Taylor Willis (K12) in Kyrgyzstan - Last night, two days before Valentines Day, I was outside with my little flashlight, my tevete (a wooly hat), my jacket, my nice pair of Colombia gloves and my satellite phone.



Taylor Willis (K12) in Kyrgyzstan - Last night, two days before Valentines Day, I was outside with my little flashlight, my tevete (a wooly hat), my jacket, my nice pair of Colombia gloves and my satellite phone.

Azur, menin kitchineke fonaric toiletta

For those of you who know kyrgyz, you can stop right there. Because that’s what happened. For those of you who don’t know your baldar from your kuzdar, your ong from your sol or your kush from your jai then I will explain:

I have a flashlight. It’s a tiny little thing with a little blue LED that comes on when you push a button and shines an eerie blue light. It doesn’t have any bells and/or whistles, just one button. But it serves (or served) me well. Whenever it gets dark in Kyrgyzstan, and I would swear we log in more dark hours than you do in the states, I use my flashlight to see. It helps me out at five in the morning as I stumble through the kitchen (or ash ui) or search for my shoes on the front porch. It’s very paidaloo.

Last night, two days before Valentines Day, I was outside with my little flashlight, my tevete (a wooly hat), my jacket, my nice pair of Colombia gloves and my satellite phone. My phone was there because I was calling kishiler from the states, most of whom were avoiding me. I talked to a lot of answering machines that night. Answering machines are my friends. I had to use the facilities (a hole in the ground) so I stepped into our outdoor unlit lavatory, juggling all my things, and proceeded with my business. I was shaken from mid-stream by the sound of something small and seemingly flashlight-shaped hitting the floor of the lavatory. There being no light and me having no light I said to myself ‘I’ll just come back tommorow morning and retrive my little flashlight’ and continued talking to answering machines.

The next morning my little flashlight was nowhere to be found! Maybe Pumba (our dog) needed the assistance of a flashlight because his super-dog-vision just wasn’t enough in the pitch-black of the Kyrgyz night. I asked my Eje if she had seen it and ‘don’t got a clue brother’ was all I got. When I told Kanat and Chong Ene what fate had befallen my little source of light they all laughed. So my flashlight is gone forever, but not forgotten. I keep a picture of it in my room and kiss it goodnight everynight before I go to sleep know that it is down there swimming in poo. I saw my little flashlight the other day. When it saw me it cried and cried, 'Taylor! Taylor! Save me! Save meeeeeeeeee!' If we have any extreme dumpster divers out there I’d sure like my flashlight back!

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. 19 Mar 2005

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March's Feature Stories - only on PCOL Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets

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March 19, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News New Jersey RPCVs host exhibit in Maplewood on April 2 20 Mar Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar Illinois RPCVs present "Life on the Big Red Island" 13 Mar San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs held fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 19, 2005: This Week's Top Stories RPCV points out catalytic effect of Iraq 19 Mar PCVs set up Basketball pool in Ukraine 19 Mar Sam Farr introduces bill to monitor ocean fisheries 18 Mar Bridgeland does not rule out run for Congress 18 Mar Jim Doyle promotes Institute for Discovery 18 Mar Newspaper says Bangladesh is safe for PCVs 18 Mar Joan Ruddiman revisits Peter Hessler's "River World" 17 Mar Mark Schneider says Save Haiti from more violence 17 Mar Troy Johnson joins delegation to Indonesia 17 Mar Chris Shays says baseball not exempt from the law 17 Mar "Hurlyburly" benefits gypsy women in Romania 15 Mar Chris Matthews interviews Schwarzenegger 14 Mar Fred Burke dies in NJ, trained early PCVs 13 Mar Mike Honda introduces Student Privacy Protection Act 13 Mar FT details Cheney-McPherson relationship 13 Mar Tucker McCravy reports on Tsunami Reconstruction 10 Mar Dennis Braddock retires with record of accomplishment 9 Mar

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

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