``I want each of you to realise that you are part of a crucial mission, not just from Tanzania's perspective, but also from the America's perspective. Each of you is an ambassador. I may carry the title but each of you is the ambassador as well``, said Green. He told the Peace Corps that their work here was to help shape America's image and craft the North American country's image in the minds of Tanzania's next generation of leaders. ``Many Tanzanian leaders have told me that they were taught at school by Peace Corps volunteers, while others say their villages were improved by Peace Corps led projects,`` he noted.
Mark Green swears in Peace Corps volunteers in Tanzania
Green: Aids has overtaken malaria in terms of deaths
2007-11-29 10:01:05
By Correspondent Felister Peter
Caption: U.S. Ambassador Mark Green joins students and a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in the bicycle workshop at the Tumaini Orphan Vocational Training Center during his recent visit to Arusha on Friday, November 16, 2007.
More than 400 Tanzanians die everyday due to HIV/Aids while another 100,000 lose their lives because of malaria every year.
The US ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Green, said this yesterday during a Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony held at Forrest Hill Secondary School in Morogoro.
He would not explain, but if the figures are calculated they would show that at least 146,000 Tanzanians die of Aids annually, while 274 people die of malaria daily.
He said though Tanzania has made good progress in the area of health care, much ought to be done in the sector.
The Peace Corps are today volunteering to work in Tanzania because of the good historic partnership between the country and the US, he said.
The ambassador said Tanzania was the first country to request for Peace Corps volunteers who it started receiving in 1962.
``Currently there are 130 Peace Corps volunteers who are serving in Tanzania at different places.
They include health care workers and community development volunteers who have dedicated two years of their lives to building a brighter future in Tanzania,`` he said. He added that to date a total of 1,980 Peace Corps have served in the country.
``I want each of you to realise that you are part of a crucial mission, not just from Tanzania's perspective, but also from the America's perspective. Each of you is an ambassador. I may carry the title but each of you is the ambassador as well``, said Green.
He told the Peace Corps that their work here was to help shape America's image and craft the North American country's image in the minds of Tanzania's next generation of leaders.
``Many Tanzanian leaders have told me that they were taught at school by Peace Corps volunteers, while others say their villages were improved by Peace Corps led projects,`` he noted.
Some years back, Green and his wife served as Peace Corps volunteers in rural Kenya where they were secondary school teachers.
