Peace Corps Journals

The Last Ride

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

2006-12-20 19:40:10

I HAD SAID SO OFTEN that leaving my Senegalese village, Keur Madiabel, would the most difficult part of my three-year Peace Corps service. Every time a farewell scene crept into my mind, I banished it quickly and vowed to think...

Thirty Years Later

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2006-12-20 19:50:38

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND what is ‘first class’” about this train car, my husband said. I looked around at the dirty, rusty old car, with bent bars on the open window, red betel juice stains on the walls, and the single...

Telling Time

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2006-12-20 19:58:18

FOR TWO YEARS I LIVED in a country with no seasons. We measured time by other means than falling leaves or snow, new buds on trees. There was a fresh breeze in the air, the ash of burned sugar cane...

White

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2006-12-20 20:02:16

YESTERDAY, I ATTENDED MY FIRST FUNERAL. I wore white and so did the corpse. The body was wrapped in a heavy, white cloth and placed under a mango tree, surrounded by dozens of old women with missing teeth, gray hair,...

Moon Rocket

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2007-02-13 19:45:34

I see it now in my mind’s eye – from my house in Songhor - wind blown tufts of light green sugar cane surging like a great sea on Kenya’s Kanu Plains to wash gently against the thousand foot heights...

Now Ruz Celebrations

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2007-03-19 17:55:55

Now Ruz Celebrations I want to take this opportunity to wish one and all a joyous and prosperous New Year on March 20-21, 2007 because Iranians are a very special part of my global family. One of my happiest memories...

Return of the (Non) Native

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2007-06-12 03:45:32

July 2005 I left Thailand in 1980 after spending four years as a Peace Corps English teacher in a secondary school and three more working in refugee camps. I really don't know why it took me so long to finally...

How Sodabi Fits Into Development

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2007-06-27 21:51:59

Forget coffee! Forget tea! Forget Vodka! Sodabi is Benin’s number one drink- the demi-god that everyone adores in Benin, the country whose most famous asset is being the origin of Voodoo. Sodabi is so widespread, people have no idea of...

A New Moon Brings New Hope

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2007-09-13 18:56:19

A New Moon Brings New Hope Jennifer B-C Seaver (Iran 1966-68) While Jews celebrate the New Year, Ramadan, or Ramazzan, as it is known in Iran, begin tonight when religious leaders observe the new moon. For the next lunar month,...

Free and Fair Elections?

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Iran Peace Corps Writers Blog

2008-03-13 00:43:39

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, “Iran's hard-liners head into Friday's [March 14, 2008] parliamentary elections burdened by the unpopularity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because of an ailing economy. But they have a safety net: Rival reformists...