WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, 2000—The Peace Corps will hold 14 events nationwide on July 11, seeking hundreds of volunteers to serve in French-speaking Africa starting this winter. Peace Corps volunteers will work on programs in a variety of areas including business, the environment, health/nutrition, education, and agriculture, and will help combat HIV/AIDS in their communities as part of a new initiative announced by the Peace Corps on June 27.
"By the end of the year 2000, the number of volunteers engaged in HIV/AIDS work is expected to increase six-fold. There has never been a more urgent time, nor a region of the world in such critical need than Africa where 24 million people are infected with this terrible disease," said Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider, who is currently visiting southern and eastern Africa.
The Peace Corps\' new multi-year initiative will focus on HIV/AIDS projects in Africa\'s most severely affected regions. The aim of the initiative is to provide improved access to prevention and resources for Peace Corps volunteers in their communities
The Peace Corps works with 25 partner nations in Africa, of which 11 are French-speaking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea, Cote d\'Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
The July 11 events will take place in 14 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Brea (California), Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Tucson, Seattle and Washington, D.C. To learn more about these events, check the Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov or call 1-800-424-8580 to speak directly to a Peace Corps recruiter. All events are free and open to the public.