Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-047
Rosemary Calhoon Takacs served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay from September 1988 through December 1990. She applied to the Peace Corps while she was working as an accountant and auditor, and accepted an invitation to work with small business and agricultural cooperatives. Takacs was among 40 volunteers who trained in-country on both the Spanish and Guarani languages, local culture, and business and cooperative laws of Paraguay. Following a coup that overthrew President Alfredo Stroessner’s government, her job focused solely on cooperatives licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which required her to draw heavily upon her auditing skills. Twenty-five years later, Takacs took a position with Peace Corps Response in Guatemala (August 2015 through February 2016) where she worked in small villages organizing farmers to sell their goat milk. She instructed the villagers in hygiene, contamination testing, marketing, and accounting. She also assisted in goat vaccination rodeos and studied their diets to improve milk output. 1 digital audio file. Interviewed and recorded by Ivan C. Browning, July 14, 2016.