2007.03.02: March 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Owen Cylke writes: Taxi in the Rain
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2007.03.02: March 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Owen Cylke writes: Taxi in the Rain
RPCV Owen Cylke writes: Taxi in the Rain
As I was walking across Key Bridge this morning on my way to work, it suddenly started to pour rain. Totally unexpected. Totally unprepared. But a cab honked, picked me up, and, as expected, an Ethiopian driver was behind the wheel. So I used my "fluent" 35 words to start up a conversation.
RPCV Owen Cylke writes: Taxi in the Rain
RPCV Owen Cylke writes: Ethiopia Remembered
As I was walking across Key Bridge this morning on my way to work, it suddenly started to pour rain. Totally unexpected. Totally unprepared. But a cab honked, picked me up, and, as expected, an Ethiopian driver was behind the wheel. So I used my "fluent" 35 words to start up a conversation.
Turns out the driver was from Adigrat and was in the seventh grade there in 1965. He had two Peace Corps teachers. He started to cry as he told me the first time he saw his name written out up on the board. Then he said that the teacher used his name in English exercises. "Hagos ate breakfast this morning". "Hagos came to school". "Hagos plays soccer". As a small boy, he said this identification gave a slight shy boy new status with his classmates and served to shape the man he is today.
When I tried to pay for the ride, he absolutely refused. Forty plus years later for the both of us.
Photo: nep Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
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Headlines: March, 2007; Peace Corps Ethiopia; Directory of Ethiopia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ethiopia RPCVs; Virginia
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| 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. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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