Del Mar resident among first Peace Corps Response volunteers to return to service overseas

Del Mar resident Peter Hollen is among the first Peace Corps Response volunteers to return to overseas service since the agency’s unprecedented global evacuation in March 2020, according to a news release. The Peace Corps suspended global operations and evacuated nearly 7,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I sought to join the Peace Corps to fulfill a call to wholly commit to a purpose larger than myself. I believe that each of us is at our best when we enlarge our fellow Americans and other peoples’ perspectives of themselves – not in the form of personal image or ambition, but in our shared capacity to do good in this world,” Hollen said in the news release.

Prior to service, Hollen focused his early career on the advancement of international development, renewable energy, and sustainable projects as the director of programs for the business development firm Humankind Group. He will serve as a volunteer in Botswana in the community economic development sector.

Peace Corps Response sends experienced professionals to undertake short-term, high-impact service assignments in communities around the world. Volunteers are expected to possess the technical skills needed to fulfill their assigned role with minimal training. The average position duration is 10 months.

Volunteers will collaborate with their host communities on locally prioritized projects in one of Peace Corps’ six sectors – agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health or youth in development – or the Advancing Health Professionals (AHP) program.

Currently, the agency is recruiting volunteers to serve in 56 countries around the world at the request of host country governments, to connect through the Peace Corps’ grassroots approach across communities and cultures. Volunteers have already returned to a total of 48 countries around the world. The Peace Corps continues to monitor COVID-19 trends in all of its host countries and will send volunteers to serve as conditions permit. Americans interested in transformative service and lifelong connections should apply to Peace Corps Response at www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/peace-corps-response/.