Peace Corps News

Jessica (Jessi) Griffin is recovering after accident in Mozambique

Jessica Griffin decided to join the Peace Corps to travel and "to live and learn more," said her brother Ruben Griffin. She volunteered to work and teach in Mozambique in southeastern Africa. But  her life abruptly changed after she was involved in a head-on car crash that left her with skull fractures and numerous injuries. Jessica's family received first word of the accident midafternoon November 17, 2007.

Jessica, now 24, was pulled from the car, said Ruben, who works as a chef at Toast restaurant in Ferndale. "It took five hours for an ambulance to get to her," he said. She was taken to a hospital in Xai Xai, but she was so seriously injured the Peace Corps arranged to have her airlifted to Pretoria, South Africa.

Jessi currently is sightless in her right eye. She'll have corrective surgery on her left eye. It has third-nerve palsy, which controls eye movement. Her reconstructive surgery and other treatment will be covered by the Peace Corps medical plan.

When word got out about Jessi, her large extended family and many friends rallied around her. A pancake breakfast fund-raiser was held Dec. 15 at Ferndale High. Toast restaurant in Ferndale "provided the product," said Ruben Griffin, 30, Jessi's oldest brother, who lives in Ferndale and is a chef at Toast.

The initial impetus to raise money was Jessi's medical expenses, but the Peace Corps has pledged to cover them for at least the first 18 months. "They have been absolutely wonderful," said Nina Griffin, Jessi's stepmother. Funds raised have covered Jessi's needs, airfares to Africa and Kathryn's expenses during an unpaid leave from her employer, Credit Union One in Ferndale.

To donate to Jessica's Journey Foundation, send a contribution to Credit Union One, Attention: Vern McClure, 400 E. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, MI 48220 or call (248) 854-6357.

Read more here and here.

International House creates California's First Endowed Doctoral Fellowship for Peace Corps Volunteers at UC Berkeley

International House announces the Joe Lurie Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Fellowship–California's first endowed scholarship to fund a former Peace Corps volunteer's first year of doctoral studies at UC Berkeley.

Berkeley is the number one university in the nation sending alumni abroad as Peace Corps volunteers. 3,326 UC Berkeley graduates have served since the Peace Corps began in 1961 in every sector of the Peace Corps–including education, health and HIV/AIDS, business development, environment, youth development, and agriculture.

The fellowship is named after Joe Lurie, International House's executive director for 19 years, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya for three years. It provides a returned Peace Corps volunteer beginning PhD studies at Cal with room, board and access to rich cross-cultural programs and resources at International House, a multicultural residential center with nearly 600 residents from the U.S. and over 80 countries. The UC Berkeley Graduate Division matches the I-House fellowship by providing the recipient one year of tuition and fee support plus a $5,000 stipend.

Financially-strapped returned Peace Corps volunteers are eligible to apply for the fellowship through the Office of Graduate Admissions, regardless of whether they reside in California or out-of-state. Awards are made by the admitting UC academic department. I-House accommodation is valued at approximately $12,000 annually and the Graduate Division match provides up to $40,000 for tuition and fees.

The goal of the fellowship is to create academic opportunities for returned Peace Corps volunteers, honor UC Berkeley’s historic connection to the program, and enable former volunteers to contribute to the intercultural learning environment at I-House. Read more.

Doug Roberts travels to Vanuatu to where his son, Peace Corps Volunteer John Roberts died in an accident last year

Doug returned to where his son spent the last two years of his life. "I wanted to go back and ensure them that they really needed to have another volunteer there and sort of carry on John's work. John was there for two years and I didn't want his two years to be wasted there by not bringing in another volunteer." Doug was given a hero's welcome. “I was so happy that I did because as I was saying, a village of 75 people, there was 300 people there to see me."

One of the nation’s most presitgious events, a 100-Day ceremony, a tribute to the life of his son. "On one sense it was just completely sad because the tears were there, on the next sense it was just such a happy occasion for me because I was able to share that with them."

Then Doug himself made history, given the Medal of Gallantry from the president of Vanuatu, an honor never before bestowed on a foreigner. "It's shocking, it's stunning, John was killed and he was out of there in such a short period of time, the people never got a chance to say goodbye to him so when I went back for this 100-Day ceremony, it was a healing for me as well as for the people of Erramango.”  Read more.

Peace Corps Returns to Rwanda

In 1994, the Peace Corps officially closed its program in Rwanda due to political instability in the country. At the invitation of the Government of Rwanda, Peace Corps will re-establish its presence in Rwanda this year and will play a role in assisting the government to meet its goals as outlined in Rwanda’s Vision 2020: “to reconstruct the nation and its social capital; develop a credible and efficient state governed by the rule of law; develop human resources in line with the objective to turn Rwanda into a prosperous knowledge-based economy; develop basic infrastructure including urban planning; develop entrepreneurship and the private sector; and modernize agriculture and animal husbandry.”

“We’ll be sending the Peace Corps back into Rwanda,” said President Bush. “First time it’s been here since 1993. These are good, decent folks, coming to your country simply to help—help people realize their God-given talents and realize the blessings of a peaceful, hopeful life.”

The Peace Corps will establish an office in Rwanda this summer, and by December, 35 Peace Corps Volunteer-trainees will arrive in the country. Fifteen of the Peace Corps Volunteers will work in the education sector, teaching English, math, science or information technology, while also addressing health and HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness. Twenty Peace Corps Volunteers will be funded by the President’s Plan for Emergency Relief (PEPFAR) and will focus on HIV/AIDS, collaborating directly with PEPFAR implementing organizations and the Rwandan Ministry of Health. These Volunteers will focus on three main components under PEPFAR: 1) care and treatment; 2) orphan and vulnerable children services; and 3) treatment, including home-based care services.

In the first year, Volunteers will be assigned to and collaborate closely with Rwandan administrative authorities at the district, sector, cell and local levels; international and Rwandan NGOs; associations; cooperatives; and private sector partners.

All Peace Corps Volunteers will receive training in Kinyarwanda and French, live and work for two years at the community level, and collaborate with their counterparts to build capacity and support sustainable HIV prevention efforts. Volunteers will also help build the capacity of rural communities to develop comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategies, and will conduct community-based training and other outreach efforts focused on prevention through abstinence and being faithful. Education Volunteers will incorporate HIV/AIDS prevention activities into their classrooms, train fellow teachers, and organize after school programs.

Read more.

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.