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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-007
Robert Mowbray served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1963 to 1996 in an agriculture and forestry program. He also served as Associate Peace Corps Director for Agriculture and the Environment in Paraguay from 1973 to 1978. Prior to the Peace Corps, Mowbray had been stationed in Okinawa, Japan, in the U.S. Marine Corps and then completed a master's degree in forestry at Yale University. His group was the first to train in Mexico at the UNESCO Patzcuaro facility, but did not receive much technical training. He discusses the "de-selection" of volunteers in his group. In Ecuador, he was located in Ibarra and Otavalo and first worked as part of the Heifer program in conjunction with the Forestry Service, assisting with reforestation, the development of farmer forestry cooperatives, and research. During his second year, Mowbray and other volunteer foresters assisted the Forestry Service in developing a request for more volunteers for the program. In his third year, he moved to Quito and served as liaison between the Peace Corps and the Forestry Service. Following his service term, Mowbray trained new forestry volunteers going to Ecuador at Montana State College. Later, in Paraguay, he worked with the Basico training company to develop more specifically defined jobs and more technical training for volunteers. He also worked on a Peace Corps project with the Smithsonian Institution and expanded the program from 30 to 100 volunteers. He discusses whether volunteers who are expected to "find their own way" or those with clearly defined jobs are more useful to the host country. He concludes the interview by recalling the reactions of volunteers and Ecuadorians to President Kennedy's assassination. After the Peace Corps, Mowbray spent his career in USAID agriculture and forestry projects in South and Central America. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 28, 2018. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-019
Sandra Wilcox served as a Peace Corps volunteers in Ecuador from 1971 to 1974. She began her service by providing nutrition education for women in Chimborazo Province in conjunction with a food distribution program operated by Caritas, a Catholic non-governmental organization. After about a year and the departure of her mentor, Wilcox continued this work with a variety of community development groups in scattered rural communities. She returned to the United States on medical leave and then went back to Ecuador in 1975 under a six month extension, working as an in-country trainer for new Peace Corps Volunteers. Wilcox discusses the role of the Catholic Church, especially the role of the Bishop of Riobamba as a proponent of Liberation Theology, in educating peasants about their rights under land reform. She also discusses differences in working with the Catholic communities versus the Evangelical Christian communities. Note: This interview ends abruptly and appears to be incomplete. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, December 13, 2015. 1 digital audio file.