"The toughest job you'll ever love"

Youth, Families and Community Development volunteer

As in many developing countries, the population in the Dominican Republic is young with 34% of the population under 15 and 54% under the age of 25. Some of the key challenges faced by the youth in this country include: interfamily violence, family disintegration, unemployment and social exclusion (which in turn lead to low motivation and indifference), early sexual initiation, teenage pregnancy, school desertion, HIV/AIDS infection and drug/alcohol use.

Launched in 2002, the youth, families and community development program is relatively new in the Dominican Republic. The program seeks to empower youth by increasing knowledge and skills, promoting positive decision making and enhancing positive family relationships. Working with community leaders, I will design and implement a variety of activities to empower the youth in the Dominican Republic. A general goal of these activities is to increase the kids' personal development skills, such as self esteem, gender awareness, leadership abilities, communication skills and conflict resolution. These activities include:

• Supervised sports and arts activities, including sports events and summer camps
• Voluntary projects such as community clean ups, registration of non documented children and environmental activities
• Literacy programs and libraries
• Vocational training including English and computer skills

This job requires me to be on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I get two days of vacation time per month that the Peace Corps recommends I use to travel throughout the Dominican Republic so that I can really get to better know the culture that I will be living and working in.