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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2017-015
Richard Elwell served as a Peace Corps evaluator in Washington, D.C., from 1962 to 1964, and then as country director in Niger from 1964 to 1966. He recounts that in the early days of the agency, it operated more on enthusiasm than expertise. Elwell reflects on the three goals of the Peace Corps, and states that he believes the United States and the volunteers ultimately got more out of the experience than the countries in which they served. He discusses the impact of Peace Corps teachers on the politics of their host countries. Finally, Elwell talks about how fortunate it was to have doctors and nurses serve as volunteers in Niger. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, 2 January 2017. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-049
Allyn K. Writesel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger from 1975 to 1977 on a health education project. She later served in Swaziland from 2015 to 2016 on an HIV/AIDS community health outreach project. In Niger, Writesel worked at a well-baby clinic in Filingue. She became fluent in both French and Hausa. In her second year, she moved to Abala to work at a smaller well-baby clinic. Because she was fluent in Hausa, she became a translator for a mobile clinic. Writesel rejoined the Peace Corps as a mature volunteer because of her continuing interest in global health. In Swaziland, she had a broad mandate to help with HIV/AIDS programs. She also worked on libraries and gardens at local schools. Writesel states that her Peace Corps experience formed the basis for her career, and also compares volunteering with and without technology. Interviewed and recorded by Tamatha Nibert, June 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-002
Debra E. (Debi) Pinkney served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger from 1998 to 2000 as a nutritionist with an emphasis on maternal-child health. She later worked on the Peace Corps staff for 8.5 years in Washington, D.C., Lesotho, and Cameroon. Pinkney had studied French, Spanish, and German before applying to the Peace Corps. Her training began in D.C. and continued in Hamdallaye, Niger. Despite intensive training in the Zharma (or Djerma) language, she was not adequately prepared for life in Kobia, a small village of about 300. She describes the negative reception she received and recalls moments when her Americanism clashed with the Songai; frustrations with being an African American serving in Africa; and a vacation with a Peace Corps colleague that left the two fighting for life and her feeling that her "black life did not matter." Pinkney also voices her criticism of the race issues that persist within the agency, but ultimately says that the Peace Corps was the toughest job she ever loved. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine V. Loriston, September 2, 2019. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-12-04-C
AR30, KN26
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. White House Staff Files of Harris Wofford
JFKWHSFHW-007-004
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-122a-006
This folder contains materials collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning Niger (officially known as the Republic of Niger). Materials in this folder include memoranda regarding Nigerien diplomatic representation to the United States and correspondence between President Kennedy and President Hamani Diori. This folder contains some French-language material.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. White House Staff Files of Sanford L. Fox
JFKWHSFSLF-004-005
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6520-A
President John F. Kennedy meets with Nigerien Ambassador to the United States Issoufou Saidou Djermakoye in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-128b-005-p0027
Portrait of Abdou Sidikou, Ambassador of Niger. The photograph accompanies a report entitled "Chiefs of Mission in Washington, 3/63." [Notes: The inscription on the verso reads, "Sidikou - Niger." Three holes are punched on right side of print.]
Collection
USPCPC
Photographs, 1961-1968 and undated. Black-and-white images of United States Peace Corps administrators and staff, both at headquarters and in the field, as well as images of volunteers working at their duty stations abroad. Photographers include Rowland Scherman, Paul Conklin and Abbie Rowe.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7618-A
President John F. Kennedy meets with newly-appointed Ambassador of Niger, Abdou Sidikou (left), in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, D.C.