2006.08.19: August 19, 2006: Headlines: COS - Namibia: LaCrosse Tribune: Caitlin Gokey's Adventures with the Peace Corps in Namibia
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2006.08.19: August 19, 2006: Headlines: COS - Namibia: LaCrosse Tribune: Caitlin Gokey's Adventures with the Peace Corps in Namibia
Caitlin Gokey's Adventures with the Peace Corps in Namibia
"As a society, Namibia is on the brink of taking off, which makes volunteering here at this moment all the more exciting. Towns are beginning to form and turn into cities. Communication is slowly getting easier. A stable government is taking shape, and the economy is gradually moving forward."
Caitlin Gokey's Adventures with the Peace Corps in Namibia
Adventures with the Peace Corps in Namibia
By CAITLIN GOKEY
.
I awake each morning to the laughter and commotion of the school children in Omaruru, Namibia.
Each night, I fall asleep to the same sounds. I walk the three kilometers from the hostel where I live to my office every morning, and I’m bombarded with greetings.
I’ve been in Namibia nearly nine months, though it feels like much longer. I can already tell that this country, these people, have affected my life in profound ways that I cannot quite explain. I am one of 58 U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in the 25th group to serve in Namibia.
They call Namibia “The Land of the Brave.” The majority of this country rests between two of the world’s largest deserts, much of which is home to species of plants and wildlife that exist nowhere else in the world.
As a society, Namibia is on the brink of taking off, which makes volunteering here at this moment all the more exciting. Towns are beginning to form and turn into cities. Communication is slowly getting easier. A stable government is taking shape, and the economy is gradually moving forward.
From the outside looking in, it’s hard to believe that Namibia has been an independent nation for just 16 short years. Once you are on the inside, however, things do feel different. Sixteen years ago, Namibians were living under the rule of apartheid, the aftermath of which is palpable. The undercurrent of racism is still present and still affects the daily lives of all people here, including my own.
As a result of apartheid, the disparity of wealth between the rich and the poor is greater in Namibia than in any other country in the world. Very few are living without want.
The United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, suggests that an estimated 60 percent of the 40 million HIV-positive people in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa, with southern Africa remaining the epicenter of the global AIDS epidemic. It is often said that if you are not infected you are absolutely affected.
Like so many of its sub-Saharan neighbors, Namibia is a country plagued by AIDS. An estimated 25 percent of the population is HIV-positive. With the first cases of AIDS reported in Namibia as recently as 1986, the past 20 years have seen a phenomenal rate of growth of those infected with the virus.
In 2000, one out of every four deaths was a result of AIDS. It is estimated that by 2010, almost 150,000 children will be motherless. Even more troubling is the growing number of children themselves infected with HIV, with 15,000 infected by 2004. In a country of fewer than 2 million people, one can easily see how AIDS touches every person’s life in Namibia.
Of the 58 volunteers here, 44 of us are working in the many areas of education. As a primary teacher trainer, I work at a local Teacher’s Resource Centre, assessing the needs of teachers in my region and doing what I can to help meet those needs.
Though my job varies day to day, my primary goal over the next two years is to improve the English skills of the teachers in my area by offering literacy, phonics and English workshops, team teaching in the classroom and serving as a point of contact between the schools and the Ministry of Education.
One of my tasks over the next two years is to create a fully functional computer lab, complete with an Internet connection, and offer computer classes to local educators and community members, most of whom have never touched a computer. In order to do this, however, we must acquire at least four more computers or the funds to do so, a daunting goal that we will only attain through the help of outside sources.
I realize that for one reason or another, most people reading this will probably never set foot inside these borders to see any of these things. I also realize that many people will simply skim over this article and continue on with their lives, never giving a second thought to the parallel lives lived on this side of the globe.
However, I hope that those who do read this will feel compelled to contribute in some fashion to the people of Namibia. Every little bit helps, and please believe me no contribution goes unnoticed or unappreciated.
So ask yourself: Are you doing your part?
Comments can be sent to: C. Gokey, PCV, c/o Omaruru Teacher’s Resource Centre, Private Bag 2017, Omaruru, Namibia, Africa.
E-mail: cgokey@gmail.com (e-mail access may be infrequent)
Donations may be made through:
Sheila Garrity, 794 Shore Acres Road, La Crescent, MN 55947; cell: (612) 723-6727; e-mail: SMG1514@centurytel.net.
When this story was posted in August 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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The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
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Warren E. Buffett’s gift of $31 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation means that for tax reasons, starting in 2009, the foundation must distribute $3 billion annually, or a little more than twice what it distributed last year.
PCOL Comment: The Foundation says that "preventing the spread of HIV is the most durable long-term solution to the AIDS epidemic, and a top priority for the foundation." Peace Corps Volunteers and Returned Volunteers have been doing just that in AIDS Education for the past 15 years. Why not consider a $100M annual contribution to the Peace Corps to put 2,500 additional volunteers in the field to expand AIDS education worldwide? |
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The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
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Senator Chris Dodd plans to spend the next six to eight months raising money and reaching out to Democrats around the country to gauge his viability as a candidate. Just how far Dodd can go depends largely on his ability to reach Democrats looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton. PCOL Comment: Dodd served as a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps in Congress. |
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Director Vasquez testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as the new Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture replacing Tony Hall. He has been the third longest serving Peace Corps Director after Loret Ruppe Miller and Sargent Shriver. PCOL Comment: Read our thanks to Director Vasquez for his service to the Peace Corps. |
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The Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security. |
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Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
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PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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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. |
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Story Source: LaCrosse Tribune
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