Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-048
David Driscoll served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1964 to 1966 on a rural community action project. He received cultural, language, and technical training at the University of Missouri. His group then went to Puerto Rico for Outward Bound and further language training. Upon arriving in Ecuador, Driscoll was assigned to assist another volunteer with the surveying and construction of an irrigation canal near Cochapata, a small isolated village in the southern Andes Mountains. A few months later, at the request of the villagers of the nearby town of Nabon, he took over the responsibility for surveying and construction of canals in that region, and stayed there for the rest of his service. Driscoll discusses living in harsh and isolated conditions, motivating the villagers to participate in canal construction, and dealing with the local politics. He also talks about how the Peace Corps experience influenced his life upon returning home. Interviewed and recorded by Stanley Laser, October 31, 2019. 1 digital audio file.