US Peace Corps celebrates 60th anniversary
Minister for Education and Training Hon. Hu'akavameiliku (centre) with the Peace Corps Tonga Country Director Anna Todorova, diplomats and guests, Peace Corps 60th Anniversary celebration, The Top Restaurant, Nuku'alofa. 22 March 2021.
The United States Peace Corps celebrated its 60th anniversary of worldwide friendship and service, at an event in Nuku'alofa on March 22.
The Peace Corps came to Tonga in 1967. Attending the event was the Minister for Education and Training, Hon Hu’akavameiliku, diplomats, and former volunteers.
Speaking from Fiji, Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy, Antone Greubel said over the past 60-years Peace Corps has served in 13 Pacific Island countries, from the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia to Fiji, to Tonga.
“In Tonga, Peace Corps has had over 1,700 volunteers serving on nearly every island since 1967.”
He said, volunteers have worked in various sectors including agriculture, fisheries, small business development, vocational skills, and education in Science, Math, and English.
“The name Peace Corps, in Tongan 'Pisikoa', has become synonymous with positivity, good will, and of course lasting partnership between Tonga and the United States."
Mr Greubel honoured not only the long history of Peace Corps mission for world peace and friendship across the globe, but also the continued partnership between the United States and Tonga.
Hon. Hu’akavameiliku congratulated the Peace Corps and the United States Government for their service.
“Today’s special event marks a special milestone in the history of Tonga.”
He said the volunteers had contributed to the Tongan government, private and non-profit organisations and individual communities, with the Ministry of Education and Training benefiting with volunteers teaching in primary and secondary schools throughout the islands.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic also caused 53 Peace Corps volunteers to be repatriated to the USA.
“We have not given up hope that the Peace Corps will return.”
The Minister said the outbreak of COVID-19 exposed more weaknesses in Tonga’s education systems (in flexible and distant learning) that they are trying to address with the assistance of development partners. He invited Peace Corps to assist by reviewing their program strategy, in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
World Peace and Friendship
Peace Corps Tonga Country Director Anna Todorova said that Peace Corps is about promoting world peace and friendship around the world, it is about building relationships and opportunity and strengthening bonds among nations.
She said the values which propelled Peace Corps to the organization it proudly stands today resonate well with his words. Respect for other cultures, collaboration and acceptance while celebrating our diversity and nurturing equity and inclusion, are more important than ever, both at home and overseas.
"Today, we are at a critical point of our collective history, following the unprecedented year in which countries grappled with the global pandemic. Never before has the Peace Corps evacuated globally, or has been tasked with the groundbreaking work of returning Volunteers to service.
As global conditions continue to shift, there is a sliver of hope and a promise by the roll out of the vaccines worldwide. We long for the time when it is safe to return volunteers to Tonga, and to reenter the communities and schools with humility and a service heart."
Former Peace Corps volunteer Christine ‘Uta’atu also spoke of her experience in Tonga.
She said the Peace Corps calls the volunteer experience “the toughest job you’ll ever love”, and while adapting to a new culture might be considered tough, there’s no doubt the experience was to be loved.
“As a volunteer, I was the first Finance Manager for the Development Bank and perhaps I learned more working there than I had in some of my positions in the US.”
Christine was part of Group 33 who arrived on 15 July 1983 - and she never returned to the US to live and instead made Tonga her home. Several other volunteers have also remained in Tonga after serving with the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps was established by former US President John F Kennedy in 1961, inspiring generations of Americans to serve abroad.