Newsletter - San Diego Peace Corps Association

When: Sunday, Nov 21 1:00pm - Sundown
Where: Rancho Villaseñor
1302 Stewart Street, Oceanside
Phone: 760.722.1463

“To celebrate life–La Vida–to honor Mother Earth, and to practice world peace! ...if we really want peace and harmony on Earth, then we need a day to rally around, a day of fun and joy.”

“So let’s take our U.S. celebration of Thanksgiving and go global with it, inviting all of God’s children to join us on one day a year to give thanks for all the good things we already have on Earth and then feast and make merry with peace and harmony in our hearts and souls.”

The Snow Goose Festival was started 13 years ago by Victor Villaseñor, celebrated author, recipient of the 2004 SDPCA Global Awareness Award. Join us as we take part in this year’s celebration. Last year there were more than 1000 people.

“Bring a dish for 12 people...made with love for a potluck or a picnic, and a chair or blanket for...comfort, and invite that neighbor down the street that you’ve never spoken to, or maybe don’t even like.”

“At sundown, everyone lights candles one candle per family or person or whatever and you all face East and have 60 seconds of silence and send your collective love all around the Earth, until that love goes all around the Earth and comes back and kicks you in the butt, jumping you one foot forward with the joyous shout of, “We did it! We did it! We send love all the way around the whole Earth!"

Reports and Photographs
from Five ISF Grant Recipients

(1) from Erik Fritz, PCV
Spring 2004, $525
New Computer system
Krygyz Republic

Thanks to your help we finally have a computer. When the school year starts I will take pictures of the students using this great resource and send them to you. We have included an accounting of the project, we lucked out and received a discount. Thanks again.

Progress Report: Munkhaan village, Sukhbaatar Province: English Resource Room [Pictures from Hyun Lee]
We received money from the SDPCA on May 24, 2004 in the amount of $300 which is the equivalent of 348,000 tugricks. Our project began by Munkhaan Soum’s 8 Year Secondary School giving the English Program and English Resource Room and a larger English classroom.

We ended up buying some things that we did not plan on, but later decided we needed. Other items that we thought we would need to purchase we ended up not buying because we received them through others donating the necessary materials for our project. The school donated the old library for the Resource Room so we ended up needing less wooden boards for the project as well.
The actual implementation of the project started on June 10, 2004.

We began by fixing up the room. The room is physically 5m x 3m x 3m. The school donated 2 workers for our project. The first day involved cleaning up the room or the textbooks, about 40 school children helped us take the books and move them to a new location. The second day involved cleaning up the room. The third day we fixed and painted the wall. The next day we painted bookshelves. Then we placed our books, tapes, magazines, CD player and other resources in the English Resource Room.

We have received about 62 books from Darien Aid, 12 books from the Province Center Education Center, 27 books from our project money and from other sources we acquired approximately 30 books. In addition, we receive about 60 books from the Asian Foundation. We also have about 30 copies of Newsweek magazines as well. The resource room has a collection of about 30 tapes and 10 CD’s of music and transcripts. Also we have the game Scrabble for the students to play and an electrical typewriter for students to type their papers. We have plans to put tables in the resource center so that the community and students can sit and read books, listen to music and transcripts of a book, etc. Also, we plan to have library cards for the people who use the resource room. We plan to charge T500 (43 cents) per person per year to maintain and expand the resource room

We now have T104,660 remaining from our grant to purchase more books. Also, the school is planning to fix the floor for the room as well, by placing linoleum in the room. The school has also promised to donate tables and desks for the room.

Our Action Plan is as follows:
1. Put the linoleum down.
2. Put 3 tables, 3 benches and 1 chair in the resource room.
3. Organize the room.
4. Library Cards.
5. Open the library.

The library will then open on September 15th, 2004 for official use by the community. PCV Hyun Lee will leave the community on June 16, 2004 and COS on June 23, 2004. Thereafter his counterpart, Regjidmaa, will be in charge of implementing the final phases of the resources and she will submit a final report around September 30, 2004.

Letter from Hyun Lee’s Counterpart
Dear SDPCA,
We received grant money on May 24, 2004. We are very happy. We could not have an English room before because my school does not have any money nor any English books. Now we have the English Resource Room. My students and village people will use the English Resource Room starting this September. Hyun Lee and I went to Ulaanbaater, the capital of Mongolia, and then we bought books and some materials. You gave money to us and we are very joyful.

Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Regjidmaa,
8 year Secondary School English teacher.

(3) from Dana Boling, PCV
Spring 2004, $ 524
Equipment for English Resource Center
Bulgaria

Hristo Smirnenski Primary School
Berkovitsa, Bulgaria
[Pictures from Dana Boling]

I know this seems a little overdue, but I wanted to report on the success of our project. The photos show the new resources purchased for the teachers and students of Hristo Smirnenski Primary School in Berkovitsa, Bulgaria. Thanks to you and the SDPCA, we were able to buy a new computer and printer for the teachers. Thank you again for funding my project and contributing to the development of our school’s Resource Center.

(4) from Jennifer Amanda Jones, RPCV
Spring 2004, $400
Preschool Outdoor Play Equipment & Learning Tools
Domincan Republic

Patronato Pro-Ayuda a la Niñez Desvalida, Inc.
Santiago Rodriquez, Dominican Republic
[pictures from Jennifer Jones]

May 17, 2004 [PCV]
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have the pleasure of working with the Board of Directors of the Patronato Pro-Ayuda a la Niñez Desvalida, Inc in Sabaneta, Santiago Rodriguez.

During the past year, we have been laying the institutional groundwork necessary to open a preschool and begin enrolling our town’s most underserved children.

This letter and photos are sent to express the sincere gratitude of myself and the community of Sabaneta to SDPCA. Through your grants of $400, and a private donation, we were able to purchase basic educational supplies for the preschool “Divino Niño”. (The Divine Child) These supplies, recently delivered, were received with much enthusiasm.

These donations are a great support to this childcare center, and will change the way the community thinks about early childhood development. As you know, this will be one of the first quality childcare centers in this town, located in the north west of the Dominican Republic.

Preparations to open are moving along quickly and we hope to be serving the low-income, impoverished children and families in the coming school year.

We look forward to continuing a partnership with you as we strive to meet the educational and social service needs of the children in Sabaneta.

September 1, 2004 [RPCV]
Just less than a year ago, the San Diego Peace Corps Association awarded a Mark J. Tonner Award of $400 to a small preschool in the Dominican Republic. Actually, at time, calling the shell of a house a preschool would have been going too far.

The recipient, a non-profit organization, is in the process of moving from an ambulatory service, donating milk and medicine supplies to the low income children of Santiago Rodriguez, to a more integral approach: establishing a child development center.

This project is taking place on two levels. The organization, El Patronato Pro-Ayuda a la Niñez Desvalida, has raised the funds to purchase a large quantity of land just outside of the town. They are in the process of constructing a center which will house the preschool, a nutritional center and a medical facility.

In the mean time, they have begun a pilot phase of the project in a rented house in the middle of town. Here enters the SDPCA.
This house, with a wide backyard patio and three bedrooms which will be converted into classrooms, was an empty, barren space when I found it last November. It was hard to imagine that it could become the dynamic, child-oriented place it has.

Thanks to the SDPCA grant, the Patronato was able to secure a matching-funding grant from two other sources: a private donor and Lakeshore, Inc. $400 quickly grew to $1,200. With this money, we purchased educational materials, books, toys and art supplies so that this child development center could, in fact, become a place where children could grow and learn.

Over the past year, the Board of Directors built two child sized bathrooms, bought child-sized tables and chairs, and secured the funding to be able to begin the project.

The week before we opened the school to the first, eager 3 year olds, the new teacher and I sat down to organize our thoughts. As we talked through the preparations for the classroom, the materials made it easier for her to understand the importance of play in a child’s experience.

In a society of empty, rote memorization, we discussed the value of activities such as stacking blocks, reading stories, painting, and ordering objects based on size and color. She began to understand what was meant by ‘pre-reading’ activities.

The classroom is decorated by blending the newer supplies with Dominican objects. The children play with Dominican drums and maracas during music time, and listen to the Dominican children’s tapes during the day.

There is a dress-up and ‘play house’ area, with a mirror, old clothes, colorful plastic dishes, and empty food cartons, all of which stimulate the child’s imagination and help them to understand the world around them.

A sand box and water table is set up outside, in large black plastic buckets usually used by housewives to do laundry. When an egg-timer sounds, the children know that this is time to clean up, and move on to the next activity.

Because these students are from some of the poorest households in the town and often came to school on an empty stomach, our program includes breakfast and a snack. After each meal, the line walks to the back yard where they one-by-one brush their teeth, use the bathroom and wash their hands.

The difference has been immediate. Within two weeks, the children were more alert, quicker to engage themselves, and excited to learn. They adapted quickly to the ordered schedule and found comfort in the daily routines.

It has truly been a joy to work on this project, and though I am now living in San Diego, I continue to work in collaboration with the Patronato.

Thank you to the San Diego Peace Corps Association, from myself, the Board of Directors and the children.

(5) Laura Sundquist, PCV
Spring 2004, $200
Books for a children’s library
Dominican Republic

Kids were inspired to write their own books. They wanted to be the author and illustrator. The books turned out great and expanded the library. [All photos this section from Laura Sundquist]

Above: See the handle of the binding machine for binding the books that the students make.

Below: The English Club met at my flat Fridays at 4 p.m. and I looked forward to having them there.

This summer I traveled back to Ukraine to visit my many friends there, and it was wonderful to be made to feel so at home on arrival, i.e. several friends greeting me at the airport with beautiful flowers, lots of hugs and tears, handling my luggage like I couldn’t do it myself, having a car to transport me to the apartment they found for me to rent while there and more. In no time at all, I felt that I had never left Ukraine.

I retired in December 2000 from the Union-Tribune to join the Peace Corps after working for many years there, much of that time as a technology manager.

My PC service ended in April last year. Returning home to San Diego permanently was a big adjustment for me – no surprise to other RPCVs, right? I returned four months later, however, as a Freedom House Volunteer (AVID) funded by the State Department and stayed as a volunteer business adviser until the end of the year. And I may even go back, if needed, for more short contracts to help the people in Lviv, a large, historic and beautiful city situated near the Polish border.

I sometimes question why I like Ukraine so much. I like it so much that I call it “My Ukraine.” The people are so wonderful that it overrides all of the negatives one has to endure. One has to deal with walking on the cobblestones and wearing out shoes quite quickly, deal with very old flats and appliances and furnishings in them and all the quirks of everything to make them work, hassle with the winter weather, the coats, boots, etc. that goes with the very cold weather there.

Also there’s no guarantee from day to day whether you’ll have heat or even water from one hour to another. In Lviv most people only have water from 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m., if they’re lucky. And electricity? That’s another whole story. It’s not what we consider reliable. Public transportation is not reliable either. I couldn’t complain, though, because I got to ride the trolleys and trams free because I was over 60. This was a savings of 9c per ride. Yaaaa. So if I had to take a taxi when desperate for a ride for a $1 on occasion, so what.

I honestly didn’t have many complaints. Some of my fellow PCVs lived in small towns and didn’t have all the amenities that I had, i.e. water for 6 hours a day, Internet at home, public transportation (they had to walk a lot), a real furnace (even though mine was ancient) and a 4-room apartment large enough to host 40 people at Thanksgiving each year. I felt fortunate.

Why Volunteer?
In Ukraine, not unlike many other countries, many people think that a volunteer is really a different kind of a person, perhaps unique. They have a hard time believing people would want to volunteer to help other people rather than continue right on working or just retiring. On the other hand, women there retire at 55 with a pension of $24 monthly. They feel that this is normal and are accepting of this practice, especially if you have grandchildren that need to be cared for when Mom works. Ummmmmm.... In any case, they accepted me into their fold and were happy to have me there.

In Lviv I had a variety of jobs. My primary job as a PCV was as a business consultant in the local Women’s Center. I was well matched for that site. I had the opportunity to meet and help a lot of people. My secondary projects included initiating and running an English Club for high school students, tutoring university students one-on-one and advising some small businesses.

The English Club met at my flat Fridays at 4 p.m., and I looked forward to having the students gather there. I helped them with their scholarship essays, practiced speaking English, showed American movies, introduced them to popcorn and Mexican food and much more. You can see some of those students with me at the Windows to America library that was opened through the Cultural Affairs section of the American Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, at this link: http://usinfo.usemb.kiev.ua/irc_window_eng.html A side benefit of working with students is that a lot of their parents became good friends of mine. They were so appreciative of my help with their children.

While in Ukraine, about 10 of us PCVs were invited to a couple events at the Ambassador’s residence, including one where the U.S. Secretary of Treasury questioned us on how we thought the foreign aid money for Ukraine should be spent. When U.S. Senator Richard Shelby visited my site at my request when he was in Lviv to visit the mayor, he posed the same types of questions. It’s hard to believe that we PCVs could make a difference at that level. However, I’m sure these types of situations happen the world over in PC life. It just shows the respect people at that level in our government have for PCVs.

The director at my site recruited me to join Zonta International organization, a woman’s club for executive and professional women who get the opportunity to perform a lot of work for charities. The governor’s wife was president of Zonta in Lviv and had a lot of good ideas and input as to where our money could go, especially with children’s orphanages.

During my working years at the Union-Tribune, I still found time to volunteer in a variety of organizations, i.e. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Little League, YWCA Board of Directors, some computer organizations and others locally and on a national level several different computer society organizations. Peace Corps, however, is different when you realize you’re helping people every day for two years. Now I’m focusing on volunteering in San Diego with the SDPCA Board of Directors as Communication Chair and with SDPCA community action events, also with Zonta, the YWCA and more.

Yes, I recommend Peace Corps for others my age and older, too. It’s a fulfilling life and can be the beginning of a lifetime of volunteering. I encourage anyone nearing retirement to consider serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer because there’s definitely work for them to do around the world and plenty of it. It’s a life-changing experience no matter what the age, but what more could a healthy retiree want out of life? Perhaps like me, you might meet new friends, both old and young, travel to cities like Lviv, Ukraine, a beautiful jewel of a city, and combined with it all helping people while you’re enjoying living and exploring another part of the world. I also encourage retired RPCVs to take on the challenge of volunteer opportunities in their own communities upon returning home. I’m sure you’ll find it most fulfilling.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. –Albert Einstein

Remember your interview with the Peace Corps recruiter way back when? That and the issues involved with becoming a volunteer are coming back to me as I accompany a friend and workmate through the process—as she is silly enough to want to spend 27 months of her life in another county encountering a myriad of cultural and personal barriers, issues, revelations and explosions (or implosions?). I am thrilled for her and interested to see how the process has changed since 1985—for those of you from the 60’s and 70’s, well, I couldn’t begin to comment on the differences.
I remember spending hours on the application and then typing it on the IBM Selectric after hours at the bank where I was working.

Later I was interviewed over the phone by a recruiter in Detroit—and accepted without much ado. (This was the second time I had applied---several years before upon finishing graduate school I had put myself out there but ultimately accepted a job in the private sector—saving the Peace Corps option for later). The letters of recommendation, the medical clearances---they insisted that I have a tiny cavity filled—then off to Miami, FL for an orientation and (later I understood) and final weeding out of flakes and potentially disruptive individuals–we were, after all, an instrument to help to carry out the goals (remember how we bravely took Grenada?) of the Caribbean Basin Initiative–flooding the region (Central America included) with volunteers—that is, “democracy with a smile.”

These days the application process is on-line and fast—given the recruitment goals (how many thousands are we placing abroad every year?---it is a major deal), an expedited process is the only way. I wish my friend well and hope to visit her wherever she happens to end up---and remember what it was all about.

Hope everyone’s summer has been enjoyable. Saludos
–Greg Pancoast, Costa Rica (1985-86)

Minutes

Jesse Santos, Nikol Shaw, Marjory Clyne, Lynn Jarrett, Liz Brown, Kristen Slanina, Ray Slanina, Rudy Sovinee, and Frank Yates attended both meetings. Gregg Pancoast attended in Sep and Don Beck attended in October.

President’s Report: Deferred to Comm Rpts. Financial Report: Frank reported balances and gave a detailed income and expenses statement.

Membership: SDPCA membership is at 158 current, 21 past due, totaling 179. NPCA membership is at 110 current, 4 past due, totaling 114. There are currently 25 free members.

Membership numbers seen to be slipping. Marjory and Lynn plan to call all “past due” members and remind them to renew their membership. A notice will also be placed in the next newsletter with a list of membership benefits remindingall to renew.

Frank has contacted NPCA to investigate the problem SDPCA is experiencing as far as not receiving notification of new or renewed membership in a timely fashion. Marjory will call and/or email the contact at NPCA to get the membership reports for the past months not yet to forwarded to SDPCA.

Marjory also stressed the importance of our membership and the need to have the membership databases and information current and cleaned-up. Marjory will coordinate a separate meeting.

Some questions and concerns have arisen about when to give PCVs and RPCVs their free year of membership and if newsletters should be mailed overseas to PCVs. NPCA’s stance is that PCVs /RPCVs may choose when to have their free year of membership– either the first year of Peace Corps service, second year of service, or upon COS–but membership is only free for that one year. A motion was made to adopt this as SDPCA policy with the added note that if a PCV elects their free year while in service, newsletters and correspondence will be mailed to the local home of record, not to an overseas address because of the added cost and unreliability of mail service to many countries where PCVs serve. The motion carried.

Community Action: The Heart Walk and Special Olympics events went well, but both events could have used and would have liked a larger turnout of volunteers. Jesse is reevaluating strategy for activities and nothing has been scheduled for October. The suggestion was made to look into a soup kitchen opportunity or similar between now and year end.

Fundraising: 24 Postal Annex stores currently have Entertainment Books for sale; the price is $40. Calendars are also available, $8 for members and $10 for non-members or mailing.

Global Awards: Some ISF proposals have started coming in. No nominations for the Domestic Award have been received. A committee will look at two groups, suggested at the Board Meeting, for possible award–one a school group promoting Peace Corps and the other a gentleman who teaches and promotes non-violent conflict resolution.

Communications: Jan newsletter deadline 12/10/04. Jan newsletter will be mailed about Jan 9th.

Social: SDPCA has received a warning from Evite that we are not receiving enough responses and are in danger of losing the Evite service. Evite is very helpful to the committees because of the response actions and the ability to include comments in the responses. A decision was made to divide the responsibility of sending Evites, rather than the Social Chair sending Evites for all activities, and for North County Membership to have their own scaled-down Evite list rather than sending invitations to all SDPCA members. Lynn will also be emailing all members who are unresponsive to Evites to let them know they will be removed from the Evite list unless specifically asked to be included again. If problems persist, then we will look at sending direct emails and/or trying to find another Evite-like provider.

Speaker’s Bureau: Rudy continues to receive and fill requests for speakers. Rudy has also received a request from a San Diego high school teacher for speakers to give global awareness lessons to her classes a few times a week. Rudy and Jesse will discuss.

Old Business: Motion made to donate $50 to the Friends of Belize honoring Jeff Cleveland’s contributions over the years; carried.
Rudy will be able to start planning efforts for the themed discussion panels in the November timeframe, with a goal of having the first panel in the January timeframe.

Next Meetings: The November meeting will take place Wednesday (because of elections on Tuesday) 6:30 PM, 11/3/04, at the home of Ray and Kristen Slanina. All RPCVs are welcome to attend.
–Nikol Shaw, Mauritania (1999-2001)

Community Action Events

Sept 18: American Heart Association (Hands-On San Diego)
Hank Davenport-Barberis (Peru ‘62-’64) and Susan Santos (Papua New Guinea ‘98-’00) joined Lynn Jarrett and me to staff a water station at the 13th Annual American Heart Association Heart Walk in Balboa Park (Sept 18th). Our volunteer participation helped AHA toward a fund raising goal of $900,000 for the event. This is a good cause and our help was very much appreciated.

Sept 25: Special Olympics
On September 25th, Bill Murray (Swaziland ‘80-’81), Carl Peterson (Nigeria ‘63–’66), Kristen Slanina, Marjory Clyne and I met at the Naval Station to help with regional trials for the San Diego Special Olympics (Soccer, Tennis and Golf). These regional events are a held to determine which adults with intellectual disabilities progress toward the World Summer Special Olympics Games to be held in China in 2007. We had a great time helping as referees linesmen and score keepers.

I encourage everyone in the SDPCA to make it to one of our community action events. I will continue to coordinate events, such as these, and hope we will see you at the next event !
–Jesse Santos, Papua New Guinea, ‘98-’00 VP SDPC

The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics
is to be governed by men worse than themselves. —Plato

Announcement
Have you lived abroad for at least one year AND returned to the U.S. within the past year? If so, you are eligible to participate in a dissertation study on repatriate distress and cultural readjustment. To take the survey online, please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=36057399214 and enter the password “returnee.” Please forward this info to other returnees who might be interested and contact Maren Wolfe (RPCV-Tonga, 94-97) at mmwolfe@education.ucsb.edu with any questions. Thanks!

Speaker’s Bureau
Do you like to share stories of what you did and of lessons you learned while in the Peace Corps? Most of us do, and doing so helps fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps.

In January, the SDPCA is planning to begin offering public panel events on topics such as “Service in Islamic Countries” or “The Scope and Impact of Peace Corps Environmental Programs.” The topics are still being defined and panelists located. Please contact Rudy Sovinee if you have a desire to participate, even if only to suggest a topic.

For the first week of March, the SDPCA typically has numerous requests to speak in schools, and before civic organizations. Will you plan now to take a half-day that week to share your experiences? Meanwhile, are you are involved in speaking about the Peace Corps to any group? Either way, please let us know, so we can track for whom, and how RPCVs share their experience.
–Rudy Sovinee, Ghana (1970-73)

Some examples of trade beads in Beads, Crystals & More shop. Story below.
[photo by Rudy Sovinee]

Trade Beads
While serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana, I encountered numerous ornate beads, called “trade beads.” Likely many other RPCVs have had a similar experience, despite widely separated countries of service.

As reported on one web site, “Trade beads have become more popular in the West during the last few decades when Africa began supplying beads in large numbers and in a diverse array of colors, materials, and shapes. While it is largely undetermined as to the exact date when beads from Africa began being imported to the United States and other Western countries, the late 1960’s to early 1970’s are generally accepted dates. During this time period, large numbers of young people were traveling throughout the world and bringing home interesting treasures they had collected during their travels. Some of these young travelers began importing beads and other ornaments to the US. Once they became more popular and a market for these items was established, African runners, or traders, began bringing larger quantities into the United States and other Western countries.”

I found a store, Beads Crystals & More, in Encinitas, which has an exceptionally large collection of trade beads. Some beads are of museum quality and date back a few thousand years. After talking with the owner, I asked permission to take some photos, and share news of my “find” with you. Take a stroll down memory lane; go look through these gorgeous strings. If you encountered such beads before, this will be a fun outing.

About trade beads: The history of beads dates as far back as the advent of modern people, some 40,000 years ago. They have been made by every culture since then. Every society has had the basic technology to make beads consisting of items from plant seeds to various stones.

Plant material required the least technology to produce beads and was a widely available medium. In contrast, the material from gems, semiprecious stone and bone required a labor-intensive production process.

Egyptians were making glass beads by 1365 B.C. and there are several thousand year old glass factories in Lebanon that are still in production. Evidence that China has been making and exporting glass beads for hundreds of years has been revealed in archaeology sites.

Glass and Brass beads have been found in burial sites of many cultures including Egyptian tombs, Roman catacombs, Saxon, and American Indian burial sites. Glass beads were being made in Venice, Italy by 1,000 A.D. A guild of Venetian glass makers existed in 1224 AD.

NPCA Online Career Center
The NPCA Online Career Center debuted to positive reviews. This new feature of the NPCA website links to the Emergency Response Network, short-term contract/consulting opportunities, job postings, over 100 national and international organizations, listservs and publications, and other job search related information.
Visit the Career Center at:
http//www.rpcv.org/pages/job_welcome.cfm
–Brenda Terry-Hahn, Nepal (1964-66)

Fundraising

Great Holiday Gifts
We have two wonderful ways to support our Global Awards Fund that make great gifts your friends and family will appreciate for the whole year. The 2005 Calendars are here, ready for pickup ($8.00) or mailing ($10.00) and the San Diego Entertainment books are available at 24Postal Annex+ stores (check the list) for $40.00.

What a perfect way to support San Diego Peace Corps Volunteers with grant monies for their village projects and conveniently get your holiday shopping done early. I would love to hear from every one if our members: email: fundraising@sdpca.org

Letters to the Editor

Dear Newsletter Editor:

I loved Andrew Ranson’s article “Growing Up Peace Corps.”

Though not a dad myself, I sent it to all the Peace Corps Dads I know. They’re all “different”, too.

Dear Editor:

I just finished reading the latest Pacific Waves and had to write and say thank you. The article from Jim Fox, “A Terrible Mess,” is so on point I am sharing it with friends and relatives. He has said everything I believe.

In addition, the article from Andrew Ranson, “Growing Up Peace Corps,” was delightful.

Back in the dark ages when I was President and on the board of SDPCA, we struggled with every issue to make it interesting and relevant. I just wanted you to know that you’ve done it. Thanks for your dedication and hard work.

Welcome to New Members

SDPCA extends a warm welcome to our newest members. We’ve seen some of you at events already, and we want all of you to get involved in our activities. Let us hear from you! And contact us that we might help you as well.

Pacific Waves is published six times a year by the San Diego PeaceCorps Association which is fully responsible for its content. Except for copyrighted material, articles may be reprinted without permission with credit to the SDPCA.

Contributions are encouraged: e-mailed text file on disk- Mac preferred, or typed copy.

Please send to Editor, SDPCA, P.O. Box 26565, San Diego, CA 92196 or e-mail: newseditor@sdpca.org

Contributors this issue are:
Rudy Sovinee, Brenda Terry-Hahn, Cathy Hemphill, Gary Geoghegan, Jennifer Jones-PCV, Hyun Lee-PCV, Dana Boling- PCV, Laura Sundquist-PCV, Erik Fritz-PCV

International Snow Goose Thanksgiving Celebration