Returned PCVs from Azerbaijan in the News

Looks like an RPCV from Azerbaijan has landed back on American soil and run straight to the papers, blabbing all about Peace Corps service and Azerbaijan.  I didn’t know Bonnie very well, but I guess that’s why we have Mike Connell telling the story from Port Huron, Michigan:

In its Azerbaijan chapter, the CIA Factbook reports: “Although the poverty rate has been reduced in recent years … the promise of widespread wealth resulting from the continued development of Azerbaijan’s energy sector remains largely unfulfilled.”

Campbell found it a land of contradictions, a place where trash is not picked up and cell calls are not dropped. On the pothole-pocked streets of Ganja, she spotted three Bentleys and remarked it was three more than she would be apt to see in Port Huron.

The article does a good job of weaving in the history of Peace Corps and some truths about Peace Corps service and Azerbaijan.  Bonnie, herself, probably supplies the most important parts of article:

“Every Peace Corps volunteer has a story that’s different…When you travel to a country for a couple of weeks, you get the hors d’oeuvres,” she said, repeating an observation made by another volunteer. “With the Peace Corps, you get the whole banquet.”