2006.06.29: June 29, 2006: Headlines: COS - Gabon: COS - Kenya: Crisis Corps: HIV: AIDS: Peace Corps: Clem Deveau served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon (2001-03) and served as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Kenya in 2005
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2006.06.29: June 29, 2006: Headlines: COS - Gabon: COS - Kenya: Crisis Corps: HIV: AIDS: Peace Corps: Clem Deveau served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon (2001-03) and served as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Kenya in 2005
Clem Deveau served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon (2001-03) and served as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Kenya in 2005
"I truly enjoyed my Crisis Corps experience. The local people are really what made it the most valuable. It was and continues to be a wonderful experience as well as a great opportunity to use some of my clinical skills and learn about this culture. I grow personally each day as I spend more and more time with the local Swahili people and learn about their culture."
Clem Deveau served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon (2001-03) and served as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Kenya in 2005
Clem Deveau, HIV/AIDS: Kenya, 2005
Clem Deveau, 46, of Fort Kent, Maine, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon (2001-03) and served as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Kenya in 2005, where he was the Coordinator for the Drug Abuse Program of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Mombasa. After his Crisis Corps service, Clem was hired on by the UNODC and continues his work on the project today as a paid employee.
“As a Crisis Corps volunteer, I was posted in Mombasa, a city of about 1.3 million people. My work was primarily in Mombasa, but also covered the Kenya coast region. My primary role was to coordinate the development of services for heroin addicts and commercial sex workers to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. The project targets this high risk population, but focuses specifically on reducing the risks to others. The project provides information, education, and resources to deal with one's HIV status and reduce the subsequent spread of the disease. This is accomplished by facilitating HIV testing among such a high risk population and encouraging them to know their HIV status.
“Among the HIV negative, the outreach program component focuses on helping these individuals remain HIV negative. With the HIV positive clients, the project provides treatment, rehabilitation, education, along with various services to help these individuals remain healthy and avoid the spread of the HIV virus to others.
“The outreach team is made up of approximately 22 workers in Mombasa. They go out each day and make contact with heroin users and commercial sex workers. My role as project coordinator was to supervise these workers, ensuring that sound practices are adhered to, and report on project goals and outcomes. I also worked with a local coordinator to help train him in developing the project, and understand the local needs of the population.
“Each week we make contact with well over 100 heroin users and encourage them to get tested for HIV as well as educating them about how to reduce the risk of spreading the HIV virus or avoiding contracting the virus from others.
“The other component of my work was the overall program management and services development of the project along the coast region of Kenya. This included the development of new services such as implementing a detox facility, halfway house, drop-in center, outpatient drug treatment facility, women's rehabilitation residential treatment, and coordinating services with a strong link to the outreach program and drop-in center component. The work was challenging but wonderful. The people are extremely receptive to new ideas and willing to join together to help their community members. Their enthusiasm is great.
“I truly enjoyed my Crisis Corps experience. The local people are really what made it the most valuable. It was and continues to be a wonderful experience as well as a great opportunity to use some of my clinical skills and learn about this culture. I grow personally each day as I spend more and more time with the local Swahili people and learn about their culture.”
Crisis Corps Celebrates Decade of High-Impact Relief Work
Caption: Crisis Corps Volunteers worked in Thailand after the Tsunami in December 2004.
“A decade ago, Crisis Corps was a budding notion and today it is an essential cornerstone of Peace Corps’ contribution to the world, one that demonstrates our ability to adapt to change and respond nimbly to various challenges around the globe, and even here on American soil,” said Gaddi H. Vasquez, director of the Peace Corps.
On December 4, 1995, Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan sent Peace Corps volunteers to the island of Antigua to help rebuild homes damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Luis. This pilot effort marked what came to be known as the “Crisis Corps,” a new program within the agency that enables experienced Peace Corps volunteers to respond to humanitarian crises and natural disasters. Using the language, technical and cross-cultural skills gained through Peace Corps service and other professional experience, the Crisis Corps allows former or returned volunteers desiring to continue their service to return to the field in short-term, high-impact assignments that typically range from three to six months.
On June 19, 1996, President Clinton honored the Peace Corps at a Rose Garden ceremony reuniting the first group of volunteers who left for Ghana 35 years earlier, and a new group just about to leave for Ghana. During the ceremony, President Clinton formally announced the creation of the Crisis Corps program. Later that year, the first official Crisis Corps volunteers were sent to the Czech Republic to work on environ-mental issues following severe floods.
Where Crisis Corps Has Served
Caption: The Crisis Corps Office emailed over 2400 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to gauge their interest in volunteering for recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Over 400 responses were received from that initial email. The first group of Crisis Corps Volunteers traveled to the FEMA staging area in Orlando, Florida to receive training and their assignments.
Crisis Corps volunteers have served throughout the world in a variety of capacities.
In Africa, Crisis Corps volunteers have worked in the fields of humanitarian assistance, HIV/AIDS, natural disaster relief and reconstruction, disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-conflict relief and reconstruction. They have volunteered in Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania Togo and Zambia.
In Asia, volunteers have been involved in humanitarian assistance, natural disaster relief and reconstruction in Thailand and Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami. In the Caribbean, Crisis Corps volunteers have worked in humanitarian assistance, HIV/AIDS, natural disaster relief and reconstruction, disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-conflict relief and reconstruction in Antigua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Montserrat.
Latin America has also benefited enormously from the work of Crisis Corps volunteers. Working in the areas of humanitarian assistance, HIV/AIDS, natural disaster relief and reconstruction, disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-conflict relief and reconstruction, volunteers have served in Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.
In the Pacific Islands, volunteers have worked in humanitarian assistance, HIV/AIDS, natural disaster relief and reconstruction, disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-conflict relief and reconstruction in the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Papua New Guinea.
Since Crisis Corps' inception in 1996, 1000 returned Peace Corps volunteers have taken the opportunity to use their invaluable skills and experience to address ongoing community needs in 42 different countries. Crisis Corps volunteers work on short term projects, utilizing the skills they learned as Peace Corps volunteers and in post service careers. To learn more about the Peace Corps’ Crisis Corps program, visit the Peace Corps Web site.
When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Story Source: Peace Corps
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Gabon; COS - Kenya; Crisis Corps; HIV; AIDS
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