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February 23, 2005: San Antonio Express-News : When Marilyn Brandt inquired about joining the Peace Corps in the early 1960's, Andres Hernandez was skeptical:
February 27, 2005: Headlines: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Marilyn (Brandt) Smith reunites with friend and Country Director Andres Hernandez after 40 years:
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RPCV Marilyn (Brandt) Smith reunites with friend and Country Director Andres Hernandez after 40 years
RPCV Marilyn (Brandt) Smith reunites with friend and Country Director Andres Hernandez after 40 years
Caption: The photo above is for illustrative purposes only and is *not* from the School for the Blind in the Dominican Republic.
Forty-three years ago I was in graduate school in San Marcos, Texas. I was called to the hall phone to receive a call from a man in Washington D.C. who was heading the Peace Corps program in the Dominican Republic. Andres Hernandez, Andy to those of us who love him so much, had reviewed my application. He knew the school for the blind was looking for a teacher. I was reluctant to travel to that part of the world because it was during the Cuban missile crisis. Better judgment prevailed. I knew this was a chance to pioneer a new opportunity for blind people, and I was ready to teach.
Once or twice during my working years after the Peace Corps I tried to find Andy because I knew he would give me a good job reference. Apparently he tried to find me too. Without our knowledge, between 1972 and 1983 we lived only a few hours apart, I in West Texas, he in eastern New Mexico. Thanks to Hugh Pickens, a newspaper in San Antonio, and Andy's persistence we have finally been reunited.
Andy is planning a reunion of his D.R. people in September and hopes to be able to arrange some help for me to return to the D.R. He wants me to see how much the program we helped to build at the school for the blind has advanced in the last four decades. The government apparently is honoring assistance from Americans, like Peace Corps volunteers, for their part of the progress. It was a struggling nation when we arrived. After overthrowing their dictator their next effort at government was also overthrown, and we never knew what lay around the corner politically.
When Andy and his wife were reassigned to Guatemala during my service I went out to the airport to say Goodbye but there wasn't time for real expressions of feelings. I gave them a doily which I had crocheted. His wife Amelia later wrote me a "Thank you" note and said that she had used it on a cocktail tray at a special function in their new home. That made my day.
At 92, Andy is still the gracious service oriented man I knew forty years ago. I am looking forward to more phone calls and letters and face-to-face visits soon.
Marilyn (Brandt) Smith
RPCV Dominican Republic
Read the original story here.
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory. |
| 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. |
| Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments. |
| WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service. |
| Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress. |
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Story Source: PCOL Exclusive
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Dominican Republic; Disabilities; Blindness; Country Directors - Guatemala; Country Directors - Dominican Republic
PCOL17734
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The sign is interesting! It says Akropong-Akuapem (or something similar). That sounds like Ghana! Akuapem is an ethnic region in Ghana and Akropong is one of the major cities there. Do the people in that part of the Dominican Republic speak Twi (the language that most Ghanaians speak)?
Dear Steve,
Take a look at the first story in this series here where we used the sign for the first time and left the caption:
Caption: The photo above is for illustrative purposes only and is *not* from the School for the Blind in the Dominican Republic.
We'll add the same caption to this story so there is no confusion.
Best Regards,
Admin1