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From 6 July 2006, a graphic version of the current edition is available at the Daily News Online web site.

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Welcoming the volunteers to Botswana at Rasesa Lodge near Mochudi onlast week, the minister said the US peace corps would also help mobilise, co-ordinate, monitor, evaluate responses and support other sectors in implementing HIV/AIDS programmes.

Tshipinare said government had initiated a variety of strategies to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Of these strategies, one was aimed at strengthening District Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committees by placement of 15 district AIDS co-ordinators, who were to be reinforced by the Peace Corps in the local government sector.

He said the Botswana government and the US peace corps enjoyed a strong and productive relationship that started at independence and that over the years, the volunteers’ contributions had added value to “the good economic gains, good governance and political stability that Botswana was renowned for”.

Tshipinare said the day was important as it marked the re-introduction of peace corps volunteers in Botswana after six years of their withdrawal on the grounds that Botswana was no longer a poor country.

He said the offer by the US government to re-introduce the Peace Corps programme, could not have come at a more opportune time, adding that the “Botswana government values and appreciates this gesture of international response to HIV/AIDS”.

US Ambassador to Botswana Joseph Huggins told the volunteers that they should be proud to be in Botswana as they were here “representing the government and the people of the United States of America”.

He said they should do their work in Botswana as expected and deliver their services promptly and perfectly to communities they would be serving.

Huggins commended President Festus Mogae for having been bold enough to request Washington to re-introduce the peace corps programme so the volunteers could come and assist his people in the fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge.

National AIDS Co-ordinating Agency (NACA) co-ordinator Banu Khan was among guests who attended the event.

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