Dear Friends and Family,

I found Peace Corps as the result of my search for a new professional challenge and an opportunity for adventure and personal growth. As an "NGO Facilitator" I will be working with a (to be specified) environmental organization in Ukraine. My job will be to do what I can to help this organization be more effective and efficient in accomplishing their mission. I'll find out more specifically *what* I will be doing and *where* in Ukraine I'll be living during my first week of orientation in country. And whether I'm learning Russian or Ukrainian (or both!) I am honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to live and work overseas.

Peace Corps has been sending volunteers overseas since 1961.  There have been over 168,000 volunteers since that time, and there are currently over 150 Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine. There are about 80 people in my traning group, and Peace Corps has been in Ukraine since 1992. For more information about Peace Corps please surf (at your leisure) the official Peace Corps website at: www.peacecorps.gov, and the website maintained by and for Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine: www.pcukraine.org.

I know that you may have concerns about my personal safety. Please be assured that this is also a concern of mine, and I will exercise caution at all times. (As some of you know, I can be tough when I want/have to be!) Peace Corps training includes a portion on strategies for staying safe, and safety of volunteers is a number one priority for the Peace Corps.  I have heard only good things from volunteers currently serving in Ukraine; both on the safety front and on all other matters.

Yes! There are Jews in Ukraine. Although many Ukrainian Jews now make their homes in New York, Israel, and San Francisco about 1% of the Ukrainian population is Jewish. Thanks in part to the work of American Jewish World Service (an organization I've been involved with since my Zimbabwe/Israel volunteer adventure in 1997) and the Jewish Community Development Fund, there is an, "Association of Jewish Communities in Small Towns of Ukraine." So, whether I'm in Kyiv, Odessa, or some small town in the middle of "nowhere" I'll likely be no more than a block or a bus ride from whatever Jewish experience I need, from Shabbat dinner to a Passover seder or Rosh HaShannah services. *Please* visit www.ajws.org for more information!

I hope you will keep in touch, both by paper mail and e-mail. I expect to be able to send an e-mail update within two to four weeks after I arrive, and to continue to send monthly e-mail updates. My mailing address (during training) is:

U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine

PCV Delilah Raybee

P.O. Box 204

Kyiv, 01001

UKRAINE

After training (the first three months) I will settle into a city/town/or village and set up a P.O. Box.  I will send an e-mail with that information, but mail sent to Peace Corps in Kyiv will reach me, it will just take longer. Please send me letters, photos, and paper back books. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to check e-mail, but I should be able to check at least monthly. Because I may have limited access, please try your best to refrain from sending me jokes and news articles, no matter how funny or important they may be. Thank you.

You can also keep in touch via either of my parents. Please feel free to inform either of them of address changes and/or major life cycle events, or even just call them up to chat! My mother: Elizabeth Raybee eraybee@eraybeemosaics.com. My father: Charles Buckbee charlybee@sbcglobal.net.

Most of all, thank you so much for providing the inspiration, love, and support that has been and will be required for me to suceed as a Peace Corps volunteer, and (yes, part of me is already planning for 2005) beyond!

with Love and Best Wishes and L'Shalom (to Peace),

Delilah

delilahlah@yahoo.com

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