Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2017-036
Paul Gilman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali from 1997 to 2000. As a child, he had lived in Zaire with his American parents, had attended Congolese schools, and had learned to speak Swahili, Lingala, and French. Gilman applied to the Peace Corps at age 29 after having earned two baccalaureate degrees, the second in electrical engineering, thinking that this would be a useful skill in Africa. Instead, the Peace Corps assigned him to an agriculture project in Mali. Training took place in Tubani So, in Bamako. After beginning to study Bambara, a language spoken in southern Mali, Gilman was informed that he would work in the northern area where Sonrai is spoken. Once he arrived in the town of Ansongo to help women with their gardening project, he discovered that no gardening was going on, largely because women traditionally do not participate in farming work. This frustrating situation led Gilman to extend for a third year, during which he helped the agency plan projects more carefully and oriented new volunteers. Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, 5 March 2017. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).