This past week the website suffered a failure during a software upgrade. Users were unable to view the website or tell their story.

I apologize. I believe I have resolved the issue.

The outage does make me wonder if the website still serves a useful purpose to the Peace Corps community.

It has been more than five years ago that I developed the site to make it easy for Peace Corps volunteers to share their story with others (the third goal of the Peace Corps). By serving as a community blog for many volunteers, the site has enjoyed a lot of traffic and exposure, helping many visitors learn about the Peace Corps experience from the perspective of volunteers actively in the field.

But in the past year, fewer Peace Corps volunteers are using ThirdGoal.com to write about their experiences. So I ask of you, is ThirdGoal.com still of value? In what ways could it be more useful? Or has its time passed and should it be shut down?

Thank you for your feedback.

Jason Pearce ThirdGoal.com Owner/Creator

I spent 2006-2008 in Palau, a Pacific island nation that is no more than a tiny dot on a world map but has left a much more significant mark on my heart and who I am.   I could not attempt to describe my experience in a simple blog, but if you do want to hear more, just let me know – I could write for hours about it.

I now work for Youth For Understanding, a nonprofit high school exchange organization.  Knowing that RPCV’s and other Peace Corps enthusiasts are excited about intercultural exchange opportunities, I am posting this as an invitation for you to consider hosting an international exchange student this coming school year. YFU hosts students from over 60 countries around the world, including from several predominantly Muslim countries as part of a specific outreach to bridge the gap between the United States and the Muslim world.  If you are interested in finding out more about welcoming an enthusiastic international teenager into your heart and home, please email me at achochrek@yfu.org.  If you know anybody who would benefit from this type of cultural exposure, please share this information with them.  It is a great way to live out the third goal of helping Americans understand the world beyond our borders.    I hope to hear from you!

www.yfu-usa.org

Good Luck ThirdGoal

Feel free to add your own pages. (More information below.)

Dear RPCV,

For the first time in its almost fifty year history, the volunteers themselves are happy to announce the creation of a wiki based website dedicated to collaborative work.

http://www.PeaceCorpsWiki.com/

An institutional memory of this complex organization is being built day by day creating a bridge to an exciting future. This is an effort, lead by recently returned volunteers, to positivity develop the concept called Peace Corps – the history of Peace Corps and the projects that volunteers have done in over 139 countries around the world, ever since Kennedy announced ‘And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’

There are now a handful of administrators volunteering their time to the project and regular users (both registered and anonymous) have added almost a 1,000 pages of contributions.

However, we still need your help!

The ultimate goal is to have everything cross referenced, searchable, and freely available to anyone interested in the Peace Corps; countries, cities, sectors, volunteers – all relating to the Peace Corps service and its history for the past 47 years. We’re hoping that eventually volunteers would be able to read what progress has been made in Tamali, Ghana (for example) in the past 40 years. Which volunteers were stationed there? What did the Education volunteers have to do differently in The Gambia then Education volunteers in Senegal, Guinea or Mauritania? What projects did volunteers in Malawi work on 10 years ago, were any in Mzuzu?

You are even encouraged to create a page about yourself! What country did you serve in? What projects did you work on? What was in like serving in Venezuela in 1962, or being one of the 21 total volunteers who served in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2000-2002? We even made it easy for you – on the main page is a ‘Add Volunteer’ box – just type in your name and the hard part is done for you!

Served in Farafenni, The Gambia or Gyumri, Armenia? Want to make a page about your town or village? Please do. Think the page for your country of service needs a few pictures? Welcome to upload them and post them. (As of now we’re using roughly the same standards as Wikipedia) The page for Ukraine has pictures of what the electrical outlets look like!

You can’t break PeaceCorpsWiki – anything can be fixed or improved later. Don’t be afraid to edit – anyone can edit almost any page, and we encourage you to be bold! You do not need to register as a user to contribute; anonymous legitimate edits/suggestions are welcome.

More than 190,000 people have answered the call to serve, and the PeaceCorpsWiki site provides the tool necessary to capture and disseminate this valued knowledge. You are welcome to join us and contribute your first-hand knowledge to this collective public information exchange.

Thank you,

-Mike Sheppard RPCV / The Gambia (‘03-’05) http://www.PeaceCorpsJournals.com/ http://www.PeaceCorpsWiki.com/

I can be contacted at the email address at the website and can give you information and make contacts for you if you feel uncomfortable with Peace Corps.   If you wish to remain anonymous, I will make any contacts you request. 

Please be very careful with your safety and security. 

Peace Corps Watch

Equality, Safety and Security for PCVs Peace Corps Watch accepts no money from Peace Corps, Peace Corps Employees or NPCA

Yes, I’m an RPCV with over 15 years experience.  I can follow up for years if wanted.