Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2015-006
Lillian Baer served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ivory Coast in an education program. She worked in a secondary school in the city of Man teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Peace Corps training began at Dartmouth, the summer after her junior year in college, and continued a year later after graduation in Quebec and then in Bouaké, Ivory Coast. Lillian describes an extremely difficult and frustrating first year as a volunteer, struggling with the language. She persevered, however, and found the second year to be very satisfying and productive. After competing volunteer service, Lillian served for six years as Peace Corps staff, from 1973 to 1979, as Education Specialist for the Africa Region in Washington, D.C.; Director of Regional Training Resource Office in Dakar, Senegal; Acting PC Director in 3 countries; and Associate PC Director for Education and Training in Senegal. Lillian went on to live in Senegal for 32 years. Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, October 23, 2014. 3 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-065
Jennie Davis served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal from June 2011 to September 2013 in a community economic development program. She was born while her father was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana (1980-1984). Prior to joining, Davis had earned a degree in international business and worked at a finance and investment firm. She studied French in grade school, but grasping both French and Wolof was challenging. Davis was stationed in the coastal village of Mboro, where she worked on projects involving leather goods, business training, and an unsuccessful solar drying initiative. She describes struggling with the lack of relationship to her Peace Corps group, and the lessons she learned during her service. She hopes to return to Senegal someday to rekindle the relationships that she made there. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine Loriston, November 16, 2019. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-098
Benedicte Naudin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal from 2003 to 2005 on an agriculture extension project. She also served in Peace Corps Response in Rwanda in 2018 as an English education volunteer. Naudin was already proficient in French before applying to the Peace Corps. In Senegal, she focused her worked with agricultural and health projects within her village and the region. Her major accomplishment was a tree grafting project and seeing how it was able to positively influence change in someone's life. She was able to extend to work in a successful poultry project that brought 200 chicks to her village. She enjoyed being able to explore Senegal and meet the local people. In Rwanda, the work was more intense. Naudin taught English to 700 students in the local school and also had secondary English projects. She is proud of her work with the outing club, where she took students on long hikes on the weekend to discuss anything they wanted to, all in English. Interviewed and recorded by Jeff Liu, June 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-087
Paula Hirschoff served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1968 to 1970 in a secondary education program. She later served in Senegal from 2005 to 2007 as part of a small enterprise development program. In Kenya, Hirschoff first taught multiple subjects in the community-based (harambee) Nyamira Girls Secondary School and then, while still teaching, also served as headmistress for one and a half years after the Kenyan headmaster was removed for improper behavior and corruption. Under her leadership, the school became a government school. Hirschoff's return to Kenya and Nyamira in 1990 was filmed and broadcast as an episode on the Fox show Reunion. After a career as an editor and journalist, Hirschoff and her husband, Chuck Ludlam, rejoined the Peace Corps and served as volunteers in Guinguineo, Senegal. There she founded and managed a girls club; helped women start a number of small businesses, including a millet porridge enterprise; and conducted interviews around town as a trained anthropologist. The couple testified in support of Peace Corps reform legislation before Senator Chris Dodd's subcommittee in 2007. Throughout the interview, Hirschoff discusses the enduring close relationships she formed with students and others in both countries, and the many ways in which she has stayed connected to Africa. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, May 29, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-041
Barbara Kelly served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal from 1971 to 1973 as a coordinator of a social center. At that time, the social centers in Senegal were all staffed by women from Peace Corps. Kelly trained in Dakar at a school of social work where she and the other volunteers lived in a dormitory. She was already fluent in French so studied only Wolof and learned it well enough to converse with people who spoke only Wolof. Stationed in M'Bour, Kelly worked with another Peace Corps volunteer who had extended their service in order to insure continuity in the program. They had a library and taught classes at the center, but their primary job was mother and infant healthcare in the surrounding neighborhoods and villages. They trained local women as "animatrices" (leaders) who then taught the mothers how to keep their infants healthy. Kelly discusses some of the challenges and how they overcame them. She also discusses her travels and how Peace Corps impacted her life. Interviewed and recorded by Candice Wiggum, December 8, 2018. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2018-036
Anne Linn served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southeastern Senegal from 2012 to 2014 in a health program. Her husband was also a volunteer. She discusses her work in Sraya, in Kedougou province, addressing the many health challenges in the region due to a gold rush that brought thousands of people from Senegal and other countries into the area. Linn mentions particular issues related to mercury poisoning associated with the leaching of gold from ore. She discusses her work with a Senegalese doctor and local health workers in malaria prevention and treatment, including her post-Peace Corps work with the Peace Corps West African Malarial Project. This project ran a 2-week malaria boot camp for health care workers that has now ended because of lack of funding. Linn also talks about her participation in the now-defunct Masters International program, which included Peace Corps service as the practicum. Some 40 universities used to participate in this program. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, July 15, 2018. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-026
Rebecca (Becca) Schwartz served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal from 2005 to 2007. Becca had already earned an MBA when she applied to the Peace Corps in 2005. She had hoped to work in a Francophone country, and was pleased to be sent to Senegal. Becca tested out of French and was able to concentrate on learning Wolof during training. She was stationed in Kaolack, where she worked in small enterprise development and found opportunities to use both languages. Her relationship with her host family was warm and satisfying. After the Peace Corps, Becca returned to Africa where she spent the next nine years working in Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria with small businesses dedicated to creating and marketing technology. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file). Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, April 21, 2016.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-121
Chuck Ludlam served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal from 1968 to 1970 on an agriculture project. He also served in Senegal from 2005 to 2007. His training for Nepal occurred in Terai and involved instruction in the Maitahlai language. Ludlam was stationed in the town of Haripur, a very isolated rural community with harsh conditions, and he worked with Nepali agricultural extension counterparts promoting the planting of hybrid rice and wheat seeds. In Guinguineo, Senegal, he served with his wife Paula Hirschoff. They planted trees and promoted small business development. Much of the interview is devoted to Ludlam's criticism of Peace Corps management, especially in Senegal, and the advocacy work he and his wife did both during their service and afterwards to improve transparency in Peace Corps operations and empower volunteers through policy and legislative change, especially regarding whistleblower rights for volunteers and staff. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, July 24, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-005
Part of a series of research interviews conducted by Jonathan Zimmerman for his article "Beyond Double Consciousness: Black Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa, 1961-1971." Homer L. Butler served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo from 1962 to 1964. He later joined the Peace Corps staff in Senegal and Chad. Interviewed by phone, February 15, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).