After graduating from UNC Asheville, Kelly Genova’s home as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the village of Ibanda, Uganda, is a small, cinderblock house with a tin roof that echoes like thunder when it rains.



After graduating from UNC Asheville, Kelly Genova’s home as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the village of Ibanda, Uganda, is a small, cinderblock house with a tin roof that echoes like thunder when it rains.

Peace Corps workers could use our help

By Dave Genova
CITIZEN-TIMES READER
published: April 25, 2005 6:00 am

ASHEVILLE — After graduating from UNC Asheville, a young woman with big dreams departed for Africa and a two-year commitment to try and make a difference as a Peace Corps volunteer, an American and a North Carolinian.

Kelly Genova’s home in the village of Ibanda, Uganda, is a small, cinderblock house with a tin roof that echoes like thunder when it rains. She has a large garden and some banana trees in her yard, which provide much of her food. Kelly’s transportation is an old bicycle that she often needs to repair with rubber bands and chewing gum. Her task in Ibanda is to help the local teachers understand how to improve their teaching methods and to help the young women of the village avoid the pain and suffering of becoming HIV/AIDS victims.

Classrooms in Ibanda often hold 50-60 children with one teacher. The HIV/AIDS rate in Uganda is one of the highest in the world. To say Kelly is in a challenging situation would be an understatement. Kelly has asked me to ask our community to help her in her efforts to make a difference. The village and surrounding area have collected more than $4,000 to begin building a resource center in Ibanda. The center will house the first library and small computer lab that this rural community has ever had. Books and a few computers have already been donated by an organization in the United Kingdom. They need about $6,000 to finish the project this year.





Kelly is asking her hometown of Asheville to help her complete the project by contributing what we can

Kelly is asking her hometown of Asheville to help her complete the project by contributing what we can by either going online to http://www.peacecorps.gov/contribute and selecting Africa and Uganda and Integrated Resource Center or by sending a check to:

Peace Corps Partnership Program

1111 20th St. NW

Washington DC 20526

Project # 617-015

It would be great to know that we helped hundreds or perhaps thousands of children know the joy of books and the potential of technology through our generosity. Thank you in advance for helping one of our own serve.

When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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.

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April 24, 2005: This Week's Top Stories PC says program in Uzbekistan is fully operational 23 Apr Business is booming for bi-lingual RPCV's law practice 22 Apr Phil Hardberger criticizes twin swap in San Antonio race 21 Apr Alejandro Toledo has managed to stay in power 21 Apr Dale A. Olsen wins Guggenheim fellowship for music 21 Apr Dr. William E. Hurwitz sentenced to 25 years in prison 21 Apr John and Karen Lewis build eco-tourist hotel in Costa Rica 21 Apr Federal panel recommends Global Health Corps 20 Apr Lena Medoyeff is a businessperson who makes clothes 20 Apr Forty-one in Congress sign PC funding letter 19 Apr James River Park manager Ralph White back to work 19 Apr Pat Waak tells Dems to keep eyes on the prize 18 Apr Al Kamen says First Fan Knows Baseball 18 Apr Broughton Coburn tells his tales of Nepal 13 Apr Maria Shriver talks about her father 12 Apr Bellamy says no big difference with non-RPCV director 11 Apr Abbey Brown faces women's issues in Bangladesh 10 Apr

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April 24, 2005: Special Events Jody Olsen speaks at Ivy College on May 6 RPCV Kent Island Family Weekend on May 6 - 8 Nepal RPCV film showing in Massachusetts on April 30 Gaddi Vasquez speaks in Berkeley on April 25 Cameroon RPCVs selling special Pagne Bush proclaims National Volunteer Week RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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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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