Peace Corps

POTOMAC, Md. — R. Sargent Shriver was remembered yesterday as an unwavering optimist, pioneering the Peace Corps and running the War on Poverty during the turbulent 1960s, and keeping his idealism even as the running mate on a Democratic presidential ticket destined to fail. At his funeral Mass yesterday, mourners from philanthropist and musician Bono to Vice President Joe Biden to former President Bill Clinton were among hundreds who paid tribute to a man who dedicated his life to serving others.

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Vanessa Bradford Kerry, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and executive director of the Global Health Services Corps, announced a new global health service partnership Tuesday morning with the Peace Corps and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to place nurses, doctors and other health professionals as adjunct faculty in foreign medical and nursing schools. The partnership will begin working with Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health this summer to help design the medical and nursing...

CONTRASTING HIMSELF with returned Peace Corps volunteer Joseph P. Kennedy III, Sean Bielat stated that he would "take the Marine Corps over the Peace Corps any day" ( "4th Congressional District, meet Sean Bielat. Again," Page A1, March 4) I was surprised that a highly educated graduate of Georgetown, Harvard, and Wharton would make such a remark. Did Bielat have to learn a new language to communicate in a town far away from other English-speaking people? As a Marine who did not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan while on active duty, did he have to sleep under a mosquito net with no air...

CONTRASTING HIMSELF with returned Peace Corps volunteer Joseph P. Kennedy III, Sean Bielat stated that he would "take the Marine Corps over the Peace Corps any day" ( "4th Congressional District, meet Sean Bielat. Again," Page A1, March 4) I was surprised that a highly educated graduate of Georgetown, Harvard, and Wharton would make such a remark. Did Bielat have to learn a new language to communicate in a town far away from other English-speaking people? As a Marine who did not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan while on active duty, did he have to sleep under a mosquito net with no air...

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - The US Peace Corps will pull out of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a move that follows reports from volunteers about a spate of sexual assaults and Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks on the program's workers. The Peace Corps has been in Kazakhstan since shortly after the former Soviet nation gained independence in 1991 and currently has about 120 volunteers working in the fields of education and health. It has sent about 1,000 volunteers to the country since it started operations there in 1993.

WASHINGTON - President Obama announced yesterday he will nominate a career international development specialist to be director of the Peace Corps. Aaron Williams, now the vice president for international business development with RTI International, has 25 years of experience in helping design assistance programs in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. He was a manager at the US Agency for International Development and reached the rank of career minister in the Senior Foreign Service.

The U.S. government is suspending training for new Peace Corps volunteers in the Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador while it assesses security concerns. A Peace Corps statement says a training course for volunteers scheduled for January will not take place, but those already serving in the two countries are "safe and accounted for. " The corps said Wednesday that "due to ongoing security concerns, the agency is enhancing operational support to currently serving volunteers.

DAYTON, Ohio - As a new member of the Peace Corps, Ralph Bernstein is trying to get used to the heat and humidity in the equatorial African nation of Ghana, the bone-jarring rides over unpaved roads, and unsanitary conditions. It would be a challenge for volunteers in their 20s. Bernstein just turned 85. The Dayton man is the oldest current volunteer in the Peace Corps and part of a tidal wave of volunteers age 50 and older. The agency last year started a marketing strategy to try to capitalize on the trend of baby boomers looking for a nontraditional...

Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras are coming home for good. The corps recently announced it could not guarantee the safety of its 158 recruits there because of violence related to drugs and organized crime. The news is disappointing in that the corps has performed important work in the poor Central American nation. But it does suggest that the corps is finally responding to complaints of systemic indifference to the security of those it sends abroad. Founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the corps now has over 8,000 recruits in 77 countries.

MADISON, Wis. -- Joseph Kauffman, one of the architects of the Peace Corps, died Friday of cancer, according to a news release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was 84. Mr. Kauffman advocated for a national youth corps during John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. He served on the staff under R. Sargent Shriver Jr. that developed the Peace Corps. From 1961 to 1963, he was the program's first director of training. He was responsible for the preparation of volunteers for overseas assignments, developing training programs at more than 60 colleges and universities.

Thirty years ago, when organ transplantation was in its infancy, Charlie Fiske led a pioneering effort to find a liver for his 11-month-old daughter, Jamie, who was dying. He went across the country seeking a donor, then to the media and finally to Congress — his relentless work not only saved his daughter's life, but hundreds of others, as it led to a new awareness and the start of the national organ transplant bank. This month, he's traveling again to once again say thank you — but this time, in a bigger way. On Tuesday, he leaves for a two-year stint serving the Peace...

The U.S. Embassy in Katamandu says Peace Corps volunteers will return to Nepal seven years after they left during the peak of a Maoist rebel insurgency. Wednesday's embassy statement says the first group of about 20 volunteers is scheduled to arrive in Nepal later this year. They will be trained in agriculture and nutrition and will work with rural communities to improve food security and the health of the Nepalese people. The insurgency ended in 2006 after the Maoist rebels agreed to enter a peace process with the government.

All 158 Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras left the country on Monday, weeks after the United States announced that it would pull them out for safety reasons. The U.S. group said in late December that it was bringing home volunteers from Honduras and suspending training for new volunteers in El Salvador and Guatemala, though existing volunteers would remain in the latter two countries. The region is plagued by gang violence and Honduras is considered to have the highest murder rate in the world.

Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras are coming home for good. The corps recently announced it could not guarantee the safety of its 158 recruits there because of violence related to drugs and organized crime. The news is disappointing in that the corps has performed important work in the poor Central American nation. But it does suggest that the corps is finally responding to complaints of systemic indifference to the security of those it sends abroad. Founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the corps now has over 8,000 recruits in 77 countries.

NEWTON, Iowa - Republican presidential contender Ron Paul, largely dismissed both by the mainstream media and many in the general population, nonetheless has the endorsement of an invigorated core of supporters who may propel him to victory in the Iowa caucuses. A crowd braved a winter chill, and gave up other holiday week diversions, to visit the dormant infield of a summer playground so they could hear the Texas congressman deliver a libertarian tour de force. He not only repeated his pledge to cut $1 trillion in federal spending during his first year as...

The U.S. government is suspending training for new Peace Corps volunteers in the Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador while it assesses security concerns. A Peace Corps statement says a training course for volunteers scheduled for January will not take place, but those already serving in the two countries are "safe and accounted for. " The corps said Wednesday that "due to ongoing security concerns, the agency is enhancing operational support to currently serving volunteers.

NEW HAVEN - The Peace Corps said yesterday that a former volunteer's alleged sexual abuse of young girls in South Africa is "reprehensible" and that the agency supports the vigorous prosecution of the case. Jesse Osmun, 31, of Milford was arrested Thursday in Connecticut on federal charges of sexually abusing children at a center in Greytown that helps AIDS victims. Authorities say Osmun molested five children under the age of 6, some several times, and gave them candy during a period between 2010 and this year.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - The US Peace Corps will pull out of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a move that follows reports from volunteers about a spate of sexual assaults and Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks on the program's workers. The Peace Corps has been in Kazakhstan since shortly after the former Soviet nation gained independence in 1991 and currently has about 120 volunteers working in the fields of education and health. It has sent about 1,000 volunteers to the country since it started operations there in 1993.