The Gambia receives more US Peace Corps volunteers

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The Gambia receives more US Peace Corps volunteers

Saturday, 04 September 2010 01:08

Twenty-one United States Peace Corps volunteers were sworn in at the US embassy residence in Banjul on Friday, being the latest addition to the over 3,200 Peace Corps volunteers who have served in the Gambia since the program started here in 1967.

Speaking at the occasion, the Charge d’Affaires at the US embassy, Ms Cynthia Gregg, said 15 of the volunteers are serving regular two year assignments while the other nine are serving in short term high impact assignments as Peace Corps "response volunteers". They joined 100 volunteers already in the country and serving in the health, environment and education sectors.
She noted that this is the first time the Peace Corps in The Gambia has welcomed "peace corps response" and host schools and villages have high expectations for this very talented group of teacher trainers.
Apart from working as teacher-trainers, she said these volunteers will also teach maths, English and science to primary and secondary school students. Also she said there were several information, communication technology (ICT) specialists in the group who will work to enhance the IT skills of counterpart IT teachers and local government administration staff.
Gregg added that the Peace Corps development policy supports the education ministry’s goal of "a responsive, relevant and quality education for all," noting that volunteers are often placed in some of the most remote areas of the country to serve local schools and localities.
The Gambian Minister of Education, Fatou Lamin Faye spoke of the pursuance of Gambian education goals through Peace Corps partnership with the government and people of The Gambia which dates back to 1967. She recalled that the first group of volunteers was in construction, auto- mechanics, agricultural research and extension, nursing and small business enterprises.
Since then she said the collaboration has been expanded and diversified at the request of the Gambia government and centering around the three priority areas of health, environment and education.
Apart from living with Gambian families, speaking Gambian languages and showing respect for Gambian way of life, she said the volunteers also contributed immensely to the introduction of information technology in Gambian schools and provided support for ICT to Gambia College and the University of The Gambia.
Source: APA