Senegal
Third Goal
How our volunteers are fulfilling the third goal of Peace Corps.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Peace Corps Senegal volunteers help to fulfill the third goal of Peace Corps by participating in the Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools program (WWS). The Peace Corps website describes the WWS program well:
'The World Wise Schools program matches Peace Corps Volunteers in the field with U.S. classroom teachers. The result? A vibrant two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts that helps U.S. students in the classroom learn about the people, geography, environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers living in other countries.'
WWS can play as big or as little a role in the service of the volunteer as they choose. Participation in the program is unique to each volunteer and their partner classroom, and the amount of effort put in by these two parties greatly determines the individual successes of the program. The volunteer and teacher in the U.S. communicate and decide how often and what kind of correspondence they can feasibly do. A few PCVs help to exchange pen-pal letters between the U.S. and Senegalese classrooms, but since this can be very time consuming, most exchange letters directly with the teacher – letters describing Senegal or answering the American students’ questions. The goal is simply to help Americans better understand Senegal.
Both teachers and volunteers can sign up here.
Find World Wise Schools resources especially for teachers here.
