Twenty-four United States volunteers, 22 of whom are with the Peace Corps, are now engaged in a range of projects in the education and agriculture sectors across the island.

The Peace Corps Jamaica (PCJ) volunteers are assigned for two years and will support rural area projects, while their colleagues, who are designated Peace Corps Response volunteers, will work on specialised short-term projects at the parish and national levels.

Both groups completed pre-service preparation and orientation focusing on language immersion and working alongside host country partners. The two-year volunteers represent the 93rd group of Americans to serve in Jamaica and the second to return to service since the global evacuation of volunteers in 2020, while the response volunteers are the first group to return to the island since 2017, the US Embassy stated in a news release.

At the swearing-in ceremony of the volunteers on May 30, keynote speaker and long-standing Peace Corps Jamaica project partner Dr Ronald Blake, welcomed them to service and encouraged them to focus on the relationship between agriculture, nutrition, and education.

Blake, who is also chief of party for the United States Department of Agriculture Jamaica Spices Project, charged the volunteers to serve by being “partner-sensitive, Earth’s guardians, action-driven, compassionate and exploratory”.

US Ambassador N Nick Perry administered the oath of service to the volunteers and reminded them that they are all ambassadors of the American people and culture as they live and serve in Jamaican communities.

Meanwhile, PCJ Country Director Glenda Green emphasised the important partnership that exists between both Peace Corps and the people of Jamaica.

Volunteers will live and work alongside Jamaicans in their communities in an effort to make progress on major development challenges in agriculture and education.

The US Peace Corps was established in 1961 by President John F Kennedy and involves a diverse group of American men and women who volunteer to spend two years providing assistance to develop sustainable solutions for the world’s greatest challenges to 61 nations. To date, more than 4,025 volunteers have served in Jamaica working with a wide cross section of schools, communities, government, and non-government organisations.

Jamaica was the seventh country to receive Peace Corps volunteers.