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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-061
Kevin Dixon served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1962 to 1964 in a physical education program (Colombia IV). He discusses being recruited by Peace Corps while in college through an athletics magazine, and training at Texas Western University and at the Outward Bound facilities in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. He was assigned to set up a physical education program at the University of Antioquia in Medellin at the request of an American faculty member who wanted him to play baseball on an American ex-pat baseball team. Through this team, he got to know American consular staff and other ex-pats. In the second year, he traveled throughout the country setting up teams in conjunction with Colombian baseball and basketball leagues. He met his wife Kay, a fellow volunteer, in Colombia, and two of his daughters also served in the Peace Corps. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, March 4, 2020. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-060
Katherine (Kay) Gillies Dixon served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1962 to 1964 in an urban community action program (Colombia III). She discusses language and cultural training at the University of New Mexico, Outward Bound training in Puerto Rico, and the eye-opening experience of working in a slum in New York City during training. Stationed in Medellin, Colombia, she distributed CARE provided food out of a health center in the Antioquia barrio, a large red-light district. She also trained people in use of powdered milk in rural areas and helped form clubs for neighborhood university students. Dixon discusses interactions with the U.S. foreign service community and visiting members of Congress. She also talks about reaction to President Kennedy's assassination and her subsequent involvement in Colombia with Partners in the Americas. She married a fellow Colombia volunteer (Kevin Dixon) and two of her daughters also served in the Peace Corps. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, March 4, 2020. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-088
Charles F. (Chic) Dambach served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1967 to 1969 in a community development program. Dambach talks about leading a strike when two of his fellow volunteers were about to be deselected during training. One Peace Corps trainer, Sam Farr, was fired because he opposed the deselection, and the volunteers went on strike in support of Farr and their trainee colleagues. (The strike was successful. Farr later became a U.S. Representative and a staunch supporter of the Peace Corps.) In Colombia, Dambach lived and worked in the Albornoz barrio on the outskirts of Cartagena. He discusses the work he did with the barrio's squatters to get the government to open a school to serve this community, and how he helped the villagers organize fishing cooperatives and improve their fishing practices. In addition, Dambach discusses the influence that Peace Corps service had on his career as community organizer and advocate for dialogue and non-violent solutions to conflicts. In this regard, he talks about his term as director of the National Council of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers from 1992 to 1999 (now called the National Peace Corps Association), and the program he started to provide teachers with resource materials to use in promoting intercultural understanding. Dambach also created the Emergency Response Network of RPCVs and staff to work on conflict resolution and crises in the countries in which they served; this now operates as Peace Corps Response. In addition, he discusses his conflict resolution activities in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Congo as well as his role in founding the Alliance for Peace Building. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, May 31, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-087
Paula Hirschoff served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1968 to 1970 in a secondary education program. She later served in Senegal from 2005 to 2007 as part of a small enterprise development program. In Kenya, Hirschoff first taught multiple subjects in the community-based (harambee) Nyamira Girls Secondary School and then, while still teaching, also served as headmistress for one and a half years after the Kenyan headmaster was removed for improper behavior and corruption. Under her leadership, the school became a government school. Hirschoff's return to Kenya and Nyamira in 1990 was filmed and broadcast as an episode on the Fox show Reunion. After a career as an editor and journalist, Hirschoff and her husband, Chuck Ludlam, rejoined the Peace Corps and served as volunteers in Guinguineo, Senegal. There she founded and managed a girls club; helped women start a number of small businesses, including a millet porridge enterprise; and conducted interviews around town as a trained anthropologist. The couple testified in support of Peace Corps reform legislation before Senator Chris Dodd's subcommittee in 2007. Throughout the interview, Hirschoff discusses the enduring close relationships she formed with students and others in both countries, and the many ways in which she has stayed connected to Africa. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, May 29, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-086
Genesis Castellon served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin from 2014 to 2016 as a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teacher. As a first-generation Nicaraguan-American, she discusses her identity as a Latina with a foot in both countries and being treated as "white" by people in Benin. She also talks about her mother's opposition to her going to Africa in the Peace Corps as opposed to Nicaragua, where she could have lived with family. Castellon's training in Benin went well, except for her home-stay experience. The training was divided into two parts: the first focused on teaching French, and the second part, which occurred after a 2-week exploratory visit to the town in which she would be teaching, focused on pedagogy and introduction to the Beninese education system. Castellon was assigned to Kouande, in the northwestern part of the country, where she taught 6th and 7th grade English. She also started women's soccer teams in three towns and an English Club, which the students named after her. Castellon hopes that she made an impact by serving as a capable, single feminist role model for her students. She also reflects on how Peace Corps helped her learn who she really was and the enduring close friendships she made with students, teachers, and fellow volunteers. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, June 8, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-078
Daniel Jasper served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan from 2008 to 2010 and as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in St. Lucia from 2013 to 2014. In Turkmengala, Turkmenistan, a small town near the Iranian border, he taught English to elementary, secondary, and adult students, and helped develop English language testing protocols and 4th and 5th grade English language curriculum. After returning to the U.S., Jasper earned a Masters degree in public policy from Duke University and worked at several non-profits as part of the Peace Corps fellows program. With Peace Corps Response in St. Lucia, he helped pilot-test the teaching of chess as a mandatory part of the elementary school curriculum. He also taught chess at youth detention centers. Jasper talks about the importance of understanding and respecting the perspective of the person you are trying to help. He also reflects on the various ways communities cope with different forms of poverty. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, April 27, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-071
Russell E. Morgan Jr. served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1966 to 1969 as a secondary school teacher. He trained at Columbia University Teachers College in New York City. In Kenya, he was stationed for a short time in Kitui, then moved to the Marsabit Boys Secondary School in the Northern Frontier District (NFD) near the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia. This school got substantial funding from the Kenyan government in a political move to demonstrate the benefits of Kenyan rule over the district. Morgan discusses his success in preparing nomadic children for the British Cambridge exams in biology, chemistry, and physics, and touches on the outcomes for some of his students. One of them became a surgeon and was named Chairman of the Board of the Kenyan Red Cross Society and was awarded the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award by the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) in 2014. Morgan also discusses his travels to other countries, the broadening impact of his Peace Corps experience, and his subsequent career with global preventative health organizations. He continues to contribute by leading the 2014 Ebola Relief Fund of the NPCA; co-founding the Friends of Kenya group and Encore (later merged with Peace Corps Response); and serving as a member of the Advisory Board of the NPCA Community Fund. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, March 20, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-070
Glorious Broughton (née Leatherwood) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from December 1980 to February 1983 in a cooperatives program. She first spent several months in Kaimosi working with a women's tie-dye cooperative and teaching business at a local college. She left that assignment because the women in the cooperative expected her to be an artist and to provide financial support as previous volunteers from Germany had done. Broughton spent the rest of her time in Mombasa working as a business advisor with an Akamba men's wood carving cooperative. She discusses being robbed several times and living next door to two wives in a Somali family. She talks about her interactions with the Somali children and her friendships with some of the men in the cooperative. In addition, she describes her travels in Kenya and other countries in sub-Saharan and North Africa. Broughton concludes the interview by discussing her use of noncompetitive eligibility to obtain a job with the Federal government after her service, and her continued involvement with the Peace Corps community. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, March 14, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-059
Philip Lilienthal served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia from 1965 to 1967 as a legal advisor, then as Peace Corps staff from 1969 to 1974 in several different positions. He served alongside his wife in Ethiopia and worked as a legal advisor for government agencies. He also started a youth summer camp in response to a request by the emperor's granddaughter, who was interested in breaking down ethnic barriers. This experience and his work running a summer camp in the U.S. later led him to create Global Camps Africa, which operates in South Africa. From 1969 to 1972, Lilienthal worked at Peace Corps headquarters in the General Counsel's office as an Attorney-Advisor, where among other issues, he dealt with free speech related to volunteer protests against the Vietnam War, and the proposed consolidation of Peace Corps into the umbrella volunteer ACTION agency. Next Lilienthal served as Peace Corps Regional Director for Mindanao, Philippines, from 1972 to 1973, then Deputy Peace Corps Director for Thailand from 1973 to 1974. In these posts, he gained a perspective of the other side of the conflict between the central office and the field. In 2013, Lilienthal was awarded the National Peace Corps Association's Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service for his contributions to humanitarian causes at home and abroad. Interviewed by Evelyn Ganzglass, January 7, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-058
Natalie Gee Hall served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand from 1967 to 1969 as an English teacher. She met and married her husband during training in Hawaii. Due to Peace Corps policy, they were forced to resign from training with their first group, Thai 18, because they had been accepted initially as single volunteers. They were required to reapply as a married couple. After being accepted again, they trained in DeKalb, Illinois, with the Thai 19 group that received part of its training during the summer of their junior year in college and part after they graduated. Hall discusses the negatively competitive "de-selection" process that asked trainees to rate each other's likelihood to succeed. Once the Halls arrived in Narathiwat, Thailand, Natalie taught English in the girls' high school and her husband taught in the boys' high school. Together, they also taught English to adults using a language curriculum developed in Thailand. Hall discusses the on-going insurgency in southern Thailand as well as the presence of Air America U.S. contractors conducting secret supply runs to Vietnam, and local support for the U.S. fighting the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. She ends by talking about her advocacy work for Peace Corps funding and changes in Peace Corps health care and disability policy. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, January 16, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-057
Don Boileau served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea from January 1968 to November 1969 as an English teacher. He briefly discusses training in Bisbee, Arizona, and speaks extensively about the close lifelong relationship he developed with his host family. Stationed in Seoul, Boileau worked as an English instructor at the Central Officials Training Institute. Although he says that his official job didn't amount to much, he talks about various night or after-work jobs he held that did have an impact. These include tutoring a number of Ministry of Forestry officials in English in preparation for their trip to New Zealand for a reforestation project, and tutoring people working in the port and harbor authority. Boileau discusses the impact that Peace Corps had on his career as a professor in intercultural communication. He concludes by discussing his return visit to Korea with other RPCVs and spouses at the invitation of the Korean government. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, January 7, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-056
John Stoney served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo from 1989 to 1991 in an appropriate technologies program. He talks about teaching local women how to build and use ameliorated cook stoves, cisterns, and other low technology tools to save energy and improve their lives. He discusses the importance of these stoves in producing beer and the role of beer in the local Mobo culture. Stoney discusses his experiences during a coup that overthrew the dictator, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, and the ensuing fighting among villagers in many places, as well as the effect on large elephant herds in the Fosse aux Lions national game park near where he was stationed. In addition, he talks about his relocation from Dapaong, a small border town near Burkina Faso, to Tambong, a smaller village, after using a knife to defend himself when he was attacked by a mentally ill young man whom he had befriended. The process of building a forge with local materials and producing metal sculptures in Togo convinced him to remain an artist when he returned to the U.S. Finally, Stoney reflects on how he did not experience culture shock overseas, but rather on his return to rampant consumerism in the U.S. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, December 23, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
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-2019-031
John W. Bing served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan from 1964 to 1967 as an English teacher. Afterwards he worked on the Peace Corps staff in Afghanistan (1967), and at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., as Regional Training Officer for the Middle East (1967-1968). Bing was part of the Afghanistan III group. During his first year of service, he taught English at the University of Kabul. In the second year, he taught English at an agricultural middle school in Baghlan. In both places he used the aural-oral method of instruction plus textbooks developed by Columbia University specifically for Afghanistan. Much of the interview is focused on Bing's views on and activities to promote cross-cultural understanding. Bing was a co-author of the first draft of the Peace Corps' first cross-cultural training manual. In addition, he has worked in the field of international education and cross-cultural training in numerous positions during his post-Peace Corps career. He ends the interview by discussing a project of the Friends of Afghanistan RPCV group, funded by Afghan RPCVs and Afghan-Americans, that supports weavers in Bamayan, Afghanistan. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, November 5, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-030
Thomas Klug served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana from July 1972 to July 1974 as a chemistry and math teacher. He taught at St. Peter's Secondary School, which was run by Catholic missionaries but financially supported by the Ghanaian government and thus followed the government curriculum. The school was a compound with student dormitories and staff housing a mile from the village of Nkwatia (in the Kwahu region) so Klug didn't interact much with people in the village. The Ghanaian teachers almost considered Peace Corps volunteers to be part of the white school administration, while the administrators considered them staff. Therefore, Klug interacted more with the British, Irish, and French teachers at the school than with Ghanaian teachers and staff. He discusses the importance of passing school exams for students' future prospects and his success in helping his students pass these exams. He also talks about his travels in Nigeria during his service; in addition, he toured Europe for three months on his way home. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, November 5, 2018. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-027
John Cortright served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji from September 2015 to December 2017 in a youth development program. He joined at age 35 to enhance his career in international public health by gaining extended on-the-ground cultural experience working and living in another country. Due to his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, he was assigned to the Ministry of Education to advance the national secondary-level health curriculum. Cortright discusses the close friendships he made with his Indo-Fijian female co-workers and the many life lessons he learned in Fiji. He talks about Fijians' conservative attitudes toward women's equity in the workplace, and attitudes about reproductive health and mental health issues. He also discusses his and other volunteers' concerns about safety because of the high crime rate in Fiji, especially in Suva, the capital where he was stationed. Finally, Cortright talks about his medical termination and the need for volunteers to think about their safety net upon returning to the U.S. after service. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, October 13, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-024
Paul Jurmo served as a Peace Corps volunteer in The Gambia from 1976 to 1979 on a literacy project. He later joined the Peace Corps staff as the country representative in Tonga from 2012 to 2017. Jurmo discusses how he had to figure out what to do as a functional literacy advisor in the Gambia, and describes the large-scale adult literacy project he eventually developed in conjunction with the National Literacy Advisory Committee (based in the Gambian National Cultural Archives and a collaboration of multiple Gambian and international agencies). UNESCO recommended that the project be formalized, which led to the development of a new agency on non-formal education within the Department of Education. Jurmo also describes life in Pakalinging, the village in which he was initially stationed, and mentions the friends he made. He also talks about the impact that the Peace Corps had on his personal life and on his career in adult literacy, which led to a subsequent five-year stint running a Peace Corps English literacy project in Tonga, 33 years after his initial service. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, October 5, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-022
Patrick Corrigan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand from August 1989 to November 1992. For the first two years he taught English in a middle school in Karung, a town in the Banrai district of the Uthai Thani province in central Thailand. In the third year he lived in Bangkok and traveled throughout Thailand as an assistant to the director of the Thai affiliate of the World Wildlife Fund. Corrigan talks about teaching Thai teachers more active instruction methods and teaching children (who couldn't afford to take the bus to the main school) in a small satellite school that he and other teachers built. He discusses building a pig farm for his school and other entrepreneurial projects, such as the production of shampoo and t-shirts. Corrigan also talks about his post-Peace Corps work in Thailand with a conservation and community development project that helped the Karen indigenous people stay on their ancestral lands. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, September 11, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-021
Ellen Gagne served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone from July 1968 to August 1970. She taught in an elementary school in Momajo, in the southern part of the country. Gagne discusses the negative attitudes of her fellow teachers to the more open and participatory teaching methods she used, as well as the corruption of teachers who didn't show up for work, slept with students, and used students to work on their farms. At the same time, she talks fondly of the students who lived with her in her second house and the enrichment activities she provided. She discusses falling in love with one of her Peace Corps language instructors and their long-term relationship while she lived in Sierra Leone. She describes her later teacher training activities for new Peace Corps volunteers. Gagne concludes by reflecting on the broadening experience the Peace Corps provided and the difference the volunteers made in Sierra Leone. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, September 17, 2018. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-020
Mary Lou Weathers served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin from 1980 to 1983 as an English teacher. She later worked in the Human Resources Management office at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 1990 to 1997. In Benin, she first taught in Parakou in the northern part of the country, and then in Allada, a small agricultural town in the south. Weathers also was the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Coordinator for new volunteers and participated in other training in her third year. She talks about her teaching experience, including hiring a student to help him pay for tuition, and fundraising to build a library in Allada. She discusses the impact of tensions between the U.S. and Benin, including the withdrawal of Peace Corps volunteers before her time and the near evacuation of volunteers when a drunk U.S. Embassy contractor stormed a Benin military base. She also talks about the murder of a Peace Corps volunteer by a fellow teacher whom she reported as being abusive to women. Finally, Weathers comments on her work in the Peace Corps human resources office, including her term as HRM [Human Resource Management] Deputy Director and Director (1995-1996). She discusses the pros and cons of staff turnover on different parts of the agency due to the 5-year rule. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, September 20, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-019
Asiha Grigsby served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador from 2013 to 2015 in the Community Organization and Economic Development (COED) program. She also served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Chiriqui, Panama, from 2016 to 2017, training members of an organic farming cooperative in small business development strategies in the community of Volcan. Grigsby initially discusses her participation in the Peace Corps Masters International Program at Rutgers University and the unexpectedly long road to becoming a volunteer and completing her degree due to a previously undiagnosed kidney disease. After three years of treatment while her application was on "medical hold," she was eventually accepted into the Peace Corps and earned her Masters degree. In retrospect, she considers her diagnosis during the application process to be a blessing because early discovery of the illness has allowed her to maintain a healthy, happy lifestyle. Once stationed in Estanzuelas, El Salvador, Grigsby shares how the community members reacted to her as a very tall, unmarried African-American woman without children. She describes the work she did empowering the local women and girls to come together to address domestic violence issues. She also talks about restrictions on volunteers in El Salvador because of safety concerns, which eventually led to the closure of Peace Corps in the country only three months after she completed her service. Finally, Grisgby discusses reentry issues after each of her tours of service. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, September 23, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-012
Cathy Olson served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda from June 1970 to October 1972 in a education program, then transferred to Ethiopia where she worked as a pharmacist from October 1972 to August 1973. She and her husband Alan served together. In Uganda, she taught in a girl's secondary school and helped the Dutch Catholic Mission Hospital in Kalisizo organize their pharmacy. The couple ended up being evacuated from Uganda due to the threat of violence under the regime of Idi Amin. Olson discusses the violence in Uganda and the evacuation process, as well as their travels to Zanzibar. She completed her service in Ethiopia as a professional pharmacist and taught in a medical assistant school. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 24, 2018. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-011
Sally Waley served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia from July 2012 to September 2014 in a health education program. Based in Samrong, Siem Reap province, she served as a health extension agent in a rural health center that covered nine villages. The Peace Corps health program in Cambodia was new, and at first Waley felt she had not received enough technical training and did not speak the language well enough to be useful. She told herself "you are doing the best that you can" several times a day, but felt scared, stressed, and guilty for not trying hard enough. Eventually, she started a girls health club at the local high school and began working with the village chiefs and the network of local health volunteers to do more work outside of the health center. She felt that the most useful thing she could do was to be social with people and to listen. Early in her service, Waley had to return to the U.S. for a month because her father was ill, and was unsure if she should continue in the Peace Corps or remain home with her family. Despite these challenges, she became very close to her Cambodian host family, especially the 14 year old daughter, Vannay. (She stays in touch with them through Facebook and went back to visit two years after her close of service.) Finally, Waley discusses her reverse culture shock and challenges readjusting upon her return home. She obtained a job with the U.S. Department of Commerce under a federal program for preferential hiring of RPCVs. She remains connected with other volunteers and is President of the Heart of Texas Peace Corps Association. She says Peace Corps taught her to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations and to deal with ambiguity. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 24, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-010
Jeanette Grayson Gottlieb served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Iran from 1965 to 1967 in an elementary and secondary education program. She was initially assigned to the towns of Nowshahr and Chalus on the Caspian Sea to help English language teachers in two all-girls schools improve their English and teaching skills. Although she didn't teach the children, she taught adults in the evenings and started a crafts club for the students. Gottlieb didn't feel qualified to teach experienced teachers and even though she was busy, she experienced considerable loneliness from living by herself, the overcast weather, and being a single woman in a traditional society where women stayed home. In the second year, she transferred to the town of Hamadan where she taught her own classes in another all-girls school, held first-aid and craft classes, and lived with another volunteer. Although she reflects negatively on the deselection process during training, Gottlieb has good memories of her Peace Corps experience overall and says she learned to be alone. She also met her husband in the Peace Corps. She remains active in RPCV activities in Albany, New York, and served as president of the Peace Corps Iran Association. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 25, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-009
Judith Howard Whitney-Terry served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from September 1987 to December 1988 on a small business project. She decided to join after raising a family, a divorce, and changing circumstances related to her business. After in-country training, she was assigned to Choluteca where she worked with small businesses to develop business plans and accounting practices, which utilized her degrees and prior work experience. She also taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in the evenings. She then transferred to Tegucigalpa where she was able to travel around the country while working for the banks. Whitney-Terry discusses her informal interaction with Contras, and shares that Peace Corps volunteers were thought of more positively than other Americans. She mentions that the local volunteers were invited to a party some distance away on the night that the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa was bombed. Whitney-Terry discusses how her Peace Corps experience made her less self-centered and more conscious of how people live throughout the world. She also met her second husband through RPCV activities and continues to be involved in the National Peace Corps Association. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 23, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).