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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2011-001
Barbara Richards (formerly Rich Main) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from June 1967 to June 1969 as an English teacher. Richards attended training in Utah for the TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) program. She discusses her life as a TESL teacher in two different communities. Her first station was in a geographically isolated area. Richards also described the effect that the Peace Corps had on her eventual career as a Montessori teacher. Interviewed and recorded by Paul Kinsley, September 23, 2010. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2009-010
Roberta J. Vann served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1970 to 1971 in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program. She had previously completed a degree in English literature at Indiana University. In Ethiopia, Vann taught English at Gondar Public Health College. In the interview she discusses how her Peace Corps service impacted her life and led her to complete a Ph.D. and pursue a career as a TEFL professor. Interviewed and recorded by Leslie Bloom, May 2, 2008. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2008-082
Charles (Chuck) Kreiman served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1968 to 1970 as a teacher (Ethiopia X). He was part of a large group trained for secondary education, primarily English as a Second Language (ESL). After training in St. Thomas and in-country in Addis Ababa, Kreiman was assigned to a secondary school in Asella in what was then known as Arusi province. Many Peace Corps teachers had been placed at that school since 1965 in an effort to measure improvements in student performance based on the national 12th grade examination. Kreiman first taught English and later took over seven 10th grade history classes when several Ethiopian teachers were expelled as suspected instigators of student strikes. He also served on the committee to select students for positions as elementary school teachers upon completion of a one-year program at teacher training institutes. At the end of the 1969-1970 academic year, Kreiman was the only Peace Corps teacher remaining at that school. Interviewed by Gloria Curtis, June 24, 2008. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2006-073-003
Cynthia Ellison Mehary served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1965 to 1967 as a teacher. She had just graduated from the University of Buffalo when she decided to join the Peace Corps rather than take a teaching position. She trained for the assignment in Salt Lake City, which she comments on as an African American woman in the 1960s. Mehary was the first female teacher in a Jesuit co-ed school in Addis Ababa, where she taught mostly business subjects. While in Ethiopia, she met emperor Haile Selassie. Interviewed and recorded by Frieda Fairburn, July 20, 2006. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2006-063-002
John Rex served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1962 to 1964 as an English teacher (Ethiopia I). He applied during his senior year of college and joined in 1961. Rex trained with about 300 others in Washington, D.C. Most of the 200 Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia I taught and lived together in groups throughout the country. Rex's assignment was teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to secondary school students in Debre Birhan. His school became known for a student strike that was aimed, in part, at the Peace Corps volunteers stationed there. Later in life, Rex also served from 2003 to 2004 with the Namibia 22 group. Interviewed and recorded by Frieda Fairburn, May 23, 2006. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2003-024-005
Ellen Shively served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia (Eritrea) from 1968 to 1970 as a nurse educator. She was an Army nurse with six years experience when she decided for personal reasons to shift from "the war corps" to the Peace Corps. She completed a large Ethiopia-Eritrea training program. The volunteers staged in Philadelphia, then spent six weeks in the Virgin Islands, followed by specialized training in Addis Ababa. Shively taught in a "dresser" medical school that trained assistant nurses in Asmara, Eritrea, which was part of Ethiopia at the time. She had been trained in the Amharic language but then had to learn Tigrinya. In her second year, Shively was chosen to develop an advanced dresser program from scratch. After the Peace Corps, Shively re-joined the military, served in Vietnam, and then spent her career as a clinical Army nurse. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, January 14, 2003. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-059
Philip Lilienthal served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia from 1965 to 1967 as a legal advisor, then as Peace Corps staff from 1969 to 1974 in several different positions. He served alongside his wife in Ethiopia and worked as a legal advisor for government agencies. He also started a youth summer camp in response to a request by the emperor's granddaughter, who was interested in breaking down ethnic barriers. This experience and his work running a summer camp in the U.S. later led him to create Global Camps Africa, which operates in South Africa. From 1969 to 1972, Lilienthal worked at Peace Corps headquarters in the General Counsel's office as an Attorney-Advisor, where among other issues, he dealt with free speech related to volunteer protests against the Vietnam War, and the proposed consolidation of Peace Corps into the umbrella volunteer ACTION agency. Next Lilienthal served as Peace Corps Regional Director for Mindanao, Philippines, from 1972 to 1973, then Deputy Peace Corps Director for Thailand from 1973 to 1974. In these posts, he gained a perspective of the other side of the conflict between the central office and the field. In 2013, Lilienthal was awarded the National Peace Corps Association's Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service for his contributions to humanitarian causes at home and abroad. Interviewed by Evelyn Ganzglass, January 7, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-018
Courtney Roberts Arnold served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia from 1964 to 1966 as a secondary school teacher. She trained at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she and her new husband David joined a dozen other married couples among the 200 trainees. The recruits prepared to teach English as a second language while learning Amharic and being concerned about the selection process. After a brief orientation in Addis Ababa, they traveled to Asebe Teferi, a town of 10,000 people with no electricity or running water. The volunteers enabled the school to add 9th and 10th grade classes. Arnold taught large classes of 7th and 8th grade English and 9th and 10th grade geography with no textbooks, no resources, and few supplies. She and the other volunteers joined Ethiopian teachers in organizing clubs for science and girls' health, as well as summer projects. She describes a special project to open a shuttered school library. Arnold reflects on relationships with the local teachers and community, her appreciation of the U.S. and Ethiopia, and the fatigue, frustrations, and lasting rewards. She remains in contact with former students and fellow volunteers. Interviewed and recorded by Patricia Wand, September 3, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-017
David Fryar Arnold served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia from 1964 to 1966 as a secondary school teacher. As newlyweds, David and his wife Courtney trained at the University of California at Los Angeles where they studied Amharic, Ethiopian history and culture, teaching methods, and endured physical training and selection-related evaluations. After a brief orientation and an introduction to Ethiopian food in Addis Ababa, they traveled to their assigned village, Asebe Teferi, where they shared a house with two other volunteers. Their arrival allowed the school to offer 9th and then 10th grade classes; David taught 8th to 10th grade English, social studies, and math. In the interview, he describes the surrounding natural environment, riding in local buses, being required to take students to watch a public whipping, going on weekend camping trips with students, and difficulties learning the unspoken cultural differences between local Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups. Arnold relates numerous stories, including those of several students who made notable contributions and have resurfaced in his life. After the Peace Corps, he established a career in journalism and is now editor of WorldView, the quarterly magazine of the National Peace Corps Association. Interviewed and recorded by Patricia Wand, September 10, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-012
Cathy Olson served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda from June 1970 to October 1972 in a education program, then transferred to Ethiopia where she worked as a pharmacist from October 1972 to August 1973. She and her husband Alan served together. In Uganda, she taught in a girl's secondary school and helped the Dutch Catholic Mission Hospital in Kalisizo organize their pharmacy. The couple ended up being evacuated from Uganda due to the threat of violence under the regime of Idi Amin. Olson discusses the violence in Uganda and the evacuation process, as well as their travels to Zanzibar. She completed her service in Ethiopia as a professional pharmacist and taught in a medical assistant school. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 24, 2018. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2017-004
Patricia "Patti" Wilkinson Garamendi served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from June 1966 to July 1968, along with her husband John Raymond Garamendi. Immediately after completing their undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, they entered Peace Corps training at the University of Utah and on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. They learned the Amharic language and how to teach English as a second language. Three days after arriving in Ethiopia, Patti and John were assigned to Metu, a town of 2,000 people in the western province of Illubabor. They lived in a hut with no electricity or running water, and quickly integrated into village life. They worked with villagers to build a bridge, imparting concepts of collaboration. Often using her guitar and songs, Patti taught English to 7th and 8th graders, with 60 children per classroom. Besides teaching, she set up a school library and offered sewing classes, Girl Scout meetings, vegetable garden demonstrations, and small pox immunizations. After the Peace Corps, Patti earned a law degree and worked in various state and federal government positions, including as Associate Director of the Peace Corps (1993-1998). Three of her six children have also served in the Peace Corps. Currently she assists her husband in his position as a U.S. Representative for Northern California. Interviewed and recorded by Patricia Wand, September 26, 2016. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-047
Lonna Dole Harkrader (then Lonna H. Dole) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1968 to 1969 and in Ghana from 1969 to 1970. In both locations she worked as a language instructor. During her first year in Ghimbi, Ethiopia, she taught ESL (English as a Second Language). During spring recess she attended a regional education conference and learned the ESL program would be discontinued. Harkrader and four other volunteers were given an option to spend their second year in Ghana, so she transferred. She taught French as a second language in Krobo Odumase, a town outside of Accra. Here she used a required "audio lingual method" that was very effective with her students. The work proved more productive than her experience in Ethiopia. Upon returning to the U.S., Lonna married fellow RPCV Richard Harkrader. The couple later set up a long-term development and education project in rural Nicaragua. Interviewed and recorded by Robert T. K. Scully, November 11, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-132
Edwin Fuller Torrey served as Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1964 to 1966 as a staff doctor. He applied after medical school and completed two days of orientation to tropical medicine at Columbia University, but no language training. Torrey initially flew to Dire Dawa and began volunteering in local hospitals and visiting the remote sites of other Peace Corps volunteers. After three months, he was assigned to Addis Ababa where he continued supporting volunteers in remote villages while learning Amharic with the help of a tutor. Working alongside Ethiopian and missionary medical practitioners taught him which doctors were reliable to assist sick volunteers in remote villages, introduced him to viable local practices, and awakened his interest in mental health care. Torrey's other projects included organizing the first health program for 7th and 8th graders using closed circuit TV, a two-week workshop to train biology teachers in secondary schools (resulting in an Ethiopian textbook), observing local witch doctors and results of their practices, and conducting an extensive medical survey and vaccination initiative in the remote reaches of the Blue Nile Gorge. Through the two years, Peace Corps volunteers remained the healthiest of his patients, but nevertheless one volunteer died (eaten by a crocodile). Torrey's experience in Ethiopia prompted him to become a psychiatrist and researcher in mental health. Interviewed and recorded by Patricia A. Wand, August 31, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-130
Gerald Jones served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1967 to 1971 as a teacher. He was inspired to join Peace Corps after first hearing about it in John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign while he was in high school. His training began at a site outside of Boston and was completed in Ethiopia. Jones was first assigned to the town of Dessie, where he taught at a high school that was staffed by both expatriate and local teachers. He also taught English to adults in night school, and taught summer school in a different location. Jones extended his service and for his second assignment taught at a Teacher Training Institute in the town of Debre Birhan. As part of this job, he was able to travel to several other locations with teacher trainees for practice teaching assignments. After the Peace Corps, Jones worked in private industry for several years, and then returned to international work with Save The Children, the International Red Cross, and a local Ethiopian NGO. In the interview, he also discusses the changes he has observed in Ethiopia during return trips over the years. Interviewed and recorded by Julius (Jay) Sztuk, August 29, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-015
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." Melvin Foote served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1973 to 1975. Interviewed in person, March 14, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-025
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." Dr. Daniel Littlefield served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1968 to 1970. Interviewed by phone, February 4, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-031
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." Dr. William Seraile served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1963 to 1965. Interviewed in person, January 27, 1994. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-034
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." Gwendolyn Clark Williams served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia from 1963 to 1965. Interviewed by phone, March 25, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).