[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We had little cabins that were thin walled and they were complete with little geckos on the wall. And I was not friendly with lizards or any of that, so I had to get used to that. Lots of rain. But it was fun. It was, it was just.

[Assistant] As you reflect back on it, do you feel that the training was appropriate for the circumstances that you would later find yourself in?

[User] I think that it was. I think that we probably could have used, um. Oh, the language training was excellent. They were using the Foreign Service Institute method of memorizing and repeating dialogs, and it stuck, like memorizing a script. And so I think that we were learning to establish cooperatives. And my husband was very active in that when we got to Honduras, so that was good. We learned a little bookkeeping for that, double entry bookkeeping.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] We had excellent trainers. The language staff was really good. They took great pains to make sure that we had a representation of people from all over the Spanish speaking world, which was very nice.

[Assistant] At the time you went into the Peace Corps, what background did you bring at that point? Did you bring rural background or, um, what had you done prior to joining the Peace Corps?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think that it was. I think that we probably could have used, um. Oh, the language training was excellent. They were using the Foreign Service Institute method of memorizing and repeating dialogs, and it stuck, like memorizing a script. And so I think that we were learning to establish cooperatives. And my husband was very active in that when we got to Honduras, so that was good. We learned a little bookkeeping for that, double entry bookkeeping.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] We had excellent trainers. The language staff was really good. They took great pains to make sure that we had a representation of people from all over the Spanish speaking world, which was very nice.

[Assistant] At the time you went into the Peace Corps, what background did you bring at that point? Did you bring rural background or, um, what had you done prior to joining the Peace Corps?

[User] I had not done much. I had worked. I had jobs. The secretaries had worked at the medical clinic in Santa Barbara. I was a newly naturalized citizen.

[Assistant] And a newly naturalized citizen from?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I had not done much. I had worked. I had jobs. The secretaries had worked at the medical clinic in Santa Barbara. I was a newly naturalized citizen.

[Assistant] And a newly naturalized citizen from?

[User] From England. And I had not really wanted to do that, but I had done it sort of under duress. But I was advised in the courthouse that because my mother had been naturalized, that I should be. I was traveling to Australia and I needed a passport. And so I did a quickie naturalization thing down at the Federal building in Los Angeles. And I'd been a poli sci major. I had an AA degree from City College at that point and I was working in Head Start. I was a newlywed and thinking of going back to school. And then the whole Peace Corps concept arose in our lives and we were very excited to do it.

[Assistant] Right. Right.

[User] We definitely subscribed to the ideals.

[Assistant] Right. So after three months of training in Puerto Rico, you and roughly 80 others.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] From England. And I had not really wanted to do that, but I had done it sort of under duress. But I was advised in the courthouse that because my mother had been naturalized, that I should be. I was traveling to Australia and I needed a passport. And so I did a quickie naturalization thing down at the Federal building in Los Angeles. And I'd been a poli sci major. I had an AA degree from City College at that point and I was working in Head Start. I was a newlywed and thinking of going back to school. And then the whole Peace Corps concept arose in our lives and we were very excited to do it.

[Assistant] Right. Right.

[User] We definitely subscribed to the ideals.

[Assistant] Right. So after three months of training in Puerto Rico, you and roughly 80 others.

[User] Something like that.

[Assistant] Headed to Honduras. And when did you actually arrive in Honduras?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think the middle of June.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] Because at the time that we were in Miami, it was the Seven Day War in Israel. And I remember people hopping around on the beach, retirees complaining about whether the hot sand was worse than the [inaudible]. So that marked our time there. We weren't there for very long, a few days. Just kind of regrouping.

[Assistant] Yeah, right.

[User] Getting ready to.

[Assistant] So what are your first impressions of arriving in Honduras?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Because at the time that we were in Miami, it was the Seven Day War in Israel. And I remember people hopping around on the beach, retirees complaining about whether the hot sand was worse than the [inaudible]. So that marked our time there. We weren't there for very long, a few days. Just kind of regrouping.

[Assistant] Yeah, right.

[User] Getting ready to.

[Assistant] So what are your first impressions of arriving in Honduras?

[User] Well, we flew into the capital and it was, um, Tegucigalpa is much cooler than the north coast where we were assigned. We found out our assignments and we had asked to be on the coast. And sure enough, they sent us up to the north coast. We were sent to Puerto Cortes. I think when we arrived we probably stayed in Tegucigalpa for a few days as we got organized and transportation was arranged for us to all be sent out to our sites. Some went over land. We actually flew from Tegucigalpa up to San Pedro Sula, and, um, when we got off the plane in San Pedro, it was, it was like opening the door to an oven and you just kind of stay there.

[Assistant] Uh huh, uh huh.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Getting ready to.

[Assistant] So what are your first impressions of arriving in Honduras?

[User] Well, we flew into the capital and it was, um, Tegucigalpa is much cooler than the north coast where we were assigned. We found out our assignments and we had asked to be on the coast. And sure enough, they sent us up to the north coast. We were sent to Puerto Cortes. I think when we arrived we probably stayed in Tegucigalpa for a few days as we got organized and transportation was arranged for us to all be sent out to our sites. Some went over land. We actually flew from Tegucigalpa up to San Pedro Sula, and, um, when we got off the plane in San Pedro, it was, it was like opening the door to an oven and you just kind of stay there.

[Assistant] Uh huh, uh huh.

[User] It was so hot.

[Assistant] Right. Now, were you the only ones that were assigned to that location?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Well, we flew into the capital and it was, um, Tegucigalpa is much cooler than the north coast where we were assigned. We found out our assignments and we had asked to be on the coast. And sure enough, they sent us up to the north coast. We were sent to Puerto Cortes. I think when we arrived we probably stayed in Tegucigalpa for a few days as we got organized and transportation was arranged for us to all be sent out to our sites. Some went over land. We actually flew from Tegucigalpa up to San Pedro Sula, and, um, when we got off the plane in San Pedro, it was, it was like opening the door to an oven and you just kind of stay there.

[Assistant] Uh huh, uh huh.

[User] It was so hot.

[Assistant] Right. Now, were you the only ones that were assigned to that location?

[User] We were the only ones that were assigned to Puerto Cortes. But there were a few other people that were in San Pedro and there were, um, people in places around. But we were the only ones there.

[Assistant] Had any other Peace Corps volunteers preceded you in that area?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] It was so hot.

[Assistant] Right. Now, were you the only ones that were assigned to that location?

[User] We were the only ones that were assigned to Puerto Cortes. But there were a few other people that were in San Pedro and there were, um, people in places around. But we were the only ones there.

[Assistant] Had any other Peace Corps volunteers preceded you in that area?

[User] Yes, they had. There was a couple from New York, Bill and Judy Grann, I think their name was, G-R-A-N-N, and they were leaving just as we were arriving.

[Assistant] So were you taking their assignment, so to speak, or just? It was a different?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] I don't even know what their assignment was. We just got there and checked into the hotel on the main square and set about finding a place to live. And we pretty much did everything on foot. Cortes was at that point the fourth largest city in the country. It was 28,000 population, and Honduras was maybe six or 7 million. It's about the size of Mississippi. So it was bigger, Los Angeles, greater Los Angeles area had more population than the country. And that's, uh, the infrastructure wasn't developed back in the sixties.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Which is why we were flown up to the north. But what a sweet country.

[Assistant] What are your memories of arriving at your Cortes, your assignment city?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Which is why we were flown up to the north. But what a sweet country.

[Assistant] What are your memories of arriving at your Cortes, your assignment city?

[User]
Yeah. We were given our assignments in Tegucigalpa, and four women, I was one of four who were assigned to the Honduran welfare agency, was going to start up a comedor infantil. And so I was happy to have that assignment because I kind of liked the idea of framework more than just going out and creating something. So the impressions that I had of arriving in Cortez was, um, there was one paved street that went through. Everything else was dirt road. It was a port city. It is a port city. A lot of bananas exported from there. It's a little smaller than La Ceiba, the big port city in the north. But nonetheless, it was very active, um, very tropical.

The bus ride directly north from San Pedro Sula up to Puerto Cortes was pure jungle, both sides of the bus. And I can just still smell that diesel from the bus and the stops along the way. And little kids with big trays held over their heads coming down the aisle of the bus, selling their food, snacks.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Those little open face kind of tostada sort of things. Just so cute. Um. I was a little bewildered. How are we going to survive this heat? How is this going to be possible? But we, we were a good team and we found a nice place to live way up on stilts because of the rainy season. Lots of people, lots and lots of the houses were up on stilts and ours was up really high. It was high enough that you could consider the underneath of it a ground floor if you wanted to and.

[Assistant] How did you find your house and why did you choose that one?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] On foot, walking around, looking, word of mouth, asking for things. We had found one that was out way on the outskirts, but we didn't want to be out. We wanted to be in the, we wanted to be centrally located kind of thing. And so we took this one. It was 60 lempiras a month, $30 a month. It had two bedrooms, way more space than two people with no children needed. And we just furnished it in rustic ways. We built our bed and got straw mats and put them down, a couple of straw mats in the living room. And noticed that when people would come to visit us, they would always walk around the mats. And then we realized those are used for beds. You wouldn't walk right across somebody's bed. We were using it as a rug.

[Assistant] Right. Did you have running water and electricity?

[User] We had running water and we had electricity. We had cold water. We didn't have any hot water. And the house was built right next to another one. The roofs met in the middle and whenever there was heavy rain, it just poured down the valley of the two roofs. And we'd often go down there in bathing suits and have a really great shower down there because the force of the water was enormous. And then sure enough, the back yard would fill up and it would just be kind of a swamp. There was, uh, outside of the living room window, there was a palm tree and a roof, right, a tin roof. And there was an iguana that would come and bask in the sun on the top of that roof. And then I guess he'd go back via the palm tree. I'm not sure what he did, but I made peace with reptiles. I got some practice in training.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Little geckos on the wall.

[Assistant] Right, right. What about cooking?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We had running water and we had electricity. We had cold water. We didn't have any hot water. And the house was built right next to another one. The roofs met in the middle and whenever there was heavy rain, it just poured down the valley of the two roofs. And we'd often go down there in bathing suits and have a really great shower down there because the force of the water was enormous. And then sure enough, the back yard would fill up and it would just be kind of a swamp. There was, uh, outside of the living room window, there was a palm tree and a roof, right, a tin roof. And there was an iguana that would come and bask in the sun on the top of that roof. And then I guess he'd go back via the palm tree. I'm not sure what he did, but I made peace with reptiles. I got some practice in training.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Little geckos on the wall.

[Assistant] Right, right. What about cooking?

[User] Cooking. What we did was we bought a kerosene stove, and we were given a water filter, Peace Corps issued, along with bicycles and a book locker. And so we just used that. And every now and again, I don't know if you had a kerosene burning stove when you were in Malawi, but sometimes they would just kind of go poof and whatever was on top was just covered with this black, greasy soot.

[Assistant] So did you and your husband both do the cooking?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Little geckos on the wall.

[Assistant] Right, right. What about cooking?

[User] Cooking. What we did was we bought a kerosene stove, and we were given a water filter, Peace Corps issued, along with bicycles and a book locker. And so we just used that. And every now and again, I don't know if you had a kerosene burning stove when you were in Malawi, but sometimes they would just kind of go poof and whatever was on top was just covered with this black, greasy soot.

[Assistant] So did you and your husband both do the cooking?

[User] Um, I think I probably did most of it. We didn't have a refrigerator, but we had, uh. He built a little cage with wood and netting for the food that we, you know, like whatever things, nonperishable things that we would keep, to keep the cucarachas out. I've never seen cockroaches that long. We'd measure them, you know, two and a half inches. No problem. And we discovered that they would eat, they'd get into the dirty clothes basket and eat. If you had food spilled on a T-shirt, there would be holes where the food had been.

[Assistant] Oh my goodness.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Cooking. What we did was we bought a kerosene stove, and we were given a water filter, Peace Corps issued, along with bicycles and a book locker. And so we just used that. And every now and again, I don't know if you had a kerosene burning stove when you were in Malawi, but sometimes they would just kind of go poof and whatever was on top was just covered with this black, greasy soot.

[Assistant] So did you and your husband both do the cooking?

[User] Um, I think I probably did most of it. We didn't have a refrigerator, but we had, uh. He built a little cage with wood and netting for the food that we, you know, like whatever things, nonperishable things that we would keep, to keep the cucarachas out. I've never seen cockroaches that long. We'd measure them, you know, two and a half inches. No problem. And we discovered that they would eat, they'd get into the dirty clothes basket and eat. If you had food spilled on a T-shirt, there would be holes where the food had been.

[Assistant] Oh my goodness.

[User] They would get in and just.

[Assistant] Do their thing.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They would get in and just.

[Assistant] Do their thing.

[User] Do their thing, just eat whatever was there. And there would be a time in the year when they would fly. They'd come out at night and there was no getting rid of them. You know, they were just part of the scene.

[Assistant] Right. Right.

[User] But you get used to that kind of thing. What I did was go to the market every day, particularly, and get what we were going to have and prepare it. And that was that. We lived very simply.

[Assistant] Yeah. In terms of the work you ended up doing. Can you describe, you know, how you launched your projects and what they were like?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think there were maybe 90 or something like that. It was a big group when everyone came. I had a much smaller group. But what happened was that I, um, in visiting in the evening, my husband and I went out and we're kind of trying to visit the city elders and introduce ourselves. And we went to see Dr. Pena and he was the head of the health center. And this was also a government run health center. And he was so thrilled to meet volunteers. He apparently hadn't met the ones that had been there, that were already there, and they left as soon as we had come. I don't know what their assignments were even, but he invited me to bring those children that I had over a period of months to give them physicals.

[Assistant] Hmm.

[User] And then in the afternoon, and I would only be able to take maybe five at a time, in the afternoon I would go with the nurse from the health center, Estellita. And we would go and find their mothers. And we discussed nutrition and birth control, and he invited me to make available to them IUDs.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] I have always been very sorry that I didn't keep a journal of all of this because it was so fascinating. There wasn't one child that wasn't severely anemic. Lots of them had parasites. When we'd go to see the mothers, some of them, they were so young and they looked so old, and some of them didn't know whether they'd had 11 children and two had died, or if they'd had 12 children and three had died, that kind of thing. They pretty much had a baby a year and they were very suspicious of me discussing birth control. Um, I was 21. I was a definite gringa. I was very blond. I was, I had no children of my own.

[Assistant] Mm hmm. And you lacked credibility?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And then in the afternoon, and I would only be able to take maybe five at a time, in the afternoon I would go with the nurse from the health center, Estellita. And we would go and find their mothers. And we discussed nutrition and birth control, and he invited me to make available to them IUDs.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] I have always been very sorry that I didn't keep a journal of all of this because it was so fascinating. There wasn't one child that wasn't severely anemic. Lots of them had parasites. When we'd go to see the mothers, some of them, they were so young and they looked so old, and some of them didn't know whether they'd had 11 children and two had died, or if they'd had 12 children and three had died, that kind of thing. They pretty much had a baby a year and they were very suspicious of me discussing birth control. Um, I was 21. I was a definite gringa. I was very blond. I was, I had no children of my own.

[Assistant] Mm hmm. And you lacked credibility?

[User] I lacked credibility. And they were just suspicious. And with infant mortality being so high, they didn't want to not surround themselves with their own children.

[Assistant] Mm hmm. Mm hmm.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They didn't want to suddenly not have children if they were going to be losing them.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] At a steady rate. And at that point they, Honduras was the country of 30 percent, it was 30 percent literacy, 30 percent infant mortality. I think the statistics, from what I've seen on the internet, those statistics have changed dramatically, which is really a good thing.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] So I worked with those kids in those families, and we would bring nutritional tips to them. But people only did what they could do anyway. It wasn't that they weren't feeding their children properly because they didn't know how. It's because they couldn't. You know, the.

[Assistant] Just the economics?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So I worked with those kids in those families, and we would bring nutritional tips to them. But people only did what they could do anyway. It wasn't that they weren't feeding their children properly because they didn't know how. It's because they couldn't. You know, the.

[Assistant] Just the economics?

[User] The economics were so severe.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] It was hand-to-mouth and it didn't go around.

[Assistant] Right. Did you continue to do that same work throughout your two years?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] The economics were so severe.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] It was hand-to-mouth and it didn't go around.

[Assistant] Right. Did you continue to do that same work throughout your two years?

[User] Well, here's what happened. We had our annual conference.

[Assistant] Stop just a second.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] It was hand-to-mouth and it didn't go around.

[Assistant] Right. Did you continue to do that same work throughout your two years?

[User] Well, here's what happened. We had our annual conference.

[Assistant] Stop just a second.

[User] Okay.

[Assistant]
We had our first year conference in Tegucigalpa. All of the Group XIII volunteers were there, and the four of us who were assigned to the national welfare agency were invited to go and speak to the director in her office in the capital. It was a very auspicious meeting and she told us to speak freely and tell us what was going on. And she wanted our observations. And what I had observed and subsequently shared with her, I've kind of questioned that ever since, CARE products were being sold around the town. And often these little tiendas, little chitas they were called, um, you'd see cans of oil with the flag and the symbol of hands across the sea. And it seemed really wrong to me and I shared that. And when I shared that, the result was that CARE pulled its products out. It stopped supporting that comedor infantil.

Do you think that was as a direct result of your comment?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Well, here's what happened. We had our annual conference.

[Assistant] Stop just a second.

[User] Okay.

[Assistant]
We had our first year conference in Tegucigalpa. All of the Group XIII volunteers were there, and the four of us who were assigned to the national welfare agency were invited to go and speak to the director in her office in the capital. It was a very auspicious meeting and she told us to speak freely and tell us what was going on. And she wanted our observations. And what I had observed and subsequently shared with her, I've kind of questioned that ever since, CARE products were being sold around the town. And often these little tiendas, little chitas they were called, um, you'd see cans of oil with the flag and the symbol of hands across the sea. And it seemed really wrong to me and I shared that. And when I shared that, the result was that CARE pulled its products out. It stopped supporting that comedor infantil.

Do you think that was as a direct result of your comment?

[User] A direct result. And so.

[Assistant] How would CARE?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Exactly.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] Exactly. And these people were bilingual because they spoke their Garifuna, their Moreno language, and they all spoke Spanish and some of them spoke English. There was quite a bit of English there on the coast with the shipping and everything. But what happened to us was that, um, I got pregnant. I got pregnant with the full knowledge of our Peace Corps doctor and everything. And we had just kind of calculated and thought it would be really great to have a baby and share it with the people. And they were always asking, are you brother and sister, what's wrong with you? That kind of thing. And, um, the Peace Corps director changed and the new director did not want to have a rash of babies, which is understandable. And so he terminated us early. We were terminated in February. We should have gone in May.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] And so what we did was we appealed it and we went to Washington. And after a lot of wrangling, they sent us back.

[Assistant] How long did that process take?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Exactly. And these people were bilingual because they spoke their Garifuna, their Moreno language, and they all spoke Spanish and some of them spoke English. There was quite a bit of English there on the coast with the shipping and everything. But what happened to us was that, um, I got pregnant. I got pregnant with the full knowledge of our Peace Corps doctor and everything. And we had just kind of calculated and thought it would be really great to have a baby and share it with the people. And they were always asking, are you brother and sister, what's wrong with you? That kind of thing. And, um, the Peace Corps director changed and the new director did not want to have a rash of babies, which is understandable. And so he terminated us early. We were terminated in February. We should have gone in May.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] And so what we did was we appealed it and we went to Washington. And after a lot of wrangling, they sent us back.

[Assistant] How long did that process take?

[User] I think we were there for six weeks. So February, March, April, they were, we arrived back in April.

[Assistant] And the baby was due in?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think we were there for six weeks. So February, March, April, they were, we arrived back in April.

[Assistant] And the baby was due in?

[User] It was due in May.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] But it was late. It came in June. Yeah, it was almost, I mean, it was kind of crazy. I don't think that would happen now.

[Assistant] Reinstating you, you mean?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] But we went back on the condition that we would extend for a couple of months and that we would live and work in the capital because they felt that that would be safer conditions. Better to have the baby there. And so, um, that's what we did. And I worked in the Peace Corps office.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] And I was overdue and I hardly missed any time at all. And the director was so angry every time he'd see me, I could see him just seething. And then right away, as soon as the baby was born, I was just back at work. We had a little crib she was in. I was typing up the termination reports on Group XIII.

[Assistant] Huh.

[User] We came back in time for our termination conference, so we were able to.

[Assistant] And you attended it?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We came back in time for our termination conference, so we were able to.

[Assistant] And you attended it?

[User] We attended it. And we were able to say goodbye to all of our friends, and they were just so astounded that there we were. And then they all left and we stayed. And our baby was born just at the time when Honduras and El Salvador went to war. They had that brief soccer war in 1969. It was over territory, but it was, the event that sparked it was a soccer game. And this was World Cup qualifying games and they ended up having to play the deciding match in Mexico City because it wasn't safe to play it in either of the two countries. And so we had a curfew at night and a blackout and we had to just use a little candle and that baby would wake up at night and we'd, you know, sequester ourselves and blacken everything and sit by candlelight.

[Assistant] Huh.

[User] And feed her and change her diapers. And it was so unusual. It was just surreal.

[Assistant] Right. Were, um.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We attended it. And we were able to say goodbye to all of our friends, and they were just so astounded that there we were. And then they all left and we stayed. And our baby was born just at the time when Honduras and El Salvador went to war. They had that brief soccer war in 1969. It was over territory, but it was, the event that sparked it was a soccer game. And this was World Cup qualifying games and they ended up having to play the deciding match in Mexico City because it wasn't safe to play it in either of the two countries. And so we had a curfew at night and a blackout and we had to just use a little candle and that baby would wake up at night and we'd, you know, sequester ourselves and blacken everything and sit by candlelight.

[Assistant] Huh.

[User] And feed her and change her diapers. And it was so unusual. It was just surreal.

[Assistant] Right. Were, um.

[User] Because the capital was where a lot of the action was.

[Assistant] Yeah, I'm trying to remember, as I recollect in the late sixties, Peace Corps had a family policy. They were recruiting families into the Peace Corps.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And feed her and change her diapers. And it was so unusual. It was just surreal.

[Assistant] Right. Were, um.

[User] Because the capital was where a lot of the action was.

[Assistant] Yeah, I'm trying to remember, as I recollect in the late sixties, Peace Corps had a family policy. They were recruiting families into the Peace Corps.

[User] Well, I had friends who were in.

[Assistant] Were you the only family, though, in Honduras?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes. Isn't that unusual?

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] I could polish it and it would be very shiny. This is the in- country newspaper that our, one of our volunteers did. And this is just a montage here. There I am very pregnant.

[Assistant] Oh.

[User] This is when Nelson, maybe Jack Vaughn came to visit, but Nelson Rockefeller also came to visit. And there's an article in here about him. I would be really happy to copy that whole thing if you want to send it with the tapes.

[Assistant] Actually, um, actually, that is, I think that the archives might be interested in this, but that is something that I would direct. Have you discussed directly with the archivist?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I could polish it and it would be very shiny. This is the in- country newspaper that our, one of our volunteers did. And this is just a montage here. There I am very pregnant.

[Assistant] Oh.

[User] This is when Nelson, maybe Jack Vaughn came to visit, but Nelson Rockefeller also came to visit. And there's an article in here about him. I would be really happy to copy that whole thing if you want to send it with the tapes.

[Assistant] Actually, um, actually, that is, I think that the archives might be interested in this, but that is something that I would direct. Have you discussed directly with the archivist?

[User] Oh, okay.

[Assistant] Yeah, they've asked us to do it that way, so, but yes, I would think this would be something that, um, that the archives would be very interested in.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, okay.

[Assistant] Yeah, they've asked us to do it that way, so, but yes, I would think this would be something that, um, that the archives would be very interested in.

[User] Yeah, there's some interesting politics in here.

[Assistant] Uh huh.

[User] There's a story that we wrote about our experience, “La Catracha That Almost Wasn't.”

[Assistant] Oh, okay, uh huh.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And then this, this is the really interesting thing is Nelson Rockefeller came down and one of the, um. There was a group of nurses who came down after we were there. And this one, Bonnie Hagan, actually came and stayed with us for a while when she first got to Cortes.

[Assistant] Uh huh.

[User] I can't remember if she was just there for a little while and then went to a different site, or if she found a place and stayed living in Cortes.

[Assistant] Uh huh.

[User] But she kind of spearheaded a meeting with Rockefeller. And I just read this the other night when, you know, preparing for today. And he was very savvy. He didn't choose to meet one-on-one and just have a lot of questions from volunteers. He invited a specific number to come and be one at a table at a luncheon so that that way he could hear from his people. He could get more information that way so that each volunteer would be sharing with table mates that information would be relayed back to him.

[Assistant] Huh. Uh huh.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I can't remember if she was just there for a little while and then went to a different site, or if she found a place and stayed living in Cortes.

[Assistant] Uh huh.

[User] But she kind of spearheaded a meeting with Rockefeller. And I just read this the other night when, you know, preparing for today. And he was very savvy. He didn't choose to meet one-on-one and just have a lot of questions from volunteers. He invited a specific number to come and be one at a table at a luncheon so that that way he could hear from his people. He could get more information that way so that each volunteer would be sharing with table mates that information would be relayed back to him.

[Assistant] Huh. Uh huh.

[User] Kind of interesting.

[Assistant] Right, right. As you reflect back on your two years, um, is there anything in terms of a negative situation that stands out in your mind?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] The biggest negative for me was busting the lady that I worked for at the comedor.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] And, um, it was just kind of, I think I was just ill advised in doing that.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] Because I just, I, I can't blame her for what she was doing and I blame myself for that food source being removed. And it was so critical.

[Assistant] Probably growing out of the cultural differences.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Because I just, I, I can't blame her for what she was doing and I blame myself for that food source being removed. And it was so critical.

[Assistant] Probably growing out of the cultural differences.

[User] I think so. I mean, I thought that I was doing the right thing.

[Assistant] Right, right.

[User] And you know, in retrospect, I don't think I would. I would do that differently.

[Assistant] And the flip of that, and the flip of that question, what stands out as a real highlight of your experience?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think so. I mean, I thought that I was doing the right thing.

[Assistant] Right, right.

[User] And you know, in retrospect, I don't think I would. I would do that differently.

[Assistant] And the flip of that, and the flip of that question, what stands out as a real highlight of your experience?

[User] Children. Making friends with the children who used to come and play all the time. They were just so cute. I look back on some slides and just these darling little kids.

[Assistant] Did you make, um, friends with like counterpart types of people, people that you've retained a relationship with?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] There's no way of knowing. And the mail, you just, you know, name the barrio that people live in, and that's the address. So it's kind of sketchy. We had a couple of estado de sitio, state of siege situations. Elections go awry and military clampdowns and that, and the actual war with Salvador were kind of hair-raising situations because there were vigilante groups. And it was, it was certainly wise to be really cautious. I'm not a daredevil.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] My husband was a very productive volunteer. He worked in co-ops. He'd been an econ major and he just took to that, helping people develop businesses. He worked with the local bus route in Cortes, just the city bus that, it was kind of a long stretched out city. And then it would travel to the little barrios around. And they all got together and they formed an actual route so that they, they made some advances. It was no longer as haphazard as it had been.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] And then he worked with another group of bus drivers who had a route that went out to the Guatemala border. You went right along, it just was a west, directly west to the Guatemala border. And they actually bought a bus. They banded together and they bought a bus, a used school bus from, it came out of New Orleans and was shipped down. And so that was wonderful. It was very, very exciting for everyone. And then he also worked with the fishermen and they formed a co-op and they bought a freezer.

[Assistant] Ah, uh huh.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] My husband was a very productive volunteer. He worked in co-ops. He'd been an econ major and he just took to that, helping people develop businesses. He worked with the local bus route in Cortes, just the city bus that, it was kind of a long stretched out city. And then it would travel to the little barrios around. And they all got together and they formed an actual route so that they, they made some advances. It was no longer as haphazard as it had been.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] And then he worked with another group of bus drivers who had a route that went out to the Guatemala border. You went right along, it just was a west, directly west to the Guatemala border. And they actually bought a bus. They banded together and they bought a bus, a used school bus from, it came out of New Orleans and was shipped down. And so that was wonderful. It was very, very exciting for everyone. And then he also worked with the fishermen and they formed a co-op and they bought a freezer.

[Assistant] Ah, uh huh.

[User] So that was just tremendous strides. And the pride and excitement that went with these groups that they were able to work together was, it was just thrilling to see. You know, they'd paint signs for the fishermen and cooperativa pesquera de Puerto Cortes. And it was a lot of excitement with that, a lot of pride.

[Assistant] And was he able to do that same kind of work once you were transferred into the city?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] When he went to Tegucigalpa, they assigned him to the agrarian reform agency, INA [Instituto Nacional Agrario]. And he went, he had a great time there. He didn't work with co-ops at all. He worked with maybe public information, I'm not sure. But he went out a couple of times on trips, taking transformers and projectors and visiting remote sites. And it was all to do with agrarian reform. He was there for such a short time, you know, just a couple of months that, I don't know. He probably was learning more than he was imparting.

[Assistant] Right, right.

[User] Speaking of transformers, one of the best things that I ever did was to bring films from the USIS. Took a projector and a transformer and had a few film evenings for the parents of the children in the comedor. And the very favorite one was one about Jackie Kennedy.

[Assistant] Huh.

[User] And it was her trip to India with her sister. And the people just loved it. Just loved it. It was just.

[Assistant] What did they relate to, do you think?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] For free.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] In the children's school.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Was just such an unusual thing. It was, it was a great success.

[Assistant] Yes. Yes. Have you ever been back to Honduras since you left?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] In the children's school.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Was just such an unusual thing. It was, it was a great success.

[Assistant] Yes. Yes. Have you ever been back to Honduras since you left?

[User] No, I haven't.

[Assistant] You think you will?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] No, I haven't.

[Assistant] You think you will?

[User] I think I will, I want to very much. My daughter Hillary, who was born there, and her younger sister did go. But they got stuck in the Bay of Islands getting licensed for scuba instead of making their way into the campo. I have discussed going back with the lady who was in my group. We've talked about it a few times. Maybe one of these years soon we will.

[Assistant] Right, right.

[User] When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras in '97 or whenever that was, maybe '98, it crisscrossed two or three times and just devastated the whole country. I, um, I contacted. What's the name of that, Power Bar people? They're right up here in the industrial park. I asked them if they would donate. I'm so embarrassed I can't remember the name right now. I wrote to The News-Press editorial letter to the editor. They donated a pallet of these pre-wrapped nutrition bars.

[Assistant] Uh huh. That's great.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think I will, I want to very much. My daughter Hillary, who was born there, and her younger sister did go. But they got stuck in the Bay of Islands getting licensed for scuba instead of making their way into the campo. I have discussed going back with the lady who was in my group. We've talked about it a few times. Maybe one of these years soon we will.

[Assistant] Right, right.

[User] When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras in '97 or whenever that was, maybe '98, it crisscrossed two or three times and just devastated the whole country. I, um, I contacted. What's the name of that, Power Bar people? They're right up here in the industrial park. I asked them if they would donate. I'm so embarrassed I can't remember the name right now. I wrote to The News-Press editorial letter to the editor. They donated a pallet of these pre-wrapped nutrition bars.

[Assistant] Uh huh. That's great.

[User] I can't remember the name right now.

[Assistant] I'm not sure I can pull it up either.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I can't remember the name right now.

[Assistant] I'm not sure I can pull it up either.

[User] Yeah, but it's one of those nutrition bars.

[Assistant] Mm hmm.

[User] So that was wonderful. And I got shipped down Jack's Bagels here. There was a drop off spot for donations. And so.

[Assistant] And you put that all together?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They were already doing that. I had a cook from Honduras, and so they were receiving. I think actually, it turned out that they, they put a, um, oh, a big storage container there. I think that it got filled with food and things, clothing, and then it shipped, the someone from somewhere, some steamer went out of Houston. The things left from here, and they got sent to Houston and then they went on the steamer right down. So that was wonderful.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] I was very appreciative.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] Like Power Bar or something like that.

[Assistant] Cliff is the only other one that comes to my mind at the moment.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] But anyway, it was very generous.

[Assistant] Yes.

[User] And they shrink wrapped the whole pallet and off it went.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So that made me happy.

[Assistant] Probably no weevils.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And they shrink wrapped the whole pallet and off it went.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So that made me happy.

[Assistant] Probably no weevils.

[User] Yeah, right.

[Assistant] As you reflect back now on those two years that you spent in Honduras, how do you think they've impacted the balance of your life?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So I just feel that we're all called to do whatever we can in whatever capacity we are able to. I would love to go back to Honduras.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] I'd love to work in a Peace Corps training camp. I raised my kids up and now they're having kids. So I'm not on the verge of going anywhere yet, but I'd love to go back.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] I just, I've always felt that we got more out of it than we were able to give.

[Assistant] I think many of us feel that way.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah. Yeah, right. It's overwhelming. The problem is really overwhelming. It's just, I get emotional thinking about it. Of all of the women that I spoke to about birth control, two to my knowledge went to the clinic and had IUDs put in. One of them was so glad. Every time I'd see her, she'd say thank you.

[Assistant] Oh, yeah.

[User] She didn't know it was possible to not have a baby.

[Assistant] Every year.

[User] A year, and she didn't want to keep doing that. Yeah.

[Assistant] Jenifer, you're a wonderful storyteller. You remember such detail. I'm impressed. I thank you for sharing.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] She didn't know it was possible to not have a baby.

[Assistant] Every year.

[User] A year, and she didn't want to keep doing that. Yeah.

[Assistant] Jenifer, you're a wonderful storyteller. You remember such detail. I'm impressed. I thank you for sharing.

[User] Oh, thank you for doing this.

[Assistant] Your Peace Corps story. I think we've covered most of the important points. And you have, you leave a legacy.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] A year, and she didn't want to keep doing that. Yeah.

[Assistant] Jenifer, you're a wonderful storyteller. You remember such detail. I'm impressed. I thank you for sharing.

[User] Oh, thank you for doing this.

[Assistant] Your Peace Corps story. I think we've covered most of the important points. And you have, you leave a legacy.

[User] Well.

[Assistant] In the archives of the United States.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, thank you for doing this.

[Assistant] Your Peace Corps story. I think we've covered most of the important points. And you have, you leave a legacy.

[User] Well.

[Assistant] In the archives of the United States.

[User] And my little Honduran baby.

[Assistant] Yes, yes. She's another legacy.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Well.

[Assistant] In the archives of the United States.

[User] And my little Honduran baby.

[Assistant] Yes, yes. She's another legacy.

[User] A living legacy.

[Assistant] Right, right. Well, again, I thank you.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, and there’s all our bosses over in the offices.

[Assistant] So you think about maybe 20 or 25 people involved in a test for the 11-foot chamber?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] What about for the ETA?

[User] The ETA, it would be very similar. Again, I don’t remember how many techs were in the intermediate altitude pressure. Pretty much the same, other than the fact that you don’t have a treadmill operating. You still have all of the same safety concerns, so pretty much the same amount of people for that too.

[Assistant] Would simulations run the same way? Were there simulations done in the chambers and the ETA?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] What about for the ETA?

[User] The ETA, it would be very similar. Again, I don’t remember how many techs were in the intermediate altitude pressure. Pretty much the same, other than the fact that you don’t have a treadmill operating. You still have all of the same safety concerns, so pretty much the same amount of people for that too.

[Assistant] Would simulations run the same way? Were there simulations done in the chambers and the ETA?

[User] It was rare for the chamber runs to be connected to mission control, for example. Other than every ETA run would have a little bit of malfunction practice. They’d say, “Pretend your fan just stopped operating. Your suit pressure is still okay. What do you do? Now pretend you’ve got a suit leak. Your pressure is dropping at such a rate. What do you do?” So they would do malfunction training. But as far as simulations? You can’t induce a leak on purpose for safety reasons. They would just tell you, “Pretend right now.”\n\n The spacesuit would have a checklist on the arm. For a certain emergency, you’d flip to that page and go down those steps to do to first of all isolate the problem and then solve the problem. They’re wearing physical cards on their wrist because you can’t depend on communications because that might be your problem. You may lose com, so you have your physical emergency response checklist right there in front of you. So they would practice. Over the com loop they would tell you, “Okay, now you’ve lost com, what do you do?” You flip to the right card and go through the steps and turn your radio off and then back on and see if that fixed it.

[Assistant] Were you ever a test subject yourself in the chambers?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Only when you’re also testing the life support system. There’s a lot of development of both independently, both the suit itself and the backpack. A lot of the evaluations of the suit itself would happen—there are other rooms in Building 7, a suit lab where there was a special separate room where astronauts would go through the motions. For example, there was a glove box where you were testing just gloves to make sure. You put the tools and things for them to pick up inside the glove box, where they would evaluate only the gloves to make sure the fingers bend right and they fit you properly.\n\n One of the hardest things to fit precisely is a hand, because not only is your size different from your neighbor’s, but the proportion may be different. My ring finger is longer than my index finger, and that’s not true for everybody. It started off every glove was custom-built. Then once we had a big enough inventory, well, sometimes an astronaut would come in, and they’d happen to be the same size as the previous astronaut, and they’d go, “Close enough,” so they would reuse some gloves that way. It was normal for people to have custom-built gloves.\n\n Other design changes would be developed and be sent down here to Houston and the astronauts would go through. We’d schedule a number of astronauts to come into Building 7 and our suit fit room and just have them evaluate things not in the chambers.

[Assistant] Did you ever do any endurance testing here at JSC? Or was that all done at Delaware?

[User] I think it was all Delaware.

[Assistant] Can the chambers do any thermal testing, or is that done in another facility?

[User] The Building 7 chambers were only vacuum. All the thermal testing was done in Building 32, the SESL (Space Environment Simulation Lab). They have Chamber A and Chamber B. Chamber A is the four-story-tall huge door movie feature vacuum chamber. Their eight-foot chamber is the smaller one, but they’re both thermally capable.

[Assistant] Were the chambers used for anything else for the Shuttle Program besides testing suits?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think it was all Delaware.

[Assistant] Can the chambers do any thermal testing, or is that done in another facility?

[User] The Building 7 chambers were only vacuum. All the thermal testing was done in Building 32, the SESL (Space Environment Simulation Lab). They have Chamber A and Chamber B. Chamber A is the four-story-tall huge door movie feature vacuum chamber. Their eight-foot chamber is the smaller one, but they’re both thermally capable.

[Assistant] Were the chambers used for anything else for the Shuttle Program besides testing suits?

[User] I want to say yes, but not that I can remember. Sometimes they just want to expose something else to vacuum, could be just another Shuttle system maybe, not that I was involved in. Since I was a suit engineer, there were a lot of things that happened that I wasn’t part of.

[Assistant] Did you have any involvement with the manned maneuvering unit?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] The Building 7 chambers were only vacuum. All the thermal testing was done in Building 32, the SESL (Space Environment Simulation Lab). They have Chamber A and Chamber B. Chamber A is the four-story-tall huge door movie feature vacuum chamber. Their eight-foot chamber is the smaller one, but they’re both thermally capable.

[Assistant] Were the chambers used for anything else for the Shuttle Program besides testing suits?

[User] I want to say yes, but not that I can remember. Sometimes they just want to expose something else to vacuum, could be just another Shuttle system maybe, not that I was involved in. Since I was a suit engineer, there were a lot of things that happened that I wasn’t part of.

[Assistant] Did you have any involvement with the manned maneuvering unit?

[User] Later, when I was a safety engineer, that was one of my systems. As a suit engineer, we were concerned with the interface with the MMU, make sure the suit clearances would be good so when they put the MMU on they had room, they were able to reach the controls, that kind of thing. So I was aware of it. I’m trying to remember where the testing happened for the MMU, because there’s no place on Earth that would let you fly it just because it had such small jets.\n\n As a safety engineer, it was one of my systems. I did go out to Colorado, where the Martin Marietta plant was, to do design review. But also, unfortunately, it was on my watch that they canceled the program. So the MMU was mothballed in front of my eyes.

[Assistant] That must have been disappointing.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I want to say yes, but not that I can remember. Sometimes they just want to expose something else to vacuum, could be just another Shuttle system maybe, not that I was involved in. Since I was a suit engineer, there were a lot of things that happened that I wasn’t part of.

[Assistant] Did you have any involvement with the manned maneuvering unit?

[User] Later, when I was a safety engineer, that was one of my systems. As a suit engineer, we were concerned with the interface with the MMU, make sure the suit clearances would be good so when they put the MMU on they had room, they were able to reach the controls, that kind of thing. So I was aware of it. I’m trying to remember where the testing happened for the MMU, because there’s no place on Earth that would let you fly it just because it had such small jets.\n\n As a safety engineer, it was one of my systems. I did go out to Colorado, where the Martin Marietta plant was, to do design review. But also, unfortunately, it was on my watch that they canceled the program. So the MMU was mothballed in front of my eyes.

[Assistant] That must have been disappointing.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Did testing of the spacesuit change at all as a result of the malfunctions on STS-5?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Later, when I was a safety engineer, that was one of my systems. As a suit engineer, we were concerned with the interface with the MMU, make sure the suit clearances would be good so when they put the MMU on they had room, they were able to reach the controls, that kind of thing. So I was aware of it. I’m trying to remember where the testing happened for the MMU, because there’s no place on Earth that would let you fly it just because it had such small jets.\n\n As a safety engineer, it was one of my systems. I did go out to Colorado, where the Martin Marietta plant was, to do design review. But also, unfortunately, it was on my watch that they canceled the program. So the MMU was mothballed in front of my eyes.

[Assistant] That must have been disappointing.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Did testing of the spacesuit change at all as a result of the malfunctions on STS-5?

[User] Yes. First of all, once the required design changes were made, there was something new to test just to make sure that those new design fixes worked. They added another kind of test to the fan speed sensor, but those were more laboratory type tests as opposed to chamber tests.

[Assistant] Does the facility over at Building 7 ever have to reconfigure for a new mission, or is it pretty much static for every mission?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Did testing of the spacesuit change at all as a result of the malfunctions on STS-5?

[User] Yes. First of all, once the required design changes were made, there was something new to test just to make sure that those new design fixes worked. They added another kind of test to the fan speed sensor, but those were more laboratory type tests as opposed to chamber tests.

[Assistant] Does the facility over at Building 7 ever have to reconfigure for a new mission, or is it pretty much static for every mission?

[User] Because their main purpose is to test the suits and the suits don’t change, it’s pretty much static. Sometimes they’ll do new procedures. For example, when we first started doing Shuttle-Mir missions, we had the new docking compartment and the external air. When they moved the airlock from inside the Orbiter cabin into the payload bay, the configuration of our chamber had to change a little bit just because the controls were a little bit different and the opening of the hatch was a little bit different. But once the Orbiter configuration was known, then there’s not much to change.

[Assistant] Did anything change over time as the Shuttle flights grew much more advanced or complex? Anything maybe with the Hubble Space Telescope?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes. First of all, once the required design changes were made, there was something new to test just to make sure that those new design fixes worked. They added another kind of test to the fan speed sensor, but those were more laboratory type tests as opposed to chamber tests.

[Assistant] Does the facility over at Building 7 ever have to reconfigure for a new mission, or is it pretty much static for every mission?

[User] Because their main purpose is to test the suits and the suits don’t change, it’s pretty much static. Sometimes they’ll do new procedures. For example, when we first started doing Shuttle-Mir missions, we had the new docking compartment and the external air. When they moved the airlock from inside the Orbiter cabin into the payload bay, the configuration of our chamber had to change a little bit just because the controls were a little bit different and the opening of the hatch was a little bit different. But once the Orbiter configuration was known, then there’s not much to change.

[Assistant] Did anything change over time as the Shuttle flights grew much more advanced or complex? Anything maybe with the Hubble Space Telescope?

[User] Again, because they’re just testing the suit, not much changed based on that. But the things they use the suit for, for example, when we did take the suits over to Building 32 for the thermovac test, they would have different tools to evaluate. For example, on the STS-61 mission they would evaluate the touch temperature of the tools and make sure that the gloves were good enough to protect you enough from cold temperatures. Unfortunately, one of the astronauts for that mission pushed himself so far that he ended up getting frostbite, so had to recover from that before he could fly.

[Assistant] Is there any other unusual equipment that was over in Building 7 that we haven’t talked about, other than the chambers and the ETA?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Because their main purpose is to test the suits and the suits don’t change, it’s pretty much static. Sometimes they’ll do new procedures. For example, when we first started doing Shuttle-Mir missions, we had the new docking compartment and the external air. When they moved the airlock from inside the Orbiter cabin into the payload bay, the configuration of our chamber had to change a little bit just because the controls were a little bit different and the opening of the hatch was a little bit different. But once the Orbiter configuration was known, then there’s not much to change.

[Assistant] Did anything change over time as the Shuttle flights grew much more advanced or complex? Anything maybe with the Hubble Space Telescope?

[User] Again, because they’re just testing the suit, not much changed based on that. But the things they use the suit for, for example, when we did take the suits over to Building 32 for the thermovac test, they would have different tools to evaluate. For example, on the STS-61 mission they would evaluate the touch temperature of the tools and make sure that the gloves were good enough to protect you enough from cold temperatures. Unfortunately, one of the astronauts for that mission pushed himself so far that he ended up getting frostbite, so had to recover from that before he could fly.

[Assistant] Is there any other unusual equipment that was over in Building 7 that we haven’t talked about, other than the chambers and the ETA?

[User] There were several things that weren’t used during my tenure there. There was a drop tower there for a while, but we didn’t use that. We were right next door to Building 29 when they put the WET-F [Weightless Environment Training Facility] in, the swimming pool there. I wasn’t there when the centrifuge was still in Building 29, but again it wasn’t my building, but I was a neighbor. There may have been some things in the various smaller labs not related to the spacesuits that I’m not aware of.

[Assistant] I’m guessing this didn’t have any impact on your facility, but did the flying of DoD [Department of Defense] classified missions have any impact on your facility?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Again, because they’re just testing the suit, not much changed based on that. But the things they use the suit for, for example, when we did take the suits over to Building 32 for the thermovac test, they would have different tools to evaluate. For example, on the STS-61 mission they would evaluate the touch temperature of the tools and make sure that the gloves were good enough to protect you enough from cold temperatures. Unfortunately, one of the astronauts for that mission pushed himself so far that he ended up getting frostbite, so had to recover from that before he could fly.

[Assistant] Is there any other unusual equipment that was over in Building 7 that we haven’t talked about, other than the chambers and the ETA?

[User] There were several things that weren’t used during my tenure there. There was a drop tower there for a while, but we didn’t use that. We were right next door to Building 29 when they put the WET-F [Weightless Environment Training Facility] in, the swimming pool there. I wasn’t there when the centrifuge was still in Building 29, but again it wasn’t my building, but I was a neighbor. There may have been some things in the various smaller labs not related to the spacesuits that I’m not aware of.

[Assistant] I’m guessing this didn’t have any impact on your facility, but did the flying of DoD [Department of Defense] classified missions have any impact on your facility?

[User] No. We were aware of those missions, but since the suit is a publicly known item, they couldn’t classify that. My part of the building was never under any special conditions for secrecy.

[Assistant] Can you give us a listing of some of the main contractors who provided support in Building 7 when you were working over there?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] There were several things that weren’t used during my tenure there. There was a drop tower there for a while, but we didn’t use that. We were right next door to Building 29 when they put the WET-F [Weightless Environment Training Facility] in, the swimming pool there. I wasn’t there when the centrifuge was still in Building 29, but again it wasn’t my building, but I was a neighbor. There may have been some things in the various smaller labs not related to the spacesuits that I’m not aware of.

[Assistant] I’m guessing this didn’t have any impact on your facility, but did the flying of DoD [Department of Defense] classified missions have any impact on your facility?

[User] No. We were aware of those missions, but since the suit is a publicly known item, they couldn’t classify that. My part of the building was never under any special conditions for secrecy.

[Assistant] Can you give us a listing of some of the main contractors who provided support in Building 7 when you were working over there?

[User] I’ll start with the suit. The Apollo suits were made by ILC. The Space Shuttle suits were all made by ILC. Hamilton Standard all made the life support system for the spacesuits for both Apollo and Shuttle. Those were constants. David Clark made the launch and entry suits, but I don’t think they maintained a presence in Building 7. The chamber support, again it changed some, but I want to say Lockheed was one of the contractors. I’m not the authority there. I can’t remember clearly enough.

[Assistant] Well, it’s been a while. Is there anybody that you would recommend that we talk to about this facility?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] No. We were aware of those missions, but since the suit is a publicly known item, they couldn’t classify that. My part of the building was never under any special conditions for secrecy.

[Assistant] Can you give us a listing of some of the main contractors who provided support in Building 7 when you were working over there?

[User] I’ll start with the suit. The Apollo suits were made by ILC. The Space Shuttle suits were all made by ILC. Hamilton Standard all made the life support system for the spacesuits for both Apollo and Shuttle. Those were constants. David Clark made the launch and entry suits, but I don’t think they maintained a presence in Building 7. The chamber support, again it changed some, but I want to say Lockheed was one of the contractors. I’m not the authority there. I can’t remember clearly enough.

[Assistant] Well, it’s been a while. Is there anybody that you would recommend that we talk to about this facility?

[User] I can help you, yes. To me the group of people that would know the chambers best would include the test directors for those tests. I know there was a test director named Steve [N.] Martin.

[Assistant] The comedian? [Laughs]


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I’ll start with the suit. The Apollo suits were made by ILC. The Space Shuttle suits were all made by ILC. Hamilton Standard all made the life support system for the spacesuits for both Apollo and Shuttle. Those were constants. David Clark made the launch and entry suits, but I don’t think they maintained a presence in Building 7. The chamber support, again it changed some, but I want to say Lockheed was one of the contractors. I’m not the authority there. I can’t remember clearly enough.

[Assistant] Well, it’s been a while. Is there anybody that you would recommend that we talk to about this facility?

[User] I can help you, yes. To me the group of people that would know the chambers best would include the test directors for those tests. I know there was a test director named Steve [N.] Martin.

[Assistant] The comedian? [Laughs]

[User] Actually, one of three Steve Martins I’ve worked with here at NASA. Before we met today, I was hoping to bring an old phone book I have. I’ve got at least a 1989 phone book. I’m hoping an earlier one would have some of those names and job functions listed there. When we break here, I’ll go get that for you. Steve Martin was a test director. James [M.] Skipper was highly active. Again, I can’t tell you for sure if these people are still with NASA or not.\n\n I didn’t work with him much, but I was aware of him, I want to say Reagan [S.] Redman. I know he went over to Building 32 later, but I think he would be knowledgeable for Building 7 chambers also. [Walter W.] Guy just retired, but he was the boss there for quite a while in Building 7.

[Assistant] Before we turned on the recorder this morning, you had mentioned that you did some work with the suits in the KC-135 and some other locations. Do you want to share those details with us?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, nicknamed Ox. The smaller women were hard to fit just because the physics of a long thin balloon is a lot easier to bend than a short thick balloon. Because of the backpack, our upper torsos were constrained to a certain diameter. They couldn’t be made much smaller. Because the structural interface between the upper torso, which is made of rigid fiberglass, and the backpack, their mounting points were set in design. It was very hard to make a smaller diameter suit to fit smaller people. Small men or small women both had trouble getting fit. The smallest of the women, we were never able to get a good mobile suit to fit them very well. Even though the design goal was to fit everyone, well, there were some people that we wouldn’t have been able to fit for EVA suits.

[Assistant] What do you think is the significance of Building 7 in relation to the Shuttle Program?

[User] One of the Shuttle missions was building Space Station, and the only way you could build Space Station was through EVA. You can’t build modules that will automatically reliably attach themselves, so you had to go out there and actually help out with the people present. EVAs are a common thing now. Every mission has four or five EVAs now. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know how much testing goes on in Building 7 now for the Shuttle suit prep, but I’m sure they still must use the airlock trainer every mission. They still must do that.\n\n It was essential; it was core. The functions that happened in Building 7 would have to happen, or else the rest of Space Station wouldn’t happen.

[Assistant] I just wanted to check with you and see if we’ve talked about all these different facilities that they had listed. Did we talk about the Shuttle EMU/Airlock/Life Support Test Facility? Is that something that we had talked about?

[User] To me, I don’t know of anything other than the ETA that would do that, but yes, I would think that would be the same thing.

[Assistant] The system component vacuum test facility? Is that the various chambers?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] One of the Shuttle missions was building Space Station, and the only way you could build Space Station was through EVA. You can’t build modules that will automatically reliably attach themselves, so you had to go out there and actually help out with the people present. EVAs are a common thing now. Every mission has four or five EVAs now. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know how much testing goes on in Building 7 now for the Shuttle suit prep, but I’m sure they still must use the airlock trainer every mission. They still must do that.\n\n It was essential; it was core. The functions that happened in Building 7 would have to happen, or else the rest of Space Station wouldn’t happen.

[Assistant] I just wanted to check with you and see if we’ve talked about all these different facilities that they had listed. Did we talk about the Shuttle EMU/Airlock/Life Support Test Facility? Is that something that we had talked about?

[User] To me, I don’t know of anything other than the ETA that would do that, but yes, I would think that would be the same thing.

[Assistant] The system component vacuum test facility? Is that the various chambers?

[User] They added another vacuum chamber after my time there, a two-foot chamber. I’m not sure what they do in there. The eight-foot chamber is for just the backpack itself, so that would qualify as a small system test vacuum.

[Assistant] Our last question that we’ve been asking everybody: do you have any documents or any memos, letters, anything like that, about the facility that might be helpful?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] To me, I don’t know of anything other than the ETA that would do that, but yes, I would think that would be the same thing.

[Assistant] The system component vacuum test facility? Is that the various chambers?

[User] They added another vacuum chamber after my time there, a two-foot chamber. I’m not sure what they do in there. The eight-foot chamber is for just the backpack itself, so that would qualify as a small system test vacuum.

[Assistant] Our last question that we’ve been asking everybody: do you have any documents or any memos, letters, anything like that, about the facility that might be helpful?

[User] I don’t think so. I’m still looking through my stuff. I’m trying to think if I ever had any pictures of Building 7. Other than pictures of just people, I don’t have good representative pictures of the facility. There was a parade going through JSC, and we had a float. So we have a picture of that, but that’s not relevant to the test facility. I will keep looking, but I don’t think I’ve got much.

[Assistant] Well, we thank you very much. Unless there’s anything that you would like to add about Building 7 that we might not have covered, or your work with suits?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They added another vacuum chamber after my time there, a two-foot chamber. I’m not sure what they do in there. The eight-foot chamber is for just the backpack itself, so that would qualify as a small system test vacuum.

[Assistant] Our last question that we’ve been asking everybody: do you have any documents or any memos, letters, anything like that, about the facility that might be helpful?

[User] I don’t think so. I’m still looking through my stuff. I’m trying to think if I ever had any pictures of Building 7. Other than pictures of just people, I don’t have good representative pictures of the facility. There was a parade going through JSC, and we had a float. So we have a picture of that, but that’s not relevant to the test facility. I will keep looking, but I don’t think I’ve got much.

[Assistant] Well, we thank you very much. Unless there’s anything that you would like to add about Building 7 that we might not have covered, or your work with suits?

[User] I’m sure I’ll think of something, but no. I can’t think of anything.

[Assistant] Well, thank you very much.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Right. So I worked for a while between college and my graduate program, and that's when I really realized I'd kind of gotten myself burned out on the hospitality industry, and I had almost really gotten burned out even while I was still in college. But I had a go of it after college and then with college, you know, studying public administration and then really applying for Peace Corps. So about six months after I graduated with my master's is when I went into the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] So what was that application process like?

[User] So it was an online process, which I remember that.

[Assistant] It was?

[User] It was. So I was very, I was very happy with that. So the application that I had started right out of college was still visible online, like two years later when I decided to pick up the application again, so I didn't have to start from step number one. But, yeah, that application process. My recruiter was in Chicago. I was in southeast Missouri, so I only met my recruiter once. Otherwise, everything was by phone. And after I received my invitation, I also got notification that I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed. And so just how timing was probably about three or four days before Christmas in 2003, I had my wisdom teeth removed. So then in January of '04, I could leave for the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] OK. And you said you had started an application right after college, but you had stopped. What made you stop?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So it was an online process, which I remember that.

[Assistant] It was?

[User] It was. So I was very, I was very happy with that. So the application that I had started right out of college was still visible online, like two years later when I decided to pick up the application again, so I didn't have to start from step number one. But, yeah, that application process. My recruiter was in Chicago. I was in southeast Missouri, so I only met my recruiter once. Otherwise, everything was by phone. And after I received my invitation, I also got notification that I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed. And so just how timing was probably about three or four days before Christmas in 2003, I had my wisdom teeth removed. So then in January of '04, I could leave for the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] OK. And you said you had started an application right after college, but you had stopped. What made you stop?

[User] I had just gotten distracted by other things. And also I had received just a really good opportunity for graduate school where my tuition would be covered. And so I didn't want to turn that opportunity down.

[Assistant] OK, great. And then you said you were in touch with your recruiter for a bit, I mean, how was that process? Was it pretty straightforward? Was there any fear that you wouldn't get accepted?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] It was. So I was very, I was very happy with that. So the application that I had started right out of college was still visible online, like two years later when I decided to pick up the application again, so I didn't have to start from step number one. But, yeah, that application process. My recruiter was in Chicago. I was in southeast Missouri, so I only met my recruiter once. Otherwise, everything was by phone. And after I received my invitation, I also got notification that I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed. And so just how timing was probably about three or four days before Christmas in 2003, I had my wisdom teeth removed. So then in January of '04, I could leave for the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] OK. And you said you had started an application right after college, but you had stopped. What made you stop?

[User] I had just gotten distracted by other things. And also I had received just a really good opportunity for graduate school where my tuition would be covered. And so I didn't want to turn that opportunity down.

[Assistant] OK, great. And then you said you were in touch with your recruiter for a bit, I mean, how was that process? Was it pretty straightforward? Was there any fear that you wouldn't get accepted?

[User] Right. I don't think I ever had any fear that I wouldn't be accepted into the Peace Corps. I will say I went in there with a lot of confidence, probably even more confidence than I had with the same jobs that I was applying for at the same time. Because I was also doing, you know, just to hedge my bets, also applying for some other employment as well. But I was pretty, pretty confident in that. And in fact, he asked me if there's anything, you know, if we accepted you and it's going to be a few months before you leave, is there any life circumstance that might happen that would persuade you not to go? And I said, no, absolutely not. And there wasn't and I went.

[Assistant] So if you had gotten any of those jobs, you would have said no to those jobs and taken Peace Corps.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I had just gotten distracted by other things. And also I had received just a really good opportunity for graduate school where my tuition would be covered. And so I didn't want to turn that opportunity down.

[Assistant] OK, great. And then you said you were in touch with your recruiter for a bit, I mean, how was that process? Was it pretty straightforward? Was there any fear that you wouldn't get accepted?

[User] Right. I don't think I ever had any fear that I wouldn't be accepted into the Peace Corps. I will say I went in there with a lot of confidence, probably even more confidence than I had with the same jobs that I was applying for at the same time. Because I was also doing, you know, just to hedge my bets, also applying for some other employment as well. But I was pretty, pretty confident in that. And in fact, he asked me if there's anything, you know, if we accepted you and it's going to be a few months before you leave, is there any life circumstance that might happen that would persuade you not to go? And I said, no, absolutely not. And there wasn't and I went.

[Assistant] So if you had gotten any of those jobs, you would have said no to those jobs and taken Peace Corps.

[User] I was, yes, I was pretty confident by then. Yes. And in fact, when I, as soon as I pretty much got accepted, like everything stopped, like I stopped looking whatsoever.

[Assistant] And then how long did it take from your acceptance until you left the country?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I was, yes, I was pretty confident by then. Yes. And in fact, when I, as soon as I pretty much got accepted, like everything stopped, like I stopped looking whatsoever.

[Assistant] And then how long did it take from your acceptance until you left the country?

[User] So it took longer than expected. And so I was accepted sometime around May, even though I didn't have an official invitation yet, I was told one would be coming. And so since I was graduating from graduate school, I decided, well, what else in my life will I have some downtime where I can just do whatever I want? And so I put most of my furniture on the front lawn, including my car, and I packed two bags and I sold everything in a yard sale and I packed two bags and I got on a Greyhound bus and went to New York City. And originally that was supposed to be really like early June through October. But then the October departure for Peace Corps got delayed till January. And so it ended up being six months in New York City, where I did everything from, from waiting tables and cooking at a restaurant to having a nonprofit job where I did some marketing and some really neat projects. So I had about six months of the Big Apple before I went into the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] And what caused the delay?

[User] I'm not really sure. All assignments, apparently, in late 2003 were delayed. And so it wasn't just folks coming to the eastern Caribbean. In fact, a lot of volunteers that I went through training with, they were to go to the South Pacific, but they got switched fairly late to also come to the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] Did you know you wanted to go to that area? Did you know what you wanted to do in Peace Corps?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So it took longer than expected. And so I was accepted sometime around May, even though I didn't have an official invitation yet, I was told one would be coming. And so since I was graduating from graduate school, I decided, well, what else in my life will I have some downtime where I can just do whatever I want? And so I put most of my furniture on the front lawn, including my car, and I packed two bags and I sold everything in a yard sale and I packed two bags and I got on a Greyhound bus and went to New York City. And originally that was supposed to be really like early June through October. But then the October departure for Peace Corps got delayed till January. And so it ended up being six months in New York City, where I did everything from, from waiting tables and cooking at a restaurant to having a nonprofit job where I did some marketing and some really neat projects. So I had about six months of the Big Apple before I went into the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] And what caused the delay?

[User] I'm not really sure. All assignments, apparently, in late 2003 were delayed. And so it wasn't just folks coming to the eastern Caribbean. In fact, a lot of volunteers that I went through training with, they were to go to the South Pacific, but they got switched fairly late to also come to the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] Did you know you wanted to go to that area? Did you know what you wanted to do in Peace Corps?

[User] I knew I wanted to go somewhere that was warm and somewhere politically stable. And it just happened that ended up being the Caribbean, which, um, you know, Dominica. I'd never heard of Dominica before I went there. And it was, um, it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Yeah.

[Assistant] How so? Or do you want to get back to that?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I'm not really sure. All assignments, apparently, in late 2003 were delayed. And so it wasn't just folks coming to the eastern Caribbean. In fact, a lot of volunteers that I went through training with, they were to go to the South Pacific, but they got switched fairly late to also come to the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] Did you know you wanted to go to that area? Did you know what you wanted to do in Peace Corps?

[User] I knew I wanted to go somewhere that was warm and somewhere politically stable. And it just happened that ended up being the Caribbean, which, um, you know, Dominica. I'd never heard of Dominica before I went there. And it was, um, it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Yeah.

[Assistant] How so? Or do you want to get back to that?

[User] Yeah, I mean, I was just really unfamiliar. I'd never traveled in the Caribbean. I think I had like the stereotypical thought about, oh, it's going to be, you know, just like beaches and drinking a lot of rum and just really having a very relaxing, enjoyable like time and really unaware of the history of it. Like I said, really unaware of really a lot of not only Dominica, but the neighboring countries and really how they function. So it was something totally I hadn't read about in history books or anything of that sort.

[Assistant] So I guess one of the questions too is just like, what did you expect? And yeah, and then I guess maybe we can transition when you got the acceptance, like, how did you feel?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah, I mean, I was just really unfamiliar. I'd never traveled in the Caribbean. I think I had like the stereotypical thought about, oh, it's going to be, you know, just like beaches and drinking a lot of rum and just really having a very relaxing, enjoyable like time and really unaware of the history of it. Like I said, really unaware of really a lot of not only Dominica, but the neighboring countries and really how they function. So it was something totally I hadn't read about in history books or anything of that sort.

[Assistant] So I guess one of the questions too is just like, what did you expect? And yeah, and then I guess maybe we can transition when you got the acceptance, like, how did you feel?

[User] Mm hmm. Right. So I think I always had like this vision for the Peace Corps that I would I would use like my cooking skills for like an orphanage or something of that sort.

[Assistant] OK.

[User] And I just had this vision of just feeding like a lot of children every day. And actually my assignment was nothing close to that. And it was just very different than what I had expected in that regard.

[Assistant] OK, I guess we can get back to that later. So then when you started, do you have training here in the U.S., did you go straight to your country?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So English is the official language. But then there's also Creole. And so but it was it has some differences from Saint Lucian Creole. And so even though I had learned some in Saint Lucia, I learned that some of what I learned is not the same in Dominica. And so in Dominica, we had a few other lessons on that as well. But by all means, English is the official language and that's how we communicated most of the time.

[Assistant] And then, I mean, did you have extra training when you went there or did you go straight to your site?

[User] Mm hmm. So we were given a few days of training where we stayed a like a retreat house in Dominica, and then we went to different host families. And so my host family was a woman whose her kids had already grown and left the house. And so, um, so that was my host family. And about once a week or so, we'd go to the capital city for further training, and that seemed to take place for maybe another month or so. But a lot of that time was just then spent around my village and trying to figure out what's going on.

[Assistant] And you guys were separated. So it was just you with this host family?

[User] Correct, correct. There was another volunteer that was close by. Her host family was my community partner, and so I would see her a lot, you know, pretty much daily, just because we were easy walking distance to one another.

[Assistant] And so at that point, you already knew kind of what you would be doing too? You knew who your counterpart would be?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Correct, correct. There was another volunteer that was close by. Her host family was my community partner, and so I would see her a lot, you know, pretty much daily, just because we were easy walking distance to one another.

[Assistant] And so at that point, you already knew kind of what you would be doing too? You knew who your counterpart would be?

[User] Right, right. Yeah. So we learned who our community partners would be at that point and mine was the village council.

[Assistant] OK.

[User] And so the village council met just once a month. And so most of the interaction would be with the village clerk who was, an the village clerk was the one that was the host to another volunteer. And so. So I got to know right away, kind of like what the job was.

[Assistant] What was the job? What does the village council do?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Right, right. Yeah. So we learned who our community partners would be at that point and mine was the village council.

[Assistant] OK.

[User] And so the village council met just once a month. And so most of the interaction would be with the village clerk who was, an the village clerk was the one that was the host to another volunteer. And so. So I got to know right away, kind of like what the job was.

[Assistant] What was the job? What does the village council do?

[User] Yeah. So the village council oversees a lot of the management of the village as far as like trash collection or property tax collection, big events such as having a sports day. And this village council in particular, they were starting a community center, and so they'd received funding from the government of Taiwan to build a community center. And so construction had begun on that. And it was really working with them some to think about what how they will use the community center and how they could also use it as a revenue source. But also many other things. So they planned on it being not only where the council could meet, but it would also be the post office of the village. It would also have a fellowship hall where different groups could rent it out or use it. We could also do something like home economics classes in there or after school tutoring. And it was also designed to be the village hurricane shelter, which is really important in the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] So let me just go back. You mentioned host families before. Did you stay in touch with any of the host families from your training?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And so the village council met just once a month. And so most of the interaction would be with the village clerk who was, an the village clerk was the one that was the host to another volunteer. And so. So I got to know right away, kind of like what the job was.

[Assistant] What was the job? What does the village council do?

[User] Yeah. So the village council oversees a lot of the management of the village as far as like trash collection or property tax collection, big events such as having a sports day. And this village council in particular, they were starting a community center, and so they'd received funding from the government of Taiwan to build a community center. And so construction had begun on that. And it was really working with them some to think about what how they will use the community center and how they could also use it as a revenue source. But also many other things. So they planned on it being not only where the council could meet, but it would also be the post office of the village. It would also have a fellowship hall where different groups could rent it out or use it. We could also do something like home economics classes in there or after school tutoring. And it was also designed to be the village hurricane shelter, which is really important in the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] So let me just go back. You mentioned host families before. Did you stay in touch with any of the host families from your training?

[User] Mm hmm.

[Assistant] And then I'd like to. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah. So the village council oversees a lot of the management of the village as far as like trash collection or property tax collection, big events such as having a sports day. And this village council in particular, they were starting a community center, and so they'd received funding from the government of Taiwan to build a community center. And so construction had begun on that. And it was really working with them some to think about what how they will use the community center and how they could also use it as a revenue source. But also many other things. So they planned on it being not only where the council could meet, but it would also be the post office of the village. It would also have a fellowship hall where different groups could rent it out or use it. We could also do something like home economics classes in there or after school tutoring. And it was also designed to be the village hurricane shelter, which is really important in the eastern Caribbean.

[Assistant] So let me just go back. You mentioned host families before. Did you stay in touch with any of the host families from your training?

[User] Mm hmm.

[Assistant] And then I'd like to. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[User] So, my host family, so the woman that, so I stayed with her for about a month or so before the volunteers were allowed to get their own housing. And she ended up moving out of Dominica. And so I've kind of lost touch with her, but my community partner, I'm still in touch with on a regular basis.

[Assistant] How do you guys maintain contact?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Mm hmm.

[Assistant] And then I'd like to. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[User] So, my host family, so the woman that, so I stayed with her for about a month or so before the volunteers were allowed to get their own housing. And she ended up moving out of Dominica. And so I've kind of lost touch with her, but my community partner, I'm still in touch with on a regular basis.

[Assistant] How do you guys maintain contact?

[User] So thankfully, I've been able to go back to Dominica multiple times over the years. So myself in that same volunteer that had stayed with my community partner, her and I started a nonprofit organization when we finished our time with the Peace Corps. And the nonprofit works in Dominica with children with disabilities. And so that's allowed me to go back to Dominica several times and pretty much my former community partner kind of treats me like a member of the family and we are also able to stay in touch with each other by WhatsApp and email and Facebook and that sort of thing. So a lot of modern technologies allowed that to happen a lot better than it could have. Even back when I was in the Peace Corps in 2004, which was dial up internet in Dominica and that sort of thing.

[Assistant] OK, but you don't work with your counterpart anymore, right?