14 new Peace Corps volunteers arrive

THE American people have once more offered their voluntary services towards improving the Namibian education sector.

US Ambassador to Namibia Thomas Daughton yesterday introduced 14 American Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in the country this month. Among them are teachers and librarians deployed to under-staffed schools in rural towns.

The Peace Corps is a volunteer programme run by the United States government through which young and older volunteers provide technical assistance through capacity building. Additionally, volunteers lead youth clubs and raise awareness about HIV prevention, maternal and child survival, AIDS care and treatment strategies and the rights of people with disabilities.

Since 1990, more than 1 500 volunteers have served in Namibia. Today the Peace Corps operation continues to be a vibrant and dynamic programme with more than 130 volunteers serving throughout the country in areas of health, education, small enterprise development and promotion of entrepreneurship.

Veteran Peace Corps volunteer Grace Sweet is assigned to help at the Oshekesheka Combined School in Oshana region as an English teacher. Grace, who also served in the Philippines, is looking forward to interacting with community members in the area and hopes to further improve her Oshiwambo, while specialist librarian John Fribley will be assisting the Gobabis study and resource centre that is currently experiencing a lack of qualified librarians and ICT personnel. The centre is one of three regional libraries built by the Millennium Challenge Account –Namibia as part of an education inniative with the Ministry of Education.

Fribley hopes that his services in Gobabis will help introduce school programmes that will help measure library use, in addition to training regional library staff members thereby enabling regional resource centres across the country to become more successful.

“I know the ministry of education wants to establish a multi-purpose resource centre for students and people in business. Equally, library staff will have to be trained and introduced to innovative ways on how to use technology in order to teach community members,” he said.

Before their swearing-in, the new volunteers completed a two week basic language and cultural course and education curriculum through the Peace Corps before travelling to their permanent site, where they will complete 10 months of service.