7,900 miles...
Back to basics… some copied and pasted info
A Proud History
The legacy of 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 its inception in 1961, the Peace Corps’s goal has been to promote world peace and friendship by:
• 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 people served
• Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans
Health Education Program in Tanzania
The idea for the Health Education project came from Peace Corps Volunteer secondary school teachers who were observing many HIV/AIDS-related problems at their schools and the culture of silence which surrounded the issue. Volunteers saw great needs and opportunities to get involved in HIV/AIDS prevention education. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) has started to address HIV/AIDS, having developed Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Prevention in 1996. The idea for the project was welcomed by the MOEC, and the project plan was developed jointly by the MOEC and Peace Corps in 2000.
By 2004, experience had shown that it was difficult to work effectively as a teacher and as a health educator at the same time. The duties and responsibilities of teaching were too demanding, leaving little time for health education. In 2004, the project was redesigned so that health education volunteers could work solely as health educators. In this new project, health education volunteers work in multiple settings reaching primary school and secondary school students as well as their teachers, health service providers and their clients at health centers and with community groups such as mamas’ and youth groups. In provision of health education Volunteers focus on HIV/AIDS and Life Skills. Tanzania has a variety of structures embedded in communities to help in combating the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Such structure include HIV/AIDS committees, committees for the elderly and Associations for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). HIV/AIDS prevention education has expanded beyond the biology of HIV/AIDS to include nutrition for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs, PLWHAs and those taking ARVs.
In 2008, the Project began another review and is being shaped to address other important health needs in addition to HIV/AIDS prevention. Health Education Volunteers now also help to support their communities to combat tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and malnutrition (commonly addressed as Primary Health Care- PHC) as well as encouraging income-generating projects for people affected by HIV and AIDS, including Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
