On July 30th NOVA RPCV met with 15 youth (8th-12th grade) as part of the DC Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) at the City Kids Wilderness Project. RPCV Richard Donahue (Kiribati 2001–2004/Liberia 2013-2014), Scotty Fristoe (Belize 2019-2020) and Lauren Littles (Mozambique 2017-2019) shared highlights of their time in-country and a short video on serving as a volunteer.
Students learned about Peace Corps’ mission and goals, how to volunteer and the benefits of Peace Corps service. Each identified the program sector and country which intrigued them and we were delighted to learn the mothers of two of the students had served with Peace Corps in Madagascar and Togo! Celebrating the custom of Kiribati, an island in the Pacific Islands, students and teachers danced to songs from the Pacific Islands donning lava lavas, a traditional piece of clothing from Polynesia and other Pacific islands made from a single rectangular cloth worn wrapped around the waist like a skirt or kilt.
The project is a DC-based youth development 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers seven (7) consecutive years of entirely FREE out-of-school time programs focused on utilizing outdoor spaces and experiences to build social, emotional, leadership, and college and career readiness skills to small cohorts of DC-based middle and high school youth in both the DMV area and Jackson Hole, WY.