Ambassador Swears-In 25 New Peace Corps Volunteers in Haiti
Ambassador Swears-In 25 New Peace Corps Volunteers
by
Marty Mueller
Peace Corps/Haiti Country Director
Ambassador Dean Curran administers the oath of office to 25 Peace Corps trainees today, Thursday, May 8th at a formal ceremony at the Ambassador’s Residence, attended by Peace Corps and Embassy staff, numerous representatives Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) currently working in Haiti, current and former Volunteers, and representatives of the Government of Haiti. This Swearing-In ceremony marks the official end of the trainees’ (known as Group 15, as they are the fifteenth group of trainees to come to work in Haiti since the program was re-started in 1996) three-month training program in Arachaie, where they have been immersed in Creole language training, cross-cultural study, and adaptation of the technical skills they bring with them to the realities of their assignment in Haiti. Sixteen of the “trainee-volunteers” are assigned to the business project; nine, to the rural health project. Once sworn-in, Group 15 will shed its “trainee” status and its members officially become Peace Corps volunteers. They depart Friday, May 9th, via public transportation, for their new “sites” throughout the country, primarily in the South, Grand’Anse, the North and the Northeast.
Business volunteers will spend the spend their next two years of international citizen service working with micro-credit institutions and community organizations, where they help to strengthen both the organizations and the financial management systems; helping women’s groups in income generation projects; developing market linkages for agricultural cooperatives and artisan groups; and, information technology programs. Health Volunteers work to introduce health education and raise health standards by teaching communities how to fight chronic malnutrition, stress the importance of sanitation, immunizations, and maternal health and provide options for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Group 15 is varied in age and geographic provenance, with volunteers hailing from Hawaii to Maine, and many states in between. The youngest, a recent graduate of Rollins College in Florida is 21; the oldest is, a retired attorney, is 68. This group is about evenly split between men and women, whereas the Peace Corps worldwide has nearly 60% female Volunteers. There are two married couples; eighteen percent are representatives of minority groups; and twenty percent has advanced degrees. Group 15 is also remarkable in that it has not lost a single member (“homesickness,” medical problems, change in family situation back home, or “change of heart” being the typical reasons for trainee attrition) since their arrival in Haiti on February 18th.
Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced in Washington last week that Peace Corps is experiencing substantial growth in the number of Americans serving abroad. By the end of April, more than 1,100 trainees will have been sent to posts worldwide since the beginning of the year. These assignments range in location from Africa to Asia, and to Central and South America.
Receiving these new trainees are: Panama, Nicaragua, Thailand, Guatemala, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Mali, Bolivia, El Salvador, Zambia, Paraguay, Philippines, Guyana, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Honduras, Romania, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Ecuador, Nepal, Malawi, Uganda, Ukraine, Senegal, Botswana, Georgia, Namibia, Eastern Caribbean, East Timor and Bulgaria.
At the end of 2002, requests for applications had risen by 30 percent, and new applications had risen by 18 percent over the previous year. With increased requests for applications, a record number of Americans are heeding President Bush’s call to service. In his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, the President called for every American to commit at least two years--4,000 hours over a lifetime--to the service of neighbors, the nation, and communities abroad.
Director Vasquez said, “Peace Corps’ volunteer numbers are a reflection of Americans’ willingness to step forward and take up the President’s call. If the upward trend continues, Peace Corps will be well on its way to fulfilling its goal of doubling the number of volunteers by the year 2007--a historic goal which has not been reached since the early ‘60s.”
Since 1961, more than 168,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health and HIV/AIDS awareness and education, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.
