| |
Help us return the Peace Corps to Liberia
by writing to U.S. leaders and the Peace Corps Director and urge that
volunteers return to Liberia in 2008.
Talking points in support of the return of Peace Corps to Liberia
- Liberia was one of the first Peace Corps countries and one of the
most successful programs for 27 years.
- More than 3,000 Peace Corps volunteers and staff members served
in Liberia.
- Liberians, especially the new president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
consider Peace Corps one of the most effective development groups ever
to work in Liberia.
- Peace Corps educators helped to make Liberia’s
schools some of the best in West Africa, from primary through university.
- Liberia is recovering from more than 15 years of war and instability.
- During the war, not only was Liberian infrastructure destroyed,
but so was the social net of education, health care and governance.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees are returning from around West Africa
and the world. There is an urgent need to build the infrastructure
to support a burgeoning population.
- The outflow of almost half of Liberia’s
population included the most educated, and those who remained had
no opportunities for education.
- The Liberian government has mandated primary education for every
child. Teachers, especially in the primary schools, were paid sporadically
throughout the war. This decimated their ranks and many remaining in
the classroom are poorly trained.
- The Minister of Education, who was taught by Peace Corps volunteers,
has specifically called for Peace Corps volunteers to staff the rural
teacher training institutes.
- The war left Liberia with a new health problem, AIDS, which joins
malaria, malnutrition, tuberculosis, and polio as the main challenges
to survival.
- For the past 18 years, former Peace Corps volunteers and others
have worked through Friends of Liberia to restore education, protect
human rights, monitor the democratic process and liaise with the American
government.
- The successful efforts of Friends of Liberia, facilitated by its
association with the Peace Corps, continue to enjoy the highest respect
of all Liberians.
- Friends of Liberia joins the Government of
Liberia in asking for the return of the Peace Corps, preceded by
the Crisis Corps, to help with the enormous job of restoring Liberia’s
educational and health systems so that Liberians are prepared to
rebuild their country.
Please write to your Senators and congressmen, Peace Corps Director
Ron Tschetter (RPCV India) and President Bush and send a copy of the
letter by e-mail to Liberia@fol.org
|
|
