18 Aug 2013

Serowe community has welcomed 61 American Peace Corps volunteers for a 10-week intensive training.

The new group arrived in Botswana on August 13 and they are the 14th group of volunteers to assist in addressing HIV and AIDS. When welcoming them on August 15, Kgosi Polokokgolo Kebailele said it was commendable to see people of different age groups especially the youth leaving their homes across oceans to help Batswana.

Kgosi Kebailele said these volunteers chose to help other humans irrespective of their skin colour, adding that despite skin colour all were human beings. He said Botswana was fortunate to welcome the Peace Corps volunteers as they would help others and exchange their cultural aspects.

He advised host families to teach them their way of living, norms and values and most importantly Setswana cultural activities. For his part, Peace Corps-Botswana country director, Mr Timothy Hartman, said he was pleased for the Serowe community to welcome these volunteers into their village and their homes.

Mr Hartman said the trainees would live with their host families in Serowe so that they could more quickly learn Setswana and learn the local culture. He said Peace Corps first came to Botswana in 1966 to provide different works, from teaching to health specialists.

He noted that they served Botswana until 1997 when they decided to close in order to reach out to countries with more significant needs for assistance. However, he explained that in 2002, the then President Festus Mogae met with President Bush to ask for Peace Corps to return to address the impact of HIV and AIDS as the country was in crisis.

Mr Hartman said since re-opening in 2003, more than 500 volunteers had served or are currently serving in Botswana. He noted that of the 61 trainees, 20 would be assigned to schools to teach life skills, 16 would be assigned to clinics and district health teams, 12 to District AIDS Coordination offices while the remaining 13 would work with non-governmental organisations.

He said the current focus of the Peace Corps Botswana programme was to strengthen implementation of the Botswana National Strategic Framework II to address HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Mr Hartman said the 61 volunteers brought valuable experience, adding that the youngest trainee in this group was aged 21; and the oldest is 73 year old.

He said they would be placed for their two-year assignment starting October in places like Letlhakane, Gweta, Kachikau, Kgope and Middlepits amongst others. Ends