FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 10, 2004
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Peace Corps
Contact: Press Office
Phone: 202.692.2230
Fax: 202.692.1379
Email: pressoffice@peacecorps.gov |
Peace Corps Director Visits Panama |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez met with Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso and U.S.
Ambassador Linda Watt as part of his travels to Central and South America, where
he visited with Peace Corps volunteers, staff and officials.
Meeting with Ambassador Watt, Director Vasquez applauded
her support of the volunteers and the Peace Corps in Panama. "I speak for many
of the volunteers when I say thank you for taking the time to get to know them
by visiting their sites and projects, emphasizing how important their roles are
in the lives of so many in Panama."
President Moscoso welcomed Director Vasquez and Ambassador
Watt to the Presidential Palace on Tuesday to discuss the Peace Corps program in
Panama. “The volunteers are providing much needed help in their communities and
are teaching the people many things,” said President Moscoso. “Their communities
will cry when the volunteers complete their service and return to the United
States.”
Currently, there are 141 Peace Corps volunteers serving in
Panama, which includes nine married couples and six volunteers participating in
the Peace Corps’
Masters International program. Volunteers are working in the areas of
sustainable agriculture systems, community economic development, environmental
health, and community environment conservation.
Later this month, 34 new trainees will be arriving in
Panama to begin work on a rural health project, a new assignment area for the
program. Seventy percent of the volunteers in Panama are living and working in
areas where at least 70 percent of the population is at the poverty level, and
30 percent live in indigenous communities. Since the program’s inception in
1963, the Peace Corps has sent more than 1,300 volunteers to Panama.
Since 1961, more than 171,000 volunteers have served in the
Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health, HIV/AIDS
education and prevention, information technology, business development, the
environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and
at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.
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