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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2012-026
Patricia A. (Pat) Wand served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1963 to 1965 on a rural community development and health education project. Her training in New Mexico involved an Outward Bound challenge. In Colombia, Wand was assigned with another female volunteer to the small town of Buesaco, near Pasto in southern Colombia along the Pan American highway. Her involvement with the local people went beyond sewing and health classes. Responding to the voiced needs of the outlying communities, Wand and her partner were also involved in building four rural schools and a bridge. In the interview, she relates how she heard about the assassination of President Kennedy, which happened only two months after she arrived in Colombia. Over twenty years later on a return visit to the town, Wand was able to see some of the lasting impact her presence had made among the people with whom she had lived and worked. Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, July 17, 2012. 3 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2014-032
David Wessel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1962 to 1964 in a rural community development project. He was a member of the Colombia II group. Wessel was the first PCV to hail from the State of Louisiana. He worked in the Department of Antioquia, in a mountainous area of Colombia, where his projects included organizing a cooperative of tomato growers, setting up a town library, and building schools. After completing his service, he worked for a while as a Peace Corps recruiter. Wessel has remained involved in the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and in the Colombia Support Network. Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, February 4, 2014. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).