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    • Janet Lee posted an article
      We remember: David Gurr, Addis Ababa, 1962-64
      We remember David Gurr, Addis Ababa, 1962-64 see more

      Former E&E RPCV board member, David Gurr, passed away February 26, 2020 in New York.  David served in the first group of Ethiopia Peace Corps Volunteers and was in the Georgetown University training group. He was assigned to teach auto mechanics at the Technical School in Addis Ababa, 1962-64, with a short stint at the Point Four School in Asmara.   He served on the board from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. 

      He chronicled his Peace Corps experience in a delightful article for Peace Corps Worldwide entitled First Peace Corps Auto Mechanics Instructor .   His country director, Harris Wofford, decided that he was needed to teach auto mechanics rather than an academic subject. Although not technically trained as an auto mechanic, he believed he could teach auto mechanics because he had after all built his own car, included two engines, and had been involved in organized drag racing and sports car racing. How difficult could it be?  Vocational teachers did not receive the training that education volunteers received, but he noted that he and his fellow vocational teachers did take a tour of the US Steel plant in Sparrows Point, Maryland. 

      He expected that there would be cultural and language differences, but little did he know that one of his major challenges would be learning the British terms for the various parts of a car, so much so that he devised a glossary of terms that included:  Accumulator (Battery), Commentator (Alternator), Damper (Shock Absorber), Mudguard (Fender), Silencer (Muffler) to name a few. His memories provide a glimpse of the Peace Corps life for those early Volunteers and the students whom they taught.

      In addition to his service on the board, he joined a group of RPCVs from Ethiopia and assisted in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Peace Initiative to end the first war of 1998.  This initiative was recognized as a significant factor by the United States Institute for Peace.

      This led to the bestowal of the Loret Miller Ruppe Award to the Ethiopia and Eritrea Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in 2002.  The award, named after the widely admired 10th Director of the Peace Corps, is presented by NPCA to outstanding affiliate groups for projects that promote the Third Goal of Peace Corps or continue to serve host countries, build group spirit and cooperation, and promote service. 

      In recognition of the efforts made by these Ethiopia RPCVs, it is stated:

      Ethiopia and Eritrea RPCVs (E&E RPCVs) have pursued every opportunity to advance the cause of peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea after a border war erupted in May 1998. Members of the groupﾒs Peace Initiative Committee helped establish a neutral, extra-official channel for the two countries to exchange views and proposals for resolving the conflict. Committee members also called upon the US Congress, the Department of State, the UN, other countries’ diplomatic missions and private organizations.

      When progress toward a peaceful resolution reached an impasse in 1998 over administration of the disputed area of Badme, E&E RPCVs proposed sending RPCVs to Badme to serve as neutral custodians. Unfortunately, the Ethiopians wrested Badme from the Eritreans before an offer could be reached.

      A group of E&E RPCVs went on a peace-building mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea in June of 1999, meeting with the president of Eritrea and the prime minister of Ethiopia, as well as other senior government officials and important members of the public. During the long search for a peaceful resolution, E&E RPCVs have been held in high regard by leaders and foreign representatives of the two countries.

      David was a frequent contributor to The Herald, regaling the reader with his interactions with His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie; Peace Corps Director, Sargent Shriver; and Country Director, Harris Wofford. 

      David Gurr, we thank you for your service.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      With his wife, Gigi.
    • Janet Lee posted an article
      We Remember: Karen (Preskey) Glover (Agaro, 2007-2009)
      We remember Karen (Preskey) Glover, E&E RPCV Board member see more

      With a heavy heart, the E/E RPCV board would like to share information on the passing of one of our dear board members, Dr. Karen (Preskey) Glover. Karoo, as she was affectionately known, was a much loved member of the first group of PCVs returning to Ethiopia from 2007-2009 and made many friends during her time in Agaro. She continued to remain connected and support the work of Ethiopia PCVs during her time on the E/E RPCV board. Karen put up an incredibly brave fight against stage 4 colon cancer in 2019 but unfortunately passed on November 27th. She is survived by her husband, Josh, and two amazing daughters, Indy and Elliott. You can find more information here: https://boulgerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/karen-glover/…    (Kristen Straw Barredo, Finote Selam 2007-09; Facebook, February 14, 2020)

      Karen joined the E&E RPCVs in early 2015, having recently returned from her service in Ethiopia (she was in the first group of the third wave of volunteers), bringing a contemporary perspective of the experiences of recent volunteers and the networking capability to help the organization thrive.

      We introduced Karen to the community in an April 2015 article in The Herald.  As part of the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers to re-enter Ethiopia after a 10-year absence, Karen was assigned to the Agaro Health Center to work on HIV/AIDS related care and prevention activities with the Health Office.  Her contributions to the Agaro are extensive, including organizing meetings to analyze HIV data to assess the community’s health needs.  She integrated into the community to such an extent that she was able to help write the Peace Corps/Ethiopia Amharic and Afan Oromo language training manuals.

      Karen initiated a Mothers Support Group (MSG) for mothers living with HIV to improve prevention of mother-to-child transmission services. She wrote and received a Peace Corps grant to train two health care providers as site coordinators and five HIV positive women as peer educators. As the first Peace Corps/Ethiopia Volunteer to start an MSG, she outlined the process to help more Volunteers start Mother Support Groups.

      Karen collaborated with the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control on the Global Polio Eradication effort in September 2008 and April 2009. She monitored and evaluated vaccination teams and supervisors in Agaro and in other towns within the zone and conducted rapid convenience surveys to estimate percent coverage. Karen participated in two Operation Smile missions in Jimma, Oromiya to provide surgeries for people with cleft lips and palettes by coordinating efforts in Agaro to find potential patients and encouraging other Volunteers to do the same. During the mission, she translated between English, Afan Oromo, and Amharic for the nurses and surgeons. Karen corresponded with two elementary classrooms and a middle school class in the United States throughout her service to expose them to other countries and cultures.

      Her impact on the community of Agaro and Peace Corps Ethiopia was significant and we were honored to have her join the board.  Despite being enrolled full time in graduate school in a doctoral program in biotechnology at North Dakota State University, she was an active member of the board contributing to major decisions enthusiastically and promptly.

      Karen shared her love for Ethiopia and gave a hint of all her many accomplishments in an article for The Herald entitled “Mothers’ Support Group for women with HIV/AIDS.”  The article was spurred by the discovery of an Ethiopian restaurant in Fargo, ND, of all places.  It brought back the fact that it had been five years since she left Ethiopia and how homesick she was for her adopted country. 

      She relates that her experiences were different from many volunteers in the past in that she was not assigned to teach in a school but had to develop projects on her own.  And that she did, quite successfully in fact. Take the time and reminisce with Karen whose life was cut short way before her time.

      Karen, you were a bright shining light on the board.  We are grateful for your service.
    • Ethiopia & Eritrea Returned Peace Corps Volunteers posted an article
      Commentary: The Mike McCaskey most didn’t know — far away from Soldier Field by John Coyne
      John Coyne's tribute to the late Michael McCaskey see more

      Commentary: The Mike McCaskey most didn’t know — far away from Soldier Field
      By JOHN COYNE
      CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
      MAY 26, 2020 | 5:23 PM

      I met Mike McCaskey in the fall of 1965, not at Soldier Field but in Fiche, Ethiopia, a small village perched high on the escarpment above the Blue Nile River, far from the shores of Lake Michigan. Mike was a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to teach in an elementary school. He would live for two years in a tin-roofed, whitewashed house made of dirt and dung and teach in a two-room school. Those two years, he later told me, gave him an entirely new perspective on the world, one for which he was profoundly grateful.
      At first, that change wasn’t obvious. After the Peace Corps, he returned to the U.S. and earned a doctorate, spending the next decade teaching at UCLA and Harvard Business School. Then, perhaps inevitably, his family legacy caught up with him and he returned to Chicago, called on by his mother to take over the Bears as president and CEO in 1983 after his grandfather, George Halas, died.
      But McCaskey, who died May 16 at 76, never really left Ethiopia. He never forgot the people, his students or the country’s ancient greatness.
      In 1984, while head of the Bears, McCaskey became a benefactor, mentor and adviser to the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago. He raised funds to create a state-of-the-art Destiny Computer Training Center for Ethiopians in the city. Knowing Ethiopian immigrants were well educated and yet underemployed, he also created a nine-week entrepreneurship training program. A number of its graduates went on to start small businesses in Chicago, including the well-known Ethiopian Diamond restaurant.
      In 1999, during the long-running war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Mike returned to Africa with four other former Peace Corps volunteers — all but one had been volunteers in Ethiopia.  Their mission was to promote peace by talking to the leaders of both countries.  
      Former volunteer, and now U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., remembers their first meeting in Addis Ababa with the foreign minister. After formal greetings, the minister turned to Mike and asked where he had taught as a volunteer. When Mike said “a village near Addis Ababa,” the minister replied, “Fiche.” Mike suddenly recognized the official as one of his elementary school students. After joyous hugs and reminiscences, Mike presented a package of Chicago Bears T-shirts to the foreign minister, who in over 30 years had never forgotten his Peace Corps teacher.
      When the long conflict was finally resolved in 2000, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea invited Mike and the others to attend the signing ceremony in Algiers, in recognition of the work the former Peace Corps volunteers had done to achieve peace in the Horn of Africa.
      After leaving the Bears in 2011, Mike was freer to focus on his three driving interests in Ethiopia: health care, education and leadership training. An opportunity that combined all three presented itself when he read Atul Gawande’s bestselling book “Being Mortal.” He reached out to the physician and, over lunch, learned about his work with the Lifebox Foundation, an organization that aims to improve the safety of surgery and anesthesiology in low-resource countries. In 2017, working with Lifebox CEO Kris Torgeson, Mike created yearly fellowships to encourage young surgical team members in Ethiopia to work on quality-improvement programs in their hospitals. The first McCaskey Safe Surgery Fellows were chosen in 2017 and, today, over 25 fellows benefit from Mike’s efforts. On his last trip to Ethiopia, Mike, a gifted photographer, visited hospitals to document their operating room procedures for Lifebox.
      In 2016, Mike was first diagnosed with preleukemia. By early 2020, he was living in isolation in the latter stages of treatment. Mike again turned his attention to the village of Fiche. A university had been built there, but new buildings, Mike knew, do not ensure a quality education. By the time Ethiopian students reach university, it is essential that they be comfortable speaking English, because it is the language of instruction, and also because, once they graduate, they will need the language to compete for jobs in a global economy. And yet, as Mike knew, many students arrive at university with poor English-language skills.
      Mike had a vision to change that, by combining technology and student-directed learning. And so, in the last months of his life, he rallied his energy to create The Tenacity Project, named for the powerful quality he saw in the Ethiopian people — and which Mike’s friends had always seen in him. Although Mike is gone, his work, now named The Fiche Project, continues.
      Fiche, Ethiopia, and Chicago, USA, are a world apart, yet Mike was comfortable in both places. Mark Foster, a fellow Ethiopia volunteer, remembers visiting Chicago in the 1980s and going to the North Shore to meet Mike for dinner. “I took a commuter train and Mike was on the platform when the train pulled in. A bunch of us got off, but the train didn’t start up again. Mike and I headed for the stairs and, walking by the head of the train, we found the engineer waiting. The train engineer lectured Mike on what to do with the Bears that season. Mike listened politely and nodded, with his usual smiling grace. Eventually the engineer got back in the cab, the train left, and Mike commented, ‘Just like Fiche.’”
      As in Chicago, Mike’s African town was full of people — school bureaucrats, the local nobility and Peace Corps staff (such as me) — who were ready to give Mike advice about how he should do his job. Mike didn’t need it. Whether it was dealing with Bears fans or fulfilling his lifelong commitment to the people of Ethiopia, he saw his job clearly and gave everything to it. Rest in peace, Mike.
      John Coyne is a novelist living in Westchester, New York. He was in Peace Corps Ethiopia from 1962-67, first as a volunteer and then as an associate Peace Corps director.