Apropriate Development

I was looking at the NY Times and then at the CBS News web site and wasn't seeing anything worth feeling good about so deciding to use Google to see what was out there, I googled "positive news." I got a news magazine website that is based out of the UK and tells positive stories. You can even sell their papers to make money for your non-profit or even business. This was a good stumble. www.positivenews.org.uk

Check out this song done by Green Day. http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1560839&vid=151866 It's part of an effort by Amnesty International called Instant Karma, The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. Green Day and other artists are recorded singing John Lennon songs on a CD that will be released June 12. You can also see the Amnesty International Press Release at this address: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20070525002

I didn't know my husband went to see Ethan Zuckerman speak recently. I have checked out his blogs occasionally on international development, but didn't know he was speaking at Brown. I thought Mark, the Conscious Geek, (www.consciousgeek.com) was going to another techy kind of thing! But this time, it would have been right up my alley! Mark explains it best, so check out www.consciousgeek.com about Global Voices and the void it fills by providing news content about countries that we tend to forget about here at home.

Peace Corps Encore! is a great opportunity for those of us Returned Peace Corps Volunteers back on home soil and longing for that experience again. Through short-term assignments from three weeks to three months, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and staff members are deployed to serve on projects with the skills they have gained in their professional lives. Most importantly, "an eLearning tool will be created at the end of each project to ensure that the lessons learned and the processes adopted during the project are available to those who come after us." So not only service, but sustainability! www.peacecorpsencore.org

I just came across www.thirdgoal.com. The third goal of the Peace Corps is to bring the world back home through sharing your experience so that those back home can gain a better understanding of the rest of the world. www.thirdgoal.com is a web site that were visitors can read PCVs blogs, see photos, and even listen to pod casts. It's a great way for volunteers to achieve the third goal as many returned volunteers don't like or want to make formal presentations to school children or they find others tire of hearing their Peace Corps stories. Well, at www.thirdgoal.com, you can go on and learn about many different countries, what Peace Corps is like, and look at cool pictures. Or if you are a RPCV, you can let out all those stories you have been holding on to! Enjoy!