• 2006.03.12: March 12, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Return to our COS - Ethiopia: Arizona Republic: Craig Wilson says: For years, I heard tales of Ethiopia. The food you eat with your hands, the beautiful people with incredible smiles, the rural village on the shores of Lake Tana, where my partner, Jack, was a Peace Corps volunteer in the late '60s.  Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 12:50 pm [1]

• 2006.03.03: March 3, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Return to our COS - Ethiopia: Asbury Park Press Online: I was retracing the steps my partner, Jack, took almost 40 years ago in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia  Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 11:37 am [1]

My partner, Jack, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia 37 years ago, says I don't have a clue about what I'm getting myself into.



We're traveling back to the village where he taught. He suspects that between wars, famines, AIDS and a life expectancy of around 40, most of the kids in his classes are long dead. Still, he's taking along photos that show him standing in front of his earthen house in 1969 to prove that he actually lived there. There's also a photograph of him in front of the school with his class - one pink Irish-American face peeking out from a sea of beautiful Ethiopian children.

My partner, Jack, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia 37 years ago, says I don't have a clue about what I'm getting myself into.

Craig Wilson: Final Word - A valentine to Ethiopia, and to life in the USA

Craig Wilson, USA TODAY Wed Feb 8, 10:00 AM ET

Valentine's Day is almost a week away, so there's still time to prepare. Candy. Roses. Dental floss. Whatever it is that turns your sweetie on, go out and get it now. We all know the fury of a Valentine forgotten.
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I'm going to be in rural Ethiopia on Valentine's Day, so I suspect I'll escape most of Cupid's arrows this year.

No heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. No flowers. No nothing. I doubt many Ethiopians worry about whether a loved one will forget them or not. They're too busy just surviving.

My partner, Jack, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia 37 years ago, says I don't have a clue about what I'm getting myself into. Maybe I don't, but I'm game.

We're traveling back to the village where he taught. He suspects that between wars, famines,
AIDS and a life expectancy of around 40, most of the kids in his classes are long dead.

Still, he's taking along photos that show him standing in front of his earthen house in 1969 to prove that he actually lived there. There's also a photograph of him in front of the school with his class - one pink Irish-American face peeking out from a sea of beautiful Ethiopian children.

He doubts things have changed much. Electricity now maybe, a new building or two, but not much more. Time has a way of standing still in such places. Roosters will wake us in the morning, he says.

My only hope is that the young woman who cooked and cleaned for him and his housemate, another Peace Corps volunteer, might still be alive and in the village.

He remembers her as a character of the first order who wanted to learn everything American but would fly off the handle in Amharic when they didn't do what she said.

What a Valentine's Day gift that would be for him to be greeted once again with an "Ato Jack!" (Mr. Jack). We'll see.

There was a story in The Washington Post a few weeks ago about how two cheetah cubs had been rescued from a life of fighting each other. They were public entertainment outside an Ethiopian cafe. They're now being raised on the grounds of "King of Kings" Haile Selassie's old presidential palace in Addis Ababa.

Though most everyone who was quoted agreed that it was nice these animals were saved, the story went on to say most Ethiopians thought the country was facing far bigger challenges than the extinction of its wildlife. Poverty. Starvation. War.

Life in Ethiopia is far too basic to even think about the extras. Two baby cheetahs are extras.

I understand that traveling to Ethiopia is an extreme way to gain perspective.

And I don't want to sound like my dad, who used to say, like most dads of his era, that "kids are starving in Africa! Eat your dinner!"

But I think this Valentine's Day will be more special than most. It'll be enough just to know a handful of people love me, that I've never gone to bed hungry, and that I'm blessed to be on such an adventure.

No heart-shaped box of chocolates needed this time around.

When this story was posted in February 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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

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Top Stories: February 2, 2006 Al Kamen writes: Rice to redeploy diplomats 20 Jan Peace Corps mourns the Loss of Volunteer Tessa Horan 1 Feb RPCV pursues dreams in America's Heartland 1 Feb Sargent Shriver documentary to be shown in LA 30 Jan W. Frank Fountain is new board chairman of Africare 27 Jan Abbey Brown writes about acid attacks in Bangladesh 26 Jan Christopher Hill Sees Ray of Hope in N.Korea Standoff 26 Jan Jeffrey Smit writes on one man diplomatic outposts 25 Jan Joe Blatchford's ACCION and microfinance 24 Jan James Rupert writes: A calculated risk in Pakistan 23 Jan Sam Farr rips conservative immigration bill 21 Jan Americans campaign for PC to return to Sierra Leone 20 Jan Kinky Friedman supports Gay Marriage 20 Jan Margaret Krome writes on Women leaders 18 Jan James Walsh leads bipartisan US delegation to Ireland 17 Jan Mark Schneider writes on Elections and Beyond in Haiti 16 Jan Robert Blackwill on a "serious setback" in US-India relations 13 Jan Kevin Quigley writes on PC and U.S. Image Abroad 13 Jan Emily Metzloff rides bicycle 3,100 miles from Honduras 9 Jan Charles Brennick starts operation InterConnection 9 Jan Lee Fisher tells story of Pablo Morillo 7 Jan Nancy Wallace writes: Was PC a CIA front after all? 4 Jan

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RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

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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. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

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Robert F. Kennedy - 80th anniversary of his birth "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change."

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Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

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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.

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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.

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