Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-014
Robert (Bob) T. K. Scully served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1964 to 1966 as a secondary school teacher. He decided to apply when he was an undergraduate at the University of Missouri. Scully trained with the Columbia University Teachers for East Africa program in New York City. He was assigned to the remote village of Bungoma in western Kenya, where he taught at St. Mary's Kibabii Secondary School, a Catholic men's boarding school. There he prepared its first graduating class to take the Cambridge exams (GCE). Scully discusses the challenges in navigating both the Kenyan tribal society and the Catholic education system during the country's transition from British colonialism to independence. In his second year, Scully started an African history society at the school as well as an independent study program where students interviewed locals and recorded tribal oral histories. He also helped to establish a school library. After the Peace Corps, Scully developed a career as a medical anthropologist working in international community based health programming. Interviewed and recorded by Wendy McLaughlin, March 22, 2015. 3 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).