2006.07.27: July 27, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Read the Hook: "I was feeling really negative about being in America, the war and the presidency, so I wanted to get out and see an alternative," says Kenya Peace Corps Volunteer John Teschner
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2006.07.27: July 27, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Read the Hook: "I was feeling really negative about being in America, the war and the presidency, so I wanted to get out and see an alternative," says Kenya Peace Corps Volunteer John Teschner
"I was feeling really negative about being in America, the war and the presidency, so I wanted to get out and see an alternative," says Kenya Peace Corps Volunteer John Teschner
Ironically, Teschner's Kenyan experience ended up solidifying his approval of the America he had gone away to escape. "The government is a lot more high-functioning than we give it credit for," he says. "If you go to a place like Kenya and see how their government functions, you have a whole lot more appreciation for ours."
"I was feeling really negative about being in America, the war and the presidency, so I wanted to get out and see an alternative," says Kenya Peace Corps Volunteer John Teschner
COVER- Peace U.: UVA Corps vets tell tales
Published July 27, 2006 in issue 0530 of the HooK.
By Vijth Assar & Rosalind Warfield-Brown vijith@readthehook.com; copy@readthehook.com
[Excerpt]
"I was feeling really negative about being in America, the war and the presidency, so I wanted to get out and see an alternative," says John Teschner. So the 2003 UVA grad did what UVA students have done more than any other comparable University graduates in the past five years: join the Peace Corps.
The foreign service organization, which turns 45 years old this year, was created by John F. Kennedy as a way of combating anti-American sentiment during the Cold War. In the 21st-century, the volunteers face a whole different set of world problems. Teschner, for instance, found himself in Kenya, asked to serve as an AIDS educator in a country where the destruction caused by the disease had been officially declared a national disaster four years earlier.
"A lot of money goes into Kenya to fight things like HIV, and a lot of it is wasted," he says, "Education and awareness are cheap."
Teschner lived and worked in a local high school, ostensibly to teach local teenagers how to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus. But that changed rather quickly.
"You can say what you need to say about HIV in about 10 minutes, really," he says. "By the end, I was teaching whatever the kids wanted to learn about."
Those expanded duties also included facilitating self-guided discussion about the disease among adults, many of whom were wary of educational attempts led by foreigners. "I wanted to minimize my presence there," Teschner says. "Getting people to talk about it was one of the best things I could do. It's not a culture where people are comfortable talking to each other about sex."
Ironically, Teschner's Kenyan experience ended up solidifying his approval of the America he had gone away to escape. "The government is a lot more high-functioning than we give it credit for," he says. "If you go to a place like Kenya and see how their government functions, you have a whole lot more appreciation for ours."
Since 2000, more than 400 UVA students have shown their appreciation for something by serving in the Peace Corps, and 80 of them are currently active. UVA has a historic tally of 838 graduate volunteers, and the Corps has drawn plenty of faculty and staff members from the Cavalier ranks.
In March, UVA President John Casteen hosted an evening of celebration honoring five decades of such volunteerism. Descending from a Rotunda staircase before an audience of veterans and greenhorns alike, Casteen shared his enthusiasm for the program as readily as he did his respect for those who keep it alive.
"Peace Corps volunteers serve our country in the cause of peace by the work they perform abroad, by living abroad, and by bringing back to this country the knowledge, the experience, the sympathies, and the beliefs they have acquired in the course of those years," he said.
Here are some of their stories.
"I have a history of the Peace Corps in my family," says 2003 UVA grad John Teschner. "Three of my uncles were in the Peace Corps, and my grandfather was a Peace Corps medical officer. Ever since I was five or six, I've seen myself in the Peace Corps."
When this story was posted in August 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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 | Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
 | Gates charity races to spend billions Warren E. Buffett’s gift of $31 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation means that for tax reasons, starting in 2009, the foundation must distribute $3 billion annually, or a little more than twice what it distributed last year.
PCOL Comment: The Foundation says that "preventing the spread of HIV is the most durable long-term solution to the AIDS epidemic, and a top priority for the foundation." Peace Corps Volunteers and Returned Volunteers have been doing just that in AIDS Education for the past 15 years. Why not consider a $100M annual contribution to the Peace Corps to put 2,500 additional volunteers in the field to expand AIDS education worldwide? |
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Story Source: Read the Hook
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