Top: Atlas Corps fellow Becky Gitong; Below: former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford

On January 27^th the Global Peace Service Alliance (GPSA) and Atlas Service Corps hosted a joint luncheon in Washington highlighting GPSA’s ongoing service projects in Kenya and Atlas Corps model of placing volunteer leaders from developing countries as fellows in U.S.-based nonprofit organizations.  Vincent Rapando, President of the Nairobi Junior Chamber of Commerce and Director of the Global Peace Service Alliance-Kenya, and Becky Gitonga, a Kenyan national and Atlas Corps Fellow with Service for Peace in Washington, spoke to representatives from the Peace Corps, the U.S. State Department, and U.S. Agency for International Development at the luncheon, just blocks from the White House.   

Mr. Rapando briefed the audience on the Global Peace Service Alliance peacebuilding projects that cover every sector of Kenya.  His presentation included a positive assessment from the two-year Nairobi River Peace Initiative launched at the 2008 Global Peace Festival.  The project, which has a goal to unite the Kenyan people around the common dream of cleaning their beloved river, has helped foster peace among rival tribes while instilling a sense of national unity among the people.  Additionally, Mr. Rapando highlighted GPSA Peace and Character education and Sports for Peace programs focused in the Rift Valley, an area that saw intense post-election conflict in early 2008. Each of these programs has contributed to healing divided factions, resolving post-election violence, and building a common Kenyan national identity.

Becky Gitonga explained the mission, purpose, and importance of Atlas Service Corps.  The organization’s multi-lateral service model brings fellows from 13 countries and four continents into the United States to work for top-level nonprofit organizations.  These fellows are encouraged to share best practices from their own countries, while also learning how other development initiatives have been successful in other regions.  The Atlas Service Corps initiative is an innovative way to connect young people with their peers from all over the world, build international relationships, and enhance a common identity as global citizens.

A response from Senator Harris Wofford, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and noted advocate for national service who helped design the Peace Corps with Sergeant Robert Shriver fifty years ago, emphasized how important waterways such as the Nairobi River are to the life that surrounds it.  Water is essential to life, and every effort possible should be made to protect water sources all over the world, he said, so that once again rivers will become the lifeblood of a population instead of a symbol of pollution, disease, and poverty.

During an open forum following the scheduled speakers, representatives from the Peace Corps and Department of State expressed particular interest in learning how American volunteers could get involved with the ongoing efforts in Kenya, as well as in ways to scale programs into East Africa. The innovative models of service presented by Vincent Rapando and Becky Gitonga highlighted the multi-lateral approaches to volunteerism being advanced by the Global Peace Service Alliance and Atlas Corps.