November 17, 2005: Headlines: COS - Panama: Presidents - Bush: Peace Corps: President Bush meets with PCVs in Panama
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November 17, 2005: Headlines: COS - Panama: Presidents - Bush: Peace Corps: President Bush meets with PCVs in Panama
President Bush meets with PCVs in Panama
The President and First Lady Laura Bush met with Peace Corps volunteers and discussed the projects and progress of their work as part of the President's recent tour of Latin America. President George W. Bush singled out Peace Corps volunteers for "working on the front lines of humanity." President Bush has repeatedly stated his strong support for the Peace Corps. Sadly the President's bold proposal to double the size of the Peace Corps, made in his State of the Union Address in 2002, has not been supported by increased funding by Congress.
President Bush meets with PCVs in Panama
Peace Corps Volunteers in Panama Meet President Bush
Caption: Volunteers greet President Bush at the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2005 – During his visit to the American Embassy in Panama City recently, President George W. Bush singled out Peace Corps volunteers for "working on the front lines of humanity."
The President and First Lady Laura Bush met with Peace Corps volunteers and discussed the projects and progress of their work as part of the President's recent tour of Latin America.
Discussing the volunteers' work — especially in the field of HIV/AIDS which the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief helps fund — the President and the First Lady reaffirmed their support for the Peace Corps and its volunteers.
Caption: President Bush and Panamanian President Martin Torrijos cross the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal, November 7, 2005. (Jim Young/Reuters)
Peace Corps volunteers have committed to developing HIV/AIDS education and prevention projects across Panama. Peace Corps volunteers, working with community leaders, have already begun creating materials and developing education sessions in areas of Panama often isolated or marginalized and at a growing risk of HIV.
Combating HIV/AIDS is a priority in Panama from both the Peace Corps and the President, as the country has the second highest infection rate in Central America. Rural health volunteers work with the Ministry of Health to train indigenous health workers in nutrition, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS awareness. Volunteers in environmental health develop programs to educate poor communities on hygiene, sanitation, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
To commemorate the President's visit, the volunteers presented the President with a Peace Corps/Panama baseball cap.
There are currently 151 Peace Corps volunteers serving in Panama. Volunteers are working in the areas of sustainable agriculture systems, community economic development, environmental health, community environment conservation and health and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. Since the program's inception in 1963, the Peace Corps has sent more than 1,400 volunteers to Panama. To learn more about Panama, please visit the Where Do Volunteers Go? section.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
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