Episodes

Less than 24 hours after he graduated from college, Paul Barker was on a plane, en route to Iran, where he would spend the next five years as a Peace Corps volunteer, immersed in Iranian culture and history. And though he fol...

John Dinkelman--or "Dink" as he is known to countless current and former U.S. Foreign Service Officers--is something of a legend. He spent nearly four decades serving his country as a diplomat--and now he serves those same di...

As a child, growing up in South Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo--or, "Rondo"-- was aware that the adults in his neighborhood were watching. They had the kids' backs, but their expectations were very high. Flash forward. After ...

Claire St. Amant left her beloved Texas to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, halfway across the world. When she was finished, she was ready to return to Texas. But what she learned in between--in the classroom of t...

Even though her classmates may have recognized her as a future ambassador before she did herself, Kate Byrnes' swift ascent from the U.S. Information Agency to the Department of State to, yes, becoming a U.S. Ambassador, left...

In the face of ICE's sweeping detention and deportation push, Minnesotans are responding not with panic or illegal action, but with a steady, deeply-rooted ethic of neighborliness--quietly organizing, opening their homes and ...

Everybody assumed that Marian Rivman would grow out of her high school fascination with the Peace Corps. She did not. But her early experiences in the Peace Corps left a lot to be desired. Dangerous areas, bats, rats, and sna...

(Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1.) The continuing story of Mark Ward, a committed humanitarian who led teams to provide critical help after natural or man-made disas...

Mark Ward is a committed humanitarian who led teams to provide critical help after natural or man-made disasters. He saved lives and restored hope to communities affected by many disasters over two decades, including the 2004...

From the time of her childhood, Christine Herbert seemed destined to follow those Saturday morning TV commercials proclaiming "the toughest job you'll ever love." In her case, it meant rural Zambia and, far more than the snak...

PLEASE LEND YOUR EARS: This inaugural episode of 'Powerful Stories" (PS1) features a chorus of Minnesotavoices—frontline witnesses, supportive neighbors, community leaders—bearing witness to the unprecedented and antagonistic...

Cy Kuckenbaker is an award-winning American filmmaker, video artist, and arts professor. He is also something of an expert on Lithuania and its tortured past. First as a Peace Corps volunteer, then as a Fulbright scholar, his...

Chris Thomas remembers well where he came from and how he got to where he is. As a young Peace Corps volunteer in rural Sierra Leone, he quickly understood that the people who had so warmly welcomed him into the village were ...

Hamse Warfa is the CEO of World Savvy, a non-profit organization that equips educators and students with the skills, perspectives, and global awareness needed to thrive in an interconnected world and drive positive change. In...

SP/FS is proud to share the new episode of Global Development Interrupted , a podcast and Substack page we follow enthusiastically. You may remember that GDI's founder and host, Leah Petit, was featured on SP/FS #18 (go find ...

He left the U.S. as Allan J. Wind, but by the time his Peace Corps stint in Ecuador ended, he had been rechristened as "Dr. Alonzo" - which is what his driver's license now says. From being an unlikely radio star, to a health...

Josephine (Jody) Olsen called her Peace Corps memoir 'A Million Miles' - and while the distance from her traditional Mormon upbringing in Utah and a rural Tunisian health clinic may not have been a literal million miles, it l...

Let's face it, 2025, things could have gone a whole lot better. But it was the birth year for SP/FS, and on this special bonus episode, virtually the entire SP/FS Class of '25 storytellers return with reflections on the year ...

As a young boy, dreaming of becoming an archeologist, Lewis Lucke wanted to visit the Holy Lands to see if the Bible stories he'd read were true. Indeed, his career did lead him overseas, though as a diplomat with USAID--from...

Another holiday meal means more time at the table with Aunt Deb (who was kind enough to share her own fruitcake recipe--drenched in attitude and bourbon). And yes, she came with questions. But our guests handled her with bril...

He calls his enterprise "Million Mile Walker," which is both a pun (his name, after all, is Mark Walker) and a description of a decades-long journey that has taken him all over the world, always searching for ways to improve ...

As a Peace Corps volunteer and then as a public health specialist, including with USAID, Leah Petit has seen firsthand the impact of global health programs. Not only in lives saved--full stop--but in global stability and secu...

It makes sense that one of Denise Deneaux's early literary heroes was a woman who traveled the world with utter fearlessness. Because later, as a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Chile during Pinochet’s repressive rule, she ...

Out today! Peter Hessler knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer. He was also vividly aware that he needed something to write about. It turned out that the thing was China, where he was sent as a Peace Corps volu...