REMARKS AS PREPARED:

Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn: Salam alaykum! (Peace be upon you) Good morning. It is an incredible honor to be here with you all in the “Smiling Coast of Africa” where the spirit of “Peace Only” resonates so deeply. Thank you, for welcoming me with such warmth and hospitality on my final trip as Director of the Peace Corps.

Today is a celebration of the nearly six-decades of friendship and partnership between the Peace Corps and the Gambian people. It is also the beginning of a new chapter in that relationship, as we symbolize the Peace Corps’ deep and long-term commitment with the opening of the agency’s beautiful new office.

To all of our distinguished guests – Minister Barry, Deputy Chief of Mission Banjul, Peace Corps Country Director Morley, government and community partners, host families, friends and Returned Volunteers from near and far – thank you for joining us to celebrate this important milestone.

Travel back with me, for a moment, to the year 1967. When here in The Gambia, a group of Americans are stepping off an airplane, filled with hope and optimism – and, I’m sure, no small amount of nerves – prepared to do what they can, working alongside people and communities they’ve never met to try and make a small amount of difference in the world through the power of personal connection.

That first group of Peace Corps Volunteers who were welcomed with open hearts by the people of this nation laid the first stones in the beautiful foundation of friendship, connection, and partnership grown stronger with every generation of Volunteer and their counterparts who built on it over the last 57 years.

More than 2,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have called The Gambia home. They’ve learned the language and culture of the Fula, Wolof, Mandinka, Jola, and Serahule.

They’ve played football with local children, shared countless meals of Domoda, and Akara, and Wonjo Juice, and fasted alongside their communities for Ramadan. And through it all they’ve worked hand-in-hand with their Gambian partners to strengthen Education, enhance Agricultural practices, and promote health and wellness it their communities.

Today, forty Volunteers are continuing this powerful legacy of connection and community-led development. They are working with communities to build resilience in the face of growing natural disasters, and helping women unleash their own economic empowerment through greater digital literacy.

A numeracy pilot program spearheaded by two of our Volunteers, Isbah and Shelby, has already profoundly changed the learning trajectory of Gambian children – and will continue to do so for years to come as it is now being replicated countrywide.

But as much as our Volunteers strive to give to the communities who welcome them with such warmth and with arms wide open, the fact is that they get just as much – if not more – in return. Each of them carries a little bit of The Gambia – the wisdom, kindness, and enduring spirit – in their hearts and in their souls the rest of their lives. It shapes who they are long after their service here ends, building lasting bridges of understanding across cultures, across borders, and across differences. And I’m so thrilled that we’ll be hearing directly from 6 of these Volunteers and some of their counterparts shortly. I understand that some of them will be speaking in Wolof, Mandinka, Serahule, and Pulaar, which I’m very excited to see.

My point in sharing a bit of the great work that our Volunteers are doing alongside their communities isn’t to be boastful, although I am very proud. It’s to demonstrate how deep and lasting our commitment to the Gambia remains. And beyond the Volunteers themselves, there is no greater testament to that than the new office that we open today.

But this is more than a building. It is more than brick and mortar. This is a space in for collaboration, innovation, and big dreams. Here, Volunteers will join with staff and partners to chart a future rooted in mutual respect and shared aspirations.

This new office is an investment in the future of Peace Corps here in The Gambia. As is our exploration of potential new service models and innovative recruitment methods that we are starting to implement – that we hope will lead ever greater numbers of future Volunteers to step through these doors and out into the beauty of this nation and its people for many years to come.

The future for the Peace Corps and The Gambia is bright, and we are so excited to work side-by-side with the Gambian people to build it – one connection, one interaction at a time.

Abaraka, Jerejef, Jarama, Thank you. Peace only.