Jopara (Paraguay) Mission Statement

November 29, 2011 2 Comments

- PCV Paraguay

Jopara is a committee organized by Peace Corps Paraguay Volunteers interested in supporting diversity within the Volunteer community and strengthening contacts with diversity interest groups in Paraguay. The USA is a diverse place, and we feel that it is important for this multiplicity to be represented and supported amongst Volunteers.

Among our objectives are:

  • To provide a support network for Volunteers to discuss the challenges of living and serving in Paraguay while reflecting the diverse face of the USA. Jopara intends to provide support for Volunteers who identify with a range of situations regarding, but not limited to: ability, age, chemical dependency, dietary restrictions, ethnicity, gender identity/expression, marital status, physical/emotional health, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
  • To create a safe space for Volunteers struggling with limitations and challenges due to their diverse identity where they can express themselves freely and obtain necessary resources.
  • To provide resources and information on in-country diversity interest groups.
  • To serve as a resource to Peace Corps Paraguay staff and Volunteers in regards to training and sensitivity issues.
  • To provide resources to Volunteers who want to educate themselves or their community about diversity in Paraguay, the USA, and the world at large.
  • To identify and remove all barriers, whether institutional, attitudinal or behavioral, to the full and meaningful participation of diverse Volunteers.

For more information or a PCV Paraguay contact email lgbrpcv-news@lgbrpcv.org

Filed under Advocacy, Countries of Service, Country Support Groups, Paraguay

Safe Zone Training in Jordan

October 29, 2011 Leave a comment

We recently heard from Peace Corps volunteers in Jordan about continuing Safe Zone Training there. This year’s session had some additional changes to the training script so that it fit better within a Jordanian context. Like Safe Zone sessions in other Peace Corps countries, this was based on the Safe Zone training developed and taught by volunteers in Guatemala a couple of years back (available here). Jordan volunteers conducted their third Safe Zone training this September with the new PCV members of their Peer Support Network and several staff members who had not yet been through the training conducted last year. Two new volunteers will be trained in the coming months as Safe Zone facilitators to take the place of volunteers who are completing their service at the end of 2011. The files included with this article contain an updated trainer script, Power Point slides and a participant packet. Volunteers in countries with similar religious and cultural backgrounds will find this training package a good starting place for developing examples within the context of their individual countries.

Jordan volunteers are also training Language and Cultural Facilitators (local trainers who will train the new volunteers) on American and Peace Corps diversity issues. Included in this training are issues of “covert” diversity and specifically the experiences confronting LGBT and Jewish volunteers. Volunteers who have been involved in Safe Zone and Diversity training for local Peace Corps staff comment on the success of these sessions.

Questions about the Jordanian sessions can be directed to editor, Mike Learned, learned_mike@yahoo.com.

Training Materials:

Filed under Advocacy, Country Support Groups, Jordan, Safe Zone Trainings

LGBT RPCV’s Celebrate 50th Anniversary in Washington DC

October 29, 2011 Leave a comment

- Edwin Patout, RPCV, Ukraine, 2005-07

DC’s famous U Street corridor was the site of a Happy Hour hosted by the LGBT RPCV Alumni group on Friday September 23rd. The setting was the rooftop bar at Nellie’s Sports Bar and the conviviality included about 50 RPCV’s who were in Washington DC for the Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary. The event was sponsored by the LGBT RPCV Washington DC area group. It was a no host bar, but a nice spread of bar food was provided by the national LGBT RPCV group.

The RPCV’s who gathered for this event reflected the diversity of our own RPCV LGBT community. Varied experiences were all shared, such as the lesbian couple who met as Peace Corps volunteers 30 years ago. What a story!  Peace Corps staff, Ryan Derni and Stephen Chapman and former Peace Corps staff Craig Lamberton, David Ermisch and Ethan Taylor were also in attendance.

The Happy Hour was a great start for a weekend full of activities that included a baseball game, country of service meet ups; breakfast with the mad men and women of the Mayflower; conversations about the future of Peace Corps with thought leaders and global figures; a gala; and finally, the special program at Arlington Cemetery and walk of flags.

Edwin Patout can be contacted at edwinpatout@yahoo.com.

Filed under Peace Corps News

A New Strachey That Resonates with Our Times

October 25, 2011 Leave a comment

- A Short Book Review, Mike Learned, RPCV, Malawi

Richard Stevenson Novel

by Richard Stevenson

Longtime LGBT RPCV member (Ethiopia) and contributor to our website, Dick Lipez (writing under his pen name Richard Stevenson) is out with his twelfth Donald Strachey mystery. He began the series 29 years ago. One of the things I’ve always liked about the Strachey mysteries/novels is how Lipez weaves in current cultural upheavals in our LGBT and political world. His latest Red, White, Black and Blue is right on about the current political turmoil staring us in the face. I asked Lipez when he had actually written this latest. Most of it was written late last year (2010) and finished off early this year while he was visiting Thailand with his husband, the sculptor Joe Wheaton.

Much of the story revolves around a somewhat reinvention of New York state politics leading up to the 2010 election. Not only does it include the dark and kinky past of one of the candidates up for the primary election for governor, but the opportunism and manipulation of both the candidate and the Tea Partiers who give him their support. It is as though Lipez was able to predict the vitriolic polarization of the political scene we are now experiencing. Was he looking into a crystal ball and seeing the future?

As one might guess from the title, the dark and kinky events deal with physical abuse, brutalization and exploitation of a vulnerable young man. These revelations spur our protagonist, Donald Strachey, on. He hires a hacker to dig out online information, and impersonates others to dig out the truth.

As always, Don’s longtime partner Timothy Callahan keeps him focused. Tim had been a Peace Corps Volunteer earlier on, so there’s usually a mention of Peace Corps in the books which helps explain Tim’s equanimity and calm. Lipez has been quoted saying about the series that he wants to, “show gay men leading reasonably well-adjusted lives.” Well, reasonably well-adjusted for a long time private eye and his calming partner.

It used to be that the Strachey mysteries were readily available at your local LGBT bookstores. Now that these venues are almost all gone, this new book is available (including a Kindle edition) from Amazon. It looks like all the earlier books in the series are also available. They’re all great reads.

Filed under Media

New Website is Modern and Mobile

August 20, 2011 Leave a comment

The new LGBT Peace Corps Alumni website has a modern look and travels well on tablet and mobile phone devices. The new site is built on the wordpress.complatform and therefore is much easier to update and maintain. All editing takes place through a web interface instead of using computer-based software, thus making it easier to post, edit and manage our web content.We have migrated over 120 articles from our old website and provided robust tagging of our content by topics, including more than 40 countries-of-service listings. We look forward to a robust publishing future and encourage our readers to submit articles for consideration.

The new website allows for RSS subscriptions using the POSTS link in the upper right corner of every page and email subscriptions using the SUBSCRIBE list in the right hand navigation bar. The new site will also save us money as we no longer have to pay hosting fees.

Thanks for visiting us and check in often for new content. If you would like to volunteer to help run the new site please contact Kevin Souza at webmaster@lgbrpcv.org.

Filed under Media, Newsletter, Our Organization

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