2020
NOVEMBER
RPCVNJ Scholarships
In August 2020, the RPCVNJ Board of Directors initiated a program to award scholarships to RPCVs from NJ who are furthering their education. A subcommittee of the Project Support Committee was formed and met to develop criteria as follows:
Applicants had to meet following requirements:
- RPCV (providing Description of Service)
- Current NJ resident
- Active NPCA member with RPCVNJ affiliation
- Enrolled (or enrolling in January 2021 in an accredited college or university
They also had to answer one of these three questions:
- How are your career goals shaped by your Peace Corps Experience?
- How would this scholarship help you realize your educational goals?
- What does being a RPCV mean to you?
The application deadline was established as October 31st after which applications were reviewed.
The Project Committee was extremely pleased by the high quality of applicants for the Scholarship that RPCVNJ had to offer. These are dedicated people who have learned from their service and wish to continue that service to making a better world through their education and future careers.
On November 21st the committee’s recommendations were reviewed acted on by the RPCVNJ Board of Directors. The following applicants were awarded $500 scholarships:
Carl Phillips wrote an insightful essay, including the observation that his PC experience “directly broadened my capacity for understanding and empathizing with people from entirely different backgrounds from me.” Carl served in Zambia which helps him in preparing for a future career in international relations. American University- Washington DC: International Relations
Irene Candelaria worked in mental health counseling in Botswana teaching skills that “empowered participating young women to become leaders in their community.” This Peace Corps experience helped prepare her for a career in New Jersey “guiding children to create healthier relationships.” St. Bonaventure University- St. Bonaventure, NY: Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Rosa Johnson’s Peace Corps experience in Peru taught her the importance of cultural sensitivity, innovation, and flexibility in developing and implementing policy. Rosa will be studying Public Policy and Management. Carnegie Melon- Pittsburgh, Pa: Public Policy & Management
Kako Yamada served in Comoros where she heard her friends say they feel media does not portray them fairly and erases their voices. Her Peace Corps experience and her continued relationship with the people of Comoros have helped shaped her career direction. Kako will be studying International Educational Development and Media. University of Pennsylvania- Philadelphia, Pa: International Education Development
Kathleen Murray was a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa where her experiences helped her develop a passion for a career in International Development & Global Health. Kathleen’s work in South Africa “has shown me exactly what and where I want to focus my studies.” Josef Korbel School of International Studies- Denver, CO: International Development & Global Health
Alan Adam, Chair Vikki Ott, Lenore Bonilla, Christie Musa — Scholarship Subcommittee, Project Support Committee
AUGUST
MOLDOVA: Empowering Women through Skills Development
NJ EPCV Alyssa Gurkas (project was pursued by A. Gurkas following her evacuation)
Funded: $500
The community room at “Mihai Viteazul” will be used to host seminars, meetings for community assemblies, and trainings for students. The funds will be used to purchase a smart board, computer, speakers, printer, paper, markers, flip-chart, notebooks, lunches for seminars. The community has already contributed 15 desks and chairs for the community room and will purchase a laptop and an additional teacher's desk. In addition, the library has agreed to let the middle school use their space for the programming workshops and faculty's seminars on basic computer skills. These funds will also enable the faculty to improve their technology skills through weekly trainings and 4 seminars including Digital Tools in the Classroom, Modern Methods of learning, and teaching.
FEBRUARY
GHANA: Girls Empowerment Program and Extension:
NJ PCV Jasmine Miller
Funding: $500
The girls club would meet once a week at the local school and provide a safe environment for girls to learn about themselves, build self-confidence and gain leadership skills.
Due to the evacuation of PCVs in midMarch 2020, this project did not take place. In August the Board agreed to apply this funding to a Peace Corps IssueFfund: the Ruppe Gender Development fund.
BENIN: Constructing Safe Classrooms
NJ PCV Maxwell Lieblich
Funding: $500
The funds would be used to build classrooms in a village school that serves 18 forms (grades), 828 students and 80 teachers. The middle/high school serves multiple villages.
Due to the evacuation of PCVs in midMarch 2020, this project did not take place. In August the Board agreed to apply this funding to a Peace Corps Issue Fund: the Education fund.
2019
$5,200 ($1,000 for PC Park approved in 2019, paid in 2020)
PEACE CORPS PARK & COMMEMORATIVE
Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation
Funding: $1,000 In 2014, a bipartisan Act of Congress authorized the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation (PCCF) to build a commemorative work in the heart of Washington, DC, to recognize the historic significance of the establishment of the Peace Corps in 1961 and to honor the timeless, enduring American ideals on which the Peace Corps was founded. http://peacecorpsdesign.net/commemorative/
LESOTHO: Support for Secondary School Students
NJ PCV
Funding: $350
SENEGAL: Mentoring Successful Scholars
NJ PCV
Funding: $500
PERU: Developing Women Entrepreneurs
NJ PCV
Funding: $500
MOROCCO: Digital Library and Computer Project NJ PCV Raashnie Gopalrai
Funding: $600
The project aims to augment the Library Project at the local school in Essaouira, Morocco by supplying the school with more computers. The middle-high school has about 900 students from ages 10-18 years old. The vision of our Computer Project is to expand and enhance the existing technology curriculum within our school by increasing the amount of available, functioning computers per student and to install these computers with updated, educational programs. Donations will go to purchasing approx. 15 more computers.
ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVAL PROJECT- Phyllis Noble Memorial Oral History Fund:
Digitization of original interviews recorded on cassette
NPCA Affiliate Group
Funding: $500
In the oral history project, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers interview other Volunteers about their Peace Corps experiences. Volunteer interviewers cover all costs incurred, including supplies, procuring appropriate equipment and travel expenses to conduct interviews.
Recordings are archived in the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a unit of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Donations to the Phyllis Noble Memorial Oral History Fund, established in 2017, will cover costs of digitizing the 520 interviews recorded on audiocassette tapes from 1999 to 2015 (total cost estimated at $30,000). After these recordings are digitized and go online, the Fund will be used to promote and expand the RPCV Oral History Project. https://www.peacecorpsoralhistory.org/cpages/home
PC DOCUMENTARY FILM: A Towering Task RPCV Alana DeJoseph, Director Funded: $250 (See $250 donation from 2018 for total of $500 combined). Additional donation made in response to email fundraising campaign dated 5/18/19. The Peace Corps documentary “A Towering Task” endeavors to be the first comprehensive documentary about the Peace Corps and will look back at the history of the agency, its leaders, and current state through interviews both in the US and internationally. The title of the film comes from John F. Kennedys state of the union address where the stated: “The problems are towering and unprecedented – and the response must be towering and unprecedented as well.”www.peacecorpsdocumentary.com
ECUADOR: Building Community Through Reading
NJ PCV Patricia Healey
Funding: $500
This project addresses the need in the community for a permanent location for children and parents, separately and together, that operates 24/7 in a more densely populated, centrally located area of the town. The operation of a new space will allow the organization to continue the programs already in existence and substantially expand the reach; programs such as Children’s Literacy, Rainbow Days, Escuela Para Padres, family meetings, Gender Clubs, music and theater. The first objective is to provide a safe, accessible, permanent location where all the current programs can continue. The second objective is to expand the reach and scope of the organization in order to provide more children, their parents and other community members with opportunities for youth and community development. By having a permanent space, many activities can be scheduled on the weekends or later in the evening when more parents and community members are available. The final objective is to train the adults of the community more fully in the areas the children are learning during the day. This would include themes such as self-esteem, teamwork, communication, gender roles, leadership, and planning.
BENIN: Leadership Through Food Security Camp
NJ PCV Daniel Greenberg
Funding: $500
As the economy of Benin is largely based on agriculture, it is extremely pertinent for students to learn about best environmental and agricultural practices. The Leadership through Food Security Camp will be held over 6 days in June 2019. This camp aims to bring together students from all areas of Benin and train them on a variety of topics related to leadership, gender equality and food security. They will serve to inspire the students and can provide guidance so that the students can address food security in their own village, as well as showcasing female financial independence.
BENIN: Water Project
NJ PCV Maxwell Lieblich
Funding: $500
MOROCCO: Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) & Boys Respecting Others (BRO) Camp
NJ PCV Margaret Blackburn
Funding: $500
Camp to be held in a small village in the southern Tata Province of Morocco. Throughout Morocco, harassment and gender inequality are challenges for youth and the importance of gender, empowerment, and equality work is important in Moroccan communities. Worldwide Peace Corps Volunteers are using the GLOW and BRO curriculums to help youth in their communicates improve their self esteem, leadership skills, goal setting, and learning about health relationships. The main goal of this camp is to help improve the participants’ behaviors and to help them learn new ways they can communicate and interact respectfully.
AFRICA SURGERY
NJ RPCV Tom Johnson (Sierra Leone 1989-91)
Funded: $600
In 2003 NJ RPCV Tom Johnson founded Africa Surgery, a non-profit organization providing health care and surgical services to needy people in Sierra Leone. For about 5 months a year Tom lives there working with international and local medical programs and facilities that provide diagnoses and treatment on a wide range of issues. When not there, he coordinates activities from Morristown, NJ, with help from some in-country assistants, including Mohamed Mansuray in Freetown and Foday Tarawalie in Makeni.
2018
$4,022.58 PCP/Other Projects + $2154.50 Raised through RPCVNJ Indiegogo Campaign
AFRICA SURGERY NJ RPCV Tom Johnson Funded raised through RPCVNJ Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign: $2154.50 Tom Johnson has been continuing his service to Sierra Leone where he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Through the non-profit organization, Africa Surgery, Inc. (ASI) www.africasurgery.org that Tom established, he works to make free medical care and surgical treatments available and to provide supplies to doctors and material support to needy people in Sierra Leonean. The funds raised were used for surgery for Frances Kabba a young child to remove a benign growth in her jaw.
PC DOCUMENTARY FILM: A Towering Task RPCV Alana DeJoseph, Director Funded: $250 The Peace Corps documentary “A Towering Task” endeavors to be the first comprehensive documentary about the Peace Corps and will look back at the history of the agency, its leaders, and current state through interviews both in the US and internationally. The title of the film comes from John F. Kennedys state of the union address where the stated: “The problems are towering and unprecedented – and the response must be towering and unprecedented as well.”www.peacecorpsdocumentary.com THAILAND: The GLOW/BROS (Girls Lead Our World/Boys Respecting Others and Self) NJ PCV: Pablo Doster Funded: $500 The GLOW/BROS (Girls Lead Our World/Boys Respecting Others and Self) camp is a product of two years of work between the Peace Corps Volunteer, the Sub-Administrative Organization (SAO), and two community schools in the Prachinburi province in Thailand in an effort to address the growing rate of teen pregnancy and to promote gender equality, youth leadership and self confidence instead through the development of GLOW/BROS clubs in the two schools. MUSEUM OF THE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE www.museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org Funded: $100 plus second contribution of $900 established RPCVNJ as a Charter member of the Museum. The Committee for the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience was founded by returned Peace Corps volunteers in 1999 in Portland, Oregon. As a 501(c)(3) private, non-profit organization, the Committee has an established record of artifact acquisition, professional exhibitions and modest fundraising and are currently working towards raising initial funding for the establishment of a brick and mortar museum and are in the process of creating a virtual museum page to get people involved.
THE GAMBIA: PCPP project “Explore Your Country-Girls” NJ PCV: Keeley Ffrench
Funded: $500 Explore Your Country for Girls 2018 will bring up to ten female students from rural and semi urban areas of the country into the capital city for a five-day educational training. With the support of teacher counterparts and PCV, the participants will be selected by their respective schools administration and they (student participant, teacher CP and PCV) will travel together into the capital city.
The objectives of the training include but are not limited to: (i) expose participants to educational and professional opportunities located within the capital city, (ii) equip them with the skills to pursue higher education and careers, and (iii) educate them about gender roles and barriers to education.
GEORGIA: Girls Ecological Camp
NJ PCV: Dana Wise
Funded: $500 The goal of this project is to provide access to outdoor education to girls ages 14-19 from the Adjara region at an overnight environmental camp at a National Park in Georgia. By the end of the camp, 16 teenage girls will learn new skills related to first aid, photography, fishing, boat safety, leadership and team work. Learning these new skills will increase the capacity and confidence of these young women.
ZAMBIA: Reusable Menstruation Pad Making Workshops NJ PCV: Sara Pauwels Funding: $500 The Northwest Reusable Menstruation Pad Making Workshops will be based in individual volunteer’s communities, where they will use the materials provided to teach women and girls in their communities how to create reusable menstruation pads. The attendees (women and girls) will also learn about better hygiene, health skills and leadership skills.
SWAZILAND: Youth Leadership Summit for Boys Reaching Out (BRO) Project NJ PCV: Sara Butter (Community Health Volunteer) of Short Hills, New Jersey. Funding: $700 The Youth Leadership Summit is a four night youth summit with the mission of developing young male leaders in Swaziland by providing them with the tools to develop leadership skills in areas such as facilitation, effective communication, and role modeling, and confidence to conduct respectful relationships.
2017
$4,025 PCP/Other Projects
SENEGAL: The Michele Sylvester Scholarship NJ PCV A. Porkus Funding: $560.93 (Balance needed at time of RPCVNJ contribution) To help close the gender gap in education by providing scholarship money for school inscription fees and school supplies for girls in each participating middle school.
ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia Primary School Latrine Construction NJ PCV M. Elton Funding: $623.82 To support gender development through a female latrine, water and sanitation and garden and nutrition.
SOMOA: Let Girls Learn “GLOW” NJ PCV A. Johnson Funding: $500
ECUADOR: Mushuk Yayay School Program (Children’s Healthy Future) NJ RPCV Alan Adams Funding: $400
AFGHANISTAN: Friends of Afghanistan/Growing Peace in Afghanistan (GPIA)
NJ RPCV John Bing
Funding: $400.00
The Bamyan Weaving Project of the Friends of Afghanistan/Growing Peace in Afghanistan (GPIA) is intended to help the weavers of central Afghanistan by supporting the purchase of wool and its transformation into barak, a fabric that has been made for millennia in Afghanistan and Iran but is expensive because the method of weaving, using ground looms, takes much time and labor. One of the GPIA members, an RPCV from Afghanistan, is himself an experienced weaver and entrepreneur and he has sent a more advanced loom to Bamyan; the project intends to use this ground loom to train local weavers in the more efficient production of barak and to purchase wool from local sheep farmers to provide to the weavers for production of barak, which would then be sold locally. Once production ramps up, GPIA expect to begin marketing the product in the west.
PUERTO RICO: Cooperativa José Cortes Cordero, an employee cooperative of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce
(former NJ resident) RPCV Lamberto Vera-Velez (Paraguay 1969-71) via NJ RPCV Barbara Lee Funded: $985.55 The University employee cooperative is collecting money through its members, faculty and administrative personnel to distribute and help families in the nearby community. All money will go directly to the 20 employees of the University and their families who lost virtually everything as a result of Hurricane Maria. The request for donations comes by way of Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Mr. Lamberto Vera-Velez (Paraguay, 1969 – 71) who overlapped with our own RPCV-NJ members Barbara and Art Lee. Lamberto is a retired professor of the Graduate School of Education at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce and his wife Angie is a member of the Finance Committee of the Cooperative. After his service in Paraguay, Lamberto helped run Peace Corps Training in Puerto Rico. He is also a former resident of New Jersey having studied at both Montclair State University where he obtained his Masters in Education and Rutgers University where he obtained his doctorate in Urban Education.
2016
$3,000 PCP/Other Projects
TANZANIA: Let Girls Lean | Shinyanga HIV Education Conference NJ PCV N. Hasan Funded: $549 In the Shinyanga area, students who tested positive HIV were numerous. Over 300,000 adolescent girls annually were therefore likely to be kicked out of school or forced to drop out due to cultural pressure. The HIV Education Conference allows for 30 students to learn and discuss how HIV/AIDS affects their community, will equip students with confidence to make healthy choices and promote gender equality in regards to HIV/AIDS in the community. A group of 39 students( boys and girls) from different schools would attend the 3-day conference and later reteach their lessons to the students back home.
MADAGASCAR: Let Girls Learn/ National GLOW Camp- Empower Malagasy Girls to Catalyze Change! OH PCV B. James
PANAMA: Eco-Stoves for Rural Panamanian Community inside Forest Reserve NJ PCV: Jack Curry Funded: $500 For Rural Panamanian Community inside Forest Preserve The object of this project is to build 25 EcoStoves to lower the need for firewood and to improve cooking efficiency. Each family will be taught how to build a stove. Trained workers will be paid to build stoves-a 2- day process. The stoves will be evaluated.
PERU: Let Girls Learn | Soup Kitchen for Low Income Female Students NJ PCV P. Jimenez Funded: $500 In Cutervo, Peru the St. Teresa of Calcutta mothers’ Committee wanted to provide snacks and lunch for 60 students who lived very far from the school. They wanted to build a dining area and a simple kitchen. P aula helped to organize the project and to also construct a garden to raise vegetables and fruit to improve their diet. Her photos of the process were amazing
MADAGASCAR: Give Access to Reading in Rural Madagascar
NJ PCV Olivia Prentzel
Funded: $250
This National GLOW Camp project took girls from 100 girls from 20 communities and 20 women chaperones to the capital city of Antananarivo for a week to involve them in games and activities to develop leadership skills, healthy habits, encourage them to go on for higher education and work. Most of the girls had never been away from home so this was a real adventure.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Latrines Project NJ PCV R. Wright
Funded: $250
The lack of latrines or any sanitary out housing in the community led to people use their backyards as places to defecate. The community had formed a committee to promote a healthy condition by planning to build 16 new pit latrines with the help of two local masons who would be assisted by the families who would receive the latrines. The newly trained builders would pass their new knowledge and experience to other families so they could build their own latrines.
MOZAMBIQUE: Books for Africa
PCV Jacki Crowell who served in Ankazobe, Mozambique as an English teacher 2013-2015
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Most families have no access to libraries or books. Jacki wanted RPCV-NJ to raise money to buy English books for the English Center she established at the high school so the students studying English would be able to learn more easily and improve their second language skills.
2015
$3,000 PCP/Other Projects
CAMBODIA: Let Girls Learn Fitness
NJ PCV A. Wasserman
Funded: $500
Initiative at their school by setting up a weekly yoga club taught by a Karma Yoga to transform the students’ self image and to develop their bodies and leadership skills. This would be the first female club in the community.
MADAGASCAR: Tree Nursery reforestation project
NJ PCV A. Maurie
Funded: $500
To provide 1500 fruit tree saplings to local villages, schools and religious community groups. Training for the local people will include bookkeeping, marketing, computer literacy, and product expansion.
TONGA: Camp GLOW project for 25 high school girls.
PCV Rene Fern (originally from NJ, prior two years in FL)
Funded: $500
PCVs run a week-long sleep away camp designed to empower the girls by covering topics such as leadership, rights of women and children, sexual harassment, nutrition, food sanitation, and being informed.
TOGO: Latrine Project
NJ PCV Anna Williams
Funded: $1,000
Built latrines
PEDALS FOR PROGRESS (P4P)
NJ RPCV David Schweidenback
Funded: $500
2014
$2,000 PCP/Other Projects
SENEGAL: Local Girls Camp NJ PCV Ellington Arnold
Funded: $500
Original Project was to help fund a school wall and garden at the Kadji Middle School/College in the village. The wall will keep out the herds of animals as they wander and keep out the dust storms and local traffic. Food grown in the garden will supplement the diet of the students and fight malnutrition. This should also encourage more students to stay in school and get a better education.
The wall project was fully funded by the time we got back to him with the $500 so unfortunately it was too late for these funds to be used. However, this particular PCV asked if we would consider moving the funds to a different project, more specifically a girls’ empowerment camp in Senegal.
CAMBODIA: Arts Festival PCV V. Lavigne
Funded: $500
ARMENIA: Border2Border Hike PCV Rosie Jeffrey
Funded: $500
Increase awareness about children’s health and waste reduction . Two teams of PCVs would walk from the northern border with Georgia and from the southern border with Iran to the center of the country for a closing celebration. As they each walked across Armenia they would join with community members to conduct 6 simple lessons through interactive seminars to teach 1,000 children about nutrition, anti-smoking, environment respect, hygiene, and food sanitation. They hope to inspire the children to take an active part in their own health and the health of the community and environment.
NEW YORK CITY EBOLA FUNDRAISER
Via NJ RPCV RJ Harper
Funded: $500
2013
$2,500 PCP/Other Projects
BENIN: Secondary School Computer Lab
PCV M. Huelsenbeck
UKRAINE: English Language Camps Resource Center
NJ PCV C. Smith
2012
$1,702.63 PCP/Other Projects
CAMEROOON: Modern Farming Training
NJ PCV A. Gunkelman
PC 50th ANNIVERSARY: “Images from the Peace Corps Experience” A photographic collection
The collection was displayed at several venues throughout 2010 and 2012, including Rutgers, NJIT, the Monroe Township Library, Georgian Court University, the Howell Living History Farm, and the Plainsboro Public Library.
NJ RPCV Nancie Gunkelman,, curator.
2011
$4,269.19 PCP Projects
KRYGYZ REPUBLIC: Community Computer/English Resource Center
NJ PCV S. Smith
BURKINA FASO: Theater equipment for health education
PCV A. Buchsbaum
P4P (PEDALS FOR PROGRESS): Bicycles and sewing machines for developing countries
NJ RPCV D. Schwidenback
Funding: $500
2010
$3,850 ($2,750 PCP Projects, $1,100 Other Organizations)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Community Ambulance Project
PCV M. Emiliani
BOTSWANA: Computer Center Renovation
NJ PCV S. Lin
HAITI: Oxfam America- Earthquake Relief
Funding: $500
2009
$3,000 ($2,000 PCP Projects, $550 Other Organizations, $450 More Peace Corps)
ARMENIA: English Lab Modernization
TANZANIA: School Kitchen Update
NJ PCV K. Capella
THE GAMBIA: School Library
SUDAN: CHF International- stoves for refugees
Funding: $150 for 5 stoves
P4P (PEDALS FOR PROGRESS): Bicycles and sewing machines for developing countries
NJ RPCV D. Schweidenback
2008
$2,384 ($1,864 PCP Projects, $500 More Peace Corps)
MOLDOVA: Youth Resource Center
NJ PCV S. Hakim
EL SALVADOR: 12 Family Coops/ Training
NJ PCV A. Perrone
2007
SURINAME: Build teacher’s house in Baku
NJ PCV D. Lipton
2006
MADAGASCAR: Market Shelter in Tsarabaria
PCV T. Ventzke
2005
MALI: Construction of 3 wells in Yarome
NJ PCV M. Hamilton
UKRAINE: School insulation in Rivne
PCV M. Navabian
2002
MOLDOVA: Raising Breast Awareness
Funded: $1,000
PCV Angela Carr. The project enabled the PCVs to teach over 20 doctors how to propagate breast awareness and run seminars in their communities.
2000-2001
ZAMBIA: Mabumba Maternity Ward Construction in Mabumba, Zambia
PCV Kelly Meget submitted the project, and her replacement PCV Rosemary Harlow, a retired nurse with a background in obstetrics, completed it in 2002.
Funded: $1000
They worked in cooperation with the local villagers and the Ministry of Health to provide sanitary and modern conditions for expectant mothers when giving birth.
SLOVAC REPUBLIC: Cancer Awareness project
RPCV Pam Iorio who worked in raising cancer awareness in college.
With the cooperation of the doctors at St. Elizabeth’s Preventive Center in Slovakia, they started a very successful “Think Pink” campaign aimed at women under 40 years of age to show women how to examine their own breasts especially when showering to catch sign of disease. This project was also funded by Pam’s sorority Zeta Tau Alpha with $500 to educate the women in Slovakia.