Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-060
Katherine (Kay) Gillies Dixon served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1962 to 1964 in an urban community action program (Colombia III). She discusses language and cultural training at the University of New Mexico, Outward Bound training in Puerto Rico, and the eye-opening experience of working in a slum in New York City during training. Stationed in Medellin, Colombia, she distributed CARE provided food out of a health center in the Antioquia barrio, a large red-light district. She also trained people in use of powdered milk in rural areas and helped form clubs for neighborhood university students. Dixon discusses interactions with the U.S. foreign service community and visiting members of Congress. She also talks about reaction to President Kennedy's assassination and her subsequent involvement in Colombia with Partners in the Americas. She married a fellow Colombia volunteer (Kevin Dixon) and two of her daughters also served in the Peace Corps. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, March 4, 2020. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).