Why Turkmenistan?
In early 2009 a Peace Corps volunteer reached out to The Hamels Foundation in hopes for assistance in providing equipment for a few of their children to play baseball. The excitement in elementary schools about American sports, particularly baseball, was so popular that they were holding their first tournament from different valleyats (similar to states). The teams consist of both boys and girls –“it is such a wonderful lesson for all the people to know in this developing country that the girls are capable of doing things the boys do and do not need to be confined to the home.”
Turkmenistan is a land of deserts, mountains, camels, yurts, and ruins of ancient cities. A former republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan declared independence in 1991 and has had little contact with the outside world.
The children of Turkmenistan can be called the ‘envoys of peace’ and these words acquire not only the symbolic meaning but also become a message to mankind – an appeal to protect a diversity of the world and happiness of childhood.







