Program Background

There are two projects in Peace Corps South Africa. The NGO (non government organizations) Project works with organizations to assist with the battle against HIV/AIDS. The Education and Community Resource Project (that is our project) works in rural schools to help teachers and administrators with curriculum development, management, evaluation, extra-curricular activities, and any other needs expressed by the schools. We are also working with community members to identify and help address needs in our rural villages. In our group, SA 15, there are 45 Education and Community Resource volunteers and 34 NGO volunteers.

Peace Corps as a whole has three main goals that we will be working towards over the next two years:

1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women. We hope to share the knowledge, skills, and experiences we have learned from our schooling, wonderful jobs, and amazing family and friends to empower and inspire the people of South Africa to make a difference in their own communities.

2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
We look forward challenging assumptions and stereotypes and helping the people of South Africa understand that there is much more to America and Americans than what is portrayed by the media and the actions and decisions of the American government.

3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans. We expect to have our own world views, assumptions, stereotypes, comfort levels, ideas, perceptions of self, perception of others, and of our own country challenged, rethought, strengthened, and blown to pieces on a daily basis. We hope to share these mind numbing, thought provoking, and vitally important experiences with as many people as possible. To this end we have created this mailing list and an online journal to help us facilitate the growth of others and to help share ideas with the people we know and love in the states.