Friday November 23, 2007, will mark four decades since Peace Corps started its operation in The Gambia, with the arrival of the first 13 volunteers in 1967.
Since then 1400 American volunteers have served in The Gambia.

According to a press release issued by Peace Corps Gambia Office, the highlight of the commemoration will be a ceremony to be hosted by the Gambian government on Friday, November 23, 2007 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. It is hoped that President Jammeh and other top government officials and Peace Corps partners will grace the occasion.

Highlights of the event, the release went on, will include testimonies of how Peace Corps program in The Gambia has touched and continues to touch the lives of Gambians across the board and Americans in the United States.
Today, the release went on, more than 100 Volunteers live and work alongside Gambians in all regions of the country, fulfiling the mission that President John Kennedy articulated four decades ago and that has been endorsed by every Gambian President since. “Volunteers from every walk of life embody some of America’s most enduring values: hope, optimism, freedom, and opportunity. They bring these values to communities around the world not to impose them, but to share them and build bridges of friendship and understanding."

The growth in technology and global communications, said the release, has made the world smaller, yet it is these types of day-to-day, people-to-people relationships that can build the real foundation for peace among nations. Thus, ICT has been an added area of Peace Corps programming in Peace Corps The Gambia. Volunteers working in this area serve across all sectors of the Education spectrum.

More than 187,000 Peace Corps Volunteers, the release further went on, have helped promote a better understanding between Americans and the people of the 139 countries where Volunteers have served from 1961 to date. At the end of the fiscal year 8,079 Volunteers were serving at 68 posts in 74 countries. Volunteers must be US citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment.

Peace Corps Director and the entire Peace Corps community in The Gambia , the release concludes, wish to thank the Gambian government and people for their hospitality since Peace Corps’ inception here 40 years ago.