COUNTYWIDE : Peace Corps Volunteers

Since 1961, when President John F. Kennedy issued an Executive Order to create the Peace Corps, more than 17,000 Californians have served in the Corps. Generally, to qualify for service applicants must be 21 or older, have a college degree in liberal arts, agriculture, business or engineering, or five years field experience. Projects include classroom teaching, fish farming, community agriculture, construction engineering, public health education and business development.

There are currently 54 Orange County residents serving in 31 nations. The group is half men and half women. The oldest county volunteer is 55; the youngest 23. There are 11 teachers, 10 health professions, six community development workers and six others working in fresh-water fisheries that make up the largest job groups.

Here’s where Orange County’s volunteers are from and where they are serving. For each city, there is one volunteer in each country unless otherwise noted parenthetically. Orange County Home: Country of Assignment Anaheim: Morocco; Senegal; Sri Lanka; Malawi Brea: Thailand; Yemen Costa Mesa: Dominican Republic; Guatemala El Toro: Gabon; Ghana Fullerton: Paraguay; Micronesia; Thailand; Windward Islands Garden Grove: Gabon; Paraguay Huntington Beach: Ecuador (2); Sierra Leone; Cape Verde; Fiji; Malawi; Central African Republic Irvine: Togo Laguna Beach: Cameroon Laguna Niguel: Paraguay Mission Viejo: Zaire; Mauritania; Gabon; Senegal; Honduras Newport Beach: Ecuador; Guatemala; Central African Republic Orange: Kenya; Micronesia (2); Dominican Republic; Cameroon; Jamaica Placentia: Kenya; Togo; Thailand Santa Ana: Tonga; Honduras; Belize; Burundi; Malawi; Comoros Tustin: Leeward Islands; Thailand Westminster: Ecuador Yorba Linda: Central African Republic; Swaziland

COUNTY VOLUNTEERS--10-YEAR TREND 1980: 12 1981: 26 1985: 33 1988: 39 1989: 30

Source: Peace Corps