2011.09.16: September 16, 2011: Peace Corps Lovebirds Honored in Hawaii
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2011.09.16: September 16, 2011: Peace Corps Lovebirds Honored in Hawaii
Peace Corps Lovebirds Honored in Hawaii
At least eight couples (our "lovebirds"), all of whom met and married during, or as a result of, their service in Peace Corps, have chosen to make their home in the Hamakua District. They, along with numerous other RPCV's, will be special honorees in the Peace Day festivities.
Peace Corps Lovebirds Honored in Hawaii
Peace on Parade – lovebirds, robots, and belly dancers (Sept. 18)
Posted on 11:53 pm, Friday, September 16, 2011. Tags: honokaa, peace corps, united nations international day of peace
Caption: Pictured from left. Front row: Joe and Karen Clarkson (Paauilo Mauka); Patricia Andrade Stout and Andrew Stout (Ahualoa). Second Row: Jodean and Romel DelaCruz (Ahualoa). Third row: Steve and Jacinta Hanks (Paauilo Mauka), Gloria and David Myklebust (Paauilo Mauka). Fourth row: Bill Lichter (Kapulena). Not shown, Jane Lichter and Walter Mosch & Janet Goh Mosch (Paauilo Mauka). (Photo courtesy of Sarah Anderson)
Honokaa town is ramping up the 5th Annual Parade & Festival for the United Nations International Day of Peace, slated for Sunday, Sept. 18.
Stepping off at 11 a.m. from Honokaa High School, the Peace Day Parade is a "moving stage" of Taiko drums, marching bands, bon dance, belly dancers, robots, jazz, rock & roll, hula, a circus and more entertainment with a message.
Special honorees for the 2011 Peace Day events will be Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV's), in celebration of Peace Day and the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary this year.
At least eight couples (our "lovebirds"), all of whom met and married during, or as a result of, their service in Peace Corps, have chosen to make their home in the Hamakua District. They, along with numerous other RPCV's, will be special honorees in the Peace Day festivities.
[Excerpt]
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV's) make up a very special demographic along the Big Island's Hamakua Coast. A recent Sunday afternoon "photo op" brought together the couples from the area, all of whom met and married during, or as a result of, their service in Peace Corps.
They, along with numerous other RPCV's, will be special honorees in Honokaa's Peace Day Parade on Sunday, Sept. 18, in celebration of Peace Day and the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary this year.
Romel Delacruz, retired Executive Director of Hale Hoola and Jodean Delacruz, former principal of Honokaa High School, met on assignment in the Philippines in the 1960's.
About the same time, David and Gloria Myklebust, both educators, met in New York City before their service in Cameroon, on Africa's central western coast. They've been told they are the first couple to be given permission to marry while serving in the Peace Corps.
Walter Mosch met future wife Janet Goh in graduate school in international studies at Columbia University, not long after Walter's service in Cameroon, 20 years after the Myklebust's (who coincidentally live next door).
Steve and Jacinta Hanks fell in love in Papua New Guinea during Steve's service in the 1990's. They both teach at Honokaa High School, and have devoted countless hours to helping the people of Jacinta's homeland, the Carteret Islands.
Other Hamakua residents with ties to the Peace Corps include Bill and Jane Lichter (Saipan), Joe and Karen Clarkson (Marshall Islands), Andrew and Patricia Andrade Stout (Ecuador), Theresa Lee and Stephen Oldfather.
What makes Hamakua such a "peace-full" community? Hard to say. The rural lifestyle of the former sugar cane plantation town is a factor; the island's tolerance for families of mixed races may be another, as well as work opportunity at Honokaa High School, good weather for growing things, and a strong sense of place.
Romel Delacruz estimates that of the 200,000 RPCV's since the Peace Corps' inception in 1961, 200 live in Hawaii. Some RPCV's trained in Waipio Valley, where a full-scale hamlet was constructed to replicate a Southeast Asian village.
In celebration of the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary, an island-wide reunion is planned for November 14-21, with events in Kona, Hilo and Waipio Valley. For more information, visit: www.rpcvhi.org
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: September, 2011; 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps; Marriage; Hawaii
When this story was posted in October 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps Featured at Smithsonian Take a look at our photo essay of Peace Corps' featured program at the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC to see how the festival showcased the work of Peace Corps volunteers in economic development and income generation; ways volunteers have helped support local groups to help educate communities; and food and cooking traditions that have played a role in the Peace Corps experience. New: Enjoy photos from the second week of the exposition. |
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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Story Source: Hawaii 24/7
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; 50th; Marriage
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