U.S. Ambassador Christine Elder today swore-in 44 two-year Peace Corps Volunteers who will be placed at government high schools in the 15 counties of Liberia.
The Peace Corps and Liberia’s Ministry of Education are working collaboratively to coordinate activities which will improve the lives of students in the country.
Also present at the swearing-in ceremony was President George Manneh Weah along with some members of his cabinet as well as Peace Corps Liberia Country Director Kristi Raube.
Many Peace Crops Volunteers in Liberia work with their communities on education projects. During their service in Liberia, Volunteers learn to speak local languages, including Liberian English, Kpelle, Gio, Gola, Via and Mano
The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. The work is generally related to social and economic development. Each program participant, a Peace Corps Volunteer, is an American citizen, typically with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of two years after three months of training.
Volunteers work with governments, schools, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and entrepreneurs in education, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment. After 24 months of service, volunteers can request an extension of service.
The program was established by Executive Order 10924, issued by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961, announced by televised broadcast March 2, 1961, and authorized by Congress on September 21, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act (Pub.L. 87–293). The act declares the program’s purpose as follows:
To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.
From 1961 to 2015, nearly 220,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps and served in 141 countries. The Peace Corps shows “the willingness of Americans to work at the grassroots level in order to help underdeveloped countries meet their needs”. The Peace Corps has affected the way people of other countries view Americans, how Americans view other countries, and how Americans view their own country.
