Africa-Press – Gambia. The Peace Corps will start sending volunteers overseas again in mid-March after it evacuated them from posts around the world two years ago because of the covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. government program announced Thursday as it marks its 61st anniversary this week.
An initial group of new volunteers and those who were evacuated in March 2020 will go to Zambia and the Dominican Republic, according to the Peace Corps.
The program plans to return volunteers to their posts throughout the year based on the number of covid-19 cases and hospital capacity in the host country and the ability to transport volunteers to medical evacuation centers if there’s an emergency. It’s currently recruiting for 24 posts.
“Over the past two years, our primary goal has been to return volunteers to the more than 60 countries that are enthusiastically awaiting their return. And, we have weathered the waves and variants of the COVID-19 situation at each post and reengineered Peace Corps systems, policies, and procedures to align with today’s reality,” Peace Corps CEO Carol Spahn said in a statement.
Besides their primary work on local issues, volunteers will be be involved in covid-19 response and recovery, the Peace Corps said.
In Zambia, volunteers will coordinate with local leaders and ministries to provide covid-19 education and promote access to vaccinations, officials said. In the Dominican Republic, the focus will on helping communities overcome issues exacerbated by the pandemic, such as increased school dropout rates, literacy skills and preparing young adults for work.
“I was absolutely ecstatic. This has been a dream of mine ever since I finished high school,” said Campbell Martin, 23, of Sonoma, Calif., who applied last summer after graduating from UCLA and is scheduled to begin serving as a primary teacher/trainer in Gambia in June.
“I want a career in foreign service and I knew Peace Corps was a wonderful step, not only to serve as a global citizen, but also Peace Corps — its mission, its intent — is something I very much believe in,” he said. “As covid shut the world down, I knew so too would those opportunities shut down for me until things started to open back up. Now that things have, I am just over the moon about it.”
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