FEBRUARY 2008
NEWS FROM YOUR RPCVw BOARD
President’s Corner
Greetings to all —
During your Peace Corps service, how many of you
considered how you would stay connected to other
volunteers when you returned home? Were you ready
to jump back into the “real world” and return to the
relationships that you had known before? How had
they changed? How had you changed? RPCVw is a
special organization because it brings together others
who have shared parts of your formative Peace Corps
experience — learning a brand new language; how to
eat, speak, and work with a new community. Our
RPCVw Board exists for you, our members, to help
create opportunities for you to meet each other and
form life-giving relationships building from those
unique experiences you had during your Peace Corps
service.
There are so many ways to make these connections —
during the next five months you can look forward to
more social and community service activities. As a
Board, we’ve been working hard to plan diverse
activities to satisfy the mosaic of preferences that we
so appreciate about our members. Please come to the
activities, e-mail us, talk to us and to each other. Let
us know how you would like to connect with other
RPCVs. In addition to communicating with you
through our Listserve, there are bulletin boards on
our Web site for members to pose comments and
questions, and we now have a Facebook page you can
join to stay informed. In this newsletter and in future
e-mails you will read about past and upcoming events,
and you’ll find opportunities to offer some of your self
to others. We invite you to join us as you are able.
We each have a story to tell. Won’t you share yours?
Warm regards,
Molly Mattessich
Vice President, RPCVw
PCV Mali, 2002-2004
This year the board of RPCV/W has been busy!
Since our August retreat, we have been
coordinating social events, bringing interesting new
opportunities to our members and expanding our
RPCV community.
2007 Holiday Party:
This year's holiday party was a big success, with
over 220 returned volunteers, gathered together in
the beautiful Josephine Butler House. The rooms
were decorated, the food was delicious and the
music was rockin'. Thank you to Chefs Kyle and
James from the Fix-NY Deli for outdoing
themselves, yet again, on the food, and another big
thank you to our volunteer DJ, Mark Alyea-Cheu.
Thanks to everyone who donated or bid on an item
at the silent auction. We raised about $300, which
will go towards third-goal initiatives.
If you have any comments about the holiday party
or have suggestions for next year's festivities,
please contact specialevents@rpcvw.org. We want
to keep improving it year to year!
Board Retreat:
We just met for our mid-year retreat on January
12th, where we discussed the highlights of the year
so far, including happy hours, community service
events, new members events, interesting programs
and a successful holiday party. Our membership is
at its highest ever! We are so happy to have so
many loyal members and so many new faces.
Upcoming Events:
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we will
continue to bring social events and educational
opportunities, and incorporate some great programs
for Peace Corps Week in March. We appreciate
any and all feedback, as we are here to represent
our membership.
Some exciting things to look forward to include
the annual wreath laying on John F. Kennedy's
grave in May, and the annual picnic in July.
Both have been member favorites in the past.
This year our board had its annual holiday dinner
at Bucco de Beppo to celebrate a great 2007. If
you are interested in joining the RPCV/W board,
please contact Jim Gore at
president@rpcvw.org. Here's to a great 2008!
RPCV Career Event
Washington, D.C.
February 26-29, 2008
Couches needed!!
Remember those long journeys you took as
a PCV to an unknown village, city, or
town, and how much it meant to have
someone open up their home to you, give
you a seat on which to rest? Now is your
chance to return the favor. A few hundred
RPCVs are coming to D.C. for a career fair
and weekend of activities and many are
looking for an affordable place to stay.
This is a great way to meet someone new
from another part of the country. If you
have a spare couch, futon, air mattress, or
bed to offer on any evening from Feb 26 -
March 3, please email Molly at
vicepresident@rpcvw.org and let her know
when and what you have available. Many
thanks!!

The next Peace Corps RPCV Career Event in

Washington, DC, is coming right up! We are now
registering RPCVs for this FREE four-day event,
which will take place Tuesday, February 26
through Friday, February 29. Highlights of this
FREE event include hands-on interactive
workshops and a career fair with over 30
international, domestic, private and public sector
organizations.

Pre-registration is required for all sessions, and

attendees are responsible for their own travel,
food, and lodging costs. Detailed information
about this event, including a schedule, is at SAVE THE DATE!
www.peacecorps.gov/rpcv/events. For more
information, contact Returned Volunteer Tuesday, February 26, 2008 –
Services, 202.692.1430,
rvsevents@peacecorps.gov. The registration
Sharing Your Peace Corps Story
deadline for RPCVs is Thursday, February 21
at midnight. Wednesday, February 27, 2008 –
Sharing Your Qualifications
Please note that this RPCV Career Event has
been planned to coincide with Peace Corps
Week 2008, which will celebrate the 47th
Thursday, February 28, 2008 –
anniversary of the agency and the outstanding Federal Employment and RPCV Career
work of Volunteers and returned Volunteers Fair
through the years. The overlap of these two
events will allow you to participate in the Third Friday, February 29, 2008 –
Goal of the Peace Corps and promote yourself to
employers.
Employer Information Sessions
Community Service Opportunity:
Postscripts from the Field
Another letter from Africa PCV

Good news: I don't have malaria.

Bad news: I seemed to have developed a
mysterious illness that mimics all the
symptoms of malaria- but which totally
Participate in Peace Corps Week! unidentifiable and completely untreatable.
February 25-March 1
Bad news: My post-mate was reassigned to
Peace Corps Week is an opportunity for our another village because she accidentally
The NPCA Scholarship was established in 2000
returned Volunteers and their extended Peace falsely accused a prominant doctor in Xxxxx
to recognize the long-standing ties between SIT
Corps family — staff, friends and family of
and the Peace Corps. Members of NPCA who of aggravated assault.
Volunteers,
have one yearasorwell
moreasoffriends of the
significant Peace
intercultural Good news: Peace Corps was nice enough
Corps — to partake in promoting cross-
experience are eligible to apply. Several awards to allow me to stay behind to absorb all of
cultural
of $10,000understanding,
will be made each world
year.peace,
NPCAand the backlash and to fabricate elaborate stories
members
friendshipcan
byrequest
shininginformation
a spotlightregarding
on the this for all of her friends and colleagues to
exclusive
important work of our Volunteers 800-336-
scholarship opportunity at around the explain her sudden and permanent
1616
worldorand
802-257-7751, or online
the continuing at that returned
service absence.....in French.
http://www.sit.edu.
Volunteers bring to communities in the United
States. Bad news: My job consists of policing 270
SAVING PEACE CORPS’ HISTORY
(before it’s too late) 10 to 21-year old monsters whose sole
Peace Corps has great resources and ideas on purpose in life is to transform the classroom
their
As weWeb site astheto50th
approach howAnniversary
RPCVs canofprepare
The a setting into my own personal cage of eternal
presentation
Peace on RPCV
Corps, the their country
ArchivalofProject
service.
hasThey damnation.
even
begun a renewed effort to seek out those to
will send you a packet of things whouse in Good news: The director of the school is so
your the
were pioneers ofand
presentation the to
Peace
passCorps,
out tovolunte
your ers grateful for my efforts and expertise that he
from the 1960s.
"audience." Year by
Check outyear
thiswe are losing that
page introduced me to the entire staff by telling
cohort and their unique stories of volunteer
http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=re everyone how much money I saved him in
service. The Project hopesfor
sources.former.pcweek to add
more3000 1960s
information.
interviews to the National Archives at the John F.
payroll expenses.
Click on the Speakers Match link on the right
Kennedy Library in the RPCV Collection before
hand side of this page to be matched with a
the anniversary year; that would be about 10% of Bad news: Since the end of the rainy
classroom
those or group
who served in your
during that area.
period.Have fun! season, produce has grown limited and
increasingly harder to come by.
Afterward, please tell
The RPCV Archival us at
Project is RPCVw what you
an informal Good news: I like oranges and onions, and I
network
did! Send of RPCVs
an e-mailwho(and
work to preserve
better Peace
yet with am learning to like them together.
Corps’
pictureslegacy by conducting
attached!) of what oral
youhistory
did for Peace
interviews
Corps Week of those
to AmywhoKunz,
have served
RPCV/W as PCVs. In
Director Bad news: I found myself comparing this
the five years of its
of Community Service existen ce, more than 40 RPCV
interviewers have completed approximately 300
experience to the time I was hospitalized
communityservice@rpcvw.org with kidney stones.
interviews [SEE <jfklibrary.org> Search: The
RPCV Collection]. The Project’s basic resource is Good news: Only 22 more months.
and will continue to be the unpaid voluntary
efforts of those RPCVs who’ve participated, Love to all,
operating in cooperation with NPCA Affiliate Broken in Xxxxx
groups.

We need people to volunteer to participate by

becoming interviewers; a commitment of three
hours a month during 2007 could add 12 more
RPCV stories to the Collection. The Project
provides training and orientation through an
operational guide; once started, participants
work directly with the RPCV Archivist at the
Thoughts on the Return
Renee Wolforth
"With bi-partisan politics in the Presidential
race being all the rage, and insurgencies still
raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, I've been
thinking about how to really support the troops
— and educate RPCVs on what really goes on
in a war zone. Bumper stickers emblazoned
with "SUPPORT THE TROOPS" might make
the person who slapped it on his or her SUV
feel better, but how much "support" can a
bumper sticker offer someone returning from a
war zone?
I've heard so many stories recently about
troops who returned with no visible injuries,
but who were in serious pain nonetheless.
Hearing these stories, caused me to think about
my return from Peace Corps. Months after my
return, I was still lonely and frustrated because
of a lack of understanding. Those who knew
me before Peace Corps expected me to just go
on with my life, as if I had just spent a week in
Italy hanging out in cafes in between museum
tours. People that I met after my return had no
frame of reference either. They made this clear
by laughing at answers I would give regarding
my life in rural West Africa — or would
change the subject when I answered their pat
question "Peace Corps? How was that?" with
my pat answer "Hot, very hot."
While our experiences are vastly different,
there are some similarities in the experiences
of RPCVs and returned veterans. So, what
about connecting recently returned
volunteers and recently returned vets - and
possibly beyond that period as well? We
suffer from our own shell-shock, though to a
much lesser degree and in a different way.
I've heard so much about vets not having
people to talk to who can understand the re-
adjustment, having serious issues
readjusting, etc... It might be one more way
for them to deal with what they have gone
through. It's a totally different kind of re-
adjustment, but volunteers might be able to
offer certain amount of understanding that
people who've never lived in developing
countries or war zones lack. Also, it might
help volunteers to better understand what's
really going on in these war zones and vets
might have an idea what it's like going in
without a gun?"

Mentoring Returning Peace Corps

Volunteers
The National Peace Corps Association signed
a Cooperative Agreement with Peace Corps to
design and develop a program linking
returning Volunteers with RPCV mentors. The
goal of this mentoring relationship is to
facilitate returning Volunteers’ ability to find
desired employment or educational
opportunities, and their adjustment back
home. The project is being nationalized after
last year’s successful pilot phase in Miami, FL;
Chicago, IL; and Portland, OR. To find out
how you can get involved, visit
www.rpcv.org/mentoring!
 Peace Corps Week:
Spicing Up My Presentation
By Liz McEntee
Third graders are learning about Africa. Newly-
confirmed Catholic eighth-graders are learning about
volunteer service opportunities. Formerly homeless
and incarcerated men and women are expanding their
general knowledge. Middle school students are
learning about what their school’s graduates have
done after college.
Those are all outcomes of presentations I’ve made
about my Peace Corps experience since I COSed.
Each of my audiences has influenced me differently,
and no two presentations have been alike. However,
they all have been able to give me a “natural high”
while giving my audience an “aha!” moment. It just
takes a bit of variety to convey my Peace Corps
experience to people from all walks of life.
Being my normal keepsake-ish self, I tried to bring
home as much of Namibia as I could when I left.
Taking pictures and getting traditional items (like
clothing, straw baskets, and wood carvings) was top
priority before I COSed. As it turned out, those
artifacts were helpful in doing my presentations.
Putting on my traditional dress got a laugh out of the
different audiences, and bringing along my leftover
Namibian dollars got some very big “oohs” and
“ahhs.” Showing my pictures allowed the audiences
to see where I worked, where I lived and what
animals I saw, as well as proved that KFC does exist
“even in Africa!” When a computer was available, I
showed my pictures in a slideshow set to Namibian
kwaito music, but for less technological presentations
I brought along a photo album or two.
While I was in Namibia, I had one of my visitors
from home bring over my old video camera. I taught
some of my students in each class how to use it, and
while I was away for my COS medical process, I
gave each class the assignment to “film things that
you don’t want Ms. McEntee to forget…and it has to
be all in English.” Almost all of my classes included
footage of them dancing, cooking traditional food
(and explaining what it is), wearing traditional
clothes, and playing games. When I returned to the
U.S., I plugged my video camera into my family’s
VCR and transferred certain parts of it onto a video
tape. It was very amateur-looking, but it got the point
across. During a presentation, I would ask my
students to explain it. Of course, they all wanted my
students to explain it, and then I would show my
video. They loved watching the footage because it
made my experience seem even more real to them.
The best parts of the presentations were those when I
was interacting with the audience. In Namibia, people
often talk about geography by making their hand into
the shape of Namibia and using it as a map. This
is done by aligning your fingers together, point
your fingers downward, and bend in your index
finger. Coincidentally, that gesture is the official
sign for “Namibia” in sign language. I taught it to
all of my audiences and it was great seeing the
thrill on their faces when they were able to
replicate the sign. I even saw some of them doing
it again after the presentation was over!
Question-and-answer sessions also helped pass
time quickly and constructively. I found that
there can never be too much time allotted for
answering questions, and it’s the part of the
presentation where you find out where your
audience’s interest really lies. In the future, I
wouldn’t mind doing a presentation where the
majority of it is in question-and-answer format.
I think my audiences’ favorite form of interaction
was when I gave them Peace Corps-related
bookmarks and stickers, courtesy of the folks
who run Peace Corps Week. I even received
some maps of all the countries where PCVs have
served, so after using a map in a presentation I
would donate it to the school or organization.
Every time I had a presentation coming up, I
would e-mail the Peace Corps Week staff and
they would send me a packet with a plethora of
goodies to give out – who doesn’t like receiving
free stuff?
Just as it was important to share American
culture with people in our host countries, it’s also
important to share our host country’s culture with
people in the U.S., which is the Peace Corps’
third goal. There are an endless number of
audiences that you can speak to, and in turn,
there’s a variety of different spins that you can
put on your basic presentation. No matter how
you do it, your audience is guaranteed to leave
with more knowledge about Peace Corps and
about your host country. My audiences left
knowing more about Namibia than that “it was
the country where Brad and Angelina had their
baby.” That said, I consider my presentations to
be successful!
Liz is a computer teacher with The Doe Fund,
Inc., a non-profit organization in New York City
with a work-based program to help formerly
homeless and incarcerated people turn their lives
around. She taught computers to grades 8-10
while serving as an IT Volunteer in Namibia from
2004 to 2006.
Peace Corps Week, Feb. 25-Mar. 3, 2008.
Register online now and make plans to
celebrate our 47th anniversary at
www.peacecorps.gov/pcweek