tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post7030921884985544146..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Does Peace Corps Matter? Reflections 40 Years LaterStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-16018787606647436822012-04-26T12:10:03.941-08:002012-04-26T12:10:03.941-08:00Pat W. - You are the person I wrote the piece for,...Pat W. - You are the person I wrote the piece for, I just didn't know it at the time. What could be more perfect than a volunteer in Kamphaengphet reading the post? Thanks for letting me know. Give my best wai to the other volunteers there. I was last there in 2009 briefly.<br /><br />I've thought about "the experience" and how every generation's experience is more 'pure' than the next ones. Yours will be the good old days one day. Just savor every minute, even when you are suffering.<br /><br />In my day only places like the school, the governor's office, the hospital, and the police had telephones. I wrote home with aerograms. But we communicated with other volunteers via telegraph which was pretty cheap. I could go to the post office on weekends and go through their mailbags looking for envelopes with US stamps.<br /><br />I'll go look for your Facebook page.<br /><br />Friends of Thailand has posted about 70 digitized <a href="http://www.friendsofthailand.org/thailandrpcvs/groups/thai19/aufrecht/Steven%20Aufrecht/index.html" rel="nofollow">slides I took, mostly in and around Kamphaengphet from 1967 to 1969.</a>Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-49352977284853231012012-04-25T23:48:53.318-08:002012-04-25T23:48:53.318-08:00Great article! I am a Peace Corps Volunteer curren...Great article! I am a Peace Corps Volunteer currently serving in Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand (Group 123). Although I imagine many things have changed since you served here (we now all have laptops, cell phones and a Group Facebook page!) the value of what we do remains a constant. Thanks, Pat W.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-8667507187389746842012-01-05T12:33:59.263-09:002012-01-05T12:33:59.263-09:00Harpboy - Go!Harpboy - Go!Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-74037619396397311552012-01-04T23:50:48.879-09:002012-01-04T23:50:48.879-09:00Wow. Now you make me think that I should finally ...Wow. Now you make me think that I should finally plan that long put-off trip to Jamaica, where my parents were PCVs from 1969-1972. <br /><br />I have one invitation from one of the families that befriended them, and I'm sure I could find more folks if I contacted some of their fellow PCVs listed in my mother's old address book.<br /><br />I know that their service (in middle age, after my siblings and I had left the nest) caused major changes in attitudes and outlook for both of them, and I suspect that they both had great influence on student's lives (my dad taught electronics in a trade school, my mother trained pre-school teachers and worked for the Jamaica Teachers Association) although they talked more about the country and culture than they did about their students.<br /><br />Another influence: they convinced a number of younger returned PCVs to come to Alaska for a visit, and several of them are still here. Others met their spouses here even though they are no longer in Alaska.HarpboyAKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-22748332645146272232012-01-03T00:10:35.953-09:002012-01-03T00:10:35.953-09:00Good to hear from you Maggie. We wanted to go to ...Good to hear from you Maggie. We wanted to go to the DC anniversary. But our schedule got too complicated to make it for the event. Glad you went. Send me an email and let me know how things are. There's a link upper right.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-64578962947611468812012-01-02T19:30:05.215-09:002012-01-02T19:30:05.215-09:00Well done, Steve. I attended the celebrations of ...Well done, Steve. I attended the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps in D.C. in September. Every one of the thousands of RPCVs there, from Chris Matthews and Chris Dodd to the most recently-returned kid felt like it mattered. Not all of us could tell the story you did, but yes, it mattered and was worth it. Cordially, Maggie McQuaidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com