Tag: Peace Corps Goals

A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary

Hi, everyone! Wherever you are in the world, I hope you and yours are doing well, staying safe, and helping those around you. In these sad, discouraging, and frustrating times, I find it helpful to remember people who put others before themselves, and who recognize the advantages they enjoy because of their birth, ancestry, time, and place. To that end, you might appreciate this new documentary describing the history of the Peace Corps, available now for a virtual screening.

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Goodbye, Arandis! P.S. I love you!

Today is my last day at the office where I have worked at the Arandis Town Council for the past 2 1/2 years. It hasn’t always been easy – but it has always been rewarding. Above my desk, every day, I used this poem for inspiration. Attributed to the philosopher Laozi in the 6th Century BC, it encapsulates for me the primary objective of Peace Corps around the world. Continue reading “Goodbye, Arandis! P.S. I love you!”

Staging

Staging was a ½-day meeting in the U.S. of all members of our Peace Corps Namibia Group 43 and a couple of Peace Corps staffers, just prior to traveling out of the country. It was held in the conference room of a small hotel in Philadelphia and comprised 5 hours of structured but casual introduction, orientation and team-building activities. The premise is that these 32 other trainees will serve as my new support unit throughout my time away: raw strangers one afternoon in Philly will become close friends, even a new “family,” with relationships that will last a lifetime. We’re going to spend a lot of time together over the next 9 weeks of Pre-Service Training and at other times throughout our 2-year service period. I have no doubt we’ll get to know each other quite well.

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