A video story that will surprise you...

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
893
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
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suarezn

Gold
Feb 3, 2002
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Excellent...when I first came to the US in 1987 with a scholarship we were brought to Washington and got to meet many important people from government including a senator from Michigan at the time Donald Riegle. We were there for a little bit over a week before we were all distributed to our corresponding colleges / states. One night a guy who apparently was a big mover in Washington threw us a party at his Maryland mansion all because he had been a volunteer in The DR when he was younger and wanted to welcome us to The US.
 

keepcoming

Moderator - Living & General Stuff
May 25, 2011
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It seems that the focus is not on that now, in this time, but why not..Are we (Dominican Republic) not in need any longer?
 

suarezn

Gold
Feb 3, 2002
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I would think the surprise is that you'd never thought senator Dodd spent time in The DR...
 

TStroman3

New member
Sep 11, 2011
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Aside from a political statement on Senator Dodd, it was great seeing the photo of his wife and daughters. His wife Jackie was a roomate of mine in college. Very nice and intelligent woman.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Since I was in Monci?n four years before Dodd, knew his father before he was kicked out of the Senate over a fur coat if memory serves, and studied under his brother at Georgetown, I'd say that he came off pretty good and that what he said was true to this day.

The PC has changed thousands of Americans' point of view on the world and has allowed tens of thousands of people to see that all Americans are not Ugly Americans or tourists.

An interesting point was his remark about the Arab world. They cannot allow Peace Corps volunteers in because it would cause havoc with their system. No way will they ever allow this in places like Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Iran or Afghanistan or Pakistan...or Algeria and other places where Sharia law is in place...and it's a shame...

I had friends in Ethiopia, Philippines, Colombia and other places when I was in the PC, and we had it pretty good compared to them, believe me!!


HB
 
...

An interesting point was his remark about the Arab world. They cannot allow Peace Corps volunteers in because it would cause havoc with their system. No way will they ever allow this in places like Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Iran or Afghanistan or Pakistan...or Algeria and other places where Sharia law is in place...and it's a shame...
HB

Hillbilly, only 2 programs are running in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region: Jordan with 60 volunteers and in Morocco with 265 volunteers. They closed many programs in the MENA region and in Africa. See link here Where Do Volunteers Go? | Learn About Volunteering | Peace Corps
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Yeah, I remembered Morocco but was not sure about Jordan (who had a US born queen back then)...that was the why of the Sharia comment....

Thanks, I hope they do well in this climate...

HB
 

DavidZ

Silver
Aug 29, 2005
3,512
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www.vipcigartours.com
Does the Peace Corps fall under the budget of The Military, Foreign Aid, or Civil Services? If it's any of those, it's funding will probably be cut sometime soon! :(

I thought the video was great, and was certainly surprised to see that Dodd had spent time in the PC...especially that it was in the DR...and that he apparently holds the DR in such high regard...
 

La Rubia

Bronze
Jan 1, 2010
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Funding is always under fire, but this puts it in perspective

Does the Peace Corps fall under the budget of The Military, Foreign Aid, or Civil Services? If it's any of those, it's funding will probably be cut sometime soon! :(

I thought the video was great, and was certainly surprised to see that Dodd had spent time in the PC...especially that it was in the DR...and that he apparently holds the DR in such high regard...

It is considered an independent agency under the executive branch. This information (dated 2004) from the Brookings Institute puts the spending in perspective. Funding is always on the line, but there is generally bi-partisan support so extreme cuts don't happen.

In the context of the whole federal budget, the Peace Corps budget is almost invisible: $359 million. This amount represents two one-hundredths of one percent of the $1.8 trillion (outlays basis) requested by President Bush for FY2004, or 1.5 percent of the International Affairs budget. Due to the intense pressure to contain spending for all domestic and foreign programs, the odds are against the Peace Corps receiving its full budget request from Congress. By contrast, the National Defense budget request added up to $400 billion, including personnel expenditures of $99 billion.

The Peace Corps is one of the least expensive instruments being used to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives. A volunteer in the field earns $2,700 per year in the form of a readjustment allowance. Base pay for an Army private is $15,480 per year (E2) and for a second lieutenant is $26,208 per year (O1). Base pay for Foreign Service and Agency for International Development employees is even higher.