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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-069
Lisa Weiss served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine from 2005 to 2008 as a teacher. She later served in Peace Corps Response in Colombia in 2011. In Ukraine she underwent intensive Russian language training and technical training at a school 40 minutes outside of Kyiv. After three months of training, her site placement was in Feodosia, a small city located on the coast of the Black Sea in Crimea. She volunteered in a secondary school and taught content-based instruction in history and literature of English-speaking countries. She joined Peace Corps Response in 2011, and was part of the second group sent to Colombia after a 30-year absence from the country. She co-taught in Barranquilla at a school for the gifted and led professional development. At the close of the interview she cites that the Peace Corps made her more resilient and understanding of other cultures. Interviewed and recorded by Elaine Staab, December 7, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-009
Thomas (Tommy) H. Boyd served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from March 2010 to December 2012. With a background in youth development programs and teaching, Boyd was part of the 38th group of volunteers to serve in Ukraine and trained with a cluster of five volunteers in Semenivka. The highlight of his training was the opportunity to live with a Ukrainian family. Boyd was the only volunteer stationed in the small town of Rudky. He lived with a grandmother who was an excellent cook. He worked in the Rudkivska Secondary School where he was the only non-Ukrainian on the faculty, and set up creative after-school programs, including a "Candy for Cigarettes" exchange project run by students. Boyd also served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Kyiv from April 2013 until February 2014, when all volunteers were evacuated from the country due to safety concerns. Interviewed and recorded by Ivan Browning, October 20, 2015. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-034
Peggy Walton served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine from 1994 to 1996 as an English teacher trainer. She later also served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer there from 2013 to 2016. She joined the Peace Corps having worked as an English teacher at a community college. Her pre-service training was in Kyiv (Kiev) at the Labor Institute. Walton worked as a teacher trainer at the recertification institute in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), specifically with the Ukrainian English teachers. She found that their greatest need was speaking instruction, as they could teach grammar but many did not have practice speaking. In 2013, Walton returned to Ukraine with PC Response and was assigned to Lutsk. In 2014, she and all other volunteers in Ukraine were evacuated because of the revolution. She returned in 2015 to work at the teacher recertification institute in Uzhhorod for a year. Interviewed and recorded by Elaine Staab, November 2, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-126
Charles Forbus served as a Peace Corps volunteer in programs for five different countries and also as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Georgia. Forbus served in the U.S. Air Force after high school and had been inspired by John F. Kennedy's vision for the Peace Corps during the 1960 election, however he did not apply until after raising a family and retiring from AT&T. In 1997, he received his first assignment in Nepal, but had to resign for family-related reasons after completing pre-service training. He applied again and served in the Ukraine from 2002 to 2004 with an organization for disabled individuals, helping to automate record keeping at offices in Kiev and remote locations and providing computer training to the center's clients. In addition, he taught English as a secondary assignment. Next Forbus served in Honduras from 2011 to 2012 with one NGO that supported small farmers and another that supported people with HIV. That assignment was cut short when Peace Corps pulled out of the country due to unrest and security issues. Forbus applied again and was invited to serve in Madagascar in February 2013, but sustained a severe knee injury during training and was unable to continue in that program. In May 2014, he undertook a six-month Peace Corps Response assignment in the Republic of Georgia working with a youth organization to develop training programs in leadership, citizenship, and communications. Finally, Forbus served in Armenia from 2015 to 2017 working with locals to develop their tourism industry. The interview covers each assignment as well as the continuing impact of the Peace Corps on Forbus' life. Interviewed and recorded by Julius (Jay) Sztuk, August 3, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).