WorldView

Hopeful work, as Volunteers return to serve alongside communities overseas. And crucial work to ensure Ukraine survives.

By Steven Boyd Saum

Illustration by Anna Ivanenko

For so much of the Peace Corps community, the months since March have been brimming with optimism, bringing news of Volunteers returning to service in countries and communities across the globe. In Africa, they’ve returned to countries including Zambia and Madagascar, Ghana and The Gambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. They have returned to the Eastern Caribbean and the Dominican Republic. In Latin America, Volunteers have been welcomed in countries including Paraguay and Peru, Colombia and Costa Rica, Ecuador and Belize. In Asia, Volunteers have returned to the Kyrgyz Republic. In Europe, they’re back in Kosovo. The litany runs to some two dozen countries, and invitations are out for Volunteers to return to twice as many — as well as to launch a new program in Viet Nam.

At the same time, legislation has now been introduced in the Senate as well as the House to reauthorize the Peace Corps — and bring the most sweeping legislative reforms in a generation. That’s thanks in no small part to tremendous efforts by the Peace Corps community. All of those who took part in the Peace Corps Connect to the Future town halls and summit in 2020 played a role. Those who helped shape the community-driven report created a road map for the agency, executive branch, Congress, and the Peace Corps community. I know first-hand how hard colleagues worked as part of those efforts, some of us putting in 80- to 100-hour weeks for months on end to carry this effort forward; we understood that there would be a narrow window in Washington for these reforms to come to fruition in legislation. 

That work isn’t done yet. (A familiar refrain, that. It comes with the territory for an institution charged with the mission of building peace and friendship.)  

As Volunteers begin serving alongside communities once more, Europe is in the midst of its most horrific land war since 1945. The genocidal campaign launched by Russia against Ukraine continues to unfurl new atrocities day by day: In July, rockets fired on civilian infrastructure in Vinnytsia in central Ukraine — far from any front line — killed two dozen, including a young girl with Down’s syndrome. Grisly stories, photos, and videos of torture and mutilation of Ukrainian captives draw cheers from those backing the invaders.

Lies and disinformation, false accusations meant to obfuscate the truth and distract from misdeeds. As if we needed to say it, when it comes to countering those, the work isn’t done yet.

After apparently staging a mass execution of Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka, Russian disinfo serves up the claim that Ukrainian troops targeted their own. Olenivka lies just southwest of the city of Donets’k. Recall that not far to the northeast of Donets’k is where a Russian Buk missile downed the flight MH-17 in 2014, and the torrent of untruths about what had happened began.

Lies and disinformation, false accusations meant to obfuscate the truth and distract from misdeeds. As if we needed to say it, when it comes to countering those, the work isn’t done yet.

One of the cities under Russian occupation since the beginning of the war is Kherson, a port city in the south, not far from Crimea. In the wake of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine—which showed starkly the power of a democratic uprising as an existential threat to autocracy—I served as an observer in Kherson for the presidential election. When a polling place closes, the doors are supposed to be locked; no one is supposed to come or go until the counting is complete, the ballots wrapped up, and election protocols and ballots have been taken to the district electoral commission. It’s a good idea to come prepared with food and water to get you through a long night. The evening of that election, at the central grocery store in Kherson, just off Freedom Square, I stocked up: piroshki stuffed with cabbage and meat, along with smoked cheese, water, and some chocolate. The woman behind me was buying buckwheat, wrapped up in a clear plastic bag from the bulk foods section. She pointed at the credentials I wore on a lanyard. 

“You’re an observer, yes?”

"The young people of Ukraine are smart and they deserve a chance. We need to bring an end to all this —”

I nodded.

“Thank you for being here,” she said. “We’ve been living under bandits for twenty years. They’ve all been bandits. Putin, too. He’s a bandit. It’s like slavery. The young people of Ukraine are smart and they deserve a chance. We need to bring an end to all of this—”

She waved her hands in the air over her head: the flutter and turmoil.

Railway Station: “In recent months, we have said goodbye and hello so many times,” writes illustrator Anna Ivanenko. “I don’t know how many more hugs there will be during this war, but I hope most of them will be greetings.” Illustration by Anna Ivanenko

I have thought of her often in recent months. Then, as now — and there, as well as here — one election does not make a democracy. Instead, though, what we have now is a politics of grievance in Russia that has fueled a war of aggression and lies. And the turmoil includes forced deportation of children and planned sham referenda in an attempt to expropriate yet more land and people from Ukraine.

When it comes to stopping that, the work isn’t done yet.

This essay appears in the Spring-Summer 2022 edition of WorldView magazine.

Steven Boyd Saum is editor of WorldView and director of strategic communications for National Peace Corps Association. He served as a Volunteer in Ukraine 1994–96.

The magazine for the Peace Corps community earns top honors for a special 60th anniversary cover illustrated by artist Tim O’Brien. 

By NPCA Staff

THERE WERE CHEERS for the Peace Corps community Tuesday night at the FOLIO Magazine gala in New York City. WorldView magazine earned top honors for the cover of the “Peace Corps at Sixty” edition, recognizing six decades of service by Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. Artist Tim O’Brien created the portrait of John F. Kennedy for the cover under the art direction of Pamela Fogg.

The EDDIE and OZZIE Awards recognize excellence in journalism and design across all sectors of the publishing industry. Hosted by FOLIO Magazine for nearly 30 years, they are one of the broadest and longest-running competitions for editors. The EDDIE Awards recognize achievements in writing and editing, and the OZZIE Awards recognize outstanding work in design. The awards draw hundreds of entries from around the world. This year the gala was held at the City Winery in New York.

“It’s wonderful to see this cover recognized in this moment,” says editor Steven Boyd Saum. “It speaks to the vision behind the Peace Corps — and, more than that, to the hundreds of thousands of Volunteers and staff and partners in communities who have worked together across the decades and around the world on a mission of building peace and friendship. That work is far from finished.” 

This marks the second year in a row that WorldView has brought home top honors in these awards. The flagship publication for the 240,000-strong Peace Corps community, WorldView has been published for more than 30 years by National Peace Corps Association. Since 2020 it has been edited by Steven Boyd Saum, who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine (1994–96), partnering with Pamela Fogg as art director. 

“It’s wonderful to see this cover recognized in this moment,” says Saum. “It speaks to the vision behind the Peace Corps — and, more than that, to the hundreds of thousands of Volunteers and staff and partners in communities who have worked together across the decades and around the world on a mission of building peace and friendship. That work is far from finished.” 

The award-winning cover marks Tim O’Brien’s first for WorldView — though millions around the world have seen his work. His illustrations have appeared numerous times on the cover of Time Magazine, Der Spiegel, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Smithsonian, and many other periodicals. They have been featured in Esquire, GQ, National Geographic, The New York Times, New York Magazine and many more. O’Brien has illustrated several U.S. postage stamps, and his paintings are among the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

In addition to winning top honors this year, WorldView was a finalist in two more categories: best full edition, for the special 60th anniversary edition; and best series of articles, for "An Anniversary. A Pandemic. Peace Corps Response.” 

BEST COVER | WINNER!

The Peace Corps at Sixty | Illustration by Tim O’Brien, art direction by Pamela Fogg. 

BEST OVERALL EDITION | FINALIST

Special 60th Anniversary Edition. Six decades after this Peace Corps endeavor took flight, we ask: Where are we going? Where have we gone?

BEST SERIES OF ARTICLES | FINALIST

“An Anniversary. A Pandemic. Peace Corps Response.” Originally established as Crisis Corps in 1996, Peace Corps Response was created to send Volunteers on short-term, high-impact assignments. An important story for us to tell is that the government program has its roots in grassroots efforts by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who were working in Rwanda when the genocide unfolded. They organized efforts to assist in refugee camps, and they inspired the government agency to harness the experience and commitment that so many Peace Corps Volunteers bring. Congratulations to the contributing writers in this series, including interns Emi Krishnamurthy, Ellery Pollard, and Sarah Steindl; and writers Hilliard Hicks and Joshua Berman.

I can distinguish three different eras in my life on the road. The first focused on Getting the Furthest with the Most Stops at the Least Cost. My first overseas adventure started in 1956 thanks to Icelandic Air and Holland-American ships both offering dirt cheap student fares. We were contemptuous of that new book, Europe on $5 a Day. Why, we puzzled, would anyone spend that much money? There were great hostels for $1 a night, hearty meals the same. So that philosophy was pretty well settled by the time I arrived in Nigeria on New Year’s Day, 1965 as a freshly minted Peace Corps Volunteer.  

It wasn’t long before we knew how to “dash” the railroad guy who would permit us to sleep in the “Post” car on top of reasonably comfortable mail bags anywhere Nigerian Rail was headed, or hitch a ride with lingering ex-pats to any corner of the nascent Republic. Midway through my tour, PC/Washington sent me to Ethiopia to which I added a swing down the continent to South Africa by boat and returned north to the Congo by train and then boat, back to Lagos, and, naturally, the mail train back to my post.  

The final orgy was, of course, The Trip Home: Up the West Coast by freighter to Casablanca; a hitch hike to Cairo that included one long bus ride in which I was employed as a scribe for immigrant workers needing their papers filled out in English; free passage through the Suez Canal and up the Gulf of Aqaba after persuading the German merchant ship captain; an overland trip to Beirut; a third-class train to Vienna via Istanbul to England; and home. And still keeping it at that $5-a-day option.

The Second Era of travel, with more cash available, was to entwine overseas jobs with side-trips aimed at stimulating the heart and mind. A gig in Iran allowed picnics on the ruins of that step-pyramid of Chogha Zanibel which was destroyed in 640 B.C. While ensconced at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, it involved trekking into the heartland of Saudi Arabia to “liberate” pieces of one of the locomotives T.E. Lawrence had blown up, laying in the sands the other side of Mecca (via The Christian By-pass). It also included having Aggie Grey, who was author James Michener’s model for Bloody Mary in South Pacific, bake my 29th birthday cake in Western Samoa.

Perhaps this is a better example. I finished a job in Ahwaz, Iran in May 1970 and was not scheduled to start another in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, until October.  My choice was to take a two-hour plane ride between the two or go due east to Afghanistan, India, and Southeast Asia on a route that included Australia, Tahiti, Easter Island, and Chile. From there I took a train over the Andes to Buenos Aires, a boat to Uruguay, a plane to La Paz, a train to Lake Titicaca, an overnight steamer to Peru, a bus to Machu Picchu, a plane to Bogota, a bus up thru Central America, and finally home by plane to Traverse City, Michigan for some cherry pie. After the pie, I flew to Spain, then Greece, arriving a day before work began in Jidda.  The cost was considerably more than $5 per day but was the kind of safari for the young and able adventurers for whom sleep, food, and energy never seemed to be an issue. I confess that I reverted to earlier habits when riding in 1962 on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostok to Moscow, paying for my travel by trading Kennedy half-dollars with fellow passengers for the far more valuable rubles.

Phase three: the concierge

This third phase carries a serious level of difficulty when getting into the remaining countries on my list. Call it: Engaging Others.

I thought I had found the best approach to this by badgering friends-of-friends assigned to Hard-to-Fill Embassy posts in places like Central Asia, West Africa and various, increasingly numerous war-torn countries.  The best of those contacts were modestly helpful. But, of late, I’ve settled on a far better approach: I book into a 4-star hotel, but not those 5-stars which are an embarrassment, as is this whole business of inflating “stars.” Once unpacked, I make an endearing friend of the concierge. If there is a team, take some time to choose the one with the most interest in a challenge. Of course, carefully applied baksheesh may need to be part of the package, but not until the game is afoot.

For instance, my embassy contacts had warned that Djibouti was off limits, and Somaliland was definitely a no-no. In an earlier era I might have taken a pass but at my age one doesn’t have time to follow all the rules. So, I booked into the Hilton in Doha where I passed some time seeing how vast sums of money can be ill-spent in designing extraordinary ways of ruining our planet.  After engaging each of the four concierges, I judged Marcellus, a brilliant young Ibo from the Eastern region of Nigeria, to likely be the most helpful.

I explained not only my need to go to Djibouti but that I wanted to also see some of this new “Somaliland” for myself. His response was the best, “I like the idea. Give me a day.” He cancelled the hotel I had booked in Djibouti, moved me instead to the Sheraton, where the concierge, Mohammed, was a pal of his, and dealt with all the paperwork. Marcellus found great joy in having pulled all this off in a day and laughed that mirth-filled West African laugh in showing how easy it all could be.

I found that Mohammed was equally keen. He hired a trustworthy cabbie with a broken-down hack. “You don’t want to draw attention,” he told me. I bounced around the pot holes of Djibouti, first to the “Embassy” of Somaliland for signed papers, then to a pock-marked building for another couple of imprimaturs, and finally back behind the barricades of the Sheraton, all accomplished in a day.  

As an aside, the hotel’s breakfast room was reminiscent of the bar scene in the first Star Wars film because of the array of seemingly intra-planetary creatures, all hovering over laptops, whispering behind hands the size of baseball mitts, deals being struck and unstruck. These were the war lords of the Horn of Africa, our boys in cameo in the heart of it all. 

Mohammad drove me into Somaliland where I saw nothing but relentless heartbreak. Thankfully, my departure from that unhappy place, a fiction created by a complexity of interests beyond my understanding, was only held up three hours because the chief in charge of the barricade had to have an aching tooth pulled. 

Another rich source of assistance in outings such as these are the missionary nuns and priests, still busy in nearly as many countries as is the Peace Corps. During the early days of the Biafra War in Nigeria, three nuns violating every rule in the playbook drove me through road blocks and skirmishes to a prison holding a Nigerian friend of mine. Even to this day, a woman in a religious habit makes a great body-guard.

The competition

You may have noted at the beginning of this third phase of my travel life the mention of “my list.” A little explanation is in order. In 1966, during a chance meeting with my Notre Dame mentor Father Theodore Hesburgh, himself an avid traveler, we compared our country “count.” It was not dissimilar and over the following 47 years, whenever we would meet, he would greet me with, “How many have you got now?” We declared a gentlemanly tie in 2013 with 146 countries each. Since his death I’ve continued my list. 

I count voting members of the United Nations, although I keep a list of “Others.” Our rules were to have a hotel receipt and send a letter from the country before we counted it.  “Airport Only” was not acceptable. Other more-than-frequent travelers play by an assortment of rules but we considered ours The Gold Standard. I have continued the quest with other players, but the remaining countries aren’t exactly pleasure domes. 

One other bit of travel advice Father gave me was always to make friends with the Papal Nuncio when in a capital city. The only one of the Seven Deadlies the Pope’s ambassadors dare approach is the one related to food and drink. “Get on their guest list,” he urged, “They always have the best cooks and the best cellars in town.” When this strategy has worked, it has been a memorable night out. 

That level of dining is a far cry from my origins, although maybe by not too great a stretch. Travel came early, easy, and unlikely in my family. Among the first tranche of Europeans to settle on the northern shore of Lake Michigan to raise cherries, we were a rural, one-room-school-house, Saturday-night-square-dances-in-the-township-hall community. The country church bell ringing in mid-week to herald the end of World War II was one of my first conscious memories. 

Finding home

Shortly after that, two things happened which may have determined much of what followed. In the school room was a very large map suspended on pulleys. When you finished your work, you could pull it down and study it.  The peninsula we lived on was an 18-mile finger of land jutting out into Lake Michigan. It was outlined on that globe and I remember thinking, “I could always find my way home.”  That was because my home could be seen even from outer space. That childish notion has always stuck with me, and it worked. I’ve always managed to find my way home.

And secondly, my father loved the AAA Road Atlas, so even before Route 66 was of note, he would bundle the five of us into the car and, in successive years, drive us to Tucson, New Orleans, Miami, Canada, and Mexico. We made no reservations, stopped at every roadside museum along America’s two-lane highways, and were allowed one song each in the jukeboxes of our diner stops. This was capped by my being chosen at age 15 as a 4-H Exchange Student to the largest hog ranch in Iowa. An immersive cross-cultural experience never to be matched. 

So travel was in my bloodstream. My high school graduation present was an eight-country European outing headed by my mother; after my Bachelor’s degree, it was a year of study in Ireland. Most summers found me back in Europe, including a bus trip to Russia in the midst of my Masters study.  Peace Corps opened the vein further. Travelling alone and with an undying interest in the lives of others, I continue toward the last of this life-long quest: visiting each of the 193 countries with a vote in the United Nations.

To celebrate my 80th birthday I booked a little outing to Bhutan, my 179th country to visit under the Hesburgh/Carroll Accords. If you haven’t tried it, let me suggest “The Happy Nation.” They have chosen not to build consulates around the world to control their immigration issues. Think of the overhead they are saving. Instead, you book your stay through their government tourist agency, pay them
50 percent immediately and they send you a paper which you hand to Customs plus $20 upon arrival and, bingo, you’re in. No standing in lines with two photos and uncertainty. The altitude must be good for them.

I climbed to Tiger’s Nest on one of the more modest of the Himalayans, still 10,420 feet, and declared victory. Increasingly, I’m finding the borders of my 18- mile peninsula enough of a challenge and as satisfying as my outward-bound experiences. And it may not be all that long before I test out the premise that you can see it from outer space. 

Following his Peace Corps service as a television production advisor in Nigeria from 1962 to 1964, Timothy Carroll was the first executive director of the then-National Council of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers; Peace Corps country director in Pakistan, Poland and Russia; and served as protocol officer at the Justice Department. He received the Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service in 1986 for co-founding the non-profit Eye Car, Inc. in Haiti.

This story was first published in WorldView magazine's Spring 2019 issue.

The editorial and creative teams who put together the Spring-Summer 2022 edition of WorldView magazine for digital and print

PUBLISHER | Kim Herman

EDITOR | Steven Boyd Saum

EDITOR EMERITUS | David Arnold

ART DIRECTOR | Pamela Fogg

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR | John Coyne

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, GLOBAL STORIES | Tiffany James

DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER | Orrin Luc

WORLDVIEW INTERNS | Catherine Gardner, Jordan Simmons

CONTRIBUTORS
 

COVER 

Design by Pamela Fogg. Illustration by Sandra Dionisi

ILLUSTRATION

Roman Bailey, Sandra Dionisi, Anna Ivanenko, Maria Krasinski, Alejanda Marroquin, Izabiriza Moise, Nasser Mejia Moreno, Carlos Violante, Laura Watson

PHOTOGRAPHY

Simone Barbieri, Bucha School No. 5, Clary Estes, Lawrence Jackson, Jewish Refugee Assistance Library, Brett Simison, Volodymyr Titov, Juris Zagarins, Elëna Zhukova

WRITING

Raisa Alstodt, Natalka Bilotserkivets, Kathleen Coskran, Clary Estes, Catherine Gardner, David Jarmul, Natalia Joseph, Ali Kinsella, Katie McSheffrey, Marnie Mueller, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Jonathan Pearson, Victorya Rouse, Sonia Scherr, Jordan Simmons, Cathy Sunshine, Nathalie Vadnais

COPY EDITING

John Deever, Allison Dubinsky, Jordan Simmons

RESEARCH

Catherine Gardner, Jordan Simmons

EDITOR, PEACE CORPS COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENTS

Peter Deekle

WorldView magazine is published by National Peace Corps Association, a national network of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, former staff, and friends, to provide news and comment about communities and issues of the world of serving and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Diverse views published in the magazine are not intended to reflect the views of the Peace Corps or those of National Peace Corps Association. 

NPCA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational and service organization that is independent of the federal agency, Peace Corps. 

WorldView (ISSN 1047-5338) is published four times per year (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) by National Peace Corps Association (1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20009-5708). Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. 

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Two returned Volunteers who served in Ukraine now play key roles as journalists reporting on that country.

By NPCA Staff

Sabra Ayres (Ukraine 1995–97) was named chief correspondent for Ukraine at the Associated Press (AP) in September. She manages and coordinates AP’s coverage of Ukraine, including text, photography, and video storytelling. Ayres has nearly two decades of reporting that covered U.S. state and national politics, international relations, and developing democracies—with bylines from Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Europe, and India.

Christopher Miller (Ukraine 2010–12) has joined the Financial Times as Ukraine correspondent. He has previously covered Ukraine for Politico, BuzzFeed News, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. As a Volunteer, Miller served in the city of Bakhmut, which has been devastated by a months-long Russian offensive.

This updated appears in the Winter 2023 edition of WorldView magazine.

Parting advice from a writer and friend

By Steven Boyd Saum

Almost three decades ago, before I left California to begin serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, my friend Clark Blaise passed along the phone number for a fellow writer he knew in Kyiv. Yaroslav Stelmakh was the first Ukrainian to receive a fellowship to attend the International Writing Program at Iowa — a program that Clark directed and, since 1967, has connected well-established writers from around the globe.

Slava Stelmakh (that's him on the left) was primarily a playwright — and staking out what was newly possible to say and do on the page, stage, and screen following the end of the Soviet regime. That included humor and delight and exploring the boundaries of genre; he wrote the first Ukrainian rock opera, about a comical Napoleon-like figure. He also was heir to a writerly name; his father, Mykhailo Stelmakh, was a well-known writer of novels, poetry, and drama.

The first time I spoke to Slava, I had only been in Ukraine a couple weeks; I was staying with a family on the western outskirts of Kyiv. My host mother, Halia, was positively giddy when Slava called and arranged to pick me up the next morning. For breakfast Slava cooked potatoes and onions and eggs — call it a temporary bachelor’s frittata — and, because a director friend from Kharkiv had just arrived by overnight train, Slava opened a bottle of homemade horilka. It was the beginning of a friendship that has carried on across the years. But it’s one that has had to be nurtured solely by the spirit of Slava for a long time; Slava was killed in a car crash in 2001. Yet he remains someone who exerts a gravitational pull for me and others — writers, singers, educators, and friends who animate the intellectual and cultural life of Ukraine, who sustain an awareness of the past and how it shapes what is possible now and in the future. Then, as now, the Holodomor looms large — that artificial famine in the 1930s, inflicted as an act of genocide.

Once more hunger is a weapon. And day after day, Russian missiles strike apartment buildings and hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. For the people of Ukraine it is literally a battle of darkness and light. For all of us, a reminder: Now is not the time to turn away. It’s a time to raise our voices and lift a hand, however we can.

“Now is not the time to turn away. It’s a time to raise our voices and lift a hand, however we can.”

In September, when Congressman John Garamendi spoke in the House of Representatives of the need to pass the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act, he drew attention to the thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers who had served in Ukraine. It was to drive home the fact that this very personal grassroots work, over decades together in communities, takes on a significance rarely apparent in the moment.

As it happens, the House vote came just days after the special 60th anniversary edition of WorldView picked up top honors at the FOLIO Magazine Awards. Garamendi’s staff worked with colleagues here at NPCA to make sure copies of that edition were placed where representatives wouldn’t miss them—a physical reminder of the legacy of this global Peace Corps endeavor launched by President Kennedy, and of a responsibility we owe to things larger than ourselves.

Also as it happens, I spent a couple days with Clark Blaise in New York around that awards gala. Clark was a gracious host, as always. (It was also a special time for Clark, now 83 years old: He was celebrating the soon-to-be publication of This Time, That Place, a new volume of his selected stories, with a foreword by Margaret Atwood.) We shared stories of Slava Stelmakh, of course — and of threads woven through lives and across continents and decades. When I headed out the door to catch my plane, Clark’s parting words of fatherly advice were: “Be good, be kind, and be lucky.”

One could do worse than take that to heart. Though the last one is tricky, isn’t it? Which puts an even greater imperative on the first two — traits too often in short supply.

As we’ve noted time and again, the past several years have been unprecedented in so many ways. For the Peace Corps community: global evacuation. Reimagining, reshaping, and retooling the Peace Corps. And Volunteers returning to service. Here at NPCA, we were fortunate to have Glenn Blumhorst leading during a critical time — harnessing community efforts with a sense of shared responsibility and possibility. For example, leading the steering committee on the “Peace Corps Connect to the Future” report was Joel Rubin — who had served in the Obama administration, and later came on board at NPCA to serve as vice president for global policy and public affairs. It’s been a privilege to shoulder this common load.

As I step down from leading work on WorldView, I’m grateful for the talent and imagination by all who have contributed to the print and digital magazine. Special thanks to art director extraordinaire Pamela Fogg, whose first edition grappled with the evacuation of Volunteers — and has brought intelligence and vibrance to the magazine. Readers are lucky Pam came on board. And staying.

Steven Boyd Saum served as editor of WorldView and director of strategic communications for NPCA. He was a Volunteer in Ukraine 1994–96.

As we celebrate Volunteers returning to service in dozens of countries, we pay tribute to a leader here at NPCA who made a difference at a critical time for the Peace Corps community.

By Dan Baker

At left: El Paso, 2019 — Glenn Blumhorst assists migrants at the border. 

Just as the Winter 2023 edition of WorldView went press, Carol Spahn was sworn in as Director of the Peace Corps. I was delighted to be there as RPCV Rep. John Garamendi delivered the oath of office. This is an exciting and important moment. The Peace Corps community has spent nearly three years seeking to maintain and restore Volunteer programs across the world. There have been enormous obstacles, and the Peace Corps has emerged from the pandemic with a renewed clarity of purpose, better Volunteer services, and an undeniable sense of urgency that it hasn’t seen since its inception. And at the beginning of 2023, the return to service continues to gain strength and momentum, thanks to the hard work of hundreds of local Peace Corps staff, agency leaders, health and safety professionals, recruiters, and all of those who make these programs possible. We especially celebrate Volunteers boldly leading the way into the new Peace Corps.

The pandemic forced National Peace Corps Association, like many organizations, to pivot in unforeseeable ways. The past few years have arguably been the most important in the history of this community-driven organization. NPCA itself looks much different than it did even one year ago. One of the key changes we must acknowledge was the departure last year of NPCA’s longest-serving president and CEO, Glenn Blumhorst.

We celebrate Glenn’s important new role with the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation, which will establish a commemorative just steps from the Capitol. At the same time, many at NPCA will greatly miss his leadership of the organization. I find it fitting to honor his tenure at NPCA in this edition of WorldView by sharing some of his Peace Corps story — and a few of his most important achievements.

Amplifying Impact

Glenn launched his career with the Peace Corps, serving as an agriculture extension Volunteer in Guatemala 1988–91, supporting 18 rural Mayan Indian communities in the central highlands. Those who know his skills and dedication to service would not be surprised to know how successful he was as a Volunteer, working to increase household incomes, build an elementary school, and bring electricity to a remote village of 40 families. That work led him to nearly two decades of increasing leadership roles with the international development organization ACDI/VOCA. Then, in 2013, following a national search by NPCA, Glenn was brought on to serve as its president and CEO.

Community partners: In the highlands of Guatemala, from left, Manuel Alvarado, Tiburcio Alvarado, Carmelina Alvarado Gonzales, and Volunteer Glenn Blumhorst. Photo courtesy Glenn Blumhorst

Glenn soon set to work transforming NPCA: guiding the organization from struggling alumni association to a dynamic community-driven social impact enterprise. That new vision was informed in large part by Glenn’s “listening tours” across the country — meeting with NPCA affiliate group leaders, donors, and individual members to better understand their priorities. His travels took him to meet with members of the Peace Corps community in all 50 states — at potluck dinners and annual meetings, community service projects and RPCV reunions — to listen and share experiences and, together, plan for the future.

Glenn restored and strengthened NPCA’s financial health by adopting a new business model: moving away from a dues-paying membership to opening membership to all. NPCA invited community members to invest in and support causes they care about, and NPCA provided avenues for voluntary financial contributions. That quadrupled annual revenues, enabled us to triple our staff and grow programs, and exponentially increased member engagement in NPCA’s mission. RPCV affiliate groups grew as well, from 130 to 185 under Glenn’s leadership, with many focusing explicitly on specific social impact causes.

Glenn helped modernize NPCA’s advocacy program and grew constituent outreach. That fed successful efforts to increase Peace Corps’ federal appropriations by $30 million — and it helped fend off attempts to slash the agency’s budget (even defund it!) as well thwart an ill-advised attempt to fold the Peace Corps into the State Department. Along the way, Glenn ensured NPCA never lost sight of important reforms needed within the agency to improve Volunteer safety, security, healthcare, and post-service benefits. A milestone in that work: The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act, signed into law in 2018, which improved the provisioning of healthcare for Volunteers, program oversight, and how the agency handles sexual assault allegations.

Living Peace Corps Ideals

The lack of services for returning Volunteers is something Glenn understood. He worked with NPCA to put in place — well before COVID-19 hit — the framework for the Global Reentry Program. That program was launched immediately when the global evacuation of Volunteers was announced in March 2020. (I stepped down from the NPCA Board to join the staff as director of the program.) The long-term vision is to provide a bridge between Volunteers’ service and a lifetime of Peace Corps ideals.

Amid the turmoil of the pandemic’s early days, NPCA also successfully lobbied for $88 million in additional support for Volunteers; and NPCA worked to get the U.S. Department of Labor to issue guidelines that evacuated Volunteers were eligible for help under the Pandemic Assistance Program.

Global partnership: In 2015 with Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama, Glenn Blumhorst marks the launch of the Let Girls Learn initiative. Photo by Pete Souza/The White House

In summer 2020, harnessing the experience, commitment, and innovative ideas of the Peace Corps community, NPCA convened a series of national town halls and a global ideas summit under the title Peace Corps Connect to the Future. A community-driven report from the summit contained over 220 recommendations to Congress, the Peace Corps agency and executive branch, and the Peace Corps community. It has served as a vital roadmap for many reforms and improvements that began being implemented by Peace Corps leadership prior to the return of Volunteers to service. It’s fair to say this community-driven effort also laid the groundwork for some of the most sweeping Peace Corps legislation proposals in a generation.

These are just a few of the initiatives Glenn led NPCA to tackle. There is the launch of the Community Fund to support community projects by Volunteers, returned Volunteers — and, beginning in 2020, evacuated Volunteers — in the U.S. and globally. There is the Benevolent Fund, to support RPCVs experiencing acute hardship. And in the future, there will be Peace Corps Place, envisioned as a hub for the Peace Corps community in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

Glenn has begun leading a multimillion-dollar capital campaign to underwrite design and construction of the Peace Corps Commemorative. It will honor the creation of the Peace Corps in 1961 and those aspects of the American character exemplified by Peace Corps service. We are deeply grateful to Glenn for his past, present, and future service to Peace Corps ideals, and we look forward to celebrating this commemorative together when it is completed.

As a part of all that NPCA has accomplished under Glenn’s leadership, we have seen tremendous growth in how NPCA tells its stories. The past three years this work has been led by Director of Strategic Communications and Editor of WorldView Steven Saum. With thought and care, the WorldView team has crafted a magazine of powerful stories and images. Those efforts have earned top national awards the past two years. Behind the scenes, Steven also orchestrated NPCA’s social media presence, newsletters, and other publications — notably the “Peace Corps Connect to the Future” report. We are sorry to announce that this will be Steven’s last edition of WorldView magazine as he moves into a new role in California.

Interim successors for Glenn and Steven are in place, but we will stand on their shoulders as we move into the next chapters of support for a united and vibrant Peace Corps community. Please keep in touch, and stay connected online and through our email newsletters. And watch for more important Peace Corps news in upcoming editions of WorldView.

Dan Baker is President and CEO of National Peace Corps Association. He served as a Volunteer in Bolivia 1999–2002 and Timor-Leste 2002–03, and with Peace Corps staff in Washington, D.C., Costa Rica, and Ethiopia. Write him.

NPCA President Emeritus Chic Dambach has previously been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Oklahoma State University has launched a scholarship program in his honor.

By Steven Boyd Saum

Illustration by Matt Wuerker

October brought a special celebration for a leader in the Peace Corps community. The School of Global Studies at Oklahoma State University announced the creation of the Dambach Peacebuilder Endowed Fellowship, a program for students with a career interest in global peace. Named after OSU alumnus and NPCA President Emeritus Charles “Chic” Dambach, the fellowship will provide funding for students in the school’s graduate program and support a new generation of peacemakers.

At OSU Dambach was also inducted into the Henry G. Bennett Fellowship, an honorary recognition of some three dozen global leaders including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Tony Blair, Vincente Fox, Harriet Fulbright, and other notables. One special part of the festivities for Dambach, who arrived at OSU in 1962 courtesy a football scholarship: They introduced him at the OSU vs. Texas Tech football game, before a capacity crowd of more than 55,000.

A fishing village in Colombia

Dambach’s college football career was sidelined by a shoulder injury. The Cowboys’ loss on the gridiron was global peacebuilding’s gain: Dambach devoted energy to working with other students to draw attention to issues of political and cultural significance in the mid-’60s. “Even at a very conservative school and against intense pressure from administrators, we mobilized large demonstrations for free speech and against the war,” Dambach recalls. “We played a major role in persuading U.S. Senator Fred Harris to reverse his position and oppose the war. He announced his opposition at one of our rallies where I introduced him.”

The connection with the senator endured: A few years ago, Harris attended the 50th reunion for Dambach and his OSU classmates. It was also Dambach’s longtime friends who, unbeknownst to him, launched the effort to create the fellowship.

Dambach joined the Peace Corps after graduating from college, and he served as a Volunteer in a small fishing village in Colombia 1967–69. He worked with community partners to form a worker’s co-op, obtain loans, build a school, and acquire gear needed for fishing. Decades later, he served as president and CEO of National Peace Corps Association (1992–98) and now carries the title of NPCA President Emeritus.

He also became a national champion kayak racer and served as an official in the Olympic Games for canoe and kayak competitions in 1988, 1992, and 1996.

Charles "Chic" Dambach accepting the Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Fellow award from Dean Randy Kluver at the Dambach Peacebuilder Endowed Fellowship announcement. Photo Courtesy of Oklahoma State University

Nobel Peace Prize nominee

After a long career that included work in sports diplomacy and nonprofit management, Dambach put his skillset in peacebuilding to work with others in the Peace Corps community to help negotiate peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea to end a brutal border war. Later, Dambach served in a similar facilitating role in addressing internal conflicts in Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After leading NPCA, Dambach went on to serve as president and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding; interim CEO for Operation Respect; and chief of staff for RPCV Rep. John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966–68). Dambach has taught at Johns Hopkins, American University, and George Washington Univeristy, and he has been a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. His personal story and his insights on peacebuilding shape his memoir, Exhaust the Limits, as well as his popular TEDx talk, “Why Not Peace?”

Dambach’s efforts in peacebuilding have been recognized by a multitude of organizations, groups, governments, and individuals. In 2017 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Students obtaining a master’s degree from the School of Global Studies and Partnerships at OSU can apply for the Dambach Peacebuilder Fellowship.

Chic Dambach says he appreciates that to qualify for a scholarship, applicants must possess “both the hearts and the minds of peacebuilders” with plans for a career focused on global peace. “All of it fits nicely with our desire to promote a culture of service,” he says. As for the notion of a fellowship bearing his name, “I am blown away by the honor…But I am willing to embrace the fellowships on behalf of so many good people — Peace Corps people — who continue to make a positive difference in the face of strong headwinds.”

LEARN MORE about the Dambach Endowed Peacebuilder Fellowship: dambachpeacebuilderfellowships.org

A Life Unimagined: The Rewards of Mission-Driven Service in the Peace Corps and Beyond

By Aaron S. Williams

International Division, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum

Aaron S. Williams grew up in a segregated neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s. When he began studying geography at Chicago Teachers College, it was because the subject would offer him good career opportunities in the public schools. But, as he notes early in the memoir A Life Unimagined, “studying the geography of distant places around the world…the seeds once planted by my father of distant travels began to take root.” That’s not to say his father encouraged him to join the Peace Corps; he didn’t. But his mother and his best friend both did.

“My choice to join the Peace Corps changed everything,” Williams writes. For his mother, too; she would visit him when he was a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, and over his two decades as a foreign service officer with USAID in Honduras, Haiti, Barbados, and Costa Rica. It was only because of failing health in her older age that she didn’t visit her son and his family in South Africa, where Williams was stationed not long after the end of apartheid. The day after he arrived to begin leading the USAID mission, Williams met President Nelson Mandela.

Rewind for a moment: After serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer 1967–70, Williams took on responsibilities for the agency coordinating minority recruitment. He earned an MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then went to work in the corporate world, learning the ropes in the food industry. That set him on track for work in U.S. government-supported agribusiness development in Central America.

The capstone of his career in public service came in 2009, when Williams was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Director of the Peace Corps—the first African-American
man to hold the post. During Williams’ tenure, the Peace Corps marked its 50th anniversary, with celebrations around the world. The agency also secured a historic budget increase and reopened programs in Colombia, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Nepal, and — in the wake of the Arab Spring — Tunisia. In terms of program successes, Williams points to new and expanded initiatives in Africa to address hunger, malaria, and HIV/AIDS — through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative, Feed the Future Initiative, and Saving Mothers, Giving Life.

Aaron Williams with Senator Harris Wofford at his confirmation hearing in 2009. Wofford was a friend and mentor to Williams, and he introduced Williams that day.
Photo Courtesy of Aaron S. Williams

In terms of challenges, the year 2011 brought intense scrutiny to the agency following an investigation by the ABC news program “20/20” examining how six women serving as Volunteers had been victims of sexual assault. The program also looked at the tragic murder of Volunteer Kate Puzey, after she reported that a teacher at her site in Benin was sexually abusing students. Puzey’s death occurred some months before Williams became director, but the serious questions her murder raised about safety, security, and confidentiality still needed to be addressed. Williams worked with Congress to institute reforms, such as heightened security, and training and support for victims, that led to the passage of the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, signed by President Obama in November 2011.

Before his Peace Corps leadership role, Williams served as vice president of international business development for RTI International. In 2012, after stepping down from the directing the Peace Corps, he returned to RTI as executive vice president the International Development Group and now serves as senior advisor emeritus with the organization.

In his public writing in recent years, Williams has called on U.S. foreign affairs agencies to rise to demonstrate leadership in pursuing policies and programs that will improve diversity in their ranks by investing in the diverse human capital of our nation, to reflect the true face of America. And, not surprising, he has been a strong advocate for public service here in the U.S. Indeed, the foreword for his memoir—contributed by Helene Gayle, who formerly led the Chicago Community Trust and now is president of Spelman College, makes the case for that: “I hope that the life and career of Aaron Williams, as portrayed in this book, will inspire future generations of underrepresented groups in our society, both men and women, who seek to make a difference by serving America and the world at large.”

Celebrating Fifty Years

AN EXCERPT FROM A LIFE UNIMAGINED BY AARON S. WILLIAMS

The American Airlines Boeing 727 began its descent from our flight that began in Miami, passing at a low altitude over the beauty of lush, emerald-green mountains, aquamarine-colored ocean, and long white beaches. Eventually the sprawling city of Santo Domingo appeared, separated by the Ozama River as it coursed its way into the Caribbean. This country held special memories for Rosa and me—it was my second home and where she was born. We gazed over the country’s natural beauty during another landing in the modern Airport of the Americas, a trip we’d made so many times since 1969. This arrival felt very different from my first at the old airport in December 1967 when I was a newly minted PCV.

This return to my beginnings in the Peace Corps highlighted for me the incredible journey that began as a college graduate’s surprising path to adventure. Here, I met my beautiful wife, seated beside me as we returned “home,” back to where my life was transformed. We were going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the warm, friendly relationship created between this nation and the Peace Corps Volunteers who had served here throughout its rich history. That unique, historical bond, forged in the white heat of the Dominican revolution and the U.S. invasion in 1965, had brought about this seminal moment. During that time of strife and struggle, many of the PCVs of that era gained the respect of Dominican citizens by vigorously supporting the country’s revolutionaries and not following the Johnson administration’s official policy during a crucial period in Dominican history.

This return to my beginnings in the Peace Corps highlighted for me the incredible journey that began as a college graduate’s surprising path to adventure.

On this trip, Rosa and I would be participating in a series of events to celebrate, commemorate, and treasure the more than 500 participants who had worked side by side with the Dominican people in the spirit of friendship and peace. Current and former Volunteers and staff would reunite at a three-day conference and share in the success of 50 years of Peace Corps work in the Dominican Republic. This auspicious anniversary also presented us with the chance to engage with Peace Corps Volunteers and staff worldwide and observe the scope and impact of the organization’s 50-year global engagement. I experienced firsthand the warm reception that Peace Corps Volunteers continue to receive worldwide.

Our gracious hosts for these anniversary events were Raul Yzaguirre, U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and country director Art Flanagan. Yzaguirre is an icon in the Hispanic American community and a civil rights activist. He served as the president of the National Council of La Raza from 1974 to 2004 and transformed the organization from a regional advocacy group into a potent national voice for Hispanic communities.

Many returned PCVs made site visits to the towns and villages where they had lived and worked, often hosted by the current PCVs; such a site visit was nostalgic for the former Volunteer and also an exciting historical experience for the local citizens. Rosa and I were very happy to enjoy once again the company of so many friends who shared this collective experience, especially Dave and Anita Kaufmann, Bill and Paula Miller, and Dan and Alicia Mizroch. The men all served as PCVs in the late 1960s, so the celebration also
represented a special homecoming between lifelong friends! Further, we had a joyful reunion with Judy Johnson-Thoms and Victoria Taylor, the PCVs with whom I had served in Monte Plata.

Monte Playa: As a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, Aaron Williams, left, with his neighborhood buddies and informal language teachers. Photo Courtesy of Aaron S. Williams

Dominican officials, our former counterparts, and many Dominican friends hosted events for Peace Corps participants in the grand style of a “family” reunion. Major Dominican newspapers and broadcast media provided extensive coverage of the celebration. Like many returned PCVs, I had the great pleasure of holding a mini-reunion with my former colleagues from the University Madre y Maestra, many of whom I had not seen since 1970!

We all felt honored to be joined by a special guest, Senator Chris Dodd, a proud returned PCV who served when I did in the Dominican Republic. During his five terms in the U.S. Senate, Chris had always been a great champion of the Peace Corps. For many years, he served as the chairman of the subcommittee responsible for oversight of the Peace Corps. Because he had presided over my confirmation hearing, it was especially gratifying to participate in this homecoming with him.

The planning for the Peace Corps’ 50th-anniversary celebrations, both in the United States and overseas, had begun before my appointment, under the previous director Ron Tschetter. Of course, we were enthusiastic about building upon these efforts. We were determined to hold a worldwide celebration that would highlight this significant landmark in the agency’s history and celebrate the legacy of this American success story — it would be a celebration to remember!

I have often reflected on the warm relationships between the Peace Corps and our host countries. The relationships that PCVs fostered for 50 years were indicative of the power of the organization in pursuing its mission of world peace and friendship. The outpouring of admiration, affection, and respect was something to behold as we continued preparing for these global celebrations. In each location, the country director and their staff created scheduled events representing the Peace Corps’ past and present role in each country, resulting in rich and diverse programs.

Those of us at headquarters planned several special events in Washington, D.C., to highlight and honor the Peace Corps legends who had been Sargent Shriver’s colleagues and to welcome the returned PCVs and other staff community back home. At the same time, returned PCV affinity groups — such as Friends of Kenya, Friends of Paraguay, and so forth—held anniversary activities in every state and in scores of colleges and universities across the United States. The national celebration aimed to demonstrate the organization’s continuing role in American life and history.

Overall, our senior staff traveled to 15 countries, 20 states, and 28 cities to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The Peace Corps senior staff worked to ensure broad representation; Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Stacy Rhodes, and I carefully planned our calendars to maximize our participation in major events in each region of the world and across the United States.

Our trips to visit the Volunteers in the host countries were a great privilege, and in my visits I stressed the importance of the individual and collective service of our PCVs and my personal connection with the work of the modern PCV. What a sight it was to see Volunteers on the front lines, working in microbusiness-support organizations to create new women-owned small businesses, teaching math and science in rural primary schools, or distributing mosquito nets in remote villages to fight malaria under our Stomp Out Malaria program, working in HIV/AIDS clinics, or helping small farmers improve irrigation systems.

The variety of PCV assignments was truly spectacular, from leading young girl empowerment clubs in rural Jordan, to coaching junior achievement classes in Nicaragua, teaching math in rural Tanzania, teaching internet technology in high schools in the Dominican Republic, teaching English as a second language in a girls’ school in rural Thailand, working on improved environmental protection practices in Filipino fishing villages, and helping to advise on improved livestock breeding techniques on farms in Ghana. Though I had once been in similar circumstances as a young PCV, I couldn’t help but be impressed by what I saw.

My colleagues and I had the pleasure of participating in several country celebrations during the 50th anniversary year, and it typically involved the following scenario. Of course, a meeting with the president of the host country and/or another senior government official would be first on the list for a country anniversary celebration. Many of these leaders had worked with or had been taught by Peace Corps Volunteers over decades. We also met with the leaders of the vital counterpart organizations, including community groups, government ministries, and the leading nongovernmental organizations in the country. We visited Volunteers at their worksites to observe their activities and attended a dinner or reception hosted by the U.S. ambassador for the PCVs, local dignitaries, and guests.

Another important aspect of my country visits was broad engagement with the national print, radio, and television press through press conferences, individual interviews, or both. In almost every case, returned PCVs who had served in a particular country participated in the events, often in coordination with the returned PCV affinity groups (e.g., in the case of Tanzania, Paraguay, Kenya, or Thailand), along with current PCVs and their guests. A typical visit for an anniversary event would run two days, and Carrie, Stacy, or I attended as the senior Peace Corps representative for a particular celebration.

Ghana is one of the most prominent nations in West Africa, and Sargent Shriver established the first Peace Corps program there in 1961. Its first president was the famous Kwame Nkrumah, who led the country to independence from Great Britain. Known during the colonial era as the Gold Coast, Ghana was also the location of some of the principal slave-trading forts in West Africa. Stacy Rhodes, Jeff West, and I traveled together to Ghana, where we spent three days in a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary in this historic Peace Corps country.

After our first day of courtesy meetings with government officials, local counterpart organizations, Volunteers, and staff, we decided to visit a famous fort. It was a heart-wrenching experience for Stacy and me, brothers in service, to stand before the fortress, built as a trading post with slaves as the primary commodity. We could only look out on the vast Atlantic Ocean through the “door of no return” in the bottom of that castle with sadness, knowing that those poor souls had been ripped from their native land. We felt it was necessary to witness the dungeons where they were held captive and the path they were forced to walk as they boarded the ships in the harbor that would take them to the West Indies or the American colonies, separating them forever from their homeland.

These are experiences not easily comprehended from afar, but they represent a crucial part of the human story that needs to be retold and remembered. Ideally, they set the stage for improving the human condition in the future.

One of the highlights of the trip was our participation in the country’s annual teacher day. I joined the vice president of Ghana, John Mahama, for this special event in an upcountry district capital. Stacy, the country director, Mike Koffman, and I were driven two hours from the capital city of Accra to the district capital. Mike had had a tremendous public service career, first as a Marine Corps officer, then as a founder of a nonprofit organization that provided legal services to the homeless in Boston, and then as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts. After his stint as assistant district attorney, he served as a PCV in the Pacific region, and now we were fortunate to have him as our Ghana country director.

In Ghana, the top teachers were selected each year for special recognition. One of the ten teachers chosen that year was a PCV whose parents were both returned PCVs who had served in Latin America. This national ceremony honors outstanding teachers for their exemplary leadership and work that affected and transformed the lives of the students in their care and the community around them. The overall best teacher receives Ghana’s Most Outstanding Teacher Award and a three-bedroom house. The first runner-up receives a four-by-four pickup truck, and the second runner-up receives a sedan; indeed, a very different approach from how we honor teachers in America. I looked forward to participating in this important ceremony, during which the vice president and I would deliver speeches.

When we arrived at the government house in the district capital, I planned to discuss with the vice president a few points regarding the future of the Peace Corps program in Ghana. However, Vice President Mahama, who subsequently was elected president of Ghana in 2012, was more interested in talking about his experience with a PCV during his youth, and I listened to what he had to say with great interest.

He described how, as a young boy, he had attended a small primary school in rural northern Ghana. There were 50 to 60 boys in a very crowded classroom with very few desks and textbooks. They heard one day that a white American was coming to teach them, and they were anxious about this. They had never seen a white man before in their village, and they didn’t even know if they would be able to understand his language.

When the young American PCV came into the classroom, he looked around the class and said that he was going to teach them science. He then asked them, “Do any of you know how far the sun is from the earth?” The boys all stared at the floor; they didn’t understand why he asked this question or why it was important, but either way, they didn’t know the answer.

That day, for future Vice President Mahama, was a turning point in his life when he saw the possibilities of another world. He also told us about several of his friends from his village school in that same class who had gone on to become scientists or engineers.

The PCV walked up to the front of the classroom, took out a piece of chalk, and wrote down on the blackboard the number ninety-three; he put a comma behind it and then proceeded to write zeros on the front blackboard until he quickly ran out of room, and then he continued to put zeros on the walls of that small room, returning to the ninety-three on the blackboard. Then he exclaimed, in a loud voice, “It’s ninety-three million miles from the earth! Don’t ever forget that!” That day, for future Vice President Mahama, was a turning point in his life when he saw the possibilities of another world. He also told us about several of his friends from his village school in that same class who had gone on to become scientists or engineers.

From the government house, we went on to the stadium to participate in the teacher day festivities. Marching bands and students from all around the area welcomed us and an audience of thousands on the impressive parade grounds of the city. The vice president and I shook hands with and gave the awards to each of the winners, and we had a chance to meet the young PCV who had been selected as one of the winners. It was a long but satisfying day, and I’ll always remember my visit to this historic Peace Corps country.

I have equally vivid memories of traveling to a small village in Ghana, where we visited a young PCV from Kansas, Derek Burke. As I recall, he grew up on a farm, and now, in this remote and arid region of the country, he worked with the local farmers on a tree planting project, helping them to plant thousands of acacia trees. As we slowly walked into the village, we were welcomed by the hypnotic sounds of ceremonial drumming and greeted by more than 200 villagers. I loved seeing the smiling children as we met the village elders and local government officials. We then held a town hall meeting under an enormous baobab tree — a tree large enough to provide shade for all assembled.

As we departed, I was asked to visit with the patriarch of the village, who hadn’t been able to join us due to his failing health. He lived in a small hut on the outskirts of the village. The PCV and I went to his bedside. I can still feel the firm grip of the frail-looking gentleman, who appeared to be in his late 80s. He held my hand as he thanked me through a translator for visiting his village and for the “gift” of the young American PCV whom everyone loved. As I drove away, I thought about the symbolic importance of sending one Volunteer to serve in a remote village in Ghana and how he walked in the steps of those who came 50 years before him, in service to the country and the building of friendship in the name of the United States.

On a spectacularly beautiful day in June 2011, our plane landed in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, after a short stop in Arusha, near Mt. Kilimanjaro, where the majestic mountains loomed large from the airplane window. Esther Benjamin, Elisa Montoya, and Jeff West accompanied me. Dar es Salaam is a name that conjures up visions of Zanzibar and the ancient trading routes between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. This nation, formed by the union of Tanganyika (colonial name) and the island of  Zanzibar, has some fifty-five million citizens and is 60 percent Christian and over 30 percent Muslim, with two official languages: Swahili and English.

Tanzania was led into historic independence by the legendary Julius Nyerere, known as the “father of the nation,” who campaigned for Tanganyikan independence from the British Empire.4 Influenced by the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, Nyerere preached nonviolent protest to achieve this aim. His administration pursued decolonization and the “Africanization” of the civil service while promoting unity between indigenous Africans and Asian and European minorities.

The outstanding country program was led by one of our most experienced country directors, Andrea Wojna-Diagne, who received strong support from Alfonso Lenhardt, the U.S. ambassador to Tanzania.

In Tanzania, we started our visit by meeting with President Kikwete and his senior officials. It was a pleasure to learn that the president, as a young elementary school student, had been taught by a Peace Corps Volunteer. He had a very positive view of the Peace Corps, and he recognized its importance to the relationship between the United States and his country.

We started our visit by meeting with President Kikwete and his senior officials. It was a pleasure to learn that the president, as a young elementary school student, had been taught by a Peace Corps volunteer. He had a very positive view of the Peace Corps, and he recognized its importance to the relationship between the United States and his country.

We went upcountry to visit a volunteer who was a high school math teacher in a very remote part of Tanzania. In many places in the developing world, it’s challenging to find and hire science and math teachers for rural communities, who are desperately needed, as without these subjects, the students in this region would not be able to complete the coursework required to take the qualifying exams for university applications. The school principal and our PCV were very proud of the role he played in this school and of the astronomy program he created to introduce his students to this area of science.

Upon our return to Dar, we had the pleasure of attending a lovely dinner hosted by the ambassador and participating in a fiftieth-anniversary gala, organized by Peace Corps staff and the PCVs. Due to a touch of serendipity, there happened to be several Peace Corps volunteers in Tanzania who were graduates of performing arts programs in universities and colleges across the United States. They created, planned, rehearsed, and staged a magnificent performance about the history of the Peace Corps in Tanzania. The audience included current PCVs, returned volunteers, Tanzanian government officials, Peace Corps partners, and special guests. From my humble viewpoint, it was a Broadway-caliber stage performance. It included concert singing, highly skilled theatrical performances, original music scores by soloist performers, and poetry readings as odes to Tanzanian–U.S. friendship. There we were, on the beautiful lawn and garden grounds of the U.S. Embassy, being entertained by this incredibly talented group of volunteers who expressed their love for Tanzania in the most heartfelt, dramatic fashion possible.

In November of 2011, my team and I traveled to the Philippines to celebrate the joint fiftieth anniversary of USAID and the Peace Corps. My colleagues Elisa Montoya, Esther Benjamin, and Jeff West accompanied me on this trip. As in Thailand, Ghana, and Tanzania, the Peace Corps program in the Philippines was legendary, again launched by Sargent Shriver nearly fifty years earlier.

Benigno Aquino III was the son of prominent political leaders Benigno Aquino Jr. and Corazon Aquino, the former president of the Philippines.5 President Aquino was a strong supporter of the Peace Corps. In his youth, he had become friends with several PCVs in his hometown and had met many PCVs during his mother’s presidency.

Our ambassador, Harry Thomas, a distinguished veteran diplomat, had served as the head of the Foreign Service as director-general. USAID mission director Gloria Steele was also a veteran USAID officer and former colleague who had held several senior positions at headquarters. She had the honor of being the first Filipina American to serve in this position. Needless to say, Gloria was well known throughout the country and highly regarded across the Philippines. Our terrific country director, Denny Robertson, represented the Peace Corps.

The president graciously hosted a luncheon for our group in the historic Malacañang Palace, his official residence and principal workplace— the White House of the Philippines. Many meetings between Filipino and U.S. government officials have taken place there over the years of the countries’ bilateral relationship. We had a delightful, wide-ranging conversation with the president and his staff in which he made clear his great appreciation for PCVs’ years of service. He was pleased that we were there to celebrate the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of this highly respected American organization.

Excerpt adapted from A Life Unimagined: The Rewards of Mission-Driven Service in the Peace Corps and Beyond by Aaron S. Williams with Deb Childs. © 2021 University of Wisconsin-Madison International Division

Letters, emails, LinkedIn and Instagram comments, Facebook posts, tweets, and other comments. We’re happy to continue the conversation here and our social media platforms. One way to write us: worldview@peacecorpsconnect.org

Cover to Cover

I want to congratulate you and the whole NPCA team for producing an outstanding magazine. Yesterday I read through the two most recent issues cover to cover and found the content to be rich and very informative. You should be proud of the role that WorldView plays in supporting and connecting the Peace Corps community.

Tony Barclay
Kenya 1968–70, NPCA Board Chair 2011–15

I have been reading your magazine for a while. I thought your last magazine was just wonderful — as were many before that — and want to congratulate you.

Kathleen Harnig
Bulgaria 1998–2000, Liberia 2013–14

You should be proud of the role that WorldView plays in supporting and connecting the Peace Corps community.

Congratulations on your special books edition. I found the quiet time to read this issue (as I try to read most issues of WorldView) from cover to cover. Your page 11 article on Ukraine is powerful and personal. I will be sharing it with a Ukrainian friend who is a former choir director at UC Berkeley and organized two concerts of Ukrainian religious and folk music to raise funds for the country of her origins. One was hosted here at our parish; the other at the concert hall on campus. 

I also need to thank you for the Book Locker and your extraordinary overviews of the books you reviewed. I joined Peace Corps (India 30, 1966–68) at the height of the idealism and call to service that brought PC into existence and led to its times of great success and accomplishment. But as transformative as the experience was for me, and as consequential as I think it was for some of the people with whom we worked, I have to see it as a small contribution to the larger movement of a nation and its people.  

I was part of a series of Peace Corps groups that were sent to Andhra Pradesh in south India to help high school science teachers teach using an investigative approach in place of the old British “learn by rote” Cambridge exam approach. Since commercial laboratory equipment was expensive and therefore unavailable to small village level schools, we taught ways of improvising laboratory apparatus using materials available in any village setting.

The impact of this effort is impossible to measure concretely, but in the years following our service, Andhra went from scoring very low on the Indian National Science test to being among the highest in India, I’ve been told. Whatever the contribution of Peace Corps, it was the Indians who took the resources that were made available to them and turned them into something transformative. 

The cover line of the most recent edition of WorldView, “The Stories We Tell,” fits well with my own embrace of my PC experience. We went to India and did what we were invited to do, and things changed. We may have been only a small part of the cause, but change definitely happened in a remarkably good way, and so we rejoice with and for the people we served.

Steve Bossi
India 1966–68

Great job on the latest PC mag. Especially liked all the books.   

Peter von Mertens
Nepal VIII (1966–68)

The Book Locker and the Third Goal

During the first few years of the Peace Corps, Volunteers were given book lockers. Mine included a copy of War and Peace, which I still have — and still have not read. Among books in the lockers were Animal Farm, Learning English, the James Beard Cookbook, Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care, and The Wonderful World of Peanuts by Charles Schultz. So it is fitting that at the Ohio State University we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Peace Corps this spring in the Jean and Charles Schultz Lecture Hall.

In the early 1960s, a group of Peace Corps parents in Columbus established the Columbus Peace Corps Service Council — either the first or second one in the U.S. In part, their purpose was to help fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps: To help promote a better understanding among Americans of other peoples of the world. To do this, they set about informing the community about Peace Corps through news stories, booths at fairs, festivals and conferences, TV interviews, and exhibits at the OSU library, among many other activities.

But I’ve always thought another reason for those first parent-organized service councils was to try to understand where their children had gone and what exactly they were doing there. As a result of those first service councils, similar groups were formed in every state. Today there are four affiliate groups of the National Peace Corps Association in Ohio.

For the public, for those considering joining the Peace Corps, and even for returned Volunteers, the Third Goal has always been a bit of an afterthought. It’s more fun to talk about what we did instead of what we need to do now to strengthen, promote, and expand the Peace Corps. Whether you have just been accepted, if you’ve recently returned, or if you’ve been home a few years: It is your voice that will keep Peace Corps alive and keep Volunteers in the field.

Wallis Harsch
Panama 1966–68

The Peace Corps and Rotary International

In the special 60th anniversary edition of WorldView, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, co-author with Robert Putnam of The Upswing: How American Came together a Century Ago and How We can Do It Again, posits a policy prescription for the administration “that would help us move to an ‘upswing’ (a return to the ‘we’ of service to others, vs. the ‘I’ of self-service that has prevailed since the 1960s). National Service is my absolute go-to answer.” As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and Rotarian for 27 years, I can attest that we already have vibrant national and international service organizations.

There have been many calls for a national service; AmeriCorps, the domestic equivalent of the Peace Corps, has been a partial answer. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former commander of international forces in Afghanistan and head of the “Serve America. Together.” campaign, called on the president to invest in universal national service for 1 million young Americans annually as “the most important strategy we can implement to ensure the strength and security of our nation.” But the foremost national and international service organization is Rotary International, dedicated to the motto “Service Above Self.”

As of 2006, Rotary had more than 1.4 million members in over 36,000 clubs among 200 countries and geographical areas. I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey and have been able to continue my community development work as a Rotarian; I have been involved in countless local community projects and international projects, such as in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo assisting in its recovery from the various civil wars it suffered. More important, I am a founding board member of Partnering For Peace, an NPCA affiliate that has joined with the Peace Corps to support Peace Corps projects worldwide. That is a natural partnership of like minds and hearts, committed to both national and international service. It is time to acknowledge Rotary International’s role in both foreign and domestic public service for its growth and vitality. It is a testament to how well Rotarians and the Peace Corps Community are already working together. I already see this “upswing” happening for millions worldwide, as well as in the U.S.

Harlan Green
Turkey 1964–66

CORRECTION: Our Words

In the print edition, the review of On Corruption in America by Sarah Chayes (p. 22) included a brief excerpt in italics with one extra line in italics at the end: “There is no comforting answer to that.” Those were our words, not hers. Sorry about that.

WRITE US: worldview@peacecorpsconnect.org

The magazine for the Peace Corps community is up for best cover, best full edition, and best series of articles.

By NPCA Staff

BIG NEWS for WorldView: The magazine published for the 240,000-strong Peace Corps community has been named a finalist in three categories in the FOLIO Magazine EDDIE and OZZIE awards — the most prestigious awards program celebrating excellence in editorial and design in the publishing industry.

BEST COVER

The Peace Corps at Sixty | Illustration by Tim O’Brien, art direction by Pamela Fogg. 

BEST OVERALL EDITION

Special 60th Anniversary Edition. Six decades after this Peace Corps endeavor took flight, we ask: Where are we going? Where have we gone?

BEST SERIES OF ARTICLES

“An Anniversary. A Pandemic. Peace Corps Response.” | Originally established as Crisis Corps in 1996, Peace Corps Response was created to send Volunteers on short-term, high-impact assignments. An important story for us to tell is that the government program has its roots in grassroots efforts by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who were working in Rwanda when the genocide unfolded. They organized efforts to assist in refugee camps, and they inspired the government agency to harness the experience and commitment that so many Peace Corps Volunteers bring. | Congratulations to the contributing writers in this series, including interns Emi Krishnamurthy, Ellery Pollard, and Sarah Steindl; and writers Hilliard Hicks and Joshua Berman.

“We’re thrilled to share this exciting news,” says editor Steven Boyd Saum, “which is really recognition for the important work done by community members and Volunteers alike over the decades and around the world. It’s the mission of WorldView to tell those stories — and tell them well.”

Last year was the first time in its history that the magazine was recognized with a FOLIO Award, garnering top recognition for both editorial and design excellence.

Winners of the 2022 awards will be announced at the FOLIO Awards Gala on September 13 at the City Winery in New York City. 

Two dozen countries have welcomed them back. And some fifty countries have issued invitations for Volunteers to return.

By Steven Boyd Saum

Two years after all Peace Corps Volunteers were brought home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they began returning to service overseas in March 2022. We shared the exciting news in the previous edition of WorldView that the first Volunteers had returned to Zambia and the Dominican Republic.

In the months since, posts around the world have been busy welcoming back Peace Corps Volunteers and Response Volunteers to work alongside communities. As of August 2022, Volunteers have returned to some two dozen countries — more than a third of the posts where Volunteers were serving in 2020. That includes nations in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe. There will be more Volunteers beginning service overseas in the months ahead, in those countries and dozens more. By our counting, invitations are out for Volunteers to return to 51 countries — more than three quarters of the posts where Peace Corps Volunteers had been serving in 2020. 

In order for the agency to issue invitations for Volunteers to return, each post must meet robust reentry criteria which involve health, safety, and other logistical factors. Living with COVID-19, a horrific war in Europe and consequent economic mayhem, as well as other regional turmoil, it’s crucial to ensure safety of Volunteers and communities alike. Indeed, despite global tumult, this is a hopeful time for the agency, with this return also representing a rededication to the mission of the Peace Corps.

Despite global tumult, this is a hopeful time for the agency, with this return also representing a rededication to the mission of the Peace Corps.

Earlier this year, a group of departing Volunteers met with First Lady of the United States Jill Biden. On July 19, the first cohort of Volunteers to return to Panamá met with Second Gentleman of the United States Doug Emhoff at the White House. Emhoff also hosted the soon-to-be Volunteers and Peace Corps CEO Carol Spahn for a roundtable. “It’s always incredible to meet with young people dedicated to changing the world,” Emhoff posted on Twitter afterward. And, to the Volunteers, he wrote: “I know you’ll bring great passion and energy to your projects.” 

Based on conversations and leadership that has shaped the return of Volunteers to service overseas, humility and a spirit of cooperation in a changed world are a crucial part of the mix, too. 
 

Sendoff from the Second Gentleman: Doug Emhoff, center, with the first Volunteers returning to Panamá, as well as agency leaders. Photo by Lawrence Jackson / The White House

Where Volunteers Have Returned

These include 23 posts and 26 countries — since the Peace Corps post in the Eastern Caribbean includes four countries.
 

Zambia | March 2022
Dominican Republic | March 2022
Colombia | April 2022
Namibia | May 2022
Uganda | May 2022
Mexico | May 2022
Ecuador | May 2022
Eastern Caribbean | May 2022 (Includes four countries: Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Grenada)
Belize | May 2022
Peru | May 2022
Paraguay | May 2022
Togo | June 2022
Senegal | June 2022
The Gambia | June 2022
Benin | June 2022
Rwanda | June 2022
Kyrgyz Republic | June 2022
Ghana | June 2022
Sierra Leone | June 2022
Costa Rica | July 2022
Kosovo | July 2022
Madagascar | July 2022

Photos courtesy Peace Corps posts

Invitations Are Out

Here are the additional posts that have met safety criteria and for which there are invitations for Volunteers to begin serving in 2022 and beyond. Including the countries to which Volunteers have already returned, invitations are out to 47 posts and 51 countries. Take note of the last post on this list: Viet Nam. In summer 2020, the Peace Corps formally signed an agreement to launch that new program. It is one that, needless to say, is loaded with tremendous historical significance and a long-term sense of what it means to build peace and friendship. 

These posts are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order to which Volunteers will be returning in 2022. As the past two years have taught — with lessons sometimes repeated again and again, to the frustration of would-be Volunteers and host communities alike — there may be contingencies that push back planned dates for Volunteers to return.

Albania and Montenegro (Includes two countries: Albania and Montenegro)
Botswana
Cambodia
Cameroon
eSwatini
Fiji
Georgia
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Indonesia
Kenya
Lesotho
Malawi
Mongolia
Morocco
North Macedonia
The Philippines
South Africa
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Viet Nam

By October 2023, Volunteers are expected to be back in most of the 60 countries where they were serving in 2020. In addition, programs will be reopened in Sri Lanka and Kenya. 

This story appears in the Spring-Summer 2022 edition of WorldView Magazine

Steven Boyd Saum is the editor of WorldView.

An EDDIE award recognizing a series of stories about Volunteers evacuated from around the world. And a cover asking “What’s the Role of Peace Corps Now?” These awards mark the first time that the magazine published for the Peace Corps community has earned these top honors.

By NPCA Staff

For the first time in its more than three-decade history, WorldView magazine has brought home top honors in the FOLIO Awards honoring magazine editorial and design excellence. Published by National Peace Corps Association, WorldView is a winner of both an EDDIE and OZZIE in the 2021 awards. 

WorldView earned EDDIE top honors for a series of articles in the Summer 2020 edition that tell the stories of Peace Corps Volunteers who were evacuated from around the world in 2020. The series captures the Volunteer experiences and the communities in which they were serving, and the unfinished business they left behind.

The magazine earned OZZIE top honors for the cover of the Fall 2020 edition, featuring an illustration by award-winning artist David Plunkert. With a dove of peace inside a cage-like COVID-19 molecule, the cover asks: “What’s the role of Peace Corps now?” Plunkert’s work has appeared in the pages and on the covers of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, and elsewhere.

The awards were presented on October 14 at the FOLIO gala in New York City. The EDDIES and OZZIES have been presented for more than a quarter century and draw competition from across the United States and internationally. This year marked the return of an in-person awards ceremony. Other top winners this year include California’s ALTA Journal, Variety, environmental news publication Grist, People, National Geographic Kids, and more. 

WorldView is edited by Steven Boyd Saum, and Pamela Fogg serves as art director. The recent digital edition also bears the handiwork of Orrin Luc, who serves as digital content manager. And just joining the editorial team is Tiffany James, who comes on board as associate editor, global stories.

“This is an unprecedented time for the Peace Corps, and it’s heartening to see WorldView recognized for the importance and caliber of the work we’re doing,” says Saum. “There are dozens of people who shared their stories to help readers understand what thousands of communities and Volunteers have gone through — and a small but dedicated team of writers who helped give these stories shape and form. Every one of those Volunteers and writers deserve credit for the editorial award.”

As for the award-winning cover, Saum says, “That asks a question we’re still seeking to answer. And just like when Peace Corps Volunteers first embarked on this mission of building world peace and friendship 60 years ago, in the months to come it will be up to the Volunteers — and all of us in the Peace Corps community — to help define that role in a changed world.”

Read the current edition of WorldView — and those editions that have brought accolades — at worldviewmagazine.org.
 

WHY I GIVE: From Mongolia to the San Francisco Police. For Kenneth Syring, it’s about service. 

A Conversation with WorldView Magazine
 

Kenneth Syring joined Peace Corps when Volunteers didn’t choose their destination. He was thrilled when Peace Corps asked him to go to Mongolia. That’s the country he had in mind when this Bakersfield, California native applied. He soon was teaching English and tackling human trafficking. Now he’s an investigator with the San Francisco Police Department. Their motto, in part: Oro en paz — “gold in peace.”

How did Peace Corps shape your path? 

Peace Corps gave me a bug for service. I like to get my hands on a problem and work with it. I’ve always valued community improvement, helping others, leaving things better than I found them. I was an English teacher in a secondary school in eastern Mongolia 2006–08 with four other PCVs and other volunteers in the community. Human trafficking is a consistent and significant issue in Mongolia. Working with Save the Children, local police and leaders, and the Peace Corps country office, we started an anti-human trafficking awareness initiative. That helped Mongolians mitigate and prevent trafficking in the region. 

My experience in Peace Corps drove my interest in studying anti-human trafficking in graduate school at the University of London. After working with international development nonprofits in Washington, D.C., I found an opportunity with the San Francisco Police — first as a patrol officer and then in the Crime Scene Investigation unit. I’ve been able to work on a number of issues that I encountered during Peace Corps service, including human trafficking. 

I’ve been with SFPD more than seven years. I work with incredibly service-oriented people — and I’m one of five RPCVs! At a time when there is massive tension between communities and police, I see policing as a development opportunity — where police are members of the community. 

Look toward the future: A young girl plays in western Mongolia. Photo by Kari Aun/Shutterstock

How did you become active in Returned Peace Corps Volunteer activities?

I moved to San Francisco and sought out connection with the Peace Corps Community through the Northern California Peace Corps Association. I’ve attended events and have donated to them, and I’ve been involved with NPCA affiliate group Friends of Mongolia. 

You’ve made a generous gift to NPCA and are a member of the Shriver Circle of donors who give $1,000 annually. Why?

I knew about NPCA from reading World-View during Peace Corps service. I’m a big believer in the Third Goal, in the mission of NPCA, and what NPCA does for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and in advocating for Peace Corps. The way foreign policy is currently conducted, coupled with rising geopolitical instability, Peace Corps is absolutely needed. Helping people throughout the world learn about Americans — and Americans learn about others — that’s one of the most important things we can do.

Advice to your RPCV cohorts?

The majority of us consider our service in Peace Corps as a defining time in our lives — and in our sense of contribution to the world. A major reason I donate to NPCA is because I want to help advocate for continued opportunities for Americans to experience the world in this way. I want citizens of our partner nations to experience the best of what America represents—and to have an impact in a service that I deeply admire. I believe NPCA and its affiliates are the best vehicles that we have to focus our support for the Peace Corps’ mission in a meaningful way.

Mongolian sunset. Photo by Kenneth Syring

Spending a few years assisting with local development in a similar way as Peace Corps service is really helpful. I believe that the police are uniquely positioned to help develop the communities they serve. So I strongly encourage RPCVs to explore serving in this capacity for a few years—to infuse their community development and cross-cultural experience into the American policing mindset. 

To volunteers just returning, looking to reconnect, or make a different kind of impact, I’d say: By virtue of being an RPCV and the way you see the world, you’re already making changes you might not even notice. A lot of people in mid-career search for a big accomplishment. Instead, just know we’ve been doing it all along. Our impact is cumulative since we started. Keep it up. 

The editorial and creative teams who put together the special 2022 Books Edition of WorldView magazine for digital and print

PUBLISHER |  Glenn Blumhorst

EDITOR | Steven Boyd Saum

EDITOR EMERITUS | David Arnold

ART DIRECTOR | Pamela Fogg

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, GLOBAL STORIES | Tiffany James

DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER | Orrin Luc

WORLDVIEW INTERN | Nathalie Vadnais

CONTRIBUTORS
 

COVER AND BOOKS FEATURE PACKAGE

Design by Pamela Fogg. Photography by Brett Simison

ILLUSTRATION

Montse Bernal, George Mkumbula, Mark Smith

PHOTOGRAPHY

Thomas F. Aleto, Dennis Briskin, Art Buck, Lisa Ferdinando, Drew Havea, Ambika Mohan Joshee, Robin Moyer, Kai Pfaffenbach, Erin Scott, Lev Shevchenko, Brett Simison, Jonathan Slaght, Terrell Starr

WRITING

Jake Arce, Glenn Blumhorst, Leo Cecchini, Chiara Collette, John Coyne, Chic Dambach, Michael Hassett, Tiffany James, D.W. Jefferson, Ambika Mohan Joshee, Marnie Mueller, Jonathan Pearson, Ursula Pike, Bill Preston, John Ratigan, Paul Theroux, Nathalie Vadnais, Rich Wandschneider

SPEAKERS AT EVENTS FEATURED IN THIS EDITION

Jeffrey Janis, Olena Sergeeva

COPY EDITING

Allison Dubinsky, Tiffany James, Nathalie Vadnais

RESEARCH

Jake Arce, Tiffany James, Orrin Luc, Jonathan Pearson, Nathalie Vadnais

EDITOR, PEACE CORPS COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENTS

Peter Deekle

WorldView magazine is published by National Peace Corps Association, a national network of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, former staff, and friends, to provide news and comment about communities and issues of the world of serving and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Diverse views published in the magazine are not intended to reflect the views of the Peace Corps or those of National Peace Corps Association. 

NPCA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational and service organization which is independent of the federal agency, Peace Corps. 

WorldView (ISSN 1047-5338) is published four times per year (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) by National Peace Corps Association (1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20009-5708). Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. 

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