POST FIJI PRESENT COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS TO HONOUR UNITED STATES PEACE CORPS
The United States Peace Corps - which arrived in the country 50 years ago - is being honoured with a commemorative stamp set.
The announcement was made by Collin Yabaki, the Director for Heritage and Arts, at a function in Suva yesterday. Mr Yabaki paid tribute to the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers who arrived in Fiji in early 1968, beginning a long and meaningful history of friendship, cooperation and learning between the peoples of the United States of America and Fiji.
“Over the past half-century, Peace Corps Volunteers have shared their skills in agriculture, forestry, education, health and sanitation, vocational training, business development and other subjects,” he said.
“In the course of their training and service, they learned to speak Fijian and often specialising in particular dialects and grew to be familiar with the diverse cultures of their host communities and to their Fijian friends they showed by example, the best face of the US,” he added.
Today, he said Peace Corps Volunteers live and work in 13 Fijian Provinces as part of the Community Youth Empowerment Programme and work hand-in-hand with local community members, ministries, non-government organizations and schools to enable youth to make healthier life decisions to find opportunities for advancement and to contribute to the development of their communities.
“The stamps, he said is designed in cooperation with the Department of Post Fiji Limited which will be in circulation around the world for the next two years. “They not only highlight the Peace Corps in Fiji, but also serve to refocus attention on the Peace Corps enduring vision of service in the cause of peace and understanding,” he added.
The set, he said includes four stamps depicts volunteers who worked today and in the past in various communities throughout Fiji.
Through separated in Time, he said the pictures showcase the volunteers dedication to community service and strong friendships built with Fijian host communities. Post Fiji Head of Retail and Marketing Isaac Mow said the stamp issue portrays a short summary of the many stories compiled by Peace Corps volunteers that have graced Fiji shores over 50 years surpassed. “Similar to Peace Corps, our nation thrives on the idea of sharing, sharing of culture, sharing of beliefs and sharing of knowledge with the one objective that is to help a neighbor in need.”
Thus, he said the stamps echo a message of unity and peace to the door step of the world through letters and parcels.
Mr Mow praised the Post office staff’s effort with their commitment and hard work.
“There are four different stamps for the Peace Corps stamp; each has a different value and image,” he added. The different value assigned by Post Fiji for the stamps, he said are $0.40, $1.14, $2.00 and $10.
“These values are high in demand for letter and parcel postage locally and to countries like Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and USA,” he said. He said stamps on letters and parcels being sent to family and friends overseas is an indirect diversity in Fiji and most importantly Fiji as a nation.