FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, August 16, 1999

Peace Corps Volunteers in Jordan To Be Featured on CBS Sunday Morning on August 22

Washington, D.C., August 16, 1999—Peace Corps Volunteers Erin VanLuven of Bow, N.H., and Yasmina Ramian, from Paramus, N.J., both serving in Jordan, will be featured on CBS News this Sunday as part of a story on women in the Peace Corps. The lengthy feature is set to air on "CBS Sunday Morning" with Charles Osgood, at 9 a.m. on August 22. It also includes an interview with Her Majesty Queen Noor, who was instrumental in bringing Peace Corps volunteers to Jordan.
Today, the majority of Peace Corps volunteers are women, and the number of women serving in the Peace Corps has almost doubled since 1961—33.5 percent in 1961 to 60 percent currently serving. CBS reporter Allison Stewart spent time with both Peace Corps volunteers at their sites, interviewing them and their colleagues.
One of the volunteers, Ramian works with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature at the Wadi Dana Nature Reserve to improve the environmental education program there, including working with children who visit the reserve to teach them about the environment. While the CBS crew was there, Ramian welcomed Her Majesty Queen Noor, a staunch supporter of the Wadi Dana Reserve, and took her on a tour of the area.
VanLuven works at the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt, the oldest city in Jordan. Stewart and the camera crew spent a day with VanLuven as she went to a Palestinian Refugee camp to check the hearing of the children from the camp, shopped in the market, and worked in the school for the deaf. VanLuven works in the audiology clinic, where people receive free full audiological assessments, including identifying any outer or middle ear problems, measuring level of hearing loss and its effect on the client, and choosing the best treatment for the specific problem.
VanLuven and Ramian both arrived in Jordan in August 1998, as part of only the second group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve there. They are among 75 volunteers currently serving in Jordan, including 41 new volunteers who arrived on July 31.
Currently, more than 6,700 Peace Corps volunteers are working in 77 countries around the world to bring clean water to communities, teach children, protect the environment, help start new small businesses, and prevent the spread of AIDS. Since 1961, more than 155,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps.

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