Peace Corps Celebrates its 45th Anniversary

The Peace Corps will mark its 45th anniversary on Sunday, June 25, with a day of celebratory activities from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and a formal ceremony beginning at 4:00 PM at the Peace Corps Uganda offices in Kampala, located at Plot 6, Mackinnon Road, Nakasero. 

During the formal ceremony, the Ugandan Minister of Education and Sports Namirembe Bitamizire, U.S. Ambassador Steven A. Browning and Peace Corps Country Director McGrath Jean Thomas will be making remarks.  In addition, there will be expressions of appreciation by a former staff member and a current Peace Corps partner. 

The 45th anniversary celebrations will also include the participation of a group of Volunteers who served in this country during the 1960s.  Mr. Alan Olson will speak, on behalf of this group, about the personal value of service, along with the impact that being a Volunteer in Uganda has made upon his life and the lives of other Volunteers.

Additionally, Mr. Wycliff Kizito will be presented with an award for four decades of service to Peace Corps Uganda.  Mr. Kizito was one of the first two Ugandan Peace Corps employees hired in 1964; he continues to work with the Peace Corps here on a part-time basis.

Over the course of the day, currently serving and former Volunteers will collaborate in the painting of three murals commemorating 1) the Peace Corps’ Anniversary, 2) Volunteer Life, and 3) Volunteer service to Uganda.  There will also be a presentation of life skills games and displays showing Peace Corps Volunteers service in Uganda. 

The Peace Corps – an initiative of President John F. Kennedy’s administration – began in 1961.  The first Peace Corps volunteers in Uganda, all secondary school teachers, arrived in November 1964.  Among this first group of teachers was Howard Moses, who taught chemistry to a young Yoweri Museveni.  Initially, the major Peace Corps program area in Uganda was in education, but volunteers have since worked in fisheries, agriculture, health, vocational education and surveying.

There are currently 74 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Uganda, including 32 Volunteers serving as primary teacher trainers assigned to Core Primary Teachers Colleges and 42 Volunteers posted to work with various community-based and non-governmental organizations focusing on health and HIV/AIDS issues.

For further information about the Peace Corps Uganda program on Sunday, June 25, please contact Paul Stevenson, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Kampala (Tel:  0772-200-502 or StevensonPW@state.gov).

For further information about the Peace Corps and its 45th anniversary, please visit: http://www.peacecorps.gov/.