September 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Senegal: Albinoism: Service: Older Volunteers: : Washington Afro-American : Senegal RPCV Linda Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Senegal:
Peace Corps Senegal :
The Peace Corps in Senegal:
September 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Senegal: Albinoism: Service: Older Volunteers: : Washington Afro-American : Senegal RPCV Linda Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal
Senegal RPCV Linda Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal
Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal. Back in the United States, Robinson created the Friends of L'ANAS, a committee that collects donations and ships sunscreen, caps and sunglasses to L'ANAS. Her work has been featured in AARP The Magazine and 50Plus Magazine. She was also a guest on Oprah Winfrey's Mother's Day show.
Senegal RPCV Linda Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal
Veteran volunteers key Peace Corps
By Ashley Burrell
The Washington Afro-American
Washington, D.C.
September 2, 2005
Popular preconceptions hold that Peace Corps volunteers are recent college graduates still "wet behind the ears" and looking for a new enlightening experience before they delve into the murky waters of the workforce.
The reality is 6 percent of Peace Corps volunteers are over the age of 50 and are making notable contributions. Case in point: Linda Robinson, who recently celebrated her 60th birthday, is a grandmother of four and one of this year's Washington, D.C., recipients of the Franklin Williams Award.
A national ceremony recognizing 11 volunteers of color from across the nation for their service was held on June 23 at the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event was hosted by Leon Harris, anchor for local ABC affiliate WJLA and a former CNN anchor.
The award, presented by Peace Corps Deputy Director Jody Olsen, is named for Franklin H. Williams, the former Peace Corps regional director for Africa and U.S. ambassador to Ghana.
The Director's Award recognized this year's keynote speaker, the Honorable Wilbert Bryant, counselor to the secretary for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
"He has demonstrated a lifelong interest in education," said Olsen, who presented the award. "I am honored to present this award to someone who has given so much time and effort for education."
The 2005 Franklin H. Williams award recipients included: Christopher Aquino, Seattle awardee; Ambassador Charles R. Baquet III, Dallas awardee; Stafan Cajina, Los Angeles awardee; Roland Foulkes, Atlanta awardee; W. Frank Fountain, Chicago awardee; Rajeev K. Goyal, New York awardee; David M. Jones, San Francisco awardee; Juanita Limas, Minneapolis awardee; Charlotte Golar Richie, Boston awardee; Jay Shah, Denver awardee; and Linda Robinson, Washington, D.C. awardee.
A Baltimore native, Linda Robinson, took a keen interest in the relatively high incidence of albinism in Thies, Senegal, while working at the country's district hospital to promote health education and family planning.
Robinson's concern for people suffering with albinism led to the formation of the group L'Association Nationale des Albinos du Senegal.
And, with Robinson's insistence, land and a community center -- the Robinson House Center for Albinos -- were provided by the local government.
Back in the United States, Robinson created the Friends of L'ANAS, a committee that collects donations and ships sunscreen, caps and sunglasses to L'ANAS.
Her work has been featured in AARP The Magazine and 50Plus Magazine. She was also a guest on Oprah Winfrey's Mother's Day show.
Recipients of the Franklin H. Williams Award described their Peace Corps experience as an awakening -- an educational sojourn where they gave unselfishly as others gave to them.
"We knew how to give, but to have the Peace Corps remember us is such a wonderful thing," said Charlotte Golar Richie of Boston.
Robinson and the other volunteers enthusiastically endorsed service in the Peace Corps.
"The Peace Corps provides a learning experience in the process," said Robinson, now an associate medical librarian at the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library.
Robinson also suggests young adults volunteer in their communities.
"Volunteerism is available in so many different areas," said Robinson, who acts as a docent for the recently opened Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.
Out of the 7,733 total Peace Corps volunteers, 232 are African Americans. A considerably large proportion of volunteers, 2,755, choose Africa as their volunteering site and 116 of those are African Americans.
Most volunteers are not only chosen for their demonstrated interest in seeing Third World countries return to a situation of peace, stability, national unity and development, but because they also have specialized skills needed to tackle issues in those countries.
When this story was posted in September 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. |
| 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 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Washington Afro-American
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Senegal; Albinoism; Service; Older Volunteers;
PCOL22218
00