A 1998 graduate of GW’s Elliot School of International Affairs left Thursday for a country an ocean away in need of her help.

Danielle Sara Jacobs, who was accepted into the Peace Corps, will serve the organization as health communication adviser in Madagascar.

The Peace Corps is a program started by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to provide service in foreign countries. The organization now has 7,000 volunteers in 78 countries across the globe.

When Jacobs decided to become involved with the Peace Corps, she chose Madagascar, an island country off the southern coast of Africa, because of her past interaction with the area, she said.

Jacobs said she studied abroad in Madagascar during her undergraduate years at GW and was inspired to help change the poverty and malnutrition she witnessed there.

I told myself `there are things that can be done here,’ Jacobs said.

Jacobs said she is primarily concerned with health issues in Madagascar. As health communication adviser, she will work with a local health clinic to help women and children.

Jacobs said Madagascar has one of the worst cases of child death and malnutrition in the world and said she hopes to help make the public more aware of these problems.

We’ll basically be building on already existing programs with NGO’s (non-governmental organizations), Jacobs said. Our focus will be on behavior change and communication.

She said this change and increased communication will help Madagascar comply with health standards met by other countries. Jacobs might be involved in programs that teach women why they must breast feed their children for the first six months of life, she said.

We just want to teach them basic things they can do to be healthier, said Jacobs, who noted that these lessons can be taught in Madagascar’s native language, Malagasy. Jacobs will receive three months of cultural, language and technical training when she arrives in Madagascar and will later be sent to a specific part of the country to commence her volunteer effort, she said.

Jacobs said a main reason she applied to the Peace Corps was because of her prior interaction with veterans of the program.

I got to hear all the cool stuff they did, and it was a major influence, Jacobs said.

She said she urges others to talk to people who have gone through the whole process in order to make the idea of volunteering for the Peace Corps seem less overwhelming.

Even if you’re unsure, just send away for it, said Jacobs, who said her application sat untouched on her desk for months.

It’s very overwhelming at first, but it’s really worth it, she said.