Mark Hager

PEACE CORPS/Sierra Leone 35 Wilkinson Road Private Mail Bag Freetown Sierra Leone

Desciption of Peace Corps Volunteer Service Mark A. Hager - Sierra Leone

Mark A. Hager entered an intensive eight week training course at the Panlap training site in central Sierra Leone on July 10, 1991. The training included instruction in language (Krio), cross-cultural sensitivity, community development, living in a third-world country, and methods of teaching in Sierra Leone secondary schools. On September 10, 1991, Mr. Hager was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Mr. Hager was placed in the secluded town of Kamakwie and taught in the Wesleyan Secondary School. He was responsible for teaching mathematics to the Form III and Form IV students and taught private classes to the Form V students preparing to take their exit-level exams. In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Hager was also assigned the task of creating and managing the school's teacher-class time table. Further, Mr. Hager was designated as Form Master for the Form IV Arts Stream, including duties of roll call, filling grade cards, and maintaining discipline.

In addition to his work in the secondary school, Mr. Hager was also heavily involved in development projects in the villages surrounding Kamakwie. Upon his arrival, he immediately began working with a fellow Volunteer on community development projects involving the construction of pit latrines. Work in the villages included education on the nature of fecal-oral contamination, facilitation of meetings to determine felt needs of the community, development of guidelines for physical development in the village, arrangement for transport of materials, transfer of masonry skills, supervision of work, and education on the care and maintenance of pit latrines. In this co-extension work, Mr. Hager saw nearly 100 latrines constructed in seven villages.

Mr. Hager's independent development work, however, was more diverse. In one village, a significant amount of groundwork had been done both physically and among the people for the construction of a grain-drying concrete floor. In another village, work had commenced to facilitate construction of a road to a village which cannot be reached by vehicle. In two other villages, Mr. Hager had held meetings for the eventual construction of latrine slabs. In yet another village, digging had begun on a community well. The drying floor and road tools projects had been approved for funding.

Mr. Hager's interaction with the volunteer community included membership in the Volunteer Representative Council and involved some initial groundwork to ensure that volunteer living allowances would keep pace with rapidly rising inflation and devaluating currency. He was a presenter at two sessions for health trainees, and he helped several new volunteers in their adjustments to their sites. Mr. Hager also used his latrine-building prowess to assist one volunteer in a distant site who was badly in need of an outdoor toilet.

Mr. Hager's projects and service were brought to premature closure due to the U.S. Embassy's ordered evacuation of all American citizens from Sierra Leone following a military coup on April 29, 1992. Mr. Hager's Peace Corps service ended on May 24, 1992.

Pursuant to Section 5(f) of the Peace Corps Act, U.S.C. paragraph 2504(f) as amended, any former volunteer employed by the United States Government following his Peace Corps Volunteer service is entitled to have any period of satisfactory Peace Corps volunteer service credited for purposes of retirement, seniority, reduction in force, leave, and other privileges based on length of Government service. Peace Corps service shall not be credited toward completion of the probationary or trial period of any service requirement for career appointment.

James E. Freer Country Director May 23, 1992

Contents 1 Lessons Learned 2 About Mark Hager Today 3 External Links 4 Publications based on Peace Corps Experience 5 References

[edit] Lessons Learned

[edit] About Mark Hager Today

[edit] External Links

http://lettersfromsierraleone.blogspot.com/

[edit] Publications based on Peace Corps Experience

[edit] References

(for all information above)