We are celebrating Pride Month by sharing the voices, experiences, and insights of members of the Peace Corps’ LGBTQI+ community.

The Peace Corps continued its Thought Leaders series with a virtual gathering on July 21. Four returned Volunteers — all professionals in technology — provided their viewpoints on leveraging technology to maximize effects in socioeconomic development, and how Peace Corps Volunteers can shape global development.

As the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted learning in schools, one Volunteer made a difference by teaching deaf children in Kenya and training their teachers online.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, I loved taking the local mini-buses called “tro-tros” or simply “tros.”

Serving with the Peace Corps was my dream as I grew up in Kazakhstan.

HBCUs, or historically Black colleges and universities, are an important component of Black history in the United States.

Peace Corps staff member Yussif Alhassan is a programming and training specialist for the education sector in Ghana. In that role, he provides technical and programmatic support to Volunteers working in schools, and has worked with six Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) Volunteers. As the Peace Corps celebrates Deaf Awareness Week, we sat down with Yussif to ask him about his experience in Ghana.

There is a misconception that when you serve as an agriculture Volunteer, you are teaching people how to farm. This is definitely not the case. 

Since I was a child, my parents ingrained in me a strong sense of service and the value of giving back.

It can take a young girl in rural Ghana about an hour to walk to and from the river to fetch water. 

People in the U.S. know me as Danielle, or Dani, but my full name is Danielle Adwoa Serwah Ohemeng and my parents are from Ghana. 

Christine Tyler always told her daughters to put their best foot forward and never let anyone tell them who they are. 

In a small community in the Northern Region of Ghana, groups of farmers toil for hours a day, filling 50-liter cans from hand-dug mini-wells to water their garden plots by hand.

Brothers first, Peace Corps Volunteers second, Zane and Alex grew up with a desire to travel and serve. That desire has led them to Costa Rica and Ghana, respectively.

Imagine a world without hunger...

When I joined the Peace Corps, I had just finished my undergrad and didn’t know what was next. The Peace Corps was something different, interesting and challenging.