Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-024
Paul Jurmo served as a Peace Corps volunteer in The Gambia from 1976 to 1979 on a literacy project. He later joined the Peace Corps staff as the country representative in Tonga from 2012 to 2017. Jurmo discusses how he had to figure out what to do as a functional literacy advisor in the Gambia, and describes the large-scale adult literacy project he eventually developed in conjunction with the National Literacy Advisory Committee (based in the Gambian National Cultural Archives and a collaboration of multiple Gambian and international agencies). UNESCO recommended that the project be formalized, which led to the development of a new agency on non-formal education within the Department of Education. Jurmo also describes life in Pakalinging, the village in which he was initially stationed, and mentions the friends he made. He also talks about the impact that the Peace Corps had on his personal life and on his career in adult literacy, which led to a subsequent five-year stint running a Peace Corps English literacy project in Tonga, 33 years after his initial service. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, October 5, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).