Peace Corps in Kazakhstan
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About Peace Corps in Kazakhstan
The United States Peace
Corps
traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged
students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of
peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew
an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and
friendship. Since the official founding of the Peace Corps in 1961, over
200,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers in 139 countries around
the world.
The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:
- Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of American
The seeds of the Peace Corps Kazakhstan program were planted on December 22,
1992, when the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Peace Corps of the United States
signed a country agreement in Washington, D.C. The Kazakhstani government
initially invited Peace Corps to begin working in the areas of English Teaching
and Small Business Development, and the first 50 Peace Corps Volunteers arrived
in Kazakhstan in June 1993. The Ministry of Ecology and Bio-resources invited
the Peace Corps to begin an environment program in 1994, and the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Health invited health program Volunteers in 1996.
In November 0f 2011, the mission of the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan came to an
end. During the 18 years that the Peace
Corps worked in Kazakhstan, nearly 1,120 Americans served here, assisting the
people of Kazakhstan in a variety of projects focused on education, youth
development, HIV/AIDS, and community development. Their positive contributions left an
indelible mark on the people of Kazakhstan, and their legacy is the increase in
quality of life and English-speaking ability in the Kazakhstani people that
interacted with them.
- Translation:
- Русский