Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-018
Kae Dakin served in the Peace Corps in Kenya from January 1965 to November 1966 in a variety of roles. She and her husband were assigned to the small town of Njabini on the Kinangop highlands, which were mainly populated by the Kikuyu people. Their program focused on land resettlement (the transfer of land from white Europeans to native Black farmers) and agricultural development after Kenya won its independence from Great Britain. Dakin discusses the male dominated project and her roles, first as a secretarial clerk and then as a dairy officer responsible for working with local male farmers on cattle dipping, artificial insemination of cows, and castration of bulls to improve dairy productivity. She also provided nutrition counseling and started a home industry for local women making and marketing baskets and producing tie-dyed cloth. Dakin and her husband were reassigned to the larger town of Thomsons Falls (now Nyahururu) after being accused of being spies. Dakin also discusses her experience as a pregnant volunteer and delivering her first child in Nairobi. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, January 8, 2016. 1 digital audio file.