Published: October 18, 2009 10:37 pm      

Peace Corps volunteer active in Ukraine

FROSTBURG — Kaitlin Bensley, former resident of Frostburg and a 2003 graduate of Fort Hill High School, is serving a two-year stint as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine and has taken on the task of improving a community school there.

After graduating from Towson University in 2007 and living briefly in Florida, she began her service in the Peace Corps in September 2008.

She teaches English as a foreign language in the small village of Rozhniv in southwest Ukraine. In her first month of teaching, she discovered there were almost no books written in English. Through her efforts and the generous contributions of friends, relatives and other sources, her school library now has almost 200 new books written in English.

The small school is under-funded like many schools in Ukraine and in great need of new textbooks and other educational resources. Bensley said people in the U.S. take for granted having high-quality books while in Ukraine they are a luxury.

In working with the Rozhniv community, she has written a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant to better address the needs of the students and teachers. The program is designed to pave the way for individuals and foundations to give tax-deductible donations where volunteers serve.

This project proposes to invest in quality English textbooks and resources that will be owned and reused by the school, hopefully beginning in this school year. The faculty has selected textbooks written by native speakers that cover a variety of topics that support the national curriculum for students from the fifth to 11th grades.

In addition to new textbooks, supplemental tapes, dictionaries and workbooks will be purchased to support the program with the goal of better preparing students for national testing in English, entering university and future careers.

The community contributed 27 percent of the project cost through fundraising and donations of transportation costs and banking fees. The partnership program will assist the Rozhniv community in coming up with remaining funds needed.

Donations can be made online at www.peacecorps.gov, by going to “Donate Now” and typing in the name “Bensley” and choosing “Ukraine” under the country option. Donations of all sizes are welcome. Matching funds and money from the grant will not be available until $2,000 is raised in donations.

Questions regarding donating to the project can be directed to pcpp@peacecorps.gov.