By Mabinty M. Kamara
Ahead of the official swearing-in and dispatching of 17 Peace Corps Volunteers, the American Ambassador to Sierra Leone has expressed joy that the volunteers have returned to the country to support the community with Health Care and Primary and Secondary Education Services.
Ambassador David Reimer noted that after the swearing-in ceremony, they will be sent into communities across eight districts in Sierra Leone to work together with local partners on health and education.
Five of the volunteers he said: “will serve alongside community health workers, focusing on child and maternal health. They will work with women and caregivers to promote healthy pregnancies, safe deliveries, and healthy children”.
The volunteers will be working with community health workers to improve their skills, provide health education, and work with youths to increase their knowledge and help improve their health and wellbeing.
The other 12 volunteers are to be placed in communities to work on primary and secondary education programmes. The ambassador noted that there was a break due to the COVID pandemic and that the number of volunteers will appreciate in due time.
Speaking at the Press briefing on the US government intervention areas in the country at the US embassy in Freetown on Wednesday this week, Natalie Gill-Mensah, the Peace Corps Country Director noted that the Peace Corps services in Sierra Leone started in 1962 where American citizens had proud relationships with Sierra Leone but that the programme had a pause during the Ebola COVID outbreak. The volunteers will be in the country for two years according to Gill-Mensah.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held on the 9th of September this year at the Peace Corps Training Facility in Kambia. The peace-corps was the brainchild of late American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, designed for young American graduates from university to voluntarily offer their services to third world countries during which they have shared cultural experiences.
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