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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-072
Ria O'Brien (now Edens) served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali from 2003 to 2005 in the water and sanitation sector. She did her training near Bamako, Mali, where she learned French and the Bamanankan tribal dialect. O'Brien lived in a Bamanan village with a host family and surveyed the needs of the village before starting her project. After a dialogue with the villagers, they decided on building a new well near the school. O'Brien recounts the building of a device used to lower her down into existing wells so she could assess soil composition and water levels. During this process, she began seeking funding for the well and training the villagers to build it. Interviewed and recorded by Ivan Browning, February 23, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
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).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-030
Maria del Carmen Moreno served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania and Mali from 1989 to 1992. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York, Moreno declined her first invitation to join the Peace Corps as an English teacher in Costa Rica. A few years later, after earning a master’s degree, she applied again and requested a placement in Francophone Africa. This time she accepted the invitation to serve in an agricultural program in Mauritania. Her training began with agricultural skills in Frogmore, South Carolina, and continued in Mauritania where she learned French and Arabic. Moreno's initial assignment was to encourage vegetable gardening in a remote desert hamlet, 13 hours from the capital city. However, her Arabic-speaking host family did not believe that women should undertake agricultural work. After several months, Moreno moved to the nearest town and found satisfying work teaching children about agriculture. However, in January 1991, Saddam Hussein sent his family to shelter in Mauritania, causing the Peace Corps Volunteers to be evacuated to Mali. Instead of terminating, Moreno decided to continue her service in Gao, Mali. A few months later, amid unrest and active gunfire in her town, she was evacuated again, to the city of Bamako. Upon conclusion of her service, Moreno was hired by Peace Corps to train new volunteers in both Mali and Mauritania. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file). Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, May 1, 2016.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-009
Richard H. Dalrymple served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali from June 1975 to May 1977 in a pit silo project. He was stationed in Gourma-Rharous on the Niger River in the Tombouctou region of the country. The project made it possible for forage grasses harvested during the rainy season to be stored and fed to cows during the following dry season, to provide nourishing milk for the children. Dalrymple worked with a counterpart for two years, and the pit silo technology continued to be used after he completed his service. He also worked on other projects including a non-profit restaurant that funded the planting of trees and the construction of sewage trenches. After the Peace Corps, Dalrymple worked for the United Nations World Food Program for 30 years. He states that it is important for all Americans to learn about the underdeveloped world and to support development. Interviewed and recorded by Christine Musa, October 11, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).