US Peace Corps volunteers set for Cebu deployment

CEBU, Philippines —  Close to 40 American volunteers arrived in the country to resume the US Peace Corps works for the benefit of different communities in the Philippines, including Cebu.

The US Peace Corps suspended its global operations and repatriated American volunteers from more than 60 countries, including the Philippines, in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the absence of American volunteers, US Peace Corps staff in the Philippines continued to work closely with the Philippine government and other local partners to vaccinate over 27,000 Filipinos against COVID-19, support nationwide distance learning, prepare schools for safe resumption of face-to-face classes, introduce alternative income-generating activities to communities recovering from the pandemic, and strengthen community-level volunteerism.

With the ease of restrictions and trying to live with COVID-19, some 37 volunteers are now in the country. They are the 279th US Peace Corps batch in the Philippines since they started in 1961.

The volunteers will be here for 27 months to fulfill a range of roles requested by host communities including co-teaching English in public elementary and secondary schools, serving as youth development facilitators in Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-accredited organizations, and residential shelters, and supporting local governments in establishing marine protected areas and implementing coastal resource management plans.

Aside from Cebu, these volunteers will be assigned to Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, La Union, Laguna, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Camarines Sur, Bohol, Capiz, and Negros Oriental.

Prior to their deployment, they will undertake two months of language, technical, and cultural training.

The US State Department also said that additional volunteers will arrive in the Philippines in May, August, and September as the US Peace Corps ramps back up its operations this year.

“We are thrilled to welcome the first group of American Peace Corps volunteers to the Philippines since the start of the pandemic,” US Peace Corps country director Jenner Edelman said. — GMR (FREEMAN)