Peace Corps Community in the News
Uplifting and Encouraging Stories from the Week of April 6, 2025.
From the Peace Corps to The Greening of Detroit, Fai Foen connects people to their natural environment, by Lori Atherton, University of Michigan | April 3, 2025.
An interest in sustainable development led Fai Foen (Mali 2006-08) to the Peace Corps, where she served as a small business advisor in West Africa. While there, she observed how connected people were to their physical environment. It made her want to foster that same connection back home, and inspired her to pursue landscape architecture at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.
Two different Africas: Peace Corps service then and now, by Cathy K. (Mali 1981-84; Cameroon 2024-present) in PeaceCorps.gov | April 4, 2025.
In 1981, at age 20 and a fresh college graduate, I flew to Mali to serve two years in the Peace Corps. I ended up staying nearly four years—two tours with Peace Corps and a few extra months helping train the next round of Agroforestry Volunteers. Now, more than 40 years later, I’ve returned—this time to serve the better part of a year as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Cameroon. I knew things would be different this time around, but I’m surprised at just how different the Peace Corps and the lives of Volunteers are.
McFarland Appointed to Pullman Regional Hospital Board, in Daily Fly | April 7, 2025.
Shane McFarland (Lesotho 2011-13) serves as the Online Wellness and Health Coordinator at Washington State University. He is also a faculty instructor, prevention scientist, emergency medical technician, certified exercise physiologist, massage therapist, and doctoral candidate. His research focuses on community health. He moved to Pullman in 2013 after serving in the Peace Corps and holds a master’s degree in Prevention Science from WSU.
Why Donald Trump’s decision to slash USAID is hurting American soft power and making the world less safe, by Chase Johnson (Republic of Georgia 2011-13) in The Conversation | April 7, 2025.
One of the most misunderstood concepts of foreign aid is the fact that large portions of its budget are spent domestically. A report may say that billions of dollars of food aid were given by the US to Sudan – but much of that represents payments to American farmers who are growing the food that is then donated to starving people – not just in Sudan, either. America’s farmers already exist on very tight margins, so an unexpected loss in revenue such as this, is likely to be a serious blow to them as well.
Alum, a Former Peace Corps Leader, Fetes BU Pardee at 10th Anniversary Celebration, by Rich Barlow in BU Today | April 8, 2025.
The ongoing shutdown of USAID continues to upend American efforts against global poverty, yet it offers an opportunity to do development aid better. That was former Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet’s (Western Samoa 1981-84; Peace Corps Deputy Director 2010-14; Peace Corps Director 2014-17); message to guests celebrating the 10th anniversary of Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. “Without question, the past few months have tested us deeply,” Hessler-Radelet said in her keynote address to a luncheon audience April 4 at the Metcalf Trustee Center.
New Bill Aims to Boost Rates for Military, Other Public Service, in Fed Manager | April 8, 2025.
The bipartisan Unity Through Service Act was reintroduced after failing to pass in previous sessions. The legislation would codify many of the recommendations from the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service’s 2020 report, which studied ways to boost public service and volunteerism in the United States. The legislation would authorize joint advertising, market research, and recruiting program with the Department of Defense, the Peace Corps, and the Corporation for National and Community Service to share market research and information.
The (Food) Force Is With Him, by Jonathan Riggs in UCLA Magazine | April 8, 2025.
When you meet Jack Bobo (Gabon 1989-91) in person — and trust me, you want to meet Jack Bobo in person — ask him about Star Wars. “I helped develop the official seven forms of light-saber combat,” says Bobo. “A friend of mine was working for Lucasfilm and knew that I was an avid fencer, so he called me up to help.” And when it comes to food, Bobo knows. He penned the 2021 book Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices.
Playing chess, not draughts, by Fred Parker in Jamaica Observer | April 8, 2025.
I am not Jamaican, but I pay attention to Jamaican politics because I met my wife in the 70s, while I was a Peace Corps worker in Jamaica. A few years later she was one of the many Jamaican families who were displaced from Jamaica during the Michael Manley era and made South Florida their new home. Those dark days have never tainted her love for her home country, and I have always supported my wife in her efforts on behalf of Jamaica.
Vatican astronomer to Give Perry Lecture April 21, in The Fayette Advertiser | April 8, 2025.
Known as “The Pope’s Astronomer,” Brother Guy J. Consolmagno (Kenya 1983-85) serves as the director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, with an area of research in asteroids and meteorites. His address will reflect on how faith in a Creator gives humanity the courage to study creation, and how understanding creation gives us an intimate familiarity with that Creator.
Trump's danger to most of us, by Stephen Gottlieb (Iran 1965-67) on WAMC Northeast Public Radio | April 8, 2025.
“Why did Trump’s Air Force try to scrub videos and records of the excellent and celebrated Tuskegee Airmen and Navajo Code Talkers in World War II? Many pilots, sailors and troops were happy to get their support. And why scrub the World War II Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs? My mother-in-law served in the Women’s Army Corps as a nurse. Lot of soldiers were happy to see her. Trump wasn’t a hero and doesn’t understand patriotism.”
Watts joins The Link as executive director, Rappahannock Record | April 9, 2025.
The Link, 25 Office Park Drive, Suite #4, Kilmarnock, recently hired its first paid, full-time executive director. The board of directors recently offered the newly-established position to Margaret “Maggie” M. Watts. Watts is a graduate of Sweet Briar College, where she majored in sociology and minored in Spanish. Fluent in Spanish, she served for two years with the Peace Corps.
With 15 Hawaiʻi volunteers worldwide, Peace Corps community watches DOGE closely, By Catherine Cruz in Hawaiʻi Public Radio | April 9, 2025.
Carolyn Mackenzie (Ukraine 2010-12) said there are 15 Hawaiʻi volunteers around the globe, and more are slated to leave in May. "If all goes well, they will be on their way to serve overseas — I believe it's Nepal, South America, and I think Africa. But yes, we keep our fingers crossed," she told HPR. Many Hawaiʻi officials have served in the Peace Corps, including the late Rep. Gene Ward. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in North Borneo, and was later the Peace Corps country director of East Timor.
Fired USAID worker fears grave damage to U.S., by Kathy Cruz in the Sequim Gazette | April 9, 2025.
Miguel Reabold (Brazil 1977-79; Cape Verde Country Director 1997-99; Togo Country Director 1999-2002) was inside a Sequim bank with his wife Sandra when he checked his phone and saw that he had received an email. He opened the message to find that he had been fired. A senior transition advisor for USAID, Reabold and his colleagues at the United States Agency for International Development knew they were in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – DOGE – as they seek to reduce federal spending, but their abrupt dismissals were shocking nonetheless.
“Americans care deeply about the health of their families and communities” interview with Claudia Williams (Botswana 1985-87) in Berkeley Public Health | April 10, 2025.
“My public health heroes are the community health workers I worked with in rural Burkina Faso in the early 1990s. They visited families after babies were born, ran vaccine campaigns, and helped communities access nutritious food. In an environment with few resources and many challenges, they stood up for what mattered most, forged lasting and trusting relationships and taught me so much.”
James Cohen named 2025 Presidential Engagement and Partnership Professor, in NIU Today | April 9, 2025.
James Cohen (Sri Lanka 1991-93) has his reasons for “living life to its fullest.” Cohen adopted a mission not only for himself but also for the students and colleagues in his sphere: “I rarely pass up an opportunity to experience something new.” Consider, for example, his service to the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Sri Lanka, where a random conversation with a South African backpacker provided yet another reason to answer each knock on the door.
Opinion | America's tradition is being a force for good worldwide. Let's restore that, by Kelcey Patrick-Ferree and Shannon Patrick in Des Moines Register | April 10, 2025.
In his 1961 inauguration, President John F. Kennedy pledged that America would do more for the world. “To those … struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required — not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.” And we did. We founded the Peace Corps and joined our many foreign assistance programs together as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). For decades after, we dedicated a tiny fraction of our federal budget, just 0.6%, to making the world a better place.
Opinion: Defending Conflict Resolution, by Colin Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) in Mediate.com | April 10, 2025.
It is easy to stand for empathy, inclusion, diversity, and tolerance when those values are valued, protected, and enshrined in our institutions. The test comes when they are under threat by the powerful, and when speaking out may draw attention (and possible recriminations) onto yourself. But if you only stand up for your beliefs when it’s easy to do so, how strongly do you really hold those beliefs? Now is the time for us to speak up and fight for the values of our field.
Navarro’s Return: Architect of Trump’s Trade Policies Back in the White House, in News Directory | April 10, 2025.
Amid ongoing global market volatility intensified by U.S. tariffs, economist Peter Navarro (Thailand 1972-75), a staunch critic of China, has once again become a central figure in trade policy under the Trump administration. Navarro, who holds a PhD from Harvard University, previously served as a trade advisor during Trump’s initial term and is widely regarded as a key architect of the administration’s aggressive trade strategies.
Opinion: Keep the Peace Corps, by Michelle Eames in the Spokesman Review | April 11, 2025.
Many of my returned Peace Corps volunteer friends used their gained experience and skills to enter careers as public servants back in the U.S., including as teachers, or working for federal agencies. Some continued to work internationally, for example, responding to refugee crises across the world. Peace Corps volunteers are well-respected and appreciated in the countries where they work. The budget is a small price to pay for friendship with other countries.