Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-002
Debra E. (Debi) Pinkney served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger from 1998 to 2000 as a nutritionist with an emphasis on maternal-child health. She later worked on the Peace Corps staff for 8.5 years in Washington, D.C., Lesotho, and Cameroon. Pinkney had studied French, Spanish, and German before applying to the Peace Corps. Her training began in D.C. and continued in Hamdallaye, Niger. Despite intensive training in the Zharma (or Djerma) language, she was not adequately prepared for life in Kobia, a small village of about 300. She describes the negative reception she received and recalls moments when her Americanism clashed with the Songai; frustrations with being an African American serving in Africa; and a vacation with a Peace Corps colleague that left the two fighting for life and her feeling that her "black life did not matter." Pinkney also voices her criticism of the race issues that persist within the agency, but ultimately says that the Peace Corps was the toughest job she ever loved. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine V. Loriston, September 2, 2019. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).