Americans to serve in the Peace Corps. After conducting a survey of all currently serving 50+ Volunteers, he responded to the feedback and is transforming the agency to better integrate and increase the number of 50+ Volunteers. He has personally attended 50+ recruiting sessions around the country and seen great interest from the Baby Boomer generation to serve their country. Director Tschetter has effectively spread the message that it's never too late to serve. This month at the AARP National Convention, Director Tschetter unveiled a new 50+ Web site geared specifically toward older Americans. Over the past year, the 50+ initiative has earned the attention of major national news outlets such as CNN, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, San Francisco Examiner, and Christian Science Monitor.

Over the past year, Tschetter also created the Office of Strategic Information, Research, and Planning (OSIRP) within the agency to better measure the impact of Volunteers in the field and the work done to support them here at home. This new office performs three key functions: performance planning and reporting; evaluation and measurement; and data management.  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter.

Caption:  Peace Corps Director Tschetter with a volunteer in Cameroon earlier this year.  Photo:  michaeljdowney Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Mark Schneider writes: Getting answers on Pakistan

Mark Schneider writes: Getting answers on Pakistan
This fall offers an opportunity for change. Musharraf's term ends in October, and the following month the National Assembly completes its tenure. For the first time since the October 1999 coup, Musharraf's authoritarian rule appears shaky. His attempts at pre-election rigging -- including his onslaught on judicial independence and the media-- illustrate he refuses to commit to free and fair elections and to leave office if the new Parliament names someone else president. The Pakistani people have registered their desire for a democratic transition with street protests, which have been met by guns and gas. This increasingly vocal opposition, spearheaded by the bar associations, human rights groups, and the media, is channeling public resentment to military rule.

The United States needs to use leverage -- financial and political -- to insist upon free and fair parliamentary and provincial elections, monitored by independent international observers. Anything short of that -- including the call for a state of emergency, postponing elections, or permitting Musharraf to stand for reelection by the current lame-duck assemblies -- will de-legitimize the ballot box. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a useful phone call this week to dissuade Musharraf from declaring emergency rule, much more is needed.

Exiled opposition leaders also must be allowed to return to Pakistan. Pakistan's two national-level parties -- Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League -- are pragmatic centrist forces that will contain fundamentalism -- not accommodate it. These moderates would not ignore an opportunity to capture Al Qaeda operatives hiding out on their turf, and their election could give US leaders confidence in Pakistan's partnership in the war on terror. If Bhutto and Sharif are not allowed to participate in October's election, their mainstream moderate parties will be further alienated, leaving the political field open to Islamist forces. Reports that Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf to negotiate her return and work out a power-sharing agreement could be a good first step, but early optimism must be tempered by Musharraf's track record of unwillingness to relinquish any control.

The United States must stay engaged with Pakistan, but engaged in the right way. Supporting a deeply unpopular government -- either tacitly or directly -- is no way to help fight terrorism and neutralize religious extremism. And it puts the United States at even greater risk by feeding the growing anti-American sentiment among pro-democracy Pakistanis. The choice before the United States in Pakistan's election year, with time fast running out, is stark. It can support a return to genuine democracy and civilian rule, which offers the added bonus of containing extremism, or it can sit on the sidelines as Pakistan slides into political chaos, creating an environment in which militancy and radicalism will continue to thrive.  Read more.

Mark Schneider is senior vice president of the International Crisis Group and a former director of the Peace Corps.

Caption (top):  Former Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador.

Caption (bottom):  Caption: Pakistani lawyers chant anti-Musharraf slogans during a protest rally in Lahore. Thousands of people rallied against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for the first time since violent clashes in Karachi, as the military ruler headed to the still-tense city. Photo: AFP/Arif Ali 

Read more about Peace Corps Pakistan.

Read more about RPCVs Speaking Out.

Ron Tschetter completes visit to Cameroon and Kenya

Ron Tschetter in Cameroon for 45th Anniversary
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter unveiled a bust of former President John F. Kennedy at a U.S. Embassy ceremony on June 21 held to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps in Cameroon. The outdoor ceremony, hosted by U.S. Ambassador Niels Marquardt, was attended by over 100 people ranging from currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers to high ranking Cameroonian government officials, many of whom were taught by Peace Corps Volunteers.

In his remarks, Tschetter quoted former President Kennedy's famous speech, "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Tschetter continued, "As I have traveled around Cameroon, I have seen countless examples of our Volunteers and the people of Cameroon working together, and that’s what the Peace Corps is all about. Whether it is in education, agro-forestry, small enterprise development, or community health, our work can not be effective without a 'working together' relationship. And these bonds of trust, understanding and caring will absolutely contribute to the freedom of man President Kennedy talked about at his inauguration 46 years ago."

U.S. Ambassador Marquardt, who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Rwanda in the late 1970's, said in his opening remarks, "With Director Tschetter's visit and today's ceremony, we also commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Peace Corps' uninterrupted presence in Cameroon. This record of continuous, unbroken presence since the very first Volunteers arrived in Cameroon, in September 1962, is matched in only two other countries on earth." He further stated that the Peace Corps, "has done more than any other American initiative to promote peace, mutual understanding, mutual respect, and social development around the world, and perhaps most especially in Africa." Read more.

Caption: Cameroon Peace Corps Director James Ham joins Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter at the bust of President John Kennedy in Yaounde. The Friends of Cameroon contributed to the creation of the bust, which was unveiled in June 2007. Photo: Friends of Cameroon

Tschetter visits volunteers in Kenya
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter concluded his five day visit to Kenya on June 26 where he met with Peace Corps Volunteers, staff, media, and government officials. In a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Rannenberger and Kenya's Minister of Education George Saitoti, Tschetter said, "The Peace Corps program in Kenya remains strong. I am impressed with the many wonderful achievements of the Volunteers here and look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with the people of Kenya long into the future."

Ambassador Rannenberger also commented, "The relationship between the United States and Kenya is stronger than ever and the Peace Corps is an important and positive component of that partnership."

A highlight of Tschetter's trip was a visit on June 25 to a school for children who are Deaf in central Kenya where Peace Corps Volunteer Erin Hayba, of Lovettsville, Va., and a recent graduate of Penn State University, serves. Erin is among 29 Volunteers currently serving in Deaf education in Kenya, Peace Corps only Deaf education program country.

This unique program began in 1992 as a way to train educators on better teaching methods, and to broaden the production of learning materials and facilities for Deaf and hard of hearing students. The program now includes computer training and health and HIV/AIDS education programs, as part of the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. Read more.

Caption: Ron Tschetter observing students in the new computer lab built by the Peace Corps at the Kerugoya School for the Deaf. Peace Corps Volunteers Erin Hayba and Frank Lester participate in the presentation.

Read more about Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter.

Read more about Peace Corps Cameroon.

Read more about Peace Corps Kenya.

Returned Volunteers and Staff honor Peace Corps Architect Warren Wiggins at Memorial Service

Returned Volunteers and Staff honor Peace Corps Architect Warren Wiggins at Memorial Service
Returned Volunteers and Staff came to the "Bull Run Unitarian Universalists' Church" in Manassas, Virginia from all over the United States on May 4 to attend a Memorial Service honoring Peace Corps Architect Warren Wiggins.

Mrs. Edna Wiggins and her children greeted guests at the door of the church.  Inside the church Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff like former Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn, former Peace Corps Country Director for Ethiopia and Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford,  former Country Director for Togo and Niger and later Peace Corps Africa Regional Director and President of Africare C. Payne Lucas and his wife, Sierra Leone RPCV and NPCA Chairman Emertisus Pat Reilly and her husband Philippines RPCV Dick Irish, NPCA President and Thailand RPCV Kevin Quigley, and David Arnold, Editor of NPCA's Worldview magazine. Other RPCV and Staff attending included Kevin Lowther of Africare, Gretchen Handwerger, Ruth McKennzie Scott, B. J. Warren, and Carolyn Ramsey.

The Memorial Service began at 1 pm with Gathering Music played by Annease Hastings on the piano. Reverend Lou Mitchell gave the Opening Words and Prayer of Thanksgiving. After the choir and congregation sang "Gather the Spirit", John Bender read a selection from the writings of Warren Wiggins from a boy of 6 who wanted to "lasso the moon" to a young man who served in the Army Air Forces during World War II flying transport planes "over the Hump" in the China-India-Burma theater and received a Distinguished Flying Cross. The choir sang the anthem "Fire of Committment."

Philippines RPCV Dick Irish asked how many members of the memorial service had served either in the Peace Corps or with TransCentury and then gave his personal tribute to Warren Wiggiins remembering  how Wiggins gave him his first job at Peace Corps Headquarters after he returned after his service in the Philippines, how he went with Wiggins to the first TransCentury offices in Washington DC, Wiggins' management style, and the first government contracts. Faye Cowan rose and read excerpts from a letter from a group in Sierra Leone who came together through TransCentury and are still working for the goals of social justice twenty years later.

After the BRVV Adult Chior sang "God in my Head," Reverend Nancy McDonald Ladd gave the eulogy to Warren Wiggins recalling his many contributions and the love his family and friends had for him. After the service, the Wiggins famiy invited all the guests to stay for light refreshments in the Fellowship Hall after the memorial service.

Warren Wiggins once said of former Peace Corps Director Jack Hood Vaughn (right with Africare President emeritus C. Payne Lucas): "I worked more with Vaughn than any other person in my life, four separate long-term assignments, back to back.  Mostly I have co-workers; Vaughn was a friend.  Vaughn and I traveled at length in Bolivia together, the two of us, when we were both in the ICA Mission to Bolivia.  He's got a lot of Teddy Roosevelt in him.  He was a former prizefighter.  On the other hand, he's cautious, conservative and sometimes not terribly involved in some of the broader sweep of things.  Vaughn stands up and is counted and is determined.  He is a good administrator.  he is an excellent person. He is my friend." Read more.

Read the Obituary for Warren Wiggins.  In 1961, Mr. Wiggins, who became one of the top leaders of the high-profile agency in its earliest years, was an unknown foreign policy adviser whose brief paper, "The Towering Task," landed in the lap of the Peace Corps' first director, R. Sargent Shriver, just as he was trying to figure out how to turn President John F. Kennedy's campaign promise into a working federal department. The response to it became legendary in the agency as "the midnight ride of Warren Wiggins." Shriver, burrowing through correspondence shortly after midnight on Feb. 6, 1961, was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. A small agency was more likely to fail because its projects would not be consequential enough, Mr. Wiggins wrote. Using specific examples, with a proposed staff size and budget, Mr. Wiggins suggested that Kennedy act through an executive order for the quickest start. "Shriver from the beginning saw him as someone who had the spirit of moving big and fast," former senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who was there, said in an interview. "The Peace Corps, small and symbolic, might be good public relations, but a Peace Corps that was large and had a major impact on problems in other countries could transform the economic development of the world."

Read excerpts from "A Towering Task."  Most of the academic and other institutional approaches to the opportunity of the National Peace Corps suggest tentative pilot projects, involving small numbers of people and consequently a limited political, economic and psychological impact. This cautious approach is proposed by many because of the clear possibility of a fiasco. The organization and administration of a large number of Americans working on a variety of programs and projects in many countries with varying cultures and needs undeniably is an extremely complex and difficult undertaking. It is the prevailing view that if a great many Americans are scattered abroad and if significant numbers of them fail either in their own eyes or in the eyes of the recipient peoples, or if large numbers of the Americans have severe health, emotional or other problems, the resulting criticism will extend far beyond the project per se.

The purpose of this paper is to advocate consideration of a "quantum jump" in the thinking and programming concerning the National Peace Corps. Its postulate is that America ought to consider initiating the program with several thousand Americans participating in the first 12 to 18 months - say, 5,000 to 10,000. The ultimate level of manpower to be utilized in this program will of course depend upon its initial success and difficulties. However, the potential of this program is great and it may prove to be the case that it should be at the 30,000, the 50,000 or possibly even at the 100,000 level. Even this latter higher level Corps over the past 35 would mean that only one out of every 30 youths would serve in the Peace Corps.

Caption: Mrs. Edna Wiggins, widow of Peace Corps Architect Warren Wiggins, with (left to right) Director Jack Vaughn, Senator Harris Wofford, and Peace Corps Online Co-Editor Hugh Pickens near the end of the reception.  All Photos:  PCOL  Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0.

Mark Gearan Calls for Service, engaged constituency

Mark Gearan Calls for Service, engaged constituency
Mark Gearan, president of Hobart & William Smith Colleges and former director of the U.S. Peace Corps, spoke at Cornell University in a speech titled, “Public Service in the 21st Century.” Gearan was invited to Cornell as a part of the 2006-07 Colloquium Series presented by The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs.

Gearan asked those in the audience who are thinking about international development to look into becoming involved with the Peace Corps. “Allow me this commercial,” said Gearan, “to encourage you to think about the [U.S.] Peace Corps service.” Gearan said the satisfaction experienced by Peace Corps volunteers is nothing less than significant. Peace Corps volunteers make a 27 month commitment to the Corps. He conveyed that 9 out of 10 volunteers surveyed while working in the field would choose to volunteer again, while the same ratio of volunteers would recommend the experience to others.

Gearan defined the term “public service” as being comprised of two parts: “community service and volunteerism aspect and a public service aspect” in regards to public service with federal and state governments. “When we look back at our past as Americans, there has been an ethic of service since our founding,” said Gearan. “From minutemen, to thee early founding fathers [who established] our country in the deep routes of freedom, to Alexis de Tocqueville who was struck by the efforts of [early American] ‘joiners,’ those getting involved in their communities and meeting houses, we have [historically] fostered this sense of volunteerism during times of crisis, war and peace,” said Gearan.

Gearan expressed concern regarding the importance of volunteerism as reflected by U.S. government spending. Each year, numerous applicants are turned away by the Peace Corps because the Corps simply cannot afford to fund enough projects. “Why has the most fortunate country in the world said ‘no’ to these volunteers?” asked Gearan. “We spend more on our military marching band than on the Peace Corps. Not my priority.”

When the room opened up for questions, an AmeriCorps alumna raised concern over the budget cuts of both the Peace Corp and AmeriCorps. “Funding is being slightly shaved off every year,” said Gearan. Because there is no one really fighting against it, there is also no one strongly fighting for it. “Without an engaged constituency [the Corps] suffers.” Read more.

More about Mark Gearan
President Gearan’s appointment to Hobart and William Smith in 1999 made him one of the nation’s youngest college presidents. In the course of his tenure, he has reinforced the Colleges’ commitment to global understanding and study abroad opportunities, community service and service-learning, with the goal of providing these elements through contemporary facilities and state-of-the-art technology.             

When named president, Gearan was serving as director of the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., a post he assumed in 1995. Under his leadership, the Peace Corps experienced a resurgence of interest. The Colleges also have progressed under his guidance. Prior to his Peace Corps directorship, President Gearan served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Director of Communications, as well as Deputy Chief of Staff during the Clinton administration. During the 1992 presidential campaign, he was Al Gore’s campaign manager, segueing to the position of Deputy Director of President-elect Clinton’s transition team.

President Gearan serves on the boards of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates the community-based service programs AmeriCorps and ServiceCorps; and The Partnership of Public Service, a group aimed at encouraging young people to pursue federal service careers. Additionally, he served as chair of the National Campus Compact and he is also a member of the Independent College Fund of New York.  Read more.

Read more about former Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan.

Spotlight on Peace Corps Mongolia

Peace Corps Volunteer Michelle Toon writes: From the West Side to Mongolia
"I've been in Mongolia for seven months. After landing in Ulan Bator, I and 56 other Peace Corps trainees were bused to a "ger camp." A ger is a traditional Mongolian home that can be described as a round felt tent supported by wooden poles. Though it was June, it felt like February. It had snowed two weeks earlier. Mongolia is a country of extremes. Its sun is as oppressive as its poverty. The summers are short and blazing and the winters long and bitter - 30 degrees below zero bitter. Its people are generous to a humbling degree. Nothing is mine or yours. They consistently say the word manai, which means our. Our Mongolia. Our project. Our Michelle. Waking up that first morning in the ger camp, the mountains were staggering. There is something familiar yet inexpressible about the landscape here. The people are reflections of it. They build little mountains on the roadsides in the form of Buddhist shrines. And with their ceremony and solemnity they are mountains themselves." Read more.

Caption: Ulan Bator Photo:  chill Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0

Stephanie Trafton serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia
In June 2006, Stephanie arrived in Khujirt, the 13th century capital of the great Mongolian Empire. She arrived somewhat overwhelmed. In a cell phone interview to her in Mongolia last week, Stephanie related the following: "Picture this," she explained. "You're dropped off in front of a ger (a nomadic felt dome tent) that is completely bare (sans a wooden futon that is broken, and two cabinets), you don't know anybody besides the director of the school who knows absolutely no English, you're hungry but have no electricity yet, and no wood for the stove.

"The only water you have is the stuff in your Nalgene bottle because you don't know where the well is yet, and school wasn't starting for two days. The director said you should be 'amarij bain' (resting)." That didn't dissuade her from changing her mind. To her, it was a way of experiencing life. She left her ger, went for a walk, found the girst delguur (little shop) and made friends with the owner who told her about the town.

Scarfs and hats are no longer a fashion statement. She wakes to a frozen water bucket and almost everything else in her ger. She's had to chop off blocks of ice and put them in her water boiler to make her morning tea everyday trying not to think of her frozen toes.  "Jumping from Florida weather to this makes me think that I just might have skipped a few baby steps," Stephanie laughingly said, "but all of this is making me stronger. I go to bed with three pairs of socks, long underwear, pajamas, two undershirts, and a sweater. "I find that cocooning myself inside my sleeping bag liner, zipping myself up all the way and covering myself with another thick blanket on top does the trick."

She teaches grades 6 to 11 but does other projects as well. One of Stephanie's goals is to build a Resource Room. Currently the students don't have pencils, and sometimes lessons are made up by her. She said it's difficult. With only a handful of books, she is trying to get books for the 1st grade to 4th grade levels and nothing above that. Books such as Dr. Seuss or grammar books with no more than 30 pages and large letters are needed for this project. She also has an English club in the afternoons where the students play games. Although there is one school from Kindergarten to grade 11 with a dormitory next door called a Hudoo (phonetic spelling) which means countryside, children from other villages stay at the dormitory. Classes are separated by grades. The children speak Mongolian and have a different alphabet. But Stephanie is persevering in teaching them and feels that she is accomplishing something. "It's amazing. You learn so much about the people," she said. "Mongolians love foreigners, especially in the villages. A lot of my students have never seen an American before," she continued. Read more.

Tschetter visits Volunteers in Mongolia
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter completed his four day visit to Mongolia, where he met with Volunteers and staff and discussed Peace Corps' program with government officials. "The Peace Corps program in Mongolia is flourishing thanks to the welcoming spirit of the Mongolian people, and I’m excited to witness the growing friendships between the people of our countries," said Director Tschetter.  Tschetter and his wife, Nancy, who is accompanying him on his official visit, were Peace Corps Volunteers in India from 1966 -1968.

The Director met four of the 14 Peace Corps Volunteers working in community health. This program focuses on working with individuals and communities in Mongolia to improve their health and well-being through preventative health education programs. Volunteers working in the rural areas have developed dynamic strategies to promote health awareness and prevention behaviors, including HIV/AIDS prevention programs. After visiting Volunteer sites in some of the rural areas of Mongolia, Tschetter visited the host village of San Francisco, Calif. native and Peace Corps Volunteer, Sean Speer. Director and Mrs. Tschetter stayed in Speer’s village for the evening and spent the night in a traditional Mongolian ger, a style of felt tent that many Mongolians and Peace Corps Volunteers call home. Read more.

Four weeks after Kathy Davies returned from Mongolia, she is ready to expose the public to the nomadic lifestyle in an exhibit of watercolors, photography, and folk art
For Kathy, the photographs and paintings recall her stay in Mongolia. "It was definitely educational, in a way that no classroom could ever touch. ... For two years, it was a different life, but it was still my life, and I had a different experience with noticing the cultures, and everyday things that actually stood out because I was a foreigner in a different place. "I've come back to America with that same attitude. I think [I am] looking at everyday things with a different set of eyes and just kind of appreciating how beautiful it is here a little bit more."

Kathy adds that she came back wanting to educate more people about Mongolian culture. "The Mongolians are really impressive people, and I'd like more people to appreciate that. [The Peace Corps experience] gives you a different perspective on the world, and I wanted to share that with other people. If you do that through images, I think it's a lot more effective and powerful."

The art exhibit will include an ovoo, a cairn made of rocks or sticks and blue silk scarves, which Mongolians build as sacred sites, and Kazakh wall hangings, which are elaborately embroidered wall coverings used to warm the walls of gers, or yurt-like homes, in western Mongolia. "All the threads they use for [the wall hangings] they sell in the market," Barbara says. "I did a whole painting on that. It was a line of different types of threads they use and it made a wonderful photo as well as a painting."  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Mongolia.

Read more about Returned Peace Corps Volunteers working on the Third Goal.

First Cambodia Peace Corps Volunteers sworn in

Peace Corps sends first ever mission to Cambodia
Three Americans sang the Cambodian national anthem in the Khmer language at a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to herald the official start of the U.S. Peace Corps' first volunteer program in this impoverished Southeast Asian nation. All 400 attendees stood as Sam and Kara Snyder, a couple from Buffalo, New York, and Autumn West, from Greenback, Tennessee, opened the event by singing the national anthem in Khmer. They then sang the U.S. national anthem while their fellow volunteers and American officials stood to attention with their hands on their chests.

Conor Cronin, from Scarsdale, New York, delighted the audience by delivering a speech in Cambodian, with Felicidad Garcia, from Miami, Florida, acting as his translator for the American guests. The crowd laughed when Cronin joked that he was chosen to give the speech because he was "the most handsome volunteer." "We, the volunteers, have come to Cambodia from different parts of America, each with a different history. But we are all here ... with the same commitment to serve as best as possible in every way," Cronin said. Read more.

Caption: Peace Corps Cambodia volunteers clap during a swearing-in ceremony at National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh on April 4, 2007. Thirty English teachers, the first group of Peace Corps volunteers will serve in Cambodia teaching English at the upper secondary level and supporting teachers in Cambodian provinces and districts to improve their English language and teaching skills. Reuters/Chor Sokunthea

Tschetter swears in first Cambodia Peace Corps Volunteers
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter swore-in Peace Corps' first group of Volunteers, signifying the beginning of an historic new partnership with the Kingdom of Cambodia. “This first group of Peace Corps Volunteers is bringing with them the great tradition of service and friendship to an extraordinary country and a remarkable people,” said Director Tschetter. “They are not only trained professionals, but they are dedicated Americans who share in common a spirit of service and a commitment to make a difference in the lives of the citizens of Cambodia.” New Peace Corps Volunteers during their swearing in ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph A. Mussomeli also participated in the swearing-in ceremony. He remarked, “Cambodia is the kind of country President Kennedy had in mind when he created the Peace Corps. Peace Corps Volunteers do more to advance freedom and justice in the world and protect American ideals and principles than any other program of the United States government.” Director Tschetter thanking His Majesty King Sihamoni of Cambodia for the warm hospitality and friendly welcome of the Cambodian people

Following the swearing-in ceremony, Director Tschetter had an audience with His Majesty King Sihamoni and thanked His Majesty for the warm hospitality and friendly welcome of the Cambodian people. In return, His Majesty said, “On behalf of the Cambodian people, we are grateful for your initiative and cooperation and we thank the Peace Corps and the American people for their work in advancing peace and stability in Cambodia.” Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Cambodia.

Tschetter meets with UN Secretary General Ki-moon

Tschetter meets with UN Secretary General Ki-moon
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter traveled to New York yesterday to meet with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. This is the first time in the 46-year history of the Peace Corps that a meeting has been held between the Peace Corps Director and the Secretary General of the United Nations. During the meeting, the two discussed possible areas of meaningful collaboration.

A native of South Korea, the Secretary General thanked Director Tschetter for the work that Peace Corps accomplished during its time in South Korea. Over 2,000 Peace Corps Volunteers served in South Korea from 1966 – 1981. “Many successful Koreans in the private and public sector were taught by Peace Corps Volunteers,” said the Secretary General, “and now Korea is using the Peace Corps as a model to do aid work in Africa.”

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that he shares the vision of the Peace Corps and is a proponent of its work promoting world peace and understanding. “Your organization might be the largest and most respected Volunteer organization in the world,” says Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Director Tschetter. Read more.

Read more about Ron Tschetter, the 17th Director of the Peace Corps.

Read more about the Peace Corps and the United Nations.

New Peace Corps Fellows Program in International Relations at Yale University

New Peace Corps Fellows Program in International Relations at Yale University
"A partnership between the MacMillan Center and the Peace Corps is a natural fit," said Yale Graduate School Dean Jon Butler. "Both organizations promote international understanding and appreciation. Volunteers’ real-life experiences in the field will add a new dimension to the intellectual excitement of the IR program." After completing their service, returned Peace Corps volunteers will apply to Yale Graduate School through the regular admissions process. If admitted, they will enroll as Fellows in the international relations master’s degree program. This two year program is part of Yale’s Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. In addition to the IR program, Peace Corps Fellows at Yale may also pursue any of the multi-disciplinary degree programs available through the MacMillan Center. Options for joint degrees include forestry and environmental studies, management, law, and public health.

Yale is the alma mater of Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver.  Shriver made a speech at Yale University’s Daily News Annual Banquet in 2003 calling for a Fourth Goal for the Peace Corps
I’ve been asked a lot of critical questions about the Peace Corps in response to the horrific events of September 11. How is it possible that so many citizens of Afghanistan clearly hate Americans in spite of years of service from American Peace Corps Volunteers working side by side with them? Why would we want to send new volunteers to Pakistan or Afghanistan today, when terrorists and killers there would love to have more innocent Americans to kill? These are tough questions that raise good points. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you this:

The Peace Corps WAS there in Afghanistan, and virtually everywhere else in the world, and some lives were changed – both the lives of American volunteers, and lives of the people they served. Is it America’s primary purpose in the world to change and improve lives, or to snuff them out? This is a question that IS relevant to the Peace Corps – but it suggests a larger, more expansive mission than the small Peace Corps our nation is financing now.

Why look to the Peace Corps in a time of such extreme danger? I believe it’s necessary to do so, because we’re now living in a new world; and without peace, the new world will have no future, except death! Isn’t this the challenge which bin Laden and other terrorist groups have put before us? “What have you got,” they say to us, “that is truly worth defending? Your sky-scrapers; your blue chip stocks; your luxury cars; your trade agreements; your computer networks; your flashy movies; your fast food? Stack all that up against men like ours who readily give up their lives for God, and you’ve got nothing, America! Nothing!”

Maybe they’re right. Let’s suppose for a moment that they are. What have we got that’s worth defending, worth dying for? I say that peace is the answer. No matter how many bombs we drop, no matter how skillfully our soldiers fight, we are not responding to the ultimate challenge until we show the world how and why we must all learn to live in peace – until peace becomes the only permanent alternative to war.

Our present world cries out for a new Peace Corps—a vastly improved, expanded, and profoundly deeper enterprise. Why? Simply because our capacity to kill each other has far outstripped our capacity to live together. Now we live in a world of low-tech killing, where plastic knives and innocent-looking envelopes can do the job just as efficiently as nuclear bombs. There must be an alternative to this endless cycle of killing– not just for America’s sake, but for all of humanity.

Peace is much more than the mere absence of war. Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us.

You may think these are just the rantings of an old man defending his outdated ideas. But I’m not defending the old Peace Corps – I’m attacking it! We didn’t go far enough! Our dreams were large, but our actions were small. We never really gave the goal of “World Wide Peace” an overwhelming commitment or established a clear, inspiring vision for attaining it. If we had, the world wouldn’t be in the mess we are in. We may have only one more opportunity to get it right. Read the rest of Shriver's speech at Yale.

Read more about Peace Corps Fellows Programs.

Read more about Sargent Shriver's "Fourth Goal for the Peace Corps."

Maryland Returned Volunteers to screen "American Idealist" at UMBC on March 3

Maryland Returned Volunteers to screen "American Idealist" at UMBC on March 3
Maryland Returned Volunteers invites you to a special advance screening of the inspiring documentary American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver on Saturday, March 3 at 7:00 p.m. at The Shriver Center, UMBC.

Discussion and social will follow the film. Outgoing Peace Corps Volunteers will be honored. This event is free, however, your donation will benefit a local service project. The Shriver Center is located on the first floor of UMBC’s Public Policy Building. For directions and parking please visit: www.umbc.edu. Parking is open on streets and lots during this event. For more information contact: Joby Taylor at 410-455-6398 or joby.taylor@umbc.edu

American Idealist tells the story of Sargent Shriver
Sargent Shriver has arguably touched more lives than any American since Franklin Roosevelt. Television journalist and former LBJ aide Bill Moyers calls him “the best all-around politician I’ve ever seen.” Yet, Shriver remains unknown to most Americans today.

During his tenure in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Shriver created the Peace Corps, directed the War on Poverty, and served as U.S. ambassador to France. The programs he created—including the Peace Corps, Head Start, Legal Services for the Poor, VISTA, Job Corps, Foster Grandparents, and Special Olympics—have improved the lives of millions. Sarge’s story offers both a guiding paradigm and a source of inspiration for those who wish to serve.

Learn more about Sargent Shriver, founding Director of the Peace Corps.

Carol Bellamy writes: We need an Earth Corps to work with existing service organizations all over the world to recruit and help citizens address the U.N. Millennium Development Goals

Carol Bellamy writes:  We need an Earth Corps to work with existing service organizations all over the world to recruit and help citizens address the U.N. Millennium Development Goals
National service is a worthy idea -- after all, at least 30 countries, including Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Chile and Israel, require every 20- and 21-year-old to serve one or two years in either military or alternative national service. But national service is not enough. The crises we face are global crises, and they need global solutions.

We live in a time of unprecedented planetary crises -- global warming and climate change, species loss, the depletion of groundwater and fossil fuel, the pandemic spread of HIV/AIDS, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and small arms, the expanding gulf between the rich and poor, the conflict between secularism and fundamentalism -- the list goes on. These crises are coming to a head in the next 10 to 20 years. Something must be done about each and every one of them now. We propose to establish an independent, nongovernmental, all-volunteer Peace Corps for the whole earth, an Earth Corps.

What would an Earth Corps actually do? It would work with existing service organizations all over the world to recruit and help citizens address the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. They include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

Volunteers would work to monitor and reverse global warming, clean up polluted rivers and toxic waste sites, teach basic computer skills and business practices to the recipients of micro-credit loans, provide information and medical care and so forth. Together, working with our neighbors, and in voluntary service settings around the world, we can make a difference -- perhaps the critical difference.

During her professional career, Costa Rica RPCV Carol Bellamy has been a lawyer, banker and politician
During her professional career, Carol Bellamy has been a lawyer, banker and politician. "If you add Realtor into the mix, I'd have done all the jobs your mother wouldn't admit to your next-door neighbors," Bellamy joked. While demonstrating a keen sense of humor, Bellamy's purpose is much more serious. Bellamy  served as UNICEF's executive director for 10 years. UNICEF is the world's leading children's organization.

She discussed her experiences heading UNICEF and her previous jobs as a Peace Corps volunteer and New York state senator. "I was a banker," Bellamy said, "but it took me coming to UNICEF to realize that something like helping a young woman is more likely to multiply." She meant that by investing in education of an underprivileged young woman, that person is more likely to raise a family, not get infected with HIV and be a stable adult. "Where else can you get that return in an investment?" Bellamy said.

Read more about Carol Bellamy.

Listen to new Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter over the internet at 11 am EST on Thursday, December 21

Listen to new Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter over the internet at 11 am EST on Thursday, December 21
Tune into "the Intersection" with Rebecca Roberts on WETA 90.9FM at 11 a.m. EST on Thursday, December 21 to hear a discussion with new Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter.  Calls and emails from returned volunteers and the Peace Corps community are welcome. You can listen to the program live over the internet by going to http://www.weta.org/theintersection/  and click the button that says "Listen live to 90.9FM." Read more.

Ex-Chilean dictator Pinochet dies at 91

Ex-Chilean dictator Pinochet dies at 91
General Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew Chile's democratically elected Marxist president in a bloody coup and ruled this Andean nation for 17 years, died Sunday, dashing hopes among many that he would see justice for his regime's abuses. He was 91.

Sargent Shriver talks about the Peace Corps and Pinochet in Chile in an interview from 1986
"When [General Augusto] Pinochet came into power a lot of Peace Corps volunteers were in Chile and they started protesting Pinochet and writing letters to newspapers. I was criticized in Washington for the actions of these volunteers. My response was that we should rejoice that we are the only country in the world that had the vision to send abroad people who are not under government control. Instead, they are independent free-standing human beings. I maintain that they are the greatest advertisement for the American system of government that there is in the world, they are worth a thousand Coca-Cola signs. There is no better advertisement for what this country stands for than an individual Peace Corps volunteer walking down the street unarmed, wearing the same clothes that the people do, eating the same food, living the same life, and being there as an independent free-standing person who believes in democracy and who is compassionate to his fellow man. That's what we're supposed to produce here. We're not here to produce bombs. We're producing a certain kind of human being. When we started the Peace Corps no country had such an activity abroad, no other country had the nerve."