United States Independence Day Celebration

Wednesday June 29, 2011

Remarks of Ambassador Robert P. Jackson

Your Excellency the Vice-Prime Minister of Cameroon, Minister of Justice and Guardian of the Seal;
Your Excellencies Ministers of State and Ministers;
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and Heads of International Organizations;
Distinguished Guests;
Fellow Americans;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good evening, and thank you for joining us to celebrate the 235th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America.

Today we celebrate not only the independence of our nation, but the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Peace Corps.  And to help us celebrate this occasion over 50 of our 180 American Peace Corps volunteers have traveled from across Cameroon to join us here tonight in Yaounde.

Before I tell you more about the Peace Corps in Cameroon I would like to thank five U.S. Embassy employees who will be departing Cameroon soon for new assignments.  They are Richard Johannsen, our Public Affairs Officer; Yoham Zary, our Defense Liaison Officer; Justin Nicholson, our Security Engineering Officer; Major Kaiwan Walker, one of our U.S. Army Foreign Area Officers; and Staff Sergeant Linh Luong, one of the members of our Marine Security Guard Detachment.  Gentlemen and Staff Sergeant: Thank you for your service in Cameroon and good luck in your next assignments.

Fifty years ago, when Cameroon was preparing to reunify and take the final steps toward independence from the United Kingdom and France, U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy offered a unique vision to Americans and the world.  His legacy is substantial, including the launching of the space program that took man to the moon, and the creation of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Peace Corps.

President Kennedy believed in self-reliance, but he also believed Americans should partner with those who may not have the same blessings Americans enjoy.  On October 14, 1960, in an impromptu campaign speech, then-Senator Kennedy spoke to 5,000 students at the University of Michigan and challenged them to contribute two years of their lives to helping people in countries of the developing world.  The idea took off, and on March 1, 1961, within weeks of his inauguration President Kennedy signed an Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps.

Now, 50 years later, over 200,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers in 139 host countries.  Here in Cameroon, more than 3,000 volunteers have served since the first group arrived on September 13, 1962.  Today, 180 Americans are in Cameroon serving as Peace Corps volunteers, or being trained to become volunteers, in all 10 regions of the country.

They work in four sectors:  Education, Community Health, Agro-Forestry, and Small Enterprise Development.  This year we are adding a youth development program and increasing the Peace Corps’ role in HIV/AIDS prevention.  Our volunteers are supported by a Cameroonian staff of over 40 employees located at the Peace Corps’ main office here in Yaounde, a regional office in Garoua, and two more regional offices soon to be opened in Ngaoundere and Bamenda.

Today’s volunteers in Cameroon range in age from 23 to 70 years old.  They commit to a minimum of two years of volunteer service following a period of in-country training.  They receive no salary.  They live on a monthly living allowance designed to pay for their lodging, food, and transportation.  They live and work in locations requested by Cameroonian partners and communities.  None of them live in Yaounde or Douala.  When they complete their service in Cameroon, most of them will return to the U.S. where they will become doctors, lawyers, public health experts, teachers, computer specialists, diplomats, scientists, entrepreneurs, and researchers.  Some, like our two Associate Peace Corps Directors, will choose to remain here.

The Peace Corps is a grassroots organization, focused on developing people, not things.  Emphasizing capacity building and sustainability, the volunteers help Cameroonians identify what is important; help Cameroonians utilize their own strengths; and assist Cameroonians in developing new skills to improve their lives.  The philosophy is human development, and the approach is that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish.

Let me tell you about a couple of our Peace Corps volunteers.

One of our volunteers is 30 years old, lives in Bamenda, travels around the North West Region with the regional delegate of the Ministry of Basic Education, and educates future Cameroonian teachers on the importance of internet communications technology and how to teach about ITC in schools.  Earlier this year he also did a month-long “seminar tour” with a regional inspector of the Ministry of Basic Education to promote ITC education at teacher training colleges.  Together, in one month, they trained over 2,000 future teachers and school administrators.  This volunteer extended for a third year in Cameroon and will depart at the end of July.  He was an associate creative director for a creative design firm before becoming a Peace Corps volunteer, and he hopes to work in creative design, particularly with 3D graphics and illustrations, when he returns to the U.S.  His name is Gabe Albin.  Gabe, Thank you for your service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

Another one of our volunteers is 47 years old, lives in Maroua, and works with one of the Far North Region’s leading civil society activists for the empowerment of girls and women.  Together they work with 136 agricultural GICs in the region, teaching hundreds of small farmers the basic business skills (such as planning and budgeting) needed to sell cash crops.  Her dream project is to help bring the “community kitchen” concept to Maroua so that farmers can bring their produce to the kitchen and share information about sanitation and cooking techniques.  She was the national sales director for an organic food manufacturer in the U.S. before becoming a Peace Corps volunteer, and she aspires to pursue her passion of promoting food security in developing countries after she finishes her second year as a volunteer.  The most interesting organic food she has eaten in Cameroon is fried grasshoppers (she says they tasted like cheetos).  Her name is Lynne Wilkie. Lynne, thank you for your service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

To all of the Peace Corps volunteers present:  Please raise your hands so that we can recognize you.  On behalf of the people of the United States of America, thank you all for your service in Cameroon.

Ladies and gentleman, every Peace Corps volunteer is a manifestation of the spirit of volunteerism that is valued so highly in American society.  Every year over 63 million Americans collectively perform over 8 billion hours of volunteer service.  If you added all those volunteer hours up they would amount to 925,000 years of volunteered time every year!  One out of every four American adults performs volunteer work on a regular basis.

Throughout America, and wherever Americans are found, Americans are volunteering to feed the hungry, assist the elderly, tutor children, fight fires, work in museums and libraries, coach youth sports teams, respond to natural disasters, provide medical and dental care, and deliver humanitarian assistance abroad.

It was this spirit of volunteerism that President Kennedy harnessed when he created the U.S. Peace Corps 50 years ago and that he was appealing to when he spoke those famous words at his inauguration on January 20, 1961:  “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Before I close, I wish to offer my sincere thanks to the entities who made this evening’s festivities possible:  AES-Sonel, Beneficial Life Insurance, Les Brasseries du Cameroun, COTCO, Deloitte, General Electric, the Hilton Hotel, Hydromine, KEMAL Trading, Kosmos Energy, LeBus, Le Meridien Hotel, the Muna Foundation, Noble Energy, Geovic Cameroun, Schlumberger, Tidewater, and United Groupe USA.

Although many people at the Mission worked very hard to make this event a reality -- and I thank each and every one – I must publicly thank Janel Heird and Kendra Morgan.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for joining us to celebrate U.S. Independence Day, the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Peace Corps, the spirit of volunteerism, and the continuation of friendship and understanding between the people of the United States of America and the Republic of Cameroon.

Fellow Americans, happy 235th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America.

Please join me in lifting your glasses to continued cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Cameroon, as well as to the Peace Corps and volunteerism.

Thank you very much.