Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-047
Lonna Dole Harkrader (then Lonna H. Dole) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1968 to 1969 and in Ghana from 1969 to 1970. In both locations she worked as a language instructor. During her first year in Ghimbi, Ethiopia, she taught ESL (English as a Second Language). During spring recess she attended a regional education conference and learned the ESL program would be discontinued. Harkrader and four other volunteers were given an option to spend their second year in Ghana, so she transferred. She taught French as a second language in Krobo Odumase, a town outside of Accra. Here she used a required "audio lingual method" that was very effective with her students. The work proved more productive than her experience in Ethiopia. Upon returning to the U.S., Lonna married fellow RPCV Richard Harkrader. The couple later set up a long-term development and education project in rural Nicaragua. Interviewed and recorded by Robert T. K. Scully, November 11, 2019. 1 digital audio file.