2007 | Issue 1 | Rpcvw Newsletter

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Happy Holidays from RPCVw! President’s Corner:

Issue 1, December 2006

On behalf of The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC, I would like to thank you, our members, for supporting RPCV/W’s initiatives during the… More Details Upcoming Events:

Annual RPCV/W Holiday Party Area RPCVs celebrate 45 years of Peace Corps by carrying flags in a commemorative ceremony, featuring Chris Matthews (Swaziland 68-70).

More Details I'll drink to that~ More details

Community service update~ More details What we’ve been up to: Peace Corps 45th Anniversary Celebration! 2006 marked the 45th year that Peace Corps has been sending Americans to promote world peace and friendship in developing countries all over the world. The anniversary was celebrated all over, a number of different ways. Here's just a sampling of the festivities:

Be on time with the RPCV 2007 Calendar!

These famously picturesque calendars are produced by the RPCV affiliate group in Madison, Wisconsin . With only 1 month remaining on this year’s calendar, pick up your 2007 edition!

More details Moroccans and Returned Volunteers Celebrate Ramadan Together~ As the sun began to set and the natural light flooding through the large windows dimmed, a troop of waiters at Taste of Morocco in Silver Spring bustled back and forth from the kitchen More details New members meet up to meet n’ eat (survival tactics ingrained into every PCV) More details

Calendars are $10. And the money gets funneled back into active PCV activities. For more information, contact Itzel Fairlie at: [email protected]

Meet the RPCVw Board!

Better than the average getting-to-know-you chitchat The RPCVw Board of Directors works hard to keep all DC-area RPCVs connected (sometimes making RPCVs connected!), but above all we're a bunch of RPCVs who want to keep the Peace Corps experience alive in everyone who has had it. As proof, check out these fun Peace Corps anecdotes from the Board's collective experience... More Details To remove your name from our mailing list, please click here. Questions or comments? E-mail us at [email protected]

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Issue 1, December 2006, page 2

President’s Corner On behalf of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington DC, I would like to thank you, our members, for supporting RPCV/W's initiatives during the last 6 months. This Newsletter is the first to be published since the election of our new Board of Directors (held in July of this year), and I encourage all of you to navigate to our Board of Directors page on the RPCV/W website ( www.rpcvw.org ) to familiarize yourselves with who we are and how we can help to support the initiatives desired by you, our members, throughout the coming year. I'd like to begin by expressing my thanks to you all for casting your votes during our recent elections. I am happy and excited to be working alongside a strong and inspirational group of Board Members. Some of us are new to the Board, and we come with fresh ideas and lots of energy, while others have stayed on to share their experiences and learnings with us. Funny, this coordination reminds me of the continuity between in-country PC Volunteers. Second and third year Vols would share their experiences with newbies, and those same newcomers would arrive bright-eyed and ready to work for a cause greater than themselves. I myself am a very recently returned RPCV, having finished my Peace Corps Service in Bolivia only a little over a year ago. I must admit, it is exciting and enriching to represent the members of RPCV/W and to support the Board's initiatives as we strive to continue offering you all the opportunities you deserve to come together as a community, and to continue our 3rd Goal objectives of bringing our experiences back to our communities here in the DC area. With all the craziness and chaos in the world these days, I truly feel that our ability to share our simple learnings from our host communities - our little slices of simplicity, have you - can help to achieve a better understanding of the world around us. I am continually inspired by my fellow RPCV/W members and Board of Directors to continue my commitment to service, and I hope that RPCVw helps to offer you all the same opportunity to share. A few things 'd like to share with you all: 1. We have successfully made the transition to our new website and membership database system (still found at www.rpcvw.org). As with any transition, this one hasn't come without its hiccups; however, we feel confident about the system and what it offers. I encourage all of you to spend a few minutes navigating the site to see how it can help you stay connected with RPCVw events and opportunities. I would like to again thank the members of last years board, as well as Kelly Stenhoff and Brian Caoutte (this year's Web Directors) for their commitment and hard work. 2. RPCV/W members volunteered their time on two occasions at Nationals' baseball games, handing out merchandise and enjoying the game as a group. Thanks to all of you who came out. We hope to continue integrating Sports events/opportunities into our RPCV/W schedule. Anyone interested in helping to coordinate such events should email Itzel Fairlie, our Development Director, at [email protected]. Additionally, Itzel is working on a program to offer Peace Corps hats to RPCVs at reasonable costs. Keep your eyes open for the rollout, and don't miss your chance. 3. In early October, the Board met for a weekend in Maryland for its annual retreat. We used this time to plan out the coming year and to focus on how we can best represent RPCVw members through our distinct Board position. The retreat weekend served to be a fantastically productive time, and I would like to personally thank Dave O?Neill ( our facilitator ) for his excellent work in keeping us focused on our goals while enjoying a good time with old and new friends. 4. Our Social Activities Director (Corey Quinlan) and Community Services Director (Amy Kunz) have consistently organized monthly activities for members come together to enjoy each other and serve their communities. Whether sharing a laugh at happy hour or volunteering for your community on a weekend, I hope that you all as members will take advantage of the events that this dynamic duo continue to organize for us all. They do a great job and their events serve as the glue that holds much of our community together. We thank them for their hard work. In signing off, I'd like to reaffirm my claim to you all that we as a Board are here to support our members. The more interactive you all are, the better RPCV/W's events and programs will be. We encourage feedback and ideas. Whether at the RPCV/W holiday party, the annual picnic, or at any number of social and community service driven activities, I look forward to meeting you in person. Best Regards,

Jim Gore RPCV Bolivia '03-'05 [email protected]

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Issue 1, December 2006, page 3

Upcoming Events

Annual RPCV/W Holiday Party Come celebrate the holidays with fellow returned Peace Corps volunteers and friends at our most popular event of the year!! Admission includes a buffet of hors d'ouevres, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Enjoy this annual opportunity to connect with your friends and meet other RPCVs! Dress is business casual. Friday, December 8 from 6:30-9:00pm. All are welcome. The party will take place at the Josephine Butler Mansion, a Renaissance-revival style mansion overlooking Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., located at 15th and Euclid Streets, NW When: Friday, December 8, 2006 6:30-9PM Where: Josephine Butler Mansion, 2437 15th St, NW Metro: Columbia Heights (green line).

I'll drink to that~ Rest assured, RPCVw has not gone dry! We will be resuming our regular monthly happy hours very soon! …In general, you can be confident that you have RPCVs to catch up with (or meet) the third Thursday of every month. We try to switch up the location each time so that everyone gets a turn being nearby. , moving these around introduces people to new areas, or just new bars... Know the perfect location for an upcoming RPCVw happy hour? Email Corey Quinlan at: [email protected]

Community service update~ Even if you're not at a point where you can drop everything and go back overseas, there are still plenty of ways to serve here in DC! Peace Corps Volunteers' commitment to their surrounding communities rarely ends at their COS conference; that fact is alive and well with RPCV/W. Each month a community service event brings together our members and their friends with organizations in the DC area in need of the hands-on help of volunteers. Anything from aiding the environment by planting trees to wrapping presents to benefit the blind have been or will be done this year. In October, RPCVs helped collect acorns at Arlington National Cemetery as part of a seasonal seed collection for Growing Native (http://www.growingnative.org).In November, we helped Casey Trees Foundation (http:// www.caseytrees.org) plant native species trees to beautify a neighborhood park.December will have us wrapping gifts for busy shoppers and collecting donations for Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic of Metropolitan Washington at the Friendship Heights Borders book store. Check back on the Event List on our website and expect listserv messages to keep you informed. Know the perfect organization/activity that could benefit from a slew of RPCVs? Email Amy Kunz at: [email protected] Calling all West-African RPCVs! So, we know that every RPCV is full of stories from their site. But that makes each of us only an expert in ONE area of the world. So, while this issue features some interesting stories that will stay with our Board (see next section), the upcoming issues will feature a different region of the world with notes on its quirks-loveable and/or interesting--from the Americans who know it best. In honor of Peace Corps' 45 year anniversary, the first region to be featured will be the first area where Peace Corps operated back in the day: West Africa.

So if you served in West Africa, send in a few lines that made the area unique. Gain immortality (ok, not really…) Send your anecdotes to Lesley Pories at: [email protected] Everyone's waiting!

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Issue 1, December 2006, page 4

What we’ve been up to:

Peace Corps 45th Anniversary Celebration! 2006 marked the 45th year that Peace Corps has been sending Americans to promote world peace and friendship in developing countries all over the world. The anniversary was celebrated all over, a number of different ways. Here's just a sampling of the festivities:

RPCV/W and NPCA Co-host 45th Anniversary Reception RPCV/W played an integral role in organizing the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps reception in September. Over 200 Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Group Leaders and friends gathered at the Embassy of Ghana for a special reception to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Peace Corps.

The NPCA Group Leaders Forum was held in September during Peace Corps' 45th anniversary weekend. The forum gathered group leaders from the many NPCA affiliates across the country. Maura Fulton, RPCV/W Vice President, represented our group and enjoyed the lively discussions and energy of this dedicated group. Important outcomes of the forum include: better guidelines for sharing of data between affiliate groups and NPCA; a simplified membership process for 2007; and great ideas for sharing information and resources though a Virtual Community.

RPCVs Play Ball! On Tuesday, September 19, over 50 RPCVs descended upon RFK Stadium in varying degrees of traditional host-country garb and participated in a Parade of Nations flag-carrying event just before the game began. Flags from every currently-active

His Excellency Dr. Kwame Bawuah-Edusei, Ambassador of Ghana, warmly welcomed all of the returned volunteers and thanked them for their service to his country, the first post to ever host PCVs. Tasty appetizers from West Africa and a "griot"shared his musical talents contributed to a festive event at which Jody Olsen, Deputy Director of the Peace Corps, and Kevin Quigley, President of NPCA, spoke of the benefits of Peaceservice and beyond.

post were carried and each country was individually named on the loudspeaker as Peace Corps received recognition and congratulations on their anniversary. The first pitch of the game was thrown by RPCV Chris Matthews (Swaziland 68-70), of "Hardball" fame.

New members meet up to meet n’ eat (survival tactics ingrained into every PCV) New members of RPCVw met up at Cafe Luna in Dupont Circle on Sunday, November 5th for a festive and fun brunch. About 30 RPCVs came together for conversation and yummy food. This event alsoRPCVw's first sale of the new 2007 international calendars (see page one). In addition, Mirela Roventa, manager of a rug business in Romania, exhibited beautiful traditional Romanian rugs. Special thanks to Cafe Luna, RPCV Amy Clark and Mirela for helping to make this event so successful! To learn more about the Romanian rugs, please contact Mirela at: [email protected] in Romania or Natalie at [email protected] in Bethesda. There will be another New Members Brunch in or around March 2007! If you have ideas for the next brunch, or other ideas for attracting, involving, and welcoming members, please contact Audrey Morganbesser at: [email protected]

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Issue 1, December 2006, page 5

What we’ve been up to (con’t): Moroccans and Returned Volunteers Celebrate Ramadan Together~ As the sun began to set and the natural light flooding through the large windows dimmed, a troop of waiters at Taste of Morocco in Silver Spring bustled back and forth from the kitchen to the wing of the dining room serving over fifty returned Peace Corps volunteers with their friends and family. They had all gathered to partake in a traditional breaking of the fast for Ramadan, or iftar in Arabic. Meeting and chatting with others who shared the common bond of Peace Corps experience was certainly a bonus. The iftar is a traditional meal served at sunset every evening of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, after devout Muslims have fasted from sun up to sun down. The food overwhelmed. A heaping platter of sweet dried figs and pastries preceded a beef-based soup, hard-boiled eggs, and thin pancakes smothered in honey. To wash everything down, tea, coffee, milk, and a thick fruit blend were served. During the meal, the diners were treated to a description of the meal by Taste of Morocco owner, Abdel Moumen (pictured below with RPCVw Special Events Director, Riley Graebner).

Guest speaker Dr. Attiya Soueilem, a professor of Islam and a consultant on Islamic affairs for the United Nations, talked to the crowd about the role of Ramadan and fasting in Islam. Dr. Soueilem discussed Islam’s five pillars to a successful life before connecting Peace Corps and Islam. The idea that Peace Corps is done for the sake of service and not for recognition, Dr. Soueilem said, links it to the tenets of Islam. The event was co-hosted by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, D.C. and the Friends of Morocco. Members of the Washington Moroccan Club and the Moroccan Press Agency also attended. Don’t forget to check out our website for the most up-to-date information! www.rpcvw.org

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC Bringing the experience home.

Issue 1, December 2006, page 6

Meet the RPCVw Board: Better than the average getting-to-know-you chitchat The RPCVw Board of Directors works hard to keep all DC-area RPCVs connected (sometimes making RPCVs connected!), but above all we're a bunch of RPCVs who want to keep the Peace Corps experience alive in everyone who has had it. As proof, check out these fun Peace Corps anecdotes from the Board's collective experience... -New Members Director Audrey Morganbesser helped a friend confront her pick-pocketer. They managed to convince him to return her wallet and most of her cash! -VP Maura Fulton lived on a very traditional Pacific island that was less than a square mile and a 2-day trip by boat from the main island. The island was topless. Wearing tops was taboo and, if caught, you would have to pay tribute to the chiefs.

-Development Director Itzel Fairlie survived a neardeath experience when a stove-top espresso maker launched off her stove and blew through the roof of her Peace Corps home in Morocco. seconds before it blew, she had been standing over the stove fiddling with it, trying to figure out why it wasn't percolating. (It was clogged with some hardwater deposits from the previous Volunteer who left it for her.)

-Membership Director Meghan Hagerty had the misfortune of discovering first hand while serving in Panama that it is a very bad idea to get in a small boat with many pigs, as they are acutely subject to seasickness.

-Treasurer Jeffrey Love lived in the town of Chunavi which means "place of the freeze-dried potato." his time in Bolivia, he ate lots of re hydrated freeze-dried potatoes. They were an acquired taste--one that not many people from the US may ever wish to acquire!

-Social Events Director Corey Quinlan was nearly attacked by lions during his service in Benin. A trip to a game park almost went awry when two female lions charged the car that Corey and another PCV were sitting on top of to get a better view. (They hadn't known there could be lions.) Luckily, the driver of the car floored it just in time. -President Jim Gore had a old Bolivian man (Matilde Vega), local Curandero (healer) spit on and blow smoke on my back as he chanted in Guarani ( a local language) to cure a severe spider bite that he got in the mountains. And guess what? It worked!

-While a PCV in rural Panama, Webmaster Brian Caouette once searched unsuccessfully for days covering -Special Events Director nearly 20 miles of terrain for a pig to Molly Mattessich encounroast at his community despedida tered more problems with (good-bye party), later to discover his HCNs in Mali pronouncing next door neighbor had a not only a -While serving in Romania, her name than you'd expect pig to sell but a place to cook it. Special Programs Direcin a country that had essentor Riley Graebner ditially the same name: Even -Communications Director Lesley rected his students in a though it was the name of the Pories was hiking in the mountains production of "Almost the country, Malians had a lot of of Uzbekistan during an IST when Bride of Dracula" in the trouble pronouncing hershe and another PCV stumbled upon same city where Dracula name.service hernamewas and woke up a group of border pawas supposedly born! "Oumou," so the Malians trol guards, who refused to let them didn't actually refer to her as go any further. This was an un-Community Services Dimarked border with Kazakhstan. rector Amy Kunz was travel- "Molly from Mali." That was a nickname given by returned ing with fellow PCVs -Webmaster Kelly Stenhoff rethrough Central America--to volunteers in D.C. members when the headmistress the Panama Canal and back--and on the way home to Guateat her school was so fat that no mala her passport got flagged in Nicaragua for not having 6 one (HCN teachers included) months validity on it.They put her in a truck, made her say knew she was pregnant until after goodbye to her friends and took her across the border to Costa she had the baby!!! (Apparently, Rica where she became their problem.No bribes were exAfrican mothers to be do not talk changed (although they were offered) but finally the plea from about being pregnant because another PCVshe needed to get back to her site and "important" they think it will jinx them.) work got Amy back in and allowed to pass through! -Apparently, Secretary Joe Ford can't tell us his little story, or he would have to kill us.