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THE Peace Corps mission to the Philippines is one of
the oldest in the history of this fine service organization.
Through the years, since 1961, hundreds of volunteers have served in
the country, mostly in the small towns and villages, where
illiteracy, disease and poverty are most telling.
President John F. Kennedy
established the Peace Corps in 1961 to help promote world peace and
friendship. He said America’s youth could serve their country in
the advancement of peace by living and working in developing
countries.
The mission had three simple
goals: help the people of host countries meet their need for trained
men and women; help promote a better understanding of the United
States abroad; and help Americans gain a better appreciation of
other peoples and other cultures.
Since 1960, more than 187,000
Peace Corps volunteers have been invited by 139 countries to help in
causes ranging from eradicating illiteracy to checking diseases.
Their work has widened to include teaching small business, promoting
information technology and protecting the environment.
The volunteer program in the
Philippines is the second oldest in the Peace Corps. It began in
October 1961 with the arrival of 123 teachers. In more than four
decades, 8,000 volunteers have served in the Philippines. The
program was suspended in 1990 because of a threat from the New
People’s Army, but was resumed in 1992. Today, volunteers are busy
addressing domestic priorities in the areas of youth services,
education, environment and business development.
Ms. Julia Campbell, who died
several days ago in Banaue, Ifugao, was a proud member of this
mission. She came to the Philippines to work in the Corps’s
ecological and educational programs. Her last assignment was to help
young Filipinos in Donsol, Sorsogon, hone their skills in the
English language, a critical tool in the age of globalization.
Ms. Campbell, a resident of
Fairfax, Virginia, had worked as a journalist, for such news
organizations as The New York Times, People magazine, Court TV, Star
magazine and Foxnews.com. Colleagues remembered her as incredibly
hardworking, tenacious and fearless. A coworker described her as
“not having a mean bone in her body.” She was, they said, also a
very compassionate and sensitive human being. Compassion led her to
leave journalism and, at 38, to “step out of the rat race of New
York, join the Peace Corps and board a plane for Manila.”
In expressing his sympathies to
the Campbell family, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said that
Julia’s dedication to work and the bond she had established with
Filipinos was “a testament to her great character, generosity and
dedication to serve others.”
As we mourn Ms. Campbell’s
death and urge a speedy resolution of her case, we are pleased to
hear Peace Corps Director Ronald A. Tschetter’s assurance that the
work of the Peace Corps in the country would continue.
There are more than 130 Peace
Corps volunteers in the Philippines, more than in any other country
in the world. Without doubt, Secretary Romulo said, the Peace Corps
and the volunteers that constitute it are “an important element in
shaping the bonds of goodwill and understanding between the Filipino
and American people.”
Books and Instituto Cervantes
TODAY is a good day to discover
new titles, buy good books and to replenish your library.
The Instituto Cervantes on T.M.
Kalaw is celebrating World Book Day with its annual book sale. The
open house will highlight dance, jazz, movies, wine and cheese
tasting, free salsa, a photo exhibit, a declamation contest and a
guided tour of the institute. The book market, which offers 4,000
new books at token prices, begins at 10 am.
International Book Day takes
place on the 23rd of April, but the Instituto Cervantes, the
cultural arm of the Spanish Embassy, has decided to advance its
observance by several days for its patrons, students and friends.
The idea of a book day, according
to literary historians, began in Catalonia, Spain, where, on St.
George’s Day, men and women traditionally give each other a rose
for the gift of a book. It also happens that Miguel de Cervantes and
William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. This inspired the
Spaniards to propose a world book day to Unesco. Today, each book
buyer also gets a rose.
Reading is not popular among
Filipinos. Books have the lowest priority in family and personal
budgets. Literature, journalism and popular fiction have managed to
survive through the dedication of a small band of literates who have
an abiding passion for reading.
World Book Day and the Instituto
Cervantes’ book market are dedicated to lovers of the printed
word. Let us all meet each other at the institute for a day of book
browsing and buying, with the additional pleasures of cheese, wine,
movies, music, and a rose to remember the day by.
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