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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-055
Jean Parcher served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica from 1980 to 1983 in a community development and health education program. She served alongside her husband. The couple was stationed in Coroma, an indigenous Bri Bri community, where their program operated in conjunction with the National Commission of Indigenous Affairs (CONAI). Parcher discusses her work teaching women to build school gardens and holding cooking and weaving classes, as well as her experience treating people for skin lesions and a snake bite. She reflects on the lessons she learned through Peace Corps service, especially on how to help indigenous people achieve their own priorities. Finally, Parcher discusses her on-going involvement in international activities and her continuing commitment to achieving Peace Corps' third goal of bringing the world back to the U.S. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, February 16, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-050
Peter Kircher served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1973 to 1975 in a bilingual education project. He had lived in many international locations as a child and decided in 6th grade that he wanted to join the Peace Corps. As Kircher already spoke Spanish, his language training focused on Quichua (Kichwa). He then worked with three other volunteers to build schools in local indigenous communities that were interested in having their children become bilingual in Spanish and Quichua. The schools would allow bilingual teachers to live directly in the communities. Interviewed and recorded by Tamatha Nibert, June 21, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-031
Mecca Luster served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama from 2016 to 2018 in an agribusiness program. Having majored in finance at Howard University, she took an unconventional route to the Peace Corps to fulfill a personal promise to serve. She was initially invited to Mali, but was then switched to Panama where she was the only black woman in her cohort. Despite limited Spanish and Woun Meu (Wounaan) language training, Luster was able to utilize her entrepreneurial and management skills to engage her community, Puerto Lara Darien. She learned how to not overthink situations and how to adjust to her surroundings. After the Peace Corps, Luster has been volunteering with Native Future, a non-profit that works to preserve the rights of indigenous groups in Panama. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine Loriston, October 28, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).