Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-007
Marcus Van Hala served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India from 1965 to 1968 on a poultry project. Van Hala was on track to become a minister when he decided to apply to Peace Corps in order to broaden his outlook. He trained at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, with the India 16 group, and appreciated the discipline of the physical education component. Due to political instability in India at the time the group was due to depart, they were temporarily sent to a kibbutz in Israel instead. Van Hala was then stationed in Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan in western India, where he worked to sign up more farmers for the poultry cooperative society, opened an egg store in town, and introduced barbeque as a way to encourage people to eat more chicken. At the end of the first year, Marcus married fellow volunteer Ruth Stanonik and they then served an additional two years as a couple. Note: Interview ends abruptly. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, November 17, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).