Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

06/09/2026

What starts as an ordinary evening in the Dominican Republic turns into an unforgettable story about service, cultural understanding, human connection, and the unexpected twists that can change a life forever.

In The Night a Bridge Game Saved My Life—Literally!, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Randy Adams, reflects on a moment when a simple decision led to consequences far beyond anything he could have imagined. Along the way, the story highlights the deeper lessons of Peace Corps service: building relationships across cultures, navigating unfamiliar environments, and discovering how interconnected our lives truly are.

🌎 Stories like this are why the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience exists—to preserve and share the lived experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in communities around the world.

We invite you to read the full story and explore hundreds of others that capture the challenges, joys, adventures, and lifelong impact of Peace Corps service.

Visit the museum and start exploring:
https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/

Every story has a lesson. Every volunteer has a journey worth sharing. 🌠

06/06/2026

This Caribbean Heritage Month, the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience invites you to celebrate the rich histories, cultures, and contributions of Caribbean communities and their descendants globally.

Today, we're highlighting the story of a reggae musician and a Peace Corps Volunteer in St. Lucia, whose connection endured long after their service ended, which is a testament to the lasting impact of cultural exchange and community-building. Click below to read "Surprise Visit from the Past" and learn more:

Surprise Visit from the Past
https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/story/surprise-visit-from-the-past

06/01/2026

Happy Pride Month! 🌈

As we begin Pride Month, we honor the countless LGBTQIA2S+ Peace Corps Volunteers whose service has strengthened communities, fostered cross-cultural understanding, and contributed to positive change around the world.

For many volunteers, service has also involved navigating the complexities of identity, belonging, and personal safety in diverse cultural contexts. Their experiences reflect both the challenges and the transformative power of building connections across differences.

Throughout the month, the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience will celebrate and preserve these important stories by revisiting archival materials and sharing personal narratives that highlight the lasting contributions of LGBTQIA2S+ volunteers.

Through storytelling, reflection, and remembrance, we recognize the vital role these volunteers have played in advancing peace, understanding, and human connection across borders.
Join us as we honor their service and legacy during Pride Month and beyond.

+RPCVs

05/25/2026

Service can take many different forms.

This Memorial Day weekend, we reflect on the people who represented our nation abroad through compassion, partnership, and human connection such as Dr. John Fleming featured here.

The Peace Corps experience reminds us that peacebuilding is also an act of service.

Happy Memorial Day 🇺🇸 Who would you like to honor today?

05/18/2026

“Là-bas” literally, it means “over there.” But where is that? In Gabon, là-bas is anywhere except where you are. Where is the river? Là-bas. Where is the plantation? Là-bas. Where is the moon? Là-bas.

Anytime I asked for directions, the answer was inevitably là-bas. “Mais ça c’est où?” But where is that? I asked, exasperated.

If my sought-after destination was up the hill, the answer would be, “En haut là-bas.” Up over there. If it was down the hill, their reply was, “En bas là-bas.” Down over there. And to my endless amusement, instead of pointing with a wave of a finger or a hand, the villagers would usually point with their lips, a long, puckered extension in the direction I should travel.

Every time I tried to get to là-bas, I found myself confronting an eternal African paradox: là-bas really means you can’t get there from here. Like a carrot dangling in front of your nose or like a gerbil chasing infinity on his wheel, là-bas always loomed just out of reach.

Excerpt from "The Road to Là-bas. How time passes in the back of a pick-up truck" by Stacy Jupiter, Gabon 1997 – 1999.

Stacy Jupiter is a marine scientist and executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Global Marine Program. She received a 2019 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

Discover more about Stacy's Peace Corps journey: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/story/the-road-to-la-bas

Explore our growing catalog of stories on the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience website: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/

If you are feeling inspired, learn how to add your own story: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/stories

Join us: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.app.neoncrm.com/forms/membership

Support us: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donate

05/11/2026

Call for Stories: Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience invites Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and host country partners to submit personal stories for publication on our website and in future exhibitions. These stories are at the heart of our mission—to preserve and share the lived experiences of those associated with the Peace Corps in 144 countries, and to highlight the human connections that are shaped by the Peace Corps.

We seek compelling, first-person accounts that illustrate the depth and impact of Peace Corps engagement. Your story might explore a meaningful friendship, a historical event or cultural exchange, a community initiative, a challenge overcome, or the story behind an object that you would be willing to donate to the Museum. Above all, it should reflect your personal experience with the Peace Corps with all its complexities. We welcome the good, the bad, and everything in between. All contributors retain full copyright to their work.

Interested to learn more about the Museum? Click here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/

Want to get started on your story submission 😁? Click here for more information: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/share-your-story

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience invites Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and host country partners to submit personal narratives of 600-800 words for use on our website and in future exhibitions. These stories are at the heart of our mission—to preserve and share the lived experiences of t...

05/04/2026

Come volunteer with us!

The Museum is in a critical period of growth and invites all those interested to join our volunteer team. We welcome Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), their friends and families, museum professionals, peace educators, and anyone interested in public history and cross-cultural education to apply.

Please take a look below at our Current Volunteer Opportunities.

Fundraising/Development Coordinator
Finance Coordinator
Internship Position
Board Member
Governance Committee Member
Story Editor
Photographer
Archive and Content Manager
Social Media Coordinator
Website Designer
Volunteer Coordinator

Other – send us your resume and tell us how you would like to support our efforts ([email protected]).

Thank you for your interest in the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience!

04/20/2026

"Sulu was a matai, an orator chief on the tiny island of Manono and the head of the family that I lived with during my Peace Corps training in this South Pacific country. It also wasn’t long before I learned that Sulu Fa’afuata was perhaps the best octopus fisherman on the island.

Situated between the two large islands of Samoa, Upolu and Savai’i, Manono is about a mile in diameter with a single sandy path encircling the island. At the time that I was there, there was no electricity and all drinking water had to be collected daily from the large concrete cistern at the nearby church and carried in buckets back to everyone’s home. You could circumnavigate Manono in about an hour, assuming, of course, you politely refused the countless invitations that you would receive to come in and eat from each and every house that you passed along the way.

As a 21-year-old kid from New York City, life on the island of Manono was far from anything that I had ever experienced. Before Samoa, all the food that I ate would generally be purchased from a supermarket and completely isolated from its source." Gene Carl Feldman, Western Samoa (1974 – 1977).

Believe us when we say, you don't want to miss the rest of this incredible story "Catching the Octopus" on the Stories page of the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience!

Find this and more great stories here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/stories

Join MPCE here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.app.neoncrm.com/forms/membership

Find ways to volunteer and get involved with our work here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/volunteer-opportunities

Support MPCE here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donate

04/13/2026

Experience Black Peace Corps Journeys: Designing a Life After Service, the closing program of the Peace by Design exhibition (Oct 4 2025 - March 8, 2026), a Black History Month event held on Feb. 13, 2026 highlighting the enduring power of service, that still invites audiences to consider how experience, reflection, and purpose continue to shape lives long after returning home. Watch the video of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybvk5L5jJN0

This panel brought together Black Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for a powerful public conversation on life after service. Hosted by the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience and the National Peace Corps Association at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the panel explored how global service shaped participants’ careers, identities, and ongoing commitment to their communities.

Through candid storytelling, speakers reflected on the challenges and insights of serving abroad, the impact of race on their experiences, and how their time in the Peace Corps influenced paths in public service, leadership, and advocacy.

View details and speaker bios here: https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/news/black-peace-corps-journeys-designing-a-life-after-service

Learn more about the Peace by Design exhibit and view a virtual tour here:
https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/exhibits/peace-by-design-posters-poems-and-the-spirit-of-peace-corps

Event replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybvk5L5jJN0

This event brought together Black Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for a powerful public conversation on life after service. Hosted by the Museum of the Peace...

04/07/2026

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience is proud to welcome CEE Fellow Shurabhi Shukla!

Shurabhi joins us through the Community Engagement Exchange (CEE) Program, a U.S. Department of State initiative implemented by IREX that supports emerging civil society leaders from around the world. Through a three-month U.S.-based practicum, CEE Fellows collaborate with host organizations to strengthen their leadership skills and advance community-driven solutions.

Shurabhi is coming to us from India. This is her first time in the U.S. and we're so pleased that she was able to connect with MPCE Board Member Nicole Banister at the CEE Fellow Orientation in Chicago. We look forward to the energy, insight, and global perspective she brings to our work.

Welcome, Shurabhi—we’re thrilled to have you with us!