If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Serving in the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic is part of what inspired me to work in the reproductive health field. My service exposed me to the realities of gender violence, and left me even more committed to working for women's rights and empowerment.
Peace Corps volunteers, in villages and towns across Africa, are complementing the work of global partners. Getting mosquito nets and malaria diagnostics and medicines to those in need is a core focus of PMI.
Imagine a job that offered opportunities on the edge of innovation -- from installing solar-powered computer labs to helping communities switch to renewable energy; from linking local entrepreneurs to global markets to developing cellphone text messaging services to answer questions about HIV.
Books For Africa's collaboration with the Peace Corps has helped Books For Africa become the world's largest shipper of donated books to the African continent, shipping over 27 million books to 48 African countries over the past 25 years.
The Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest civilian honor, recognizes American citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. Sen. Harris Wofford will be honored along with other recipients at a White House ceremony on Friday, Feb. 15.
In his 2011 School of International Service commencement address, then-Peace Corps director Aaron Williams noted that "service is not a moment, it's a mindset." For Peace Corps and other service volunteers, the years spent in formal service are just the beginning.
I can see her strapping on her Kelty pack and with that knowing smile that never seemed to leave her lips, heading off to face whatever life and fate would bring her. And so she did last week.
The National Peace Corps Association, the nation's leading nonprofit organization supporting Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and the Peace Corps Community, is looking for nominations for the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award by this Friday, Feb. 1.
There are tens of thousands of service jobs available. And more and more young people -- and their parents -- are recognizing the opportunities for personal growth and the benefits of engaging in our communities.
Leaving the deanship at Harvard College in 1967, John U. Monro was famous for taking a humble job at Miles, a southern black college that had lost its accreditation.
After a few days in New York, we boarded an airbus heading east to Berlin, beginning a journey around the world that would forever alter the course of our lives.
I tell people I joined the Peace Corps to understand what it means to be poor, but that´s just part of the story. I joined the Peace Corps to figure out how to escape the guilt of having so much while other people have so little.
When I watched the recent presidential debates, I was disappointed to hear both President Obama and Governor Romney repeatedly say, "My plan." I kept waiting for one of them to say, "I will address the most critical problem in the country: political polarization."
The 27 months of Peace Corps service flies by. Some volunteers start thinking about what comes next early in their service and others don't worry about it until they are back in the U.S. All of us hope to utilize new skills we gained in foreign countries.
Simultaneously, and without knowing it, I learned many valuable lessons. When I started, I was a long-haired kid who couldn't manage his way out of a dim room. By the time I left, I had acquired a solar system of management training. Here's some of what I learned...
I still have flashbacks of water not coming out of the faucet, constantly needing to clean to stop ants or other things that became habit. Most of my sentences start with, "In Botswana..." The change is hard.
