A new group of fourteen U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers have been sworn-in, bringing to 20 the number of Peace Corps Volunteers currently serving in Liberia.

The new Volunteers are high school teachers who will take-up assignments in Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Lofa, Bong, Nimba, River Gee, Grand Gedeh, and Grand Bassa, teaching English, math, and science.

The swearing-in of these new Volunteers, who will be in Liberia on a two-year assignment, marks the resumption of the full Peace Corps Program in the country since its suspension in 1990. The Peace Corps Program was first started in Liberia in 1962. Between 1962 and 1990 more than 3,800 Peace Corps Volunteers served in the country.

The Peace Corps Volunteers were sworn-in on Friday, August 27, during a ceremony at the C. Cecil Dennis Auditorium at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.

The event was witnessed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, U.S. Chargé d' Affaires Karl Albrecht, and other U.S. Embassy officials.

Peace Corps launched in October 2008 the "Peace Corps Response Program" in Liberia as a precursor to the resumption of the full Peace Corps Volunteer Program in the country.

Under that program, experienced Peace Corps Volunteers were brought in the country to undertake short-term, quick impact projects.

So far, 65 volunteers have served in program in various projects, including assisting the leadership at the Rural Teacher Training Institutes, teaching in midwifery schools, working on health and education teams, and teaching in various high schools across Liberia, among other activities.

Peace Corps-Liberia Mission Director, Lucianne Philips, said despite the resumption of the full Peace Corps Program in Liberia, the program will continue to host experienced short-term volunteers, adding, "While times have changed, the Agency's mission--to promote world peace and friendship--has not."

She said, "The three goals of Peace Corp--helping the people of interested countries meet their need for trained men and women, helping to promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples they serve, and helping to promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans--are as relevant today as they were nearly 50 years ago.