P a g e
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The joint press conference between JICA volunteers and PC Bulgaria volunteers was successful in
communicating the importance of volunteerism to the
country and provided all attendees with a deeper understanding of the caliber of work that is achieved on a
daily basis in every corner of this Balkan nation.
George Hatzfeld and Tereza Gateva
Siana Yordanova and Rachel Gilmore
Ani Zlateva, Krasimir Yuriev, Brandon Gilmore, and Dora Triffonova
P A U 3 A !
March 6th, 2006
Peace Corps Bulgaria
Celebrates 15 Years of Service
By Brian Fassett
March 1st, 2006 marked the 15th year that the
United States Peace Corps has sent volunteers
to Bulgaria. This April, the 19th consecutive
group of volunteers will arrive to start their
training to be TEFL teachers, and in August,
the 20th group composed of Youth Development (YD) and Community and Organizational Development (COD) volunteers will set
foot in Bulgaria to begin their 27 month sojourn. To celebrate these 15 years of service,
six PCVs from Bulgaria, along with their local counterparts, presented their work and
their views on volunteerism at a joint conference entitled, "Volunteerism in Bulgaria."
The conference was organized in cooperation
with the Japanese International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) to showcase some of the activities of their current volunteers. The event
was attended not only by Peace Corps and
JICA program staff, but also the Ambassador
of Japan and the Ambassador of the United
States, Mr. John Beyrle. It was held at the
World Trade Center in Bulgaria’s capital city,
Sofia.
The eight Japanese volunteers who attended
the event shared information on their work in
museums, which included creating a database
and website for Bulgarian museums
(www.jicabg.com/museum/), starting a baseball league, working in education, the environment, regional development and with disabled people. There were six Peace Corps
volunteers who, along with their Bulgarian
partners, shared their experiences with obtaining medical supplies for a hospital in central
Bulgaria, creating a library for an elementary
school in the largest Roma neighborhood in
the country, teaching English to primary and
secondary students, and working with children
at an orphanage.