Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-057
Jeremiah (Jerry) Norris served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1963 to 1965 on a cooperatives project (Colombia VI). He was stationed in La Plata. Through his initial work with the community, he ended up visiting El Congresso, a very remote village in the rain forest. He gained the confidence of the villagers by using his Peace Corps medical kit to treat simple maladies. Norris helped them develop a timber-marketing cooperative which is still functioning 50 years later. The initial success of the El Congresso cooperative led to the development of five more cooperatives in La Plata, where Norris and other volunteers contracted with the poorest family in town to do cooking for them. He is still in touch with children from that family. After his official tour of duty, Norris served as director of co-op volunteers in Colombia, and then worked at Peace Corps headquarters in the International Organizations division. To conclude the interview, Norris reflects on the high energy and somewhat chaotic environment in PC Washington at the time, and shares his belief that much of Peace Corps' success is individual rather than organizational and happenstance than design. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 24, 2016. 1 digital file.