Jeffrey Aubuchon

When Coronavirus Unmapped the Peace Corps' Journey Jeffrey Aubuchon

On March 15, 2020, the U. S. government recalled the more than 7,300 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in the field, thereby halting active development projects around the globe and the person-to-person diplomacy that has defined the agency's mission for 60 years. Volunteers returned home to a nation under biological attack from the novel coronavirus with shuttered businesses and skyrocketing unemployment. The newly-designated "Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers" found themselves neglected by the country they served: unable to collect unemployment benefits, limited to two months of health insurance, and grieving their own disrupted dreams. This book details the unprecedented global evacuation of Volunteers from national headlines as well as village stories of abandoned projects and suspended friendships. Yet, the book also describes the ensuing advocacy of legislators and the National Peace Corps Association, as well as private citizens--from high school students to adults--who rallied behind the Corps. To support the ongoing efforts of Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers, $1 from the sale of each copy of this book will be given to the National Peace Corps Association's Global Reentry Fund. An additional $1 will also be immediately invested into international development projects. Funds for this project were in part borrowed using peer-to-peer lending on kiva.org.