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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2008-055-001
Betsy Markland Schwartz served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1963 to 1965 on rural community development projects. She was in training at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces at the time of President Kennedy's assassination. Once in Guatemala, Schwartz was assigned to the town of Quezaltepeque with two other new volunteers and initially worked in a CARE school lunch program. After several months, she married a fellow Peace Corps volunteer and the couple was reassigned to Flores in the northern Peten region. When Betsy became pregnant, the Peace Corps moved them to Aldea Lo De Bran on the outskirts of Guatemala City where she worked on Spanish literacy, health and sanitation, and building latrines. She eventually gave birth while still serving as a volunteer. After Peace Corps, the young family spent six years in Colombia and Ecuador. Schwartz went back to Guatemala for a visit in 1995. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, March 1, 2008. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-028-007
Jean Dorothy Landeen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1967 to 1970 on a rural community development project. After completing a degree in landscape horticulture, she trained in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with a homestay in Guadalajara, Mexico. Once in Guatemala, Landeen was assigned to the village of Los Bracitos, where she worked on agricultural development projects such as land surveying, crop demonstration plots, and tropical fruit production. She ultimately developed a regional program to train farmers in how to graft and care for trees. She stayed a third year to help supervise the next cycle of volunteers who were continuing the fruit project. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 7, 2004. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-002-016
Sarah (Sally) Connolly-Jordan served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1967 to 1969 on a rural community development project. After working for United Airlines for nearly a decade, she applied to the Peace Corps. She trained at Las Cruces, New Mexico, with a home stay in Mexico. Connolly-Jordan was assigned to a small village outside of Retalhuleu, where she initially worked with the community's only school teacher as an aide. Eventually she began nutrition and health classes, opened a library, and coordinated efforts to build a bridge and hire another teacher. She considered her role to be a facilitator that connected people and resources. Connolly-Jordan was able to visit her site again 20 years later. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, March 31, 2003. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).