Natalie Garro, TESS 129 I’d cried. I’d cried regularly for months, for weeks. I’d cried nearly all day every day for three days before we got the email. I’d cried so much, […]
On the “Great Peace Corps Evacuation of 2020” (Named by Khun Michelle)
Heartbreak
Alison Reenock, TESS 131 It started 15 months ago when our flight touched down in Bangkok on that January 5th afternoon. We were all hot, fatigued, walking through the motions, a little […]
Still There
Moises Puentes, TESS 131 Its been almost three weeks since I was forced to leave the mountains I had begun to call home, and after a few days of traveling, as soon […]
COVID-19 Personified
The smell of alcohol pierces my nostrils. My co-workers frantically disperse hand sanitizer in pocket-sized tubes to prevent the spread of you. I live in the Land of Smiles, which your suffocating masks have smothered. You not only incited hysteria, you robbed us all of the intimacy of touch.
Letters to the People I had to Leave
Kayla Kawalec, YinD 132 To Mee: I have to write this one first, because there’s so much I want to say to you, and have always wanted to say to you, but […]
WAMC News Podcast: Neil Pickus
RPCV Neil Pickus is interviewed by his brother, a correspondent for WAMC News, about the recent Peace Corps Evacuation. Listen to the podcast here.
I’m an RPCV: I Think
Kayla Myelle Chisholm, YinD 132 The “welcome home”s are hard, but we knew that they would be. The goodbyes were hard, but we knew that those would be too. All the things […]
exodus pandemia (Dear Volunteers, we are sorry that the global situation has escalated…)
Ian Tramm, YinD 131 for months all i’d seen were bright lights foreign colors rich and vibrant exciting in their novelty and future promise, woefully all it takes is the volant gust […]
Service Interrupted
Kevin Lentz, YinD 131 The dawn is slowly giving shape to the rolling hills and tall pine trees that surround my family home in North Georgia. Four days ago, this was a […]
The Silent Homecoming
Emily Maginnis, TESS 131 It’s 5 am and I’m wide awake. Could be from the jet lag from Saturday’s flight, or just the unanswered questions building up in my head. Probably both. […]
Mae Dang
I did not know it at the time, but over the next weeks and months, this smile and the lovely woman who bears it would make this place my home.
How To Be Alone Together
Katie Basset, 131 YinD I had never lived alone before Peace Corps. In fact, I never had my own room until I was 19. When I was young, I craved solitude, little […]
Here
Sierra Drummond, TESS 131 I’ve recently enjoyed the comfort of other noise in my home Not directed at me but through me, an inescapable reminder of company, that I’m not alone I […]
International Women’s Day Photo Competition
A Poem by women To be a woman is to have superpowers. To create life. To be soft and strong. To be a woman is to be resilient. To have tenacity. To […]
Bees?!
Emily Maginnis, TESS 131 Yes, you read correctly. No, Paw Aw, they were not flies. No, host mother, they were not over sized moths will a strangely organized system of government. I […]
