1. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE
Megan
Elizabeth
Key
100568635 Swaziland
[Full
official
name]
[HQ
Volunteer
ID #]
[Country
of
service]
After a competitive application process stressing applicant skills, adaptability and cross-cultural
understanding, Ms. Megan Key was invited to serve as a Volunteer with Peace Corps. Ms. Key
was assigned to be a Community HIV/AIDS Education Volunteer in Magubheleni in the
Shiselweni region of Swaziland.
Ms. Key entered pre-service training on June 26, 2010 participating in an intensive 8-week
homestay-based training program. Language training included 78 hours of Siswati spoken and
written language. Cross Cultural training during the pre-service training included 22 hours in the
history, economics and cultural norms of Swaziland. Technical pre-service training was
conducted over a period of 63 hours. Medical and safety and security training lasted 87 hours and
13 hours, respectively. In addition, as part of the language and cross-cultural component of the
training program, Ms. Key lived with a Swazi family in eMbasheni in the Hhohho region for 8
weeks. Ms. Key was sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on August 27, 2010.
Ms. Key was a member of the eighth group of Peace Corps volunteers in Swaziland whose
mandate, by the invitation of King Ms.wati III, was to help with the mitigation of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Swaziland has the world’s highest adult HIV/AIDS prevalence rate at approximately
26% (persons aged 15-49 years) and one of the lowest life expectancy rates, approximately 33
years. Within the next five years, it is expected that ten percent of the child population will be
orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Working in an environment such as this is
extremely difficult, particularly in rural communities, such as Ms. Key’s, which are characterized
by poverty and inadequate health and educational services. The HIV/AIDS pandemic provided
unique challenges for Peace Corps Volunteers, in a relatively new HIV/AIDS outreach program,
in which roles and projects are often defined by community specific needs and generally self-
directed by the Volunteer. Ms. Key’s Peace Corps service was extremely valuable because it
allowed her to live on a traditional homestead and work in an isolated rural community, which
gave her daily access to the most overlooked and vulnerable members of Swazi society.
After being sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Ms. Key spent a few months actively learning
about her community of Magubheleni; interviewing key people and visiting homes in order to
discover the resources the community had, as well as the needs of the people. Working with the
community’s health coordinator as her community counterpart, Ms. Key identified the strong
need for health education in the Magubheleni community. Ms. Key responded by designing and
coordinating a community centered health workshop, in which community members were
educated on a wide variety of topics like HIV/AIDS, TB, nutrition, male circumcision, family
planning, sanitation and caring for the sick. With the help of community, national and
international organizations such as the local clinic, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), National

2. Emergency Response Council for HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) and Population Services International
(PSI), Ms. Key organized a training workshop for the community’s 15 health volunteers, called
Rural Health Motivators (RHMs). These rural health motivators were trained on the various
health topics listed above in a three-day intensive workshop. These health volunteers then lead
three two-day sessions for the community members in different areas, informing them on each of
the topics covered in the project. To fund this project, Ms. Key helped community leaders apply
for a grant through the US Peace Corps and PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS
Relief) for this community wide project. The grant was approved for a total of $2,988.82 and the
project reached 161 community members in total.
Ms. Key then turned her attention to the community’s orphan care points in the community.
Called “Neighborhood Care Points” or NCPs, these structures are built by the community to
function as informal preschools for the orphaned and vulnerable children in the area. Run by
community volunteers, the children receive a small meal and are taught an informal lesson each
day. The community members expressed an interest in a small garden to grow vegetables at the
local care point, and Ms. Key saw an opportunity to increase the health of the local children.
Working with the care point volunteers, Ms. Key applied for funding through US Peace Corps
and PEPFAR to fund the building of a garden and a rainwater harvesting system, as well as
providing educational materials and children’s books for each of the care points. The grant was
approved for $2,789.00 and the project reached 23 community volunteers from all five care points
in the community and 35 children in total. The grant also funded a gardening and early childhood
education workshop for the volunteers of 5 the different care points. Ms. Key trained a
community counterpart to teach the volunteers on early childhood education and general teaching
techniques, to ensure the sustainability of the project. In addition to the items funded by the grant,
Ms. Key oversaw the building of a toilet and hand washing station for the care point to increase
sanitation and health at the care point.
In addition to community projects, Ms. Key spent many hours assisting the local schools. At the
Primary School, she taught 5th
and 6th
Grade Life Skills classes. She created a curriculum of easy
to understand lessons for primary school students on making good decisions such as lessons on
making goals, good communication such as saying “No” to peer pressure, healthy relationships
like “what is love?,” general health such as hand washing and nutrition, as well as age appropriate
HIV/AIDS lessons. She taught these lessons to three classes of 40 students in each grade,
approximately 240 students for the 2011 school year.
Ms. Key also helped the Primary School receive funding to build a school library. She helped the
school’s principal fill out applications to various organizations, create adequate proposals, and
generate thorough budgets for the library project. Funding was received for $2,500.00 from the
Kirby Simon Trust through the US Embassy. She then oversaw the design and arrangement of the
library and the school’s books, set up a library system, and trained a librarian to continue the
library’s function.
At the High School, Ms. Key arranged for them to participate in the US Peace Corps “Books for
Africa” project. She helped the school apply for the project, find funding for the shipping, and be
chosen as one of the thirty schools in Swaziland to participate in this project. She then helped the
school revise their current library and library system to accommodate the 1000 new books.
Ms. Key obtained a level of Intermediate Low proficiency in the language of siSwati during her
time as a Peace Corps Volunteer. This was necessary not only to work and communicate with the
people of the Magubheleni in Swaziland, but also to become an accepted member of their
community.

3. Pursuant to Section 5(f) of the Peace Corps Act, 22 U.S.C. 2504(f), as amended, any former
Volunteer employed by the United States Government following his/her Peace Corps Volunteer
Service is entitled to have any period of satisfactory Peace Corps service credited for purposes of
retirement, seniority, reduction in force, leave, and other privileges based on length of federal
government service. Peace Corps service shall not be credited toward completion of the
probationary or trial period of any service requirement for career appointment.
This is to certify in accordance with Executive Order 11103 of April 10, 1963, that Ms. Megan
Key served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her service ended on August 1, 2012. She
is therefore eligible to be appointed as a career-conditional employee in the competitive civil
service on a non-competitive basis. This benefit under the Executive Order extends for a period of
one year after termination of the Volunteer's service, except that the employing agency may
extend the period for up to three years for a former volunteer who enters military service, pursues
studies at a recognized institution of higher learning, or engages in other activities that, in the
view of the appointing agency, warrant extension of the period.
Volunteer Group
Signature
Reviewed by
Country
Director
Signature Date
PO Box 2797 – Mbabane, H100 – Swaziland
Tel 268.422.0411 Fax 268.422.0415