Peace Corps News

Two RPCVs help increase African Food Production

Senegal RPCV Molly Brown works at NASA monitoring farms from space to see if food crops are in trouble
Brown's maps start at NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which creates the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). That gives a green and brown picture of current vegetation conditions. She and her colleagues add rainfall measurements-- "If it rains today it will be green tomorrow" --and look at humidity and sea surface temperatures to create a vegetation forecast for the next one to four months. Based on those predictions and information about local markets across the region, Brown formulates a continuous map of market price forecasts. Their first maps, which will appear in the journal Land Economics, are of the dry central and northern regions of West Africa, where food prices are a matter of basic survival. "Because in this region, it rains only for four months or so," says Brown. "So, this humidity/rainfall information is then put together in a model and allows us to predict how green it's going to be two, three, four months into the future."

That prediction is important not just for food production, but also for food access -- whether people in the region can afford to buy food for their families. Brown combines these two factors to measure overall food security. When food security is critically low, it's time for international aid agencies to step in and help. When it's high, markets should be stable and people will have access to the food they need to survive. Brown says the Africa food price map will be available in 2008, with vegetation maps for other parts of the world in 2010. When are we going to see a map of prices at our local grocery store? Well, it's not that simple in a country as mobile as the U.S., Brown explains.

"So, in the U.S., it's completely different: we eat lettuce from California and we eat, you know, strawberries from Guatemala, and so because of the internationalization, the globalization of our market system, it's very hard to determine the impact of food production on local prices" she says. "In Africa, in these very small, informal markets, almost all of the grain that's bought and sold there is grown locally and is moved into the markets on foot." But U.S. farmers will still benefit from Brown's work. The maps that she and her colleagues plan to develop for the U.S. will predict vegetation and rainfall levels months in advance, helping farmers decide what crops to plant when.  Read more.

Cameroon RPCV Carol Miles has been working with African farmers to increase seed production of red kidney beans and get them into the hands of farmers where transportation systems are poor
Washington State University researcher Carol Miles has spent many months over the past five years traveling from Vancouver to Africa, planting, harvesting and cataloging beans. Her purpose is to help American farmers earn a profit and to help African farmers feed the hungry. Quietly and steadily, the internationally known vegetable horticulturist has joined with her assistant Liz Nelson and a changing crew of graduate students to test a new exotic mix of dried beans. In Western Washington and Oregon, the new varieties of beans may produce major profits for small, specialized niche farms. But the work that had been conducted at WSU's Research and Extension Unit here has shifted to a facility in Mount Vernon, north of Seattle. The move occurred amid questions about the future of the Vancouver site.

For African farmers, Miles and her students have been working to increase seed production of red kidney beans and get them into the hands of farmers where transportation systems are poor. "In Washington, we've been using colored and patterned beans," Miles said before leaving to work in Malawi. "These are beans that are not on the shelf anywhere, beautiful old beans, heirloom, in very pretty colors and patterns, that farmers have been selling from Olympia to Western Oregon, often at several dollars a pound." They've been a success, for example, on Laura Masterson's 47th Avenue Farm in Portland as well as at Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Ore. Masterson said she's been growing and selling Jacob's Cattle beans and cannellini beans that Miles developed, and has just started growing other varieties of dry beans from Miles' stock. "The beans are great. They are definitely profitable for us, a nice little niche option" said Masterson, who grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. "Carol is a tremendous resource. She saved us years of work. I can't tell you how tragic it is that she is not going to be here anymore."

Miles has developed an international reputation. She joined Washington State University in 1994 as an area extension agent specializing in vegetable production systems. She also has studied alternative high-value crops including edamame (vegetable soybeans), baby corn, pea shoots, wasabi and bamboo. Her interest in sustainable agricultural systems seems to have grown naturally out of the pattern of her life. Born in Rangoon, Burma, she attended grade school in Turkey, Nigeria and Panama. She graduated from high school in Afghanistan. She served in the Peace Corps, teaching vegetable production in Cameroon. There she also worked on a bean and cowpea project studying crop balancing and pest issues. She also worked on preventing blindness in Malawi with the Helen Keller Foundation and Save the Children. She saw a lot of subsistence agriculture in all these places and cultures, and her goal became working with farmers to create sustainable production systems that provide a source of well-being to both the family and the community. She has also worked on organic pest control, disease suppression and human pathogens. She has worked in Malawi and Tanzania on sustainable seed systems. She said she intends to carry on her work, wherever she can find space and interest. Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Cameroon.

Read more about Peace Corps Senegal.

Read more about Peace Corps Agriculture.

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RPCV Diplomats in the News

Christopher R. Hill says North Korea has agreed to disable its main nuclear fuel production plant by the end of the year
The New York Times reports that Hill met in Geneva for two days of one-on-one negotiations with Kim Kye-gwan, who heads the North Korean negotiating team, and that North Korea had agreed to disable its main nuclear fuel production plant by the end of 2007 and to account for all of its nuclear programs to international monitors. North Korea had also agreed to turn off its main nuclear reactor this summer. "One thing that we agreed on is that the D.P.R.K. will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007," Hill told reporters.

If the North Koreans meet the schedule and disable their equipment, it would be a major victory for the Bush administration, at a time when it is eager to claim progress on some diplomatic front to offset its problems in Iraq. Whether to offer the North rewards, including oil and, eventually, removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and diplomatic recognition, has been the subject of a six-year struggle within the Bush administration.

The hawks are still unhappy, and have suggested that Mr. Hill is giving away too much. “There is still simply no evidence that Pyongyang has made a decision to abandon its long-held strategic objective to have a credible nuclear-weapons capability,” John R. Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations and, in President Bush’s first term, the top State Department official on counterproliferation, wrote in The Asian Wall Street Journal this weekend. Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon. Read more.

Robert Blackwill handling contract to help pave Ayad Allawi's attempt to oust the current Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
No sooner did Allawi hire Barbour Griffith two weeks ago than congressional staffers said they began to be bombarded with e-mails from Allawi (from an Internet domain registered by the lobbying firm) featuring news stories that depict the Maliki government as hopelessly deadlocked and riddled by sectarian militias. “All the e-mails make the Iraqi government look bad,” said one congressional staffer who asked not to be publicly identified talking about the Iraq issues. Adding further intrigue to the lobbying campaign was the disclosure that the Barbour Griffith principal overseeing the firm’s Allawi account was former ambassador Robert D. Blackwill—the former Bush White House deputy national-security adviser in charge of Iraq policy, who later served as U.S. special envoy to that country. Documents filed by Barbour Griffith with Justice show that Blackwill personally signed the firm’s contract with Allawi on Aug. 20, stating that he will “lead the team” that will assist “Dr. Allawi and his moderate Iraqi colleagues as they undertake this work.”

In light of Blackwill’s close ties to Bush White House policymakers, his role has lead to speculation that the retention of Barbour Griffith was a move at least implicitly endorsed, if not encouraged, by some elements of the administration that are fed up with Maliki. While the White House has been critical of Maliki, they maintain official support for his government and have had no comment on Allawi’s campaign.

Robert Blackwill served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi,  Ambasssador to India, and as a Deputy National Security Advisor to Condoleezza Rice. Read more.

Read more about  Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Read more about Robert Blackwill, former Deputy National Security Advisor to Condoleezza Rice.

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.

Peace Corps will inaugurate a new program called "50 plus" to encourage Peace Corps volunteers of 50 years and above

Peace Corps will inaugurate a new program called "50 plus" to encourage Peace Corps volunteers of 50 years and above
The Peace Corps Press Office has given us details about a new program for volunteers 50 and above: "“The 50+ population represents a tremendous opportunity for the Peace Corps.  Just think of the lifetime of experience additional 50+ Volunteers could bring to our host countries.  These are folks who already volunteer at high rates and who have a desire to share their expertise and skills.  The Africa, EMA, and IAP regions have each identified three pilot posts to review, monitor, and make recommendations for the needs of potential 50+ Volunteers.  While there are challenges involved in increasing our number of 50+ Volunteers, the opportunities outweigh these challenges.  As the 50+ population continues to increase here in the U.S., we have to do this, and we will make this happen together.”  Read more.

Cameroon to be one of the three African countries in which the Peace Corps will inaugurate the new  "50 plus" program
Peace Corps Country director Robert Strauss told journalists at the end of his audience with Prime Minister and Head of Government Ephraim Inoni that they had reviewed the Peace Corps activities in Cameroon in the domains of computer literacy, health and agro-forestry. He disclosed that Cameroon is one of the three African countries in which the Peace Corps will inaugurate a new program called "50 plus". This involves encouraging Peace Corps volunteers of 50 years and above to come and work in Cameroon. The program consists in increasing the average age of volunteers in Cameroon so that people who come should have skills that are more relevant and demanded by the people of Cameroon. Mr Strauss said that Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni was grateful with the presence and work of the US Peace Corps in Cameroon.  Read more.

Read more about Older Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps.

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Gay Marriage

Togo RPCV Evan Wolfson is married to the cause of Gay Marriage
Evan Wolfson spent two years with the Peace Corps in Togo in West Africa, and had his first gay relationship. After law school, he was recruited by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, then run by Elizabeth Holtzman. He worked as a prosecutor from 1983 to 1988 (and wrote amicus briefs arguing for a ban on racial discrimination in jury selection and the abolition of the marital rape exemption) and, with Ms. Holtzman’s blessing, moonlighted free at Lambda from 1984 to 1988. Which meant he had to “come out” professionally.

In 2004, he wrote a book, “Why Marriage Matters,” in an attempt to generate dialogue with (mainly) heterosexual Americans who don’t realize that civil unions are a parallel alternative, not on an equal footing with marriage. “One state down, 49 to go,” Mr. Wolfson says of Freedom to Marry’s success rate. “Gay marriage is not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for the legal right for gays to marry. You don’t ask for half a loaf. We don’t need two lines at the clerk’s office when there’s already an institution that works in this country, and it’s called marriage. One of the main protections that come with marriage is inherent in the word: certainly in times of crisis any other word than marriage would not bring the same clarity or impart the same dignity.”

“The classic pattern for civil rights advancement in America is patchwork,” he says, “but I see equal marriage rights for gays becoming a nationwide reality over the next 15 to 20 years. I really believe it will happen in my lifetime.” Read more.

Cameroon RPCV Margaret Krome writes: Gay marriage proposals carry the message of hate
Several years ago we had a sign in our front yard in support of gay rights. A young visitor from elsewhere in the state came and whispered his amazement to my then-young son. "Do you know what it means? It means homos!" Yes, my son knew, and was startled that our visitor voiced such repugnance.

But almost no gay man or woman I've ever known would be surprised. Such cultural hostility is simultaneously the cause, result and direct purpose of the anti-gay rights amendments at both the national and state levels.

Are gays a legitimate enemy? Well, the right says it loves them despite their sin, but it seems that because they are "fallen," their claims to even the most basic human relationships aren't justified. Conservative hate-mongers challenge the common figure that 10 percent of the population is gay, as if by making the number smaller, they can attack them more freely. Yet many families I know have a brother, aunt, cousin, uncle or even a parent who's gay. Several of our children's friends have gay parents. Are we the enemy to ourselves? Why would we support a law that would make it harder for these people, no less law-abiding than others in the state, to be deprived of health insurance, medical care, retirement benefits, legal protection and all of the other benefits conferred by marriage?

Numerous commentators, including Wisconsin's Sen. Russ Feingold, have criticized President Bush for advancing an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment as strictly a divisive tactic to galvanize conservative voters prior to the 2006 fall elections. It's particularly blatant this time, since the amendment stands no chance at all of passing the Senate. Politicians, especially those with low popularity, have a long history of advancing measures based on the sure social calculus that setting up a clear enemy rallies the troops. Anti-communist rhetoric, complaints about trading partners, patriotic calls to arms, and mean-spirited attacks on vulnerable targets get louder before a national election. Read more.

Guatemala RPCVs Lara Weiss and Nora Wynne — accompanied by their 3-year-old twin daughters —turned down for marriage license
“In accordance with the laws of the state of California, a marriage license can only be issued to an unmarried man and an unmarried woman,” said Vicki Cushman, supervisor of vital records. “Until the law is changed, we are bound to uphold that law and can only issue a marriage license to an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. “If you would like the law changed, you need to contact your government officials at both the state and national levels.” Cushman then handed the couple three pages, neatly stapled together, that contained Cushman’s speech and contact information for several politicians — from President George W. Bush to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to Assemblymember Patty Berg.

Wednesday marked the fifth year demonstrators congregated outside the Humboldt County Courthouse, as multiple same-sex couples rode the courthouse elevator to the fifth floor to apply for marriage licenses.

Nora Wynne said she and Lara Weiss met in Guatemala in 1995 while in the Peace Corps. After a year, their friendship blossomed into something more. The two married in San Francisco in 2004 after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Although Wynne said she is aware that until laws change, her marriage to Weiss is not legally valid, events such as Wednesday’s are just one of many steps to marriage equality. “We know that when people realize it’s not a religious issue, but a civil rights issue, and they change the laws accordingly,” Wynne said. “These are all just steps toward the goal.” Read more.

Caption: Friends Abigail Frankel, left, and Abigail Hastings-Tharp, right, both 4 1/2 years old, stand on the Humboldt County Courthouse steps in the rain, Wednesday afternoon, while couples of the same sex apply for civil marriage licenses. Photo: Katie O’Neill/The Eureka Reporter

Read more about Gay Issues and the Peace Corps.

RPCVs return to their Countries of Service in Africa

Congo Kinshasa RPCV Beth Duff-Brown writes: I kept my promise. The last time I was here, I told the village I would come back again in 10 years
I kept my promise. The last time I was here, I told the village I would come back again in 10 years. My cook, Tshinyama, is still alive, despite rumors to the contrary. The tin roofs are rustier, and some of the mango trees are gone. But the same bells rang at 5:30 this morning at the old brick church, where I've been given a tiny room and cot, and the choir sang hymns that I knew by heart when I first was here.

We started off yesterday morning, shopping in Kananga, the diamond-rich province in south-central Congo. We went by the Beltexco, a massive provisions chain, so I could shop for the children and buy myself some beans and rice. With Jim's old pickup truck, we bought 200 notebooks - something many children can't afford - and hundreds of pens, rubber balls, powdered milk, soap, onions and oil. The head of Beltexco, when he heard what we were doing, donated 10 cartons of high-glucose biscuits for the kids.

We then transferred everything to a Nissan 4x4 for the 100-mile drive south. A trip that would take about 90 minutes on a paved road takes us six hours. The road is so red and sandy that getting up to 40 mph is rare. There's a debate in Congo on how many miles of paved roads there are in a country the size of the United States east of the Mississippi - some say 300 miles, others say 600 miles.

We arrive at dusk, and the priest at the mission does what most Congolese do when they meet a stranger from a foreign land: He welcomes me in and makes me at home. When word gets out that I've come back, people from around this village of about 3,000 people gather at the church rectory, quietly whispering my name and asking if it's really me. Read more.

Constance G. Konold revisits Cameroon
In December 2003, I made a sentimental trip back to my former Peace Corps posting in Central Africa. Comparable in population size only to my hometown of South Bend, the city of Garoua and the village of Pitoa where I had taught English are dusty sub-Saharan outposts cornered by Nigeria, Chad and the Central African Republic.

Thirty-five years ago, joining the Peace Corps was so daring for its time that I knew I was doing it over my father's protests from the grave. Friends were impressed when FBI agents called on them to check my references. I had recently earned my master's degree from the University of Notre Dame, but when I was assigned to "the Cameroons" (those recently joined French and English colonies were once known as that), I thought I was headed to islands in the South Pacific rather than a country in Africa.

My arrival -- just as Angela was finishing her first three months of Peace Corps service -- was portentous. I was amused and alarmed to see her mirroring events and emotions I had experienced. I found myself parroting Peace Corps Proverb No. 1: Stick out the hellish first three months and be rewarded with a lifetime of heavenly memories. I skipped the corollary to that which is: You can never go home to mall-heaven again. This she will learn in two years when erstwhile friends will inspect her as an oddity from a safe distance and her family, after an initial attempt at enthusiasm, will eventually change the subject whenever Cameroon is mentioned.

When we met, Angela was suffering from Peace Corps doldrums. A volunteer's mother had just been trampled to death by an elephant in the nearby bush. Five volunteers had just been sent home HIV-positive. She was underemployed with only eight hours of work per week, teaching math and biology in English at the Garoua high school. And when she taught, she had to deal with 60 students per classroom. She was trying to fill time by learning the Fulani language, Foufulde, or improving her French.

Pretty, slim, bright and blonde, she was also dealing with the frustrating realization that platonic friendships are deemed fairy tales in this culture where polygamy is still condoned. And there didn't seem to be any potential women friends beating a path to her door. Angela also was upset that the locals labeled her "nasara" or foreigner. That very morning I had been thrilled to be greeted by "Nasara! Nasara!" as I strolled the legendary Pitoa market, a weekly crossroads of Hausa, Fulani, Fali, Kirdi and M'Bororo ethnic groups. With time, Angela will learn that nasara is not pejorative but merely descriptive. She will learn how to feel comfortable being the only white face in the crowd.

Despite the physical and emotional challenges of Peace Corps service, I told Angela that those two years were the best and most informative of my life. I wanted to take myself totally out of context to test my mettle, to find out if I was a survivor without the framework of my family and community. I gained a clear view of myself and my country from a new perspective, through a different ethnic and cultural lens. What I learned gave me the self- confidence and flexibility to live a fascinating existence in many foreign countries on several continents with people from all walks of life. I also gained in friendship thanks to my Peace Corps volunteer network which, to this day, remains a precious touchstone for me in the U.S. while I continue to live abroad.

The new breed of volunteers, many of whom are mall-trained and addicted to the Internet, are apt to complain if they so much as lose cell-phone service. My generation-old tales of having to harvest peanuts with a machete, deal with hot- and cold-running cockroaches, learn to dunk eggs in a bucket of water to test for freshness, buy live chickens rather than possibly tainted butchered ones, and not think of the flies that had swarmed on the gorgeous pieces of beef fillet on my dinner plate might now be nothing more than engrossing hardship stories used as a Peace Corps leadership tool.

Since our meeting, Angela has decided not to throw in the towel. She has come to see Cameroon as one of the most hospitable countries in the world and that it is possible for Cameroonians to excel intellectually and professionally. Read more.

Return to Guinea-Bissau by RPCV Matthew Bremen
I spent this past summer as a U.S. Department of State intern in Guinea-Bissau, where two years before I had finished a stint as a Peace Corps volunteer. Upon arrival, as soon as I left the aircraft, it felt like being home again. It was 2:00 a.m. on a hot and humid night. Familiar faces, smells, and sounds surrounded me. Although it had been two years, it felt like I had left Bissau only yesterday. During the usual hour spent waiting for my backpack, I realized that my experience this time around would be quite different. Not only was I whisked through customs by one of the U.S. Embassy drivers, but my apartment in the U.S. Embassy compound was more comfortable than the apartment I had just left in Washington DC. My work would be quite different too. Needless to say, my Peace Corps days were over. It was time to get used to being a part of the diplomatic community.

Administering the Ambassador’s development project fund exposed me to a different type of development work. The Special Self-Help fund assists local groups by providing financial aid to build schools, wells, dispensaries and other public works. The process was complicated from the start because of budget cuts at the Department of State. Upon my arrival, I was expected to solicit and review proposals, make site visits, oversee the final selection process, and do all the paperwork necessary to commit the funds, including drafting the grant agreements all in three months. As many of us have learned while working at the local level, development initiatives are most sustainable when launched from within the community. I was lucky to team up with a Foreign Service National with nine years of institutional memory from working on SSH programs in Guinea-Bissau. I soon began to understand the philosophy behind the fund.

Returning to Guinea-Bissau as a State Department intern allowed me to gain a broader understanding of development work. Whether or not one agrees with the source or management of "development project" funds, understanding a foreign government or international organization’s objectives is important. While waiting at the airport before I was to leave for the United States, a friend of mine asked if I would return to Guinea-Bissau. "Of course," I replied, knowing that I would, although not knowing when or in what capacity. After I said tearful good-byes and took in the sounds and smells of the country for one last time, my plane took off. Looking out of the window during takeoff I noticed a change. There were far more zinc-roofed houses than I recalled from before. In Guinea-Bissau, zinc is more expensive than thatch, and zinc roofs can be seen as symbols of prosperity. With the proliferation of NGOs, varied international support, and a greater emphasis on local initiative, positive change does seem to be taking place.  Read more.

Read more about Peace Corps Volunteers who return to their Countries of Service.

Christopher Hill announces Draft Accord reached in North Korea Nuclear Talks

Christopher Hill announces Draft Accord reached in North Korea Nuclear Talks
The American envoy, Christopher R. Hill, said diplomatic teams from the United States, North Korea and the other four participating countries — China, Japan, South Korea and Russia — pushed negotiations past a self-imposed Monday deadline into early Tuesday before finally agreeing on a final text. The six chief envoys are scheduled to reconvene at 10:30 a.m. in Beijing (9:30 p.m. Eastern time on Monday) to learn if each nation has approved the deal. The agreement is expected to include some significant concessions by the North Koreans, although they did not agree to give up their existing nuclear weapons.

Mr. Hill declined to offer any specifics about the new accord until approval was assured. But he suggested that the pending agreement was essentially the same as the draft proposal that has been under discussion for the past five days — except for revisions in a single paragraph. That paragraph presumably has focused on the question of energy assistance for North Korea. The North Koreans’ demand for huge, upfront shipments of fuel oil and electricity had threatened to scuttle the talks. “Everybody had to make some changes to try to narrow the differences,” Mr. Hill told reporters as he returned to his hotel at 2:41 a.m. local time on Tuesday. He added: “One would hope that we can all agree on this.”   Read more.

Caption: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill  in Beijing, China. Photo: Elizabeth Dalziel/Associated Press

Christopher Hill is a Celebrity In China
Little known in his home country, the boyish-looking U.S. assistant secretary of state has become a celebrity in China's capital and not just for his role as Washington's chief envoy in talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. His easygoing manner has also won over the media, in comparison to the stonewall public relations efforts put forward by some of the other countries in the talks. And with the negotiations taking place for hours on end behind closed doors, the idle time fuels speculation and jokes about Hill. Hill, who is on the evening television news every day he is in Beijing, has been mobbed at the Beijing airport with Chinese travelers rushing over to have their picture taken with him, said one of Hill's security officials, who asked not to be named.

The interest in Hill may also stem from the fact that he speaks every morning and evening to the media, while his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, gives only the occasional chaotic news conference. Hill, a Boston Red Sox fan, also won over the Japanese media by turning up for meetings in Tokyo wearing a Seibu Lions baseball cap — the Red Sox had just signed pitching star Daisuke Matsuzaka from the Lions. Read more.

Hill learned first lessons in Diplomacy as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, who reached a tentative agreement with North Korea on ending its nuclear programs, was a fresh-faced 21-year-old Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon when he learned his first lesson in diplomacy.

Hill's job in 1973 was to ride around on a Suzuki dirt bike and audit the books of credit unions in 28 villages and plantations. He discovered one board of directors had taken 60 percent of the money, so he gave an impassioned speech denouncing the malfeasance to hundreds of villagers sitting on a mountainside. His presentation was met with applause and gratitude -- and then the assembled group immediately reelected everyone he had just condemned.

"I realized I didn't know beans about what was going on in this tea plantation," Hill recalled over breakfast recently. It turned out the board reflected a careful amalgam of tribal interests, and it didn't matter whether it ran a good credit union or not.

The lesson, according to Hill: "When something's happened, it's happened for a reason and you do your best to understand that reason. But don't necessarily think you can change it." Read more.

Read more about Christopher Hill.

Hill to lead negotations with North Korea after 13-month hiatus

Hill to lead negotations with North Korea after 13-month hiatus
U.S. officials played down the chances of a breakthrough on North Korean disarmament talks, which will start this weekend in Beijing after a 13-month hiatus, but said they will press for tangible signs of progress. In a briefing for reporters on December 13, the chief U.S. negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, declined to discuss specific U.S. objectives for the talks, saying that listing them would invite reporters to measure the outcome against the original goals, resulting in possible headlines like "U.S. Fails Once Again." Hill added that when he presented his suggestions at meetings with North Korean officials in November, "there were indications that the North Koreans would be prepared to deal in specifics at the coming round." Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.