Peace Corps Connect June 19-21- Nashville

Join the National Peace Corps Association and our local hosts, the Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, on June 19-21, 2014 in Nashville. We are very excited for you to reconnect with the Peace Corps community and re-energize your Peace Corps spirit!

Last year, hundreds of attendees came away from Peace Corps Connect – Boston energized and renewed. This year’s program is even bigger and better, with lots of networking and inspiring presenters (maybe even you…?).

Come tell your story, learn from others and have fun!

Learn more and register! Special rates for NPCA members, seniors, and recently returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

Early bird registration ends on April 21, 2014. Register today!

Peace Corps Connect June 19-21- Nashville Read More »

Las Mercedes Health Center: Now Open!

Friends of Ecuador helped at the beginning stages of this RPCV-supported health project before it had its own tax-exempt status. We’re happy to report that the health center, long in the making, is now open in the coastal town of Huaquillas. From the Las Mercedes Project blog:

In June of 2011, we broke ground on the Las Mercedes Health Center.  After completing construction in the fall of 2012, we waited patiently for resources to arrive from the Ministry of Health in order to equip and staff the health center.  For almost two years, the building just sat empty reminding everyone in the community just how forgotten Las Mercedes had become.

At times, the wait was painful.  We pestered every person we possibly could from the Mayor of Huaquillas to the Vice Minister of Health to the seemingly endless stream of regional health directors that were here one day and gone another.   We were almost always frustrated and sometimes we simply felt defeated.   But we never gave up and this past week our dream finally came true as the doors of the Las Mercedes Health Center were opened by the Ministry of Health!

On behalf of the residents of Las Mercedes, we would like to say “Thank you” to every single one of our supporters.  But more important, we want to say “thank you for believing in us and being a part of our community.”

Together, in solidarity, we were able to turn a simple idea into a reality. Several years ago, we set out to solve the infectious disease problem in Las Mercedes.  The building of a fully functioning health center was a key element of our plan.But, we still have work to do.With the health center up and running, the final piece of the puzzle will be put in place this summer through the installation of a fully functioning sewage system in collaboration with Engineers without Borders, the Mayor’s office, and the residents of Las Mercedes.

To complete this project, we need your help.  We need to raise $20,000 before May 1st, 2014 in order to purchase the materials for the sewage project and to reach our goal we still need a little more than $6,000.  Please help us reach our goal by making a donation.  Donating is easy, simply click on the link.

Just like the donations for the health center, every single dollar goes directly to the sewage project since we are 100% volunteer-based organization.

Thank you for your continued support and enjoy the pictures!

The Mayor’s office, in collaboration with the local residents, recently completed the beautiful brick entrance to the health center.

The front of the health center looks great but we still need to replace the tree that a goat ate a while back.

A few workers from the Ministry of Health setting up information boards at the front entrance of the health center.

A well stocked pharmacy thanks to the Ministry of Health!

The medical personnel from the Ministry of Health setting up one of the consultation rooms.

More picture to come!

Las Mercedes Health Center: Now Open! Read More »

Train from Guayaquil to Quito Rises Again

From CNN:

Trains in Ecuador have been virtually moribund since the late 1990s.

“Strong winter rains of El Niño in 1982 destroyed a stretch of the railroad between Huigra and Bucay,” says Slav Ivanov of Ferrocariles del Ecuador, the train’s operators. “Further damage occurred during El Niño floods during the 1990s.”

‪By 2008, only about 10% of the Ecuadorian train network was operational.

Since then, the Ecuadorean government has spent some $280 million revamping the national railway. ‬ …

Train from Guayaquil to Quito Rises Again Read More »

Ecuador’s Volcanoes from Space

Reprinted from Gizmodo:

It may look more like modern art, but you’re actually looking at a the highlands of Ecuador seen from the European Space Agency’s Envisat. The peaks pretty much face the satellite, so the radar signals it sends out are reflected right back, resulting in the strong, bright signals you see.

Near the top of the images you can see the outskirts of Quito — one of the highest capital cities in the world — as a series of white dots. Elsewhere, what looks like white glaciers at the peaks of mountains are in fact artefacts of radio data

Ecuador’s Volcanoes from Space Read More »

Peace Corps Week – February 23rd to March 1st

This is reprinted from the Peace Corps website.

Peace Corps Week celebrates President Kennedy’s establishment of the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961. During this annual event, the Peace Corps community celebrates all the ways that Peace Corps makes a difference at home and abroad and renews its commitment to service.

This year, Peace Corps invites current and returned Peace Corps Volunteers to get involved in Peace Corps Week 2014 by participating in our Video Challenge and/or Classroom Challenge. Each challenge, designed to support Peace Corps’ Third Goal of sharing other cultures with Americans, starts on January 1 and continues through the end of Peace Corps Week on March 1. Follow the link to learn how you can participate in one or both of these exciting efforts.

Peace Corps Week – February 23rd to March 1st Read More »

RPCV Opportunities to Jump Start Your Career & Bring the World Home

Dear RPCVs:

Peace Corps is bringing its RPCV support around the country to help you jump start your career. Whether you’ve been back 10 days or 10 years, we hope you’ll sign up for any of the following regional or national RPCV Career Events to get yourself back in shape for the U.S. job market or to refresh your job search strategy as you change career direction:

Spring 2014 RPCV Career Events

On the cultural front, with fewer than 10 days left until the start of Peace Corps Week, we hope you’ll take a couple minutes to see what’s already been done by PCVs and RPCVs participating in the Video and Classroom Challenges. It’s not too late for you to join in and there are tote bags, maps, and even the possibility of a free iPad to entice you!

Thank you for your service and for continuing to make a difference.

All the best,

 

Peace Corps Office of Third Goal and Returned Volunteer Services

rvsevents@peacecorps.gov

202.692.1430

Follow us on Twitter @PCThirdGoal#PCWeek2014

RPCV Opportunities to Jump Start Your Career & Bring the World Home Read More »

Scroll to Top