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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-002-005
Alan Burrus was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Tonga I group. His degree is in pre-architecture. Burrus trained in Hawaii with groups for Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa. The Tonga Peace Corps Director developed a special assignment for an architect in the Public Works Department. Burrus designed, helped construct, and replicated simple schoolroom buildings, as well as other small scale projects throughout Tonga. He helped design a modest residence for the Peace Corps Director that later caused a modest scandal within Peace Corps/Washington. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 27, 2003. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-002-003
Jim Beverwyck served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1968 to 1970 in a secondary education project. He served alongside his wife Mary Parsaca. Beverwyck trained at the Teacher's College, Columbia University, with four weeks of intensive language courses, three weeks of home-stay in Brooklyn, and practice teaching in a Catholic school. Once in Kenya, Beverwyck taught at a secondary school. He states that they functioned well despite being remote from the Peace Corps, even with the birth of their child during service. He taught and was totally involved with the life of school, resisting the influences of a U.S. Protestant mission that started the school, which was now coming under government control. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 29, 2003. 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-MR-2003-024-001
Mari-Jo Woolfe (nee Decker) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1964 to 1966 in a variety of roles. She completed language training at UCLA, then spent four weeks in Puerto Rico, where she stayed with a family and practiced teaching. Her program was for TOEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in secondary schools but the project was designed with the expectation that the Peace Corps volunteer would use that as a base for community development. Her first year, Woolfe was assigned to a girls' high school, where she was minimally involved. She also worked as a nurse's aide in a local hospital, and tutored an evening program to adults in English. In her second year, Woolfe relocated and replaced a departing volunteer in a school for the blind, supervised an AID funded school lunch program, and working with a local women's knitting group. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, May 20, 2002. 3 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2003-007-002
Carol Crew served in Chile with a cooperative development program. She received intensive language training at Notre Dame, and in Puerto Rico on an extended home-stay in a small village. Her assignment was initially uncertain, however Crew ended up in Santiago doing television production of educational programs about cooperatives. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, September 24, 2002. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2003-007-001
Roger Brown was a Vietnam War-era Peace Corps volunteer, who preferred volunteer service because he was opposed to the war. He trained at the University of Arizona in Tucson, which included a family stay in South Tucson and a three week home-stay in Mexico. The language training was intense. Brown lived in La Concepcion, a small town outside of Maracaibo, Venezuela. After an uncertain first year, he became a traveling auditor for cooperatives, working closely with his Venezuelan counterpart. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, September 24, 2002. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-020-006
Isaiah Zagar served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru from 1964 to 1966. At the time he joined, he was an artist. Zagar was deselected in training, then re-selected. He served alongside his wife. The couple worked in various Peruvian locations and after six months, finally settled on helping to develop a crafts industry. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 26, 2002. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-020-003
Julia Mehrer served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1963 to 1964 in a community development program. She began training in November 1963, with a month in Puerto Rico at an Outward Bound school. The group then was split into urban and rural, and Mehrer went with the other rural volunteers to the UNESCO training center in Patzcuaro, Mexico. After working on various health and education projects for four months at her site in Saraguro, Ecuador, Mehrer became engaged to a former Peace Corps trainee. She married in August 1964 in Guayaquil and moved to Venezuela to work in urban community development with Accion. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 19, 2002. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-020-001
Roland H. Johnson served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1964 to 1966 as a land settlement officer. After graduating from Lincoln University, he worked for Peace Corps headquarters in classification and recruitment. He decided to join as a volunteer and trained at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with the Kenya I group. After additional in-country training at Kabete, Johnson was assigned to the Lessos settlement scheme in the highlands region to help manage farmland that was being transferred from European colonists back to the local Nandi tribe. As a settlement officer, he provided administrative and agricultural assistance to the farmers and the cooperative. He was also involved in building two bridges and planning a water system. At the end of his service, Johnson and another volunteer wrote a report evaluating the settlement project but their constructive criticism was poorly received by the Kenya government. In the interview, he also describes his experiences as a Black volunteer. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, April 26, 2002. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-016-017
Terry Vogt served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil working on rural electrification. Vogt was part of a specially recruited group from Harvard University. They did language training in Portuguese while still undergraduates, and completed in-country training in community development. The flexibility of his assignments reflects the huge number of Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Brazil. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, February 5, 2002. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-016-014
Joan Powell served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile from 1965 to 1967. She worked in the village of Tocopilla as a public health nurse. Interviewed by Mervin Adams, April 28, 1998, as part of a Northeastern University public history class. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file). An user's guide is available in Box 70, and one photograph has been transferred to the AV Department.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-016-013
Sylvia Pope served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala beginning in 1966 in a teaching program. She served alongside her husband Bill. The couple was assigned to teach English in Guatemala City. Interviewed and recorded by Paula McNult, June 3, 1998, as part of a Northeastern University public history class. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file). An user's guide is available in Box 70.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-016-010
Joel Meister served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru from 1964 to 1965 in a school nutrition program. He started with a school breakfast program using Agency for International Development (AID) food supplies, and later branched out into community development. Meister befriended a sixteen year old boy, Alejandro Toledo, who later became the President of Peru in 1999. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, January 22 and February 12, 2002. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-029
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. Carolyn Payton served as a Peace Corps staff member in various locations from 1964 to 1970, and later as the Director of the U.S. Peace Corps from 1978 to 1979. Interviewed in person, February 3, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-011
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." Leon D. Dash served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1969 to 1970. Interviewed in person, January 13, 1994. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-007
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. David Closson served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda from 1966 to 1968. Interviewed by phone, February 1, 1994. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-001
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. Walter Agers served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria from 1966 to 1968. Interviewed by phone, January 31, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-008
Ruth Ann Van Hala (then Stanonik) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India from 1965 to 1968 on a poultry project. She trained at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, with the India 16 group, and learned Hindi and how to care for chickens. Due to political instability in India at the time the group was due to depart, they were temporarily sent to a kibbutz in Israel instead. Van Hala was then stationed in Satara in Maharashtra state in central India, where she worked with a poultry project sponsored by the Indian government with funding from USAID. The project was intended to encourage people to raise chickens and to introduce eggs into their diets, which was challenging due to cultural norms. At the end of her first year, Ruth married fellow volunteer Marcus Van Hala and moved to Udaipur. Note: Interview ends abruptly. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, November 17, 2001. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-007
Marcus Van Hala served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India from 1965 to 1968 on a poultry project. Van Hala was on track to become a minister when he decided to apply to Peace Corps in order to broaden his outlook. He trained at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, with the India 16 group, and appreciated the discipline of the physical education component. Due to political instability in India at the time the group was due to depart, they were temporarily sent to a kibbutz in Israel instead. Van Hala was then stationed in Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan in western India, where he worked to sign up more farmers for the poultry cooperative society, opened an egg store in town, and introduced barbeque as a way to encourage people to eat more chicken. At the end of the first year, Marcus married fellow volunteer Ruth Stanonik and they then served an additional two years as a couple. Note: Interview ends abruptly. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, November 17, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-006
Barbara Straub served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana from 1962 to 1964 as a chemistry teacher. She was part of the Ghana II group. She trained at UC Berkeley in the Twi language with a stint in the Oakland emergency room. Straub was assigned to the prestigious Aburi Girls Secondary School, a Presbyterian mission school, which had almost 100 percent expatriate staff. She taught general science, chemistry, and physical education, and sponsored the newspaper club. She developed her own teaching methods to promote understanding of the scientific principles, rather than just rote learning. Despite having a degree from Stanford, Straub had to contend with the headmistress' notion that Peace Corps volunteers were underqualified. She also discusses her bout with malaria and local reaction to the Kennedy assassination. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, December 2, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-005
Nancy Deeds Meister served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru from 1964 to 1965 in a community development project. She befriended a sixteen year old boy, Alejandro Toledo, whose family Meister lived with. Alejandro Toledo later became President of Peru in 1999. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, October 13, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-004
Phil Lopes served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1961 to 1963 on a community development project. He was first assigned to Santa Cruz, Santander Del Sur, where he worked at the Rockefeller Foundation Station. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, October 15, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-003
Pamela Lopes served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brasilia, Brazil, at an urban community development and social services foundation. She later became the Country Co-Director for Brazil (1978-1980). Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, October 13, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-002
Thomas (Tom) Bruyneel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1964 to 1966 as a land settlement officer. He was part of the first group sent to Kenya, one year after the country gained independence. His training at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee focused on the Swahili language and featured lectures by well-known African scholars. In Kenya, Bruyneel worked for the Ministry of Lands and Settlement to administer settlement schemes where native people were being resettled on farmland previously held by British colonialists. He was first stationed at the Lietego scheme outside the town of Sotik, where he worked with the Kisii tribe. After about six months, he also assumed management of the much larger Manga scheme. Bruyneel's duties as settlement officer included cooperative development, agricultural outreach, crop management, and general administrative tasks. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, November 18, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-1996-032-010
Anita Turner served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1982 to 1984. Turner was stationed in Nairobi with the USAID office and worked with the Kenyan government and other organizations as a management training specialist in regional housing and urban development. In this capacity, she created and administered a low-cost housing program. Interviewed and recorded by Susan Goganian, May 24, 1994, as part of a Northeastern University public history class. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file). A user's guide and transcript are available in Box 93.