Ava Ceremony
- Talofa lava! As the Country Director for Peace Corps Samoa, I would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture for welcoming our new Trainees with this traditional Ava ceremony.
- This warm welcome is an honor that our Trainees will always remember and marks the beginning of the journey to learn about fa’asamoa, the Samoan way. We are pleased that you have accepted them today, and look forward to the mutual me’alofa/love and support that will characterize their two years of Peace Corps service as English Literacy volunteers.
- This group of 11 Trainees, who arrived in Samoa yesterday afternoon, joins the cohort of 7 Volunteers who arrived in February of this year, and who are already hard at work in primary schools on Upolu.
- We are pleased at the relaunch of relaunch of the full Peace Corps program in Samoa following the three-year absence of Peace Corps Volunteers due to the global evacuation of Volunteers in March 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
- With the arrival of these new Trainees, soon there will be 18 Peace Corps Volunteers, in 18 schools across Upolu and Savaii. Opening doors for Samoa’s future leaders by building their students’ English literacy skills, supporting their Samoan counterpart teachers in the classroom, and enhancing school libraries.
- I want to thank the Government of Samoa for 56 years of partnership with the Peace Corps.
- I would also like to thank MESC for years of working together – including during the pandemic when we continued to come together with local school teachers and librarians to continue English literacy skill building workshops. I am excited that we were able to sign a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding in December to continue this productive partnership.
- With the return of our Volunteers in February, and the addition of these 11 qualified English Literacy Specialists today, I am excited that we will continue supporting MESC’s efforts toward improving English literacy in Primary schools.
- Fa’afetai tele lava again for today’s Ava ceremony and for accepting our Trainees in Samoa! This was indeed a very special occasion.
- At this time, it is my pleasure to present the Trainees to you and will ask each of them to introduce themselves, to tell you their names and where they are from in the U.S.
- Fa’afetai!
