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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-022
Emily Goldman served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1991 to 1993 on a beekeeping project. Her Peace Corps experience actually began at age 3, when her parents served as volunteers in Curridabat, Costa Rica. Spanish is her first language, and at age 8 she decided that she was going to be a Peace Corps volunteer herself one day. After completing a bachelor degree in cultural anthropology, she applied and was sent to Honduras. She was told that she was the first child from a Peace Corps family to be sworn in as a volunteer. Assigned to the village of La Florida de Opatoro, Goldman's primary job was to provide training to local beekeepers. Secondary projects included teaching English at the local elementary school, where she established an exchange relationship between the local school and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico, modeled on the Peace Corps' World Wise Schools program. Goldman also established a women's vegetable gardening project. Her post-service career has been in international community development, human rights, and conservation. Interviewed and recorded by Julius (Jay) Sztuk, November 13, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-018
Jeniffer Rivera Rodriguez served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica from June 2016 to August 2018 on a youth development project. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, with Spanish as her first language. She applied for Peace Corps at age 21, after completing her bachelor's degree in psychology in Puerto Rico. Her training was conducted in-country and included health, safety, and orientation to the local school system. Rivera Rodriguez's job assignment was in the town of Guanacaste. Per PC Costa Rica policy, she lived with a host family for the first six months and developed close relationships with them and the other volunteers and people that she worked with. Her primary job was at a high school, and she also sought out other organizations to partner with, including a women's center and health clinic. The interview concludes with a discussion of how the Peace Corps experience influenced her life after service. Interviewed and recorded by Julius (Jay) Sztuk, October 10, 2019. 1 digital audio file.