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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-027
Jesse James White and his wife applied to the Peace Corps as a married couple in 2012. Inexplicable problems with the application led to an long wait. Finally, in 2014 the couple was invited to serve in Mongolia as English teachers. During the nine-week training program in Mongolia, the couple was separated and were able to see each other only two or three times. Jesse became very ill during training and had to be taken to a hospital, although Peace Corps staff were slow to recognize the seriousness of his condition. Because Jesse had an active teaching license in the United States, he was assigned to work as a primary teacher trainer in one school, while his wife was assigned to teach in a different school. Although Jesse was happy with his work, problems with his wife’s assignment led the couple to decide to terminate their service after little more than a month in the field. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file). Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, April 25, 2016.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-020
Stephanie Motz joined the Peace Corps when she was in her mid-thirties, after working as a graphic designer for several years. She was delighted to be assigned to Mongolia, where she taught English in a university in a remote area, about nine hours away from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Motz was the only volunteer at her post, and the only native speaker of English. Teaching was challenging because there were no books and no way to make copies of her homemade materials, so Motz had to rely exclusively on the blackboard. In addition to her full-time teaching responsibilities, Stephanie also worked with a Mongolian counterpart to develop a women and children's center. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file). Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, February 11, 2016.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-145
Pat Colonna served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia from 1993 to 1995 as a teacher. She was stationed in the city of Ulan Bator and lived in an old Russian apartment complex. Colonna endured food shortages during her service, and her group experienced quite a bit of violence and deep cold. She provides detailed descriptions of Naadam (a festival of archery, wrestling, and horse racing) and other Mongolian traditions. Interviewed and recorded by Margaret (Mardi) Nott, June 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-116
Yoomie Huynh served as Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia from 2007 to 2009 in community youth development. She later also served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in the Republic of Georgia from 2013 to 2014. She talks about being a first generation immigrant growing up in a poor Vietnamese household in Sioux City, Iowa, and volunteering as a teenager. In Darkhan, Mongolia, Huynh worked as a social worker, assisted the kindergarten program, and taught life skills with the Asian Child Support organization. With Peace Corps Response in Tbilisi, Georgia, she served as a youth program development consultant with the Children and Youth National Center, a public entity under the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs. This experience set her on a career path in policy and politics. After the Peace Corps, Huynh worked in Tajikistan for the International Organization for Migration on such issues as human trafficking, child labor, gender issues, and reintegration programs. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, July 1, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).