Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-071
Toby Marion served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan from 1971 to 1975 in an education program. As a science teacher, he took experiment kits (provided by the United Nations Development Programme) around to middle and high schools in Kapisa Province and taught local science teachers how to use them. Marion then extended his service to teach three semesters of engineering in Kabul. In the interview, he discusses his reasons for joining the Peace Corps, what Afghanistan was like in the early 1970s, the comfortable standard of living he enjoyed on $90/month, and how his group was encouraged to dress professionally in order to garner respect. He speaks about the life-long friends he developed, of the satisfaction of becoming fluent in Farsi, and how impressed he was with the world knowledge of illiterate local villagers. He also recounts a 46-day hike across central Afghanistan, and shares how the Peace Corps influenced him to become an internationalist. Interviewed and recorded by Candice Wiggum, February 3, 2020. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).