Sunday, October 27, 2013

Peace Corps Halloween Party


I attended the Peace Corps Halloween Party last night and here are a couple pics.  The first one is a photo of Corps volunteers who have finished their work and are presently doing NGO work in the UB.  Cliff, the fellow on the left, is from Chicago, and I am not sure about the others.  All were assigned to other provinces during their two year enlistment and shared some of their difficult days in country with me.

The second pic is me with the staff of Mongolia's National Center Against Violence.  I am sitting next to the Manager, Munkhsaruul.  Such violence is a major problem here as is alcoholism.  They have had a trying week as one of the other staff members was kidnapped and killed by a yet unknown person.  This part, by the way, was a benefit to raise funds for the homes they employ to house those women in harm's way (some coming in from the provinces).

I explained to them that one of my other pro bono projects is acting as counsel for The National Domestic Violence Registry which is operated by Myra Spearman from Gary, Indiana.  Myra herself was a victim of domestic violence and created the concept of going on line with a registry with photos and locations of those who have been convicted of domestic violence anywhere in our country.  My job primarily consists of keeping Myra and her volunteers safe from any defamation suits. So far so good. Look up their website sometime and see their work.  I intend to put Myra in contact with these brave women from Mongolia and see if she can give them any help.

By the way, Matt Hagler of GI was coming to the party to celebrate his 28th birthday; however, I left before he arrived.  Matt is the fellow who spent two years in Mongolia as a Peace Corps volunteer.  I left at 9:30 PM because common sense told me to leave and walk the three miles home and let the others celebrate into the wee hours.  And so it goes...

3 comments:

  1. It's been cold and raining a lot in Indiana but of course not as cold as where you are!!
    I went to the Vernon cemetery a couple of Saturdays ago and cleaned the graves. The trees were beginning to turn down there and especially beautiful in the cemetery. ---Never thought I would be making comments about beautiful trees in the Vernon Cemetery!!
    I stopped by Jeannie Greathouse's antique store and talked to her for a few minutes. We discussed the by-pass, and she is all for it. She says very little of her business depends on the highway traffic. She thinks that Greathouse Hardware in the older section of town will get more business after the by-pass is complete. I told her that supposedly Ingrid intends to close the White Front, and Jeannie said if Ingrid's food was better then she wouldn't have trouble getting business. I said well that could be true about the food situation ;however, it is a nice place for friends, classmates to meet since Ingrid has done so much remodeling and the extra room is large enough for 40-50 people. She agreed.
    I'm still doing remedial reading in the IPS system. I have one student that wanted to continue the remedial program, so I special requested her and she is now in the fourth grade. She has already asked about the program for next year and I told her I will see about special requesting her again . Then she told me that she really loves the party we have at the end of the remedial session in May!! I assured her we would be having another one. My other students are all in the 3rd grade as specified by the program.
    John Caradonna emailed and said that John Hall is doing okay since he was released from the Indy St. Vincent's hospital. Kathy and I went to see him while he was in the hospital. His heart is only working at about 25% but they thought through medication and hopefully diet that he would be able to continue living independently. John C. seems to think that John H. is doing much better.
    I can't think of much more news from N.V. . I don't get down there as much as Kathy does, and she keeps up with N.V news better than I do. I'll need to read your blog tomorrow since I should have more time then. Linda

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    1. Good to hear the news from NV way and that you are active and doing good things.

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  2. Hi Dan: Did you find out why the staffer was kidnapped and killed? Was it someone she knew like an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend? How do the police handle this type of violence over there? Similiar to the U.S.? Mary

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