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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-049
Allyn K. Writesel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger from 1975 to 1977 on a health education project. She later served in Swaziland from 2015 to 2016 on an HIV/AIDS community health outreach project. In Niger, Writesel worked at a well-baby clinic in Filingue. She became fluent in both French and Hausa. In her second year, she moved to Abala to work at a smaller well-baby clinic. Because she was fluent in Hausa, she became a translator for a mobile clinic. Writesel rejoined the Peace Corps as a mature volunteer because of her continuing interest in global health. In Swaziland, she had a broad mandate to help with HIV/AIDS programs. She also worked on libraries and gardens at local schools. Writesel states that her Peace Corps experience formed the basis for her career, and also compares volunteering with and without technology. Interviewed and recorded by Tamatha Nibert, June 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-048
David Driscoll served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1964 to 1966 on a rural community action project. He received cultural, language, and technical training at the University of Missouri. His group then went to Puerto Rico for Outward Bound and further language training. Upon arriving in Ecuador, Driscoll was assigned to assist another volunteer with the surveying and construction of an irrigation canal near Cochapata, a small isolated village in the southern Andes Mountains. A few months later, at the request of the villagers of the nearby town of Nabon, he took over the responsibility for surveying and construction of canals in that region, and stayed there for the rest of his service. Driscoll discusses living in harsh and isolated conditions, motivating the villagers to participate in canal construction, and dealing with the local politics. He also talks about how the Peace Corps experience influenced his life upon returning home. Interviewed and recorded by Stanley Laser, October 31, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
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.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-046
Joanna (Jody) Gemmell (nee Schmeucker) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1969 to 1971 as a nurse. She had seven years of acute care nursing experience. Training in Camp Crozier, Puerto Rico, focused on language and culture but omitted preparation for nursing practice and education in Honduras. Gemmell was assigned to the hospital in Santa Rosa de Copan, and was the only nurse on staff. She managed multiple wards, devised innovative solutions in primitive conditions, and developed operating room training for the nursing assistants. She found the pediatric and maternal losses, lack of respect by local physicians, and isolation from her peers to be daunting. However, Gemmell is proud that she was able to lay a foundation for subsequent nursing volunteers. The Peace Corps was very influential in her life, and now she volunteers in clinics caring for the under-served populations and supports pediatric neurological care in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Interviewed and recorded by Gail B. Gall, September 12, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-045
John-Peter (JP) Dunn served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana from 1974 to 1976 as a teacher. After graduating from Brandeis University in 1974, he accepted an invitation to a secondary education program in Ghana. Assigned to NSASS, a co-ed secondary school in Nsaba with 200 students, Dunn's first task was to secure a UNESCO grant for supplies in order to properly teach science. During his tenure he also founded a debating society and a student newspaper. He disciplined through student engagement rather than caning. Dunn developed close relationships with NSASS graduates, who have since organized an alumni association to support the school (which now enrolls 3,000 students). He states that volunteering taught him the art of teaching, fostered self-sufficiency, and enhanced his introspective abilities. Interviewed and recorded by Gail B. Gall, October 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-044
Richard (Rich) Klingner served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1969 to 1971 as a civil engineer. He wished to counter the destructive effects of the Vietnam War by sharing his skills. Klingner worked with SANAA (a Honduran government agency), Caritas, and local governments to build gravity water systems for villages, with labor provided by the inhabitants. Fieldwork challenges required devising quick solutions. Klingner emphasizes the value of developing language proficiency and cross-cultural understanding through collegial relations, and tells the story of how Honduran engineers taught him to roll his Rs properly. He describes how access to clean water freed the community members (especially women) from the arduous task of fetching water, losing children to dysentery, and repeated risky pregnancies. The Peace Corps was the foundation for Klingner's subsequent career in teaching earthquake-resistant building techniques throughout Latin America. Interviewed and recorded by Gail B. Gall, September 10, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-043
Lon J. Lembert served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1969 to 1971 as a cooperative savings and loan agent. He was invited to join the Honduras XV group in the summer of 1969, and completed social, linguistic, and technical training in Puerto Rico and in-country. As a cooperative extension agent in a rural village, Lembert worked to improve accounting practices and became involved in community development by helping remote schools acquire building materials. He states that language proficiency was key in establishing relationships with his Honduran colleagues and neighbors. His experience in the Peace Corps influenced his view of the United States and the world, and prompted his later decision to complete a master's degree in social work. Interviewed and recorded by Gail B. Gall, September 10, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-041
Donald J. (Don) Stierman served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1969 to 1972 as a teacher trainer. He enrolled in the Brockport Teacher Training Program (at the State University of New York – Brockport) which was designed to train Peace Corps volunteers for Latin America. There he earned a bachelor's degree in physics and a teaching certificate while experiencing rural Honduran life, improving his Spanish, and gaining cultural awareness. Assigned to the teacher professionalization program in Honduras, Stierman worked with elementary school teachers to replace memorization with experimentation. He also introduced science fairs that were replicated countrywide. Stierman recalls the challenges of getting permission to marry his fiance, a Peace Corps nurse, and their life in Tegucigalpa. He coached and refereed baseball in his free time. The Peace Corps influenced him to earn a PhD in geophysics, specializing in earthquakes. When he returned to Honduras in 2002 as a Fulbright scholar, he found that skills he had learned in the Peace Corps were still helpful. Interviewed and recorded by Gail B. Gall, September 11, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-040
Nancy A. Kelly served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea from 1979 to 1981 on a maternal-child health (MCH) project. She did her basic training in Chuncheon and Seoul as part of the first MCH group sent to Korea. She worked in the health center in Goseong under the supervision of a senior Korean midwife, who had been trained by the Japanese during the occupation in World War II. During her two years of service, Kelly helped deliver over 1,000 babies. She later established a career in public health as the executive director of Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO). Upon a return visit to her Korean community, many of her now-adult "delivered babies" came with their families to welcome her and thank her for her service. Interviewed and recorded by Russell E. Morgan Jr., December 10, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-039
Alicia Crain served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mexico from 2012 to 2015 in an environmental education program, and from 2015 to 2016 as the first Volunteer Leader for Diversity and Inclusion. During the first year, they lived with a family in La Primavera and ran a weekly eco-club. After moving to Guadalajara, Crain managed a Mexican non-governmental organization (NGO) funded project that trained women to manage a household waste recycling center. They also managed an USAID grant to support organic gardening training and established 11 organic home gardens in La Primavera. Crain discusses their negative experience in training as a queer person, and their role helping to prepare PC/Mexico staff for the arrival of same-sex volunteer couples. For the fourth year, they worked with PC/Mexico staff to integrate intercultural competence, diversity, and inclusion into the training curriculum. Crain now works as the Diversity and Inclusion Specialist in the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity at Peace Corps headquarters. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, December 7, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-038
Brian Cohen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin from October 2001 to August 2004 in an environmental action program. After completing in-country training in Parakou, he was stationed in the town of Toucountouna in Atakora province. Cohen worked with the local community to make better use of their abundant mango crops by drying mangoes for sale to tourists and using them as a source of vitamin C when they lacked fresh fruit. He got funding for the project from the U.S. Embassy, but it ultimately failed due to local conflicts. Cohen had success with other projects to cultivate mushrooms with women's groups, build energy efficient mud stoves, and develop tree nurseries. His Peace Corps service led him to a career in international environmental issues, and he believes that all Americans should have an overseas experience in order to broaden their perspectives. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, December 11, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-036
Donald Mooers served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone from 1982 to 1984 on an agriculture project. He later also served as Regional Director for Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia (EMA) at Peace Corps headquarters from 1997 to 1998. Mooers discusses his work in agricultural education and as an agricultural extension agent in Matotoka. This included helping leprosy survivors learn how to farm without hurting themselves. He talks about learning patience, humility, and the importance of grieving in a society in which death is common. He also talks about the unique challenges Peace Corps volunteers faced while working with well-educated counterparts in post-Communist eastern Europe, Russia, and China. Mooers advocates for an upside-down organization chart in which the role of Peace Corps staff is to serve the needs of volunteers in the field. He concludes by discussing the importance of Peace Corps in the 21st century. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, November 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-035
Ingrid Nishimoto served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tonga from July 1967 to October 1969 on a maternal child health project. She received her training on Molokai island, Hawaii, where she studied language, cross-cultural skills, and basic prenatal and infant care. Nishimoto was stationed in Tonga's middle group of islands, Ha'apai, on the island of Lifuka. She worked with a Tongan counterpart, who was a trained nurse and midwife, and communicated using the local language. Nishimoto helped set up clinics on other islands in the area, performed house calls in the afternoons, and was part of a program to issue oral polio and tetanus vaccinations. She also served as an interpreter during the moon landing, translating the radio broadcast coverage of the event to local residents. Interviewed and recorded by Christine Musa, October 31, 2019. 5 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-034
Peggy Walton served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine from 1994 to 1996 as an English teacher trainer. She later also served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer there from 2013 to 2016. She joined the Peace Corps having worked as an English teacher at a community college. Her pre-service training was in Kyiv (Kiev) at the Labor Institute. Walton worked as a teacher trainer at the recertification institute in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), specifically with the Ukrainian English teachers. She found that their greatest need was speaking instruction, as they could teach grammar but many did not have practice speaking. In 2013, Walton returned to Ukraine with PC Response and was assigned to Lutsk. In 2014, she and all other volunteers in Ukraine were evacuated because of the revolution. She returned in 2015 to work at the teacher recertification institute in Uzhhorod for a year. Interviewed and recorded by Elaine Staab, November 2, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-033
Joyce Mary Moses (then Muellner) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines from 1962 to 1964 as a teacher. She learned about the Peace Corps while doing a research assignment for school. Her training began at San Jose State College and included instruction in the Tagalog language and rigorous physical activities like survival swimming lessons. Moses then traveled to her service site in Cotabato province, the barangay (village) of Salunayan. There she taught English and science to young students and ran an adult education program that trained local teachers. In the interview, Moses shares stories about using a boat to travel between the islands, the dogs who ate her Thanksgiving turkeys, and how she heard about President Kennedy's assassination. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine V. Loriston, October 7, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-032
Leslie Newall served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1965 to 1967 in an education program. While still an undergraduate student in New York, she attended the Peace Corps secondary education training program at the University of California, Berkeley in the summer between her junior and senior years, then completed elementary education training at San Francisco State University the summer after she graduated college. Newall was stationed in Cape Palmas, Liberia, and taught fourth grade students in a corner of a one-room school house set up in the local church's nave. She says that her Peace Corps service was the most carefree and fun, yet also formative, time of her life. Interviewed and recorded by Christine Musa, November 10, 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).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-030
Elaine Staab served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay from 2000 to 2002 on an agriculture project. She had an interest in anthropology and several of her family members had also served in the Peace Corps. In Paraguay, Staab did three months of in-service training outside of the capital. She was then assigned to her community, San Francisco, Calle 15, a rural Guarani speaking community. Staab's primary project was working as an agricultural extension agent to promote crop diversification and soil conservation. She worked with several families and also created model gardens. Her secondary activities included teaching English at the high school; teaching health, nutrition, and sanitation classes; building sanitary latrines; and building fugon brick ovens in several homes. The Peace Corps contributed to her decision to pursue a career as an English teacher in public school. She also serves on the Northern Virginia RPCV Board. Interviewed and recorded by Randolph (Randy) Adams, October 9, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-029
Joseph (Joe) Green III served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland from 1987 to 1989 on an adult education project. His first experience of living and working in under-served communities came from a volunteer trip to Jamaica in 9th grade. In Swaziland, Green was stationed in Ntfonjeni, where he created trade skill development programs. He describes himself as a Black man returning to Africa and discusses how this led him to unlearn ideas of who and what he was, and to observe the dynamics and value the differences between American and African black families. (He later elaborated on these ideas in his book, "You are Invited to Serve.") Green was part of a select group of Peace Corps alumni invited to participate in the Fellows Program, and he served as Associate Peace Corps Director for the Youth and Urban Education Program in Jamaica from 1991 to 1993. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine Loriston, October 3, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-028
Margaret (Peggy) Bangham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay from January 1980 to March 1983 as an elementary education teacher trainer. She later served as a Peace Corps recruiter in the 1980s, and as Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) in Tonga from 1993 to 1996. Bangham was already an experienced teacher when she joined the Peace Corps. She attended training in Aregua, a town outside of Asuncion. The preparation focused on cultural studies, teaching techniques, and the Spanish and Guarani languages. Bangham was based in Villarrica, Guaira Department, but she was part of a roving team that also visited other schools in the region. In the interview, she describes her workdays, free time activities, and summer projects. She concludes by discussing the lessons she learned and how her service influenced her career. Interviewed and recorded by Randolph (Randy) Adams, September 20, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-027
Courtney Columbus served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic from February 2012 to June 2015 on a community environmental development project. She served an additional year as a regional volunteer leader. As an undergraduate, Columbus had completed a study abroad program in Ecuador. Her Peace Corps community-based training included Spanish, Dominican culture and history, and specific environmental technical elements. She served in an agricultural community that had previously had volunteers. Columbus worked with a women's group and youth environment groups on a variety of projects, including introducing gas stoves to replace firewood and providing presentations on environmental issues. She also worked on a secondary activity to help Dominican-born Haitians obtain their birth certificates. Eventually, the Peace Corps environmental program was eliminated in the Dominican Republic. Interviewed and recorded by Randolph (Randy) Adams, September 19, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-026
Norman Graham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from August 1964 to August 1966 as a prison social worker. Prior to the Peace Corps, he had completed a degree in social work with a minor in criminology and an internship at a federal prison. Graham attended training at New York University (and in Rio de Janeiro) with a group of nurses. His technical preparation focused on health care and Portuguese. Graham lived in a satellite town outside of the new half-built capital, Brasilia, where he started a program in the local penitentiary (100-120 inmates) to show films on health care, literacy, mathematics, and Brazilian history. He then started a library, added carpentry training, ran a dispensary, and arranged for doctors to visit the prison. Graham also volunteered at the local boys' school. Interviewed and recorded by Randolph (Randy) Adams, August 22, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-025
Laur Ebone served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea from 2013 to 2014 in a merged health and youth program. Her initial invitation to Kenya was cancelled due to a terrorist attack. After transferring to the Guinea program, she trained in Dubreka, where she learned French and stayed with a host family. She was then assigned to Koundara in the Boke region and worked with student peer mentors in the local schools on health education programming. Ebone also assisted the female doctor in the health clinic. Unfortunately, she was quickly evacuated from Guinea after only 10 months due to the spread of the Ebola virus in the country. She was heartbroken about not being able to finish her tour of service, but recalls the many warm interactions she had with people in her host community. Note: This interview is incomplete and ends abruptly. Interviewed and recorded by Kelli Haynes, June 21, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-024
Sarayu Adeni served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 2010 to 2012 in a youth, family, and community development program. She was motivated to join the Peace Corps in part as a response to President Obama's call to action, in part to respect her Indian parents' immigrant experience, and because of the poor job market for newly graduated print journalism majors. She talks fondly of the warm welcome her group of volunteers got from Peace Corps volunteers and staff already in-country. She discusses her close relationship with the three host families with whom she lived, especially the host family in Carlos Pinto where she was stationed. Adeni also discusses the Peace Corps GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) program; the HIV prevention, sports, and other projects in which she was involved; and her partnership with the San Diego Padres organization and its outreach coordinator in the area. Interviewed and recorded by Kelli Haynes, June 21, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-023
William Shaw served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand from January 1966 to March 1968. He did construction work as part of a community development program, first in Satun province near the Malaysian border, and then for the last 9 months, in the Nakhon Phanom province in the northeast on the Mekong River near the Laos border. He was reassigned there because a lot of money was pouring into the region during the Vietnam War since it was near the Ho Chi Minh Trail where active bombing was being conducted. After his service, Shaw became a Peace Corps trainer in Hawaii, where he met his Thai wife who was a Peace Corps language instructor. Because of his excellent Thai language skills, he also served as a State Department escort interpreter for Thai officials visiting the U.S. After retirement from a 25 year career in the information technology business, Shaw and his wife lived in Songkhla, his wife's hometown in southern Thailand, for 15 years while he taught English and business classes. To this day he maintains his close ties with the remaining members of his Thailand 12 group. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, September 10, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).