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

[User] But what happened was there was an epidemic of dengue fever in Puerto Rico in August. So the day before we were to leave to go to Puerto Rico, we received a cable.

[Assistant] Telegram.

[User] A telegram that said, do not go to Puerto Rico, epidemic dengue fever, wait for further instructions.

[Assistant] And your reaction at that point?

[User] I went, dengue fever, what's that? And darn. Darn, you know. We had made it home from Europe. We had taken the six week trip from Europe.

[Assistant] Oh, you had done the six week?


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

[User] I went, dengue fever, what's that? And darn. Darn, you know. We had made it home from Europe. We had taken the six week trip from Europe.

[Assistant] Oh, you had done the six week?

[User] Yes. So we did the six week trip in Europe and got home in mid-August. And I think I was supposed to go something like August 24th or 25th, something like that. So we got home in time, we're all ready to go, and then got this cable telegram that said, no, don't go. And then very soon we got another one that said, you'll be reporting in Las Cruces, New Mexico. And that was kind of a disappointment from Puerto Rico to New Mexico. I thought, oh, darn.

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah.

[User] But, you know.

[Assistant] So you made the sacrifice I thought you were sacrificing by giving up the Europe trip, but you did the Europe trip.


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

[User] Yes. So we did the six week trip in Europe and got home in mid-August. And I think I was supposed to go something like August 24th or 25th, something like that. So we got home in time, we're all ready to go, and then got this cable telegram that said, no, don't go. And then very soon we got another one that said, you'll be reporting in Las Cruces, New Mexico. And that was kind of a disappointment from Puerto Rico to New Mexico. I thought, oh, darn.

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah.

[User] But, you know.

[Assistant] So you made the sacrifice I thought you were sacrificing by giving up the Europe trip, but you did the Europe trip.

[User] No, no. Yes, we did the Europe trip.

[Assistant] Was your sensitivity to being in another part of the world heightened because you were about to go in the Peace Corps, do you recall?


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

[User] No, no. Yes, we did the Europe trip.

[Assistant] Was your sensitivity to being in another part of the world heightened because you were about to go in the Peace Corps, do you recall?

[User] I don't think so. I was just so excited to be on the road.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] And that trip to Europe with my sister at 21 and a 24 year old, you know, two young women on the loose. We had been in private schools all our life, very small classes. And here we are in all of Europe on our own. And it was a really fun, fun trip and I was very excited about to be coming home from that also because then I'd be going to Guatemala, so it would be a continuation.

[Assistant] Yeah. And were there any great departing parties by your peers? By your families?


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

[User] I don't think so. I was just so excited to be on the road.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] And that trip to Europe with my sister at 21 and a 24 year old, you know, two young women on the loose. We had been in private schools all our life, very small classes. And here we are in all of Europe on our own. And it was a really fun, fun trip and I was very excited about to be coming home from that also because then I'd be going to Guatemala, so it would be a continuation.

[Assistant] Yeah. And were there any great departing parties by your peers? By your families?

[User] Not that I recall.

[Assistant] Okay. So you then flew from Philadelphia to Las Cruces.


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

[User] And that trip to Europe with my sister at 21 and a 24 year old, you know, two young women on the loose. We had been in private schools all our life, very small classes. And here we are in all of Europe on our own. And it was a really fun, fun trip and I was very excited about to be coming home from that also because then I'd be going to Guatemala, so it would be a continuation.

[Assistant] Yeah. And were there any great departing parties by your peers? By your families?

[User] Not that I recall.

[Assistant] Okay. So you then flew from Philadelphia to Las Cruces.

[User] Las Cruces, New Mexico, and we trained there.

[Assistant] Where, at the University of New Mexico?


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

[User] Not that I recall.

[Assistant] Okay. So you then flew from Philadelphia to Las Cruces.

[User] Las Cruces, New Mexico, and we trained there.

[Assistant] Where, at the University of New Mexico?

[User] Yes, the University of New Mexico.

[Assistant] Do you recall?


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

[User] Las Cruces, New Mexico, and we trained there.

[Assistant] Where, at the University of New Mexico?

[User] Yes, the University of New Mexico.

[Assistant] Do you recall?

[User] No. Is it New Mexico State University? I think it's New Mexico State University.

[Assistant] Could be, yeah, but it's in Las Cruces.


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

[User] Yes, the University of New Mexico.

[Assistant] Do you recall?

[User] No. Is it New Mexico State University? I think it's New Mexico State University.

[Assistant] Could be, yeah, but it's in Las Cruces.

[User] In Las Cruces, yeah.

[Assistant] Usually when you first arrived, there's a general orientation and a gathering of people. Do you recall your reaction to this group? I mean, now you're in the midst of all these.


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

[User] In Las Cruces, yeah.

[Assistant] Usually when you first arrived, there's a general orientation and a gathering of people. Do you recall your reaction to this group? I mean, now you're in the midst of all these.

[User] Yes, I recall we, uh, I flew into, um.

[Assistant] Albuquerque?

[User] Probably Albuquerque and took a bus from Albuquerque to Las Cruces, and we were supposed to meet in the student union in the, at the university. And I remember on that bus ride getting off the plane, going on the bus, there was another young person and it turned out he was going to be a Peace Corps volunteer also, Dave Siebert. And he was adorable. He was from, he was from California, from San Diego, California. He was a surfer. He was all tanned. And he was just, he was just fresh graduated from college and he was so cute. And I thought, wow. This is neat.

[Assistant] So you spoke to him on the bus?


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

[User] Yes, I recall we, uh, I flew into, um.

[Assistant] Albuquerque?

[User] Probably Albuquerque and took a bus from Albuquerque to Las Cruces, and we were supposed to meet in the student union in the, at the university. And I remember on that bus ride getting off the plane, going on the bus, there was another young person and it turned out he was going to be a Peace Corps volunteer also, Dave Siebert. And he was adorable. He was from, he was from California, from San Diego, California. He was a surfer. He was all tanned. And he was just, he was just fresh graduated from college and he was so cute. And I thought, wow. This is neat.

[Assistant] So you spoke to him on the bus?

[User] So, yeah, so we spoke to him. Somehow we connected that we were both going to the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] So your first impression was highly favorable?


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

[User] So, yeah, so we spoke to him. Somehow we connected that we were both going to the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] So your first impression was highly favorable?

[User] My first impression was highly favorable. And then when we got to the university and went down into the student union, there was this other really cute man, and he was sitting there drinking a chocolate milkshake. And I walked over to him totally not knowing who he was, but he was sitting at the Peace Corps area and I said, can I have a sip of your milkshake? And he said, yes. Nine months later, I married him.

[Assistant] That's foreshadowing.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] About approximately how many people were in the training program?


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

[User] My first impression was highly favorable. And then when we got to the university and went down into the student union, there was this other really cute man, and he was sitting there drinking a chocolate milkshake. And I walked over to him totally not knowing who he was, but he was sitting at the Peace Corps area and I said, can I have a sip of your milkshake? And he said, yes. Nine months later, I married him.

[Assistant] That's foreshadowing.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] About approximately how many people were in the training program?

[User] I think there was 62 of us. I think there was 62 of us in our group. And so we started.

[Assistant] All for Guatemala?


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

[User] I think there was 62 of us. I think there was 62 of us in our group. And so we started.

[Assistant] All for Guatemala?

[User] All for Guatemala. Guatemala III. We were the third group to go to Guatemala.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] And I think that there were 62 of us.

[Assistant] Men, women, 50-50?


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

[User] Yeah, men and women, maybe 50-50. There was one couple in their sixties. There was a single woman who was 63.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] There was a man, Doug, who was in his early thirties.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] And most everybody else was fresh out of college or maybe had one year out of college.

[Assistant] But and most has a similar background to yours, a liberal arts college degree?


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

[User] There was a man, Doug, who was in his early thirties.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] And most everybody else was fresh out of college or maybe had one year out of college.

[Assistant] But and most has a similar background to yours, a liberal arts college degree?

[User] Yeah, yeah. Because we were all community development, so we were all a group of people that didn't really know.

[Assistant] Didn't know anything.


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

[User] And most everybody else was fresh out of college or maybe had one year out of college.

[Assistant] But and most has a similar background to yours, a liberal arts college degree?

[User] Yeah, yeah. Because we were all community development, so we were all a group of people that didn't really know.

[Assistant] Didn't know anything.

[User] Anything. I know. And I was wondering, what am I going to do? I don't really know anything, but everybody kept saying community development. That's okay. You don't really need to know anything.

[Assistant] So training now begins in Las Cruces and generally has several components, one of which would be area studies, another technical studies, another language. So let's talk about.


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

[User] Yeah, yeah. Because we were all community development, so we were all a group of people that didn't really know.

[Assistant] Didn't know anything.

[User] Anything. I know. And I was wondering, what am I going to do? I don't really know anything, but everybody kept saying community development. That's okay. You don't really need to know anything.

[Assistant] So training now begins in Las Cruces and generally has several components, one of which would be area studies, another technical studies, another language. So let's talk about.

[User] Home ec.

[Assistant] Okay. Talk about how that was organized.


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

[User] Anything. I know. And I was wondering, what am I going to do? I don't really know anything, but everybody kept saying community development. That's okay. You don't really need to know anything.

[Assistant] So training now begins in Las Cruces and generally has several components, one of which would be area studies, another technical studies, another language. So let's talk about.

[User] Home ec.

[Assistant] Okay. Talk about how that was organized.

[User] Okay. I'll tell you.

[Assistant] Home ec, obviously, you still, talk about that.


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

[User] Home ec.

[Assistant] Okay. Talk about how that was organized.

[User] Okay. I'll tell you.

[Assistant] Home ec, obviously, you still, talk about that.

[User] First, let me talk about home ec because our teacher was Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, head of a cow, Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, and she was a tiny woman. She looked to me very old, remember I was 21 years old. She looked to be very old. She probably wasn't more than 45 or 50, but she looked to be really old and she was very mean and strict. And I had never sewed anything in my life because my mother hated sewing. And our first project that we had to do in home ec class was we had to make a piece of clothing for ourself without a pattern, and I had not a clue what to do.

[Assistant] It was from early on in training?


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

[User] Okay. I'll tell you.

[Assistant] Home ec, obviously, you still, talk about that.

[User] First, let me talk about home ec because our teacher was Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, head of a cow, Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, and she was a tiny woman. She looked to me very old, remember I was 21 years old. She looked to be very old. She probably wasn't more than 45 or 50, but she looked to be really old and she was very mean and strict. And I had never sewed anything in my life because my mother hated sewing. And our first project that we had to do in home ec class was we had to make a piece of clothing for ourself without a pattern, and I had not a clue what to do.

[Assistant] It was from early on in training?

[User] Right, from early on in training.

[Assistant] I'm curious, what was the class for both men and women?


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

[User] Right, from early on in training.

[Assistant] I'm curious, what was the class for both men and women?

[User] Yes, for men and women. Everybody. Everybody had to sew. You had to sew a piece of clothing. And I didn't have a clue what to do.

[Assistant] Yes.

[User] Let me think about that again. Maybe men, maybe men weren't there, because I was really the only one that was so overwhelmed by this. It seemed all the other women knew how to run a sewing machine, how to thread it and do all that stuff, and they knew how to cut stuff.

[Assistant] It seemed that way.


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

[User] Yes, for men and women. Everybody. Everybody had to sew. You had to sew a piece of clothing. And I didn't have a clue what to do.

[Assistant] Yes.

[User] Let me think about that again. Maybe men, maybe men weren't there, because I was really the only one that was so overwhelmed by this. It seemed all the other women knew how to run a sewing machine, how to thread it and do all that stuff, and they knew how to cut stuff.

[Assistant] It seemed that way.

[User] It seemed that way. And I mean, I was almost in tears most of the days because Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, we had to call Senora Cabeza de Vaca, was not at all friendly and she did not like me at all because I didn't know how to sew. And so I ended up making a blouse that was like just cut square. So it just had a bottom. And then it came up and then it went out and had arms and then it came straight across her neck. And I cut out two pieces of material from red and white gingham, red and white gingham checkered material, and sewed them together and turned it inside out and put it on. And I passed the project, but it was a very frustrating experience.

[Assistant] And was there any, within the whole context of training, was there any rationale for teaching home economics?


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

[User] Let me think about that again. Maybe men, maybe men weren't there, because I was really the only one that was so overwhelmed by this. It seemed all the other women knew how to run a sewing machine, how to thread it and do all that stuff, and they knew how to cut stuff.

[Assistant] It seemed that way.

[User] It seemed that way. And I mean, I was almost in tears most of the days because Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, we had to call Senora Cabeza de Vaca, was not at all friendly and she did not like me at all because I didn't know how to sew. And so I ended up making a blouse that was like just cut square. So it just had a bottom. And then it came up and then it went out and had arms and then it came straight across her neck. And I cut out two pieces of material from red and white gingham, red and white gingham checkered material, and sewed them together and turned it inside out and put it on. And I passed the project, but it was a very frustrating experience.

[Assistant] And was there any, within the whole context of training, was there any rationale for teaching home economics?

[User] Yeah, because, because we were women and I thought they thought probably, you know, we might want to make some of our own clothes down there or teach some of the native people how to make some clothing.

[Assistant] Even though you didn't know how to sew.


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

[User] It seemed that way. And I mean, I was almost in tears most of the days because Mrs. Cabeza de Vaca, we had to call Senora Cabeza de Vaca, was not at all friendly and she did not like me at all because I didn't know how to sew. And so I ended up making a blouse that was like just cut square. So it just had a bottom. And then it came up and then it went out and had arms and then it came straight across her neck. And I cut out two pieces of material from red and white gingham, red and white gingham checkered material, and sewed them together and turned it inside out and put it on. And I passed the project, but it was a very frustrating experience.

[Assistant] And was there any, within the whole context of training, was there any rationale for teaching home economics?

[User] Yeah, because, because we were women and I thought they thought probably, you know, we might want to make some of our own clothes down there or teach some of the native people how to make some clothing.

[Assistant] Even though you didn't know how to sew.

[User] Even though I didn't know how to sew, but many of the other people did. So it was just a component. It was, it was the most challenging for me. It was very difficult.

[Assistant] Let's jump to probably one of the key parts of training, which would be language. How was the language training?


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

[User] Yeah, because, because we were women and I thought they thought probably, you know, we might want to make some of our own clothes down there or teach some of the native people how to make some clothing.

[Assistant] Even though you didn't know how to sew.

[User] Even though I didn't know how to sew, but many of the other people did. So it was just a component. It was, it was the most challenging for me. It was very difficult.

[Assistant] Let's jump to probably one of the key parts of training, which would be language. How was the language training?

[User] It was great. We had, we had to speak Spanish at all meals. We had, I think it was about 4 hours a day of Spanish language training and at the meals. And that was fun for me because I had studied Spanish a lot. And so I liked that. But for a lot of people, that was very challenging.

[Assistant] So many in the group had never spoken Spanish?


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

[User] Even though I didn't know how to sew, but many of the other people did. So it was just a component. It was, it was the most challenging for me. It was very difficult.

[Assistant] Let's jump to probably one of the key parts of training, which would be language. How was the language training?

[User] It was great. We had, we had to speak Spanish at all meals. We had, I think it was about 4 hours a day of Spanish language training and at the meals. And that was fun for me because I had studied Spanish a lot. And so I liked that. But for a lot of people, that was very challenging.

[Assistant] So many in the group had never spoken Spanish?

[User] Right. Many in the group had never spoken Spanish. The man whose milkshake I'd shared, he had never done Spanish before. He had studied French in high school, in college.

[Assistant] And did the training staff indicate that you would be expected to be working in Spanish?


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

[User] It was great. We had, we had to speak Spanish at all meals. We had, I think it was about 4 hours a day of Spanish language training and at the meals. And that was fun for me because I had studied Spanish a lot. And so I liked that. But for a lot of people, that was very challenging.

[Assistant] So many in the group had never spoken Spanish?

[User] Right. Many in the group had never spoken Spanish. The man whose milkshake I'd shared, he had never done Spanish before. He had studied French in high school, in college.

[Assistant] And did the training staff indicate that you would be expected to be working in Spanish?

[User] Yes, when we got to Guatemala, absolutely.

[Assistant] That was clear?


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

[User] Right. Many in the group had never spoken Spanish. The man whose milkshake I'd shared, he had never done Spanish before. He had studied French in high school, in college.

[Assistant] And did the training staff indicate that you would be expected to be working in Spanish?

[User] Yes, when we got to Guatemala, absolutely.

[Assistant] That was clear?

[User] That was very clear. Absolutely.

[Assistant] The second part of that was, was it implied that you had to get to a certain level in Spanish or you might not go?


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

[User] That was very clear. Absolutely.

[Assistant] The second part of that was, was it implied that you had to get to a certain level in Spanish or you might not go?

[User] No, it was not implied, to my knowledge. To my knowledge, because that was never an issue with me.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] But I don't remember. And when people were, quote, selected out, they weren't selected out because of insufficient language.

[Assistant] We'll get to selection. Another area tends to be area studies, to learn something about Guatemala.


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

[User] No, it was not implied, to my knowledge. To my knowledge, because that was never an issue with me.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] But I don't remember. And when people were, quote, selected out, they weren't selected out because of insufficient language.

[Assistant] We'll get to selection. Another area tends to be area studies, to learn something about Guatemala.

[User] The history, the culture.

[Assistant] How was that?


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

[User] But I don't remember. And when people were, quote, selected out, they weren't selected out because of insufficient language.

[Assistant] We'll get to selection. Another area tends to be area studies, to learn something about Guatemala.

[User] The history, the culture.

[Assistant] How was that?

[User] It was all very interesting.

[Assistant] Who was teaching it?


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

[User] The history, the culture.

[Assistant] How was that?

[User] It was all very interesting.

[Assistant] Who was teaching it?

[User] People from the university.

[Assistant] Were there any Guatemalans involved in the program?


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

[User] It was all very interesting.

[Assistant] Who was teaching it?

[User] People from the university.

[Assistant] Were there any Guatemalans involved in the program?

[User] There was Tony. But Tony was. He was from the States. He was Mexican-American but living in the States. He did some stuff with us. I don't remember that there were any people from Guatemala there. I don't remember that.

[Assistant] And the project had already been in Guatemala for a few years?


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

[User] People from the university.

[Assistant] Were there any Guatemalans involved in the program?

[User] There was Tony. But Tony was. He was from the States. He was Mexican-American but living in the States. He did some stuff with us. I don't remember that there were any people from Guatemala there. I don't remember that.

[Assistant] And the project had already been in Guatemala for a few years?

[User] Yes, for two years, I think.

[Assistant] Okay. Were there any people, returned volunteers, at the training?


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

[User] There was Tony. But Tony was. He was from the States. He was Mexican-American but living in the States. He did some stuff with us. I don't remember that there were any people from Guatemala there. I don't remember that.

[Assistant] And the project had already been in Guatemala for a few years?

[User] Yes, for two years, I think.

[Assistant] Okay. Were there any people, returned volunteers, at the training?

[User] No.

[Assistant] So you didn't.


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

[User] Yes, for two years, I think.

[Assistant] Okay. Were there any people, returned volunteers, at the training?

[User] No.

[Assistant] So you didn't.

[User] No.

[Assistant] At any point in the training, did anyone come out from Washington?


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

[User] No.

[Assistant] So you didn't.

[User] No.

[Assistant] At any point in the training, did anyone come out from Washington?

[User] I believe so, yes.

[Assistant] Do you recall who?


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

[User] No.

[Assistant] At any point in the training, did anyone come out from Washington?

[User] I believe so, yes.

[Assistant] Do you recall who?

[User] No, I don't recall who, but I believe they did. When we. When we talk about the selection out, I think that's when they came out, at that time.

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Okay, we'll get to that.


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

[User] I believe so, yes.

[Assistant] Do you recall who?

[User] No, I don't recall who, but I believe they did. When we. When we talk about the selection out, I think that's when they came out, at that time.

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Okay, we'll get to that.

[User] That's, that's, I think that's the only time I remember that.

[Assistant] Uh, and as far as technical studies are concerned, other than home ec, did anyone in training try to define what it is you would be doing when you got to Guatemala?


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

[User] No, I don't recall who, but I believe they did. When we. When we talk about the selection out, I think that's when they came out, at that time.

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Okay, we'll get to that.

[User] That's, that's, I think that's the only time I remember that.

[Assistant] Uh, and as far as technical studies are concerned, other than home ec, did anyone in training try to define what it is you would be doing when you got to Guatemala?

[User] They taught, we had a lot of like animal husbandry. They taught us how to kill a lot of animals because they wanted us to raise animals. They said that in Guatemala, people's income is very, very low and they encouraged especially the men to get involved with raising chickens. So they taught a lot about chickens and pigs and they showed us how to kill a pig to cook it. And they talked about raising rabbits. One man in our group, the older man who was 65, I think 65 or 67 maybe, and his wife was 65. They were rabbit raisers from somewhere in the States. They may have come from Texas. And that was going to be their assignment. They were going to be raising rabbits for meat, a source of protein. So we were, we were to try and get people to raise animals as a source of protein and to better their income.

[Assistant] You must have had some inhibitions about killing animals.


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

[User] They taught, we had a lot of like animal husbandry. They taught us how to kill a lot of animals because they wanted us to raise animals. They said that in Guatemala, people's income is very, very low and they encouraged especially the men to get involved with raising chickens. So they taught a lot about chickens and pigs and they showed us how to kill a pig to cook it. And they talked about raising rabbits. One man in our group, the older man who was 65, I think 65 or 67 maybe, and his wife was 65. They were rabbit raisers from somewhere in the States. They may have come from Texas. And that was going to be their assignment. They were going to be raising rabbits for meat, a source of protein. So we were, we were to try and get people to raise animals as a source of protein and to better their income.

[Assistant] You must have had some inhibitions about killing animals.

[User] I didn't have to do it. The men did it.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] They were teaching. I think while we women were in there sewing, yeah, the men were learning how to kill the pigs and raise chickens and kill the rabbits. And proper concentrate, proper feed for the, whatever animal.

[Assistant] You don't recall that as part of your training?


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

[User] I didn't have to do it. The men did it.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] They were teaching. I think while we women were in there sewing, yeah, the men were learning how to kill the pigs and raise chickens and kill the rabbits. And proper concentrate, proper feed for the, whatever animal.

[Assistant] You don't recall that as part of your training?

[User] No, I don't think it was part of my training. I remember being involved in it because everybody was kind of talking about.

[Assistant] Oh, sure. Sure.


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

[User] They were teaching. I think while we women were in there sewing, yeah, the men were learning how to kill the pigs and raise chickens and kill the rabbits. And proper concentrate, proper feed for the, whatever animal.

[Assistant] You don't recall that as part of your training?

[User] No, I don't think it was part of my training. I remember being involved in it because everybody was kind of talking about.

[Assistant] Oh, sure. Sure.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] And was there anything about the theory and practice of community development?


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

[User] No, I don't think it was part of my training. I remember being involved in it because everybody was kind of talking about.

[Assistant] Oh, sure. Sure.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] And was there anything about the theory and practice of community development?

[User] Um, yes. They told us about. What we needed to do when we got there was learn to know who were the leaders in the town. And once we could figure out who the leaders were, then we needed to get a betterment committee together with these leaders. And then we were to set up meetings so that this committee would meet once a week or once every ten days or once every two weeks. And then we were to find out what kinds of things they wanted to do to better their village and what kinds of things we might slip in seeing from our point of view, what might be some of the things that would help their community.

[Assistant] But at this point in training, were you at all intimidated with the idea that you were going to go and do all this?


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

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] And was there anything about the theory and practice of community development?

[User] Um, yes. They told us about. What we needed to do when we got there was learn to know who were the leaders in the town. And once we could figure out who the leaders were, then we needed to get a betterment committee together with these leaders. And then we were to set up meetings so that this committee would meet once a week or once every ten days or once every two weeks. And then we were to find out what kinds of things they wanted to do to better their village and what kinds of things we might slip in seeing from our point of view, what might be some of the things that would help their community.

[Assistant] But at this point in training, were you at all intimidated with the idea that you were going to go and do all this?

[User] No. I was young.

[Assistant] But you felt you could.


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

[User] Um, yes. They told us about. What we needed to do when we got there was learn to know who were the leaders in the town. And once we could figure out who the leaders were, then we needed to get a betterment committee together with these leaders. And then we were to set up meetings so that this committee would meet once a week or once every ten days or once every two weeks. And then we were to find out what kinds of things they wanted to do to better their village and what kinds of things we might slip in seeing from our point of view, what might be some of the things that would help their community.

[Assistant] But at this point in training, were you at all intimidated with the idea that you were going to go and do all this?

[User] No. I was young.

[Assistant] But you felt you could.

[User] I could do anything.

[Assistant] You felt the process was valid that you're describing?


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

[User] No. I was young.

[Assistant] But you felt you could.

[User] I could do anything.

[Assistant] You felt the process was valid that you're describing?

[User] Yeah, yeah, I felt it was okay. It seemed okay. You find the community leaders and you set up a committee. That all sounded doable. It sounded doable.

[Assistant] Let's go to, before we go to selection. Was the training seven days a week or did you have a chance?


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

[User] I could do anything.

[Assistant] You felt the process was valid that you're describing?

[User] Yeah, yeah, I felt it was okay. It seemed okay. You find the community leaders and you set up a committee. That all sounded doable. It sounded doable.

[Assistant] Let's go to, before we go to selection. Was the training seven days a week or did you have a chance?

[User] I think Sunday we didn't. Yeah, Sunday we didn't because we would take trips together. Groups of us would go. We'd go to the White Sands and yeah.

[Assistant] Were you encouraged to go in to Las Cruces and seek out Spanish speakers?


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

[User] Yeah, yeah, I felt it was okay. It seemed okay. You find the community leaders and you set up a committee. That all sounded doable. It sounded doable.

[Assistant] Let's go to, before we go to selection. Was the training seven days a week or did you have a chance?

[User] I think Sunday we didn't. Yeah, Sunday we didn't because we would take trips together. Groups of us would go. We'd go to the White Sands and yeah.

[Assistant] Were you encouraged to go in to Las Cruces and seek out Spanish speakers?

[User] And we all went in to Las Cruces to the bars.

[Assistant] The bars. Yeah.


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

[User] I think Sunday we didn't. Yeah, Sunday we didn't because we would take trips together. Groups of us would go. We'd go to the White Sands and yeah.

[Assistant] Were you encouraged to go in to Las Cruces and seek out Spanish speakers?

[User] And we all went in to Las Cruces to the bars.

[Assistant] The bars. Yeah.

[User] Right. But no, we weren't necessarily encouraged to seek out Spanish speakers and speak Spanish. We were so tired of speaking Spanish after 4 hours every day and at all the meals.

[Assistant] Were you tested midpoint as they sometimes they use the Foreign Service Reserve test?


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

[User] And we all went in to Las Cruces to the bars.

[Assistant] The bars. Yeah.

[User] Right. But no, we weren't necessarily encouraged to seek out Spanish speakers and speak Spanish. We were so tired of speaking Spanish after 4 hours every day and at all the meals.

[Assistant] Were you tested midpoint as they sometimes they use the Foreign Service Reserve test?

[User] We were only tested at the end.

[Assistant] And did you get an FSR number?


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

[User] Right. But no, we weren't necessarily encouraged to seek out Spanish speakers and speak Spanish. We were so tired of speaking Spanish after 4 hours every day and at all the meals.

[Assistant] Were you tested midpoint as they sometimes they use the Foreign Service Reserve test?

[User] We were only tested at the end.

[Assistant] And did you get an FSR number?

[User] Yeah, I got FS-3. Yeah.

[Assistant] That which is quite high.


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

[User] We were only tested at the end.

[Assistant] And did you get an FSR number?

[User] Yeah, I got FS-3. Yeah.

[Assistant] That which is quite high.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Yeah. That was yours?


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

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Yeah. That was yours?

[User] That was mine.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] So everybody was tested. And then we were tested again at the end of Peace Corps training.

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Okay.


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

[User] That was mine.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] So everybody was tested. And then we were tested again at the end of Peace Corps training.

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Okay.

[User] I feel like we were.

[Assistant] Could be. Now, let's talk about the selection process.


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

[User] I feel like we were.

[Assistant] Could be. Now, let's talk about the selection process.

[User] The selection out process. I hated that expression, going to be selected out.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] It was a very stressful time. People, a group of people came from Washington. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[Assistant] Yeah. Were you, did you have to go through psychiatric interviews?


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

[User] The selection out process. I hated that expression, going to be selected out.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] It was a very stressful time. People, a group of people came from Washington. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[Assistant] Yeah. Were you, did you have to go through psychiatric interviews?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Everyone in the group?


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

[User] It was a very stressful time. People, a group of people came from Washington. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[Assistant] Yeah. Were you, did you have to go through psychiatric interviews?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Everyone in the group?

[User] Everyone in the group.

[Assistant] And your reaction? I mean, I mean, it must have been somewhat new.


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

[User] Everyone in the group.

[Assistant] And your reaction? I mean, I mean, it must have been somewhat new.

[User] Yeah, it was all those inkblot, inkblot tests, the inkblot things. They show you an inkblot and tell you what it reminds you of.

[Assistant] Yeah. Okay.

[User] We had a lot of things like that.

[Assistant] You get an interview about why do you, why do you want to do this?


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

[User] I remember, yeah. They asked us a lot of questions. It's really hard to remember.

[Assistant] That's okay.

[User] I haven't thought about it. Yeah, no, but they, they did. They asked, they asked us a lot of questions because I remember that, because I was really silly. I had a lot of energy and I was very silly and I knew everybody said these people are serious and I knew I had to be kind of serious. I couldn't just be myself. I had to be well behaved. And it was scary. I mean, it was a scary thing. I don't remember exactly what questions they asked.

[Assistant] Yeah.

[User] But I remember talking with them for a while. More than anything I remember the inkblot tests and I kept being afraid of, God, am I seeing something wrong in this ink?

[Assistant] And did they ask you to do peer ratings, where you'd indicate who you'd like to be assigned with? Or who you thought wouldn't be good in the project? Did they do it? It wasn't in every program.


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

[User] But I remember talking with them for a while. More than anything I remember the inkblot tests and I kept being afraid of, God, am I seeing something wrong in this ink?

[Assistant] And did they ask you to do peer ratings, where you'd indicate who you'd like to be assigned with? Or who you thought wouldn't be good in the project? Did they do it? It wasn't in every program.

[User] Um. I told them that I wanted to be assigned with Mike.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] That man with the milkshake.

[Assistant] The milkshake guy?


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

[User] Um. I told them that I wanted to be assigned with Mike.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] That man with the milkshake.

[Assistant] The milkshake guy?

[User] Yeah, milkshake guy. And they said, absolutely not. We are separating you two as far as we can.

[Assistant] This is near the end of training?


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

[User] That man with the milkshake.

[Assistant] The milkshake guy?

[User] Yeah, milkshake guy. And they said, absolutely not. We are separating you two as far as we can.

[Assistant] This is near the end of training?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Was it? So now the training program is coming to an end. And so the final selection occurred?


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

[User] Yeah, milkshake guy. And they said, absolutely not. We are separating you two as far as we can.

[Assistant] This is near the end of training?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Was it? So now the training program is coming to an end. And so the final selection occurred?

[User] Well, before the training process came to the end, we went to Mexico for two, for two weeks I think we went.

[Assistant] How was that structured?


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

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] Was it? So now the training program is coming to an end. And so the final selection occurred?

[User] Well, before the training process came to the end, we went to Mexico for two, for two weeks I think we went.

[Assistant] How was that structured?

[User] We were sent in groups to different areas. And Mike and I were in the same group and Mike was a size 15 shoe. And one thing I remember is in Mexico, being in a central square in this little, in very far in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. We were in a little town and all these children came running over and they're all standing around pointing at Mike's feet because he has these great big shoes.

[Assistant] What's the Spanish word for Big Foot?


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

[User] Well, before the training process came to the end, we went to Mexico for two, for two weeks I think we went.

[Assistant] How was that structured?

[User] We were sent in groups to different areas. And Mike and I were in the same group and Mike was a size 15 shoe. And one thing I remember is in Mexico, being in a central square in this little, in very far in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. We were in a little town and all these children came running over and they're all standing around pointing at Mike's feet because he has these great big shoes.

[Assistant] What's the Spanish word for Big Foot?

[User] Yeah. And so that's a very vivid memory of our time.

[Assistant] You were taken to the village and you would be there for two weeks?


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

[User] We were sent in groups to different areas. And Mike and I were in the same group and Mike was a size 15 shoe. And one thing I remember is in Mexico, being in a central square in this little, in very far in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. We were in a little town and all these children came running over and they're all standing around pointing at Mike's feet because he has these great big shoes.

[Assistant] What's the Spanish word for Big Foot?

[User] Yeah. And so that's a very vivid memory of our time.

[Assistant] You were taken to the village and you would be there for two weeks?

[User] We were to stay there, right, for two weeks.

[Assistant] Any particular agenda?


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

[User] Yeah. And so that's a very vivid memory of our time.

[Assistant] You were taken to the village and you would be there for two weeks?

[User] We were to stay there, right, for two weeks.

[Assistant] Any particular agenda?

[User] We stayed, we stayed with, um. Yeah. We were supposed to learn the language. We were supposed to practice. That's where we were to practice our Spanish. Not in Las Cruces in the bar, but in northern Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua.

[Assistant] So you were given families?


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

[User] We were to stay there, right, for two weeks.

[Assistant] Any particular agenda?

[User] We stayed, we stayed with, um. Yeah. We were supposed to learn the language. We were supposed to practice. That's where we were to practice our Spanish. Not in Las Cruces in the bar, but in northern Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua.

[Assistant] So you were given families?

[User] Yeah, we were given, we were given families to stay with. And I, I don't remember. I don't. I don't remember. I don't remember so much.

[Assistant] That's alright. So two weeks in Mexico.


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

[User] We stayed, we stayed with, um. Yeah. We were supposed to learn the language. We were supposed to practice. That's where we were to practice our Spanish. Not in Las Cruces in the bar, but in northern Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua.

[Assistant] So you were given families?

[User] Yeah, we were given, we were given families to stay with. And I, I don't remember. I don't. I don't remember. I don't remember so much.

[Assistant] That's alright. So two weeks in Mexico.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Now you're back to Las Cruces.


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

[User] Yeah, we were given, we were given families to stay with. And I, I don't remember. I don't. I don't remember. I don't remember so much.

[Assistant] That's alright. So two weeks in Mexico.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Now you're back to Las Cruces.

[User] Went back to Las Cruces.

[Assistant] And training is coming to an end.


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

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Now you're back to Las Cruces.

[User] Went back to Las Cruces.

[Assistant] And training is coming to an end.

[User] The training was coming to an end. But before the training comes to an end, we have JFK's assassination.

[Assistant] Ah, okay. Yeah, tell me about that.


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

[User] Went back to Las Cruces.

[Assistant] And training is coming to an end.

[User] The training was coming to an end. But before the training comes to an end, we have JFK's assassination.

[Assistant] Ah, okay. Yeah, tell me about that.

[User] So JFK's assassination happened. They announced on the loudspeaker at New Mexico State University.

[Assistant] Right. Yeah. That must have had an incredible impact.


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

[User] The training was coming to an end. But before the training comes to an end, we have JFK's assassination.

[Assistant] Ah, okay. Yeah, tell me about that.

[User] So JFK's assassination happened. They announced on the loudspeaker at New Mexico State University.

[Assistant] Right. Yeah. That must have had an incredible impact.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] Okay. You want to stop for a minute?


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

[User] So JFK's assassination happened. They announced on the loudspeaker at New Mexico State University.

[Assistant] Right. Yeah. That must have had an incredible impact.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] Okay. You want to stop for a minute?

[User] Mm hmm. [tape break]

[Assistant] Talk as much as you want about the assassination.


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

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] Okay. You want to stop for a minute?

[User] Mm hmm. [tape break]

[Assistant] Talk as much as you want about the assassination.

[User] Right. Well, I'll talk about what I, what I remember most was it was between classes. So a group of us, Mike, myself, Tim Craft, a really good friend of ours, Stu Ogletree, the four of us were walking together across the lawn, going to our next building, which I think was the culture class. And they announced on the loudspeaker that John F. Kennedy has just been shot. And I remember we just all dropped, just dropped right down there on the grass on the lawn, and so did so many other people. Just sat down and went, what, what? You know? And then it was just everybody was going crazy, well, what's happening, what's happening? And I mean, it was a really very emotional time for all of us.

[Assistant] Was training suspended for a while or did it continue?


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

[User] Mm hmm. [tape break]

[Assistant] Talk as much as you want about the assassination.

[User] Right. Well, I'll talk about what I, what I remember most was it was between classes. So a group of us, Mike, myself, Tim Craft, a really good friend of ours, Stu Ogletree, the four of us were walking together across the lawn, going to our next building, which I think was the culture class. And they announced on the loudspeaker that John F. Kennedy has just been shot. And I remember we just all dropped, just dropped right down there on the grass on the lawn, and so did so many other people. Just sat down and went, what, what? You know? And then it was just everybody was going crazy, well, what's happening, what's happening? And I mean, it was a really very emotional time for all of us.

[Assistant] Was training suspended for a while or did it continue?

[User] It wasn't suspended. No, it was not suspended at all. But instead of being the culture, we all were venting our feelings and discussing that. So actually, it was, it was a very good thing for us because we could be together and we could talk with a mature adult who could help, could help us a bit, you know, guide our thoughts and our reflections and our feelings and what was happening.

[Assistant] Do you recall if you were in touch with your family at this point?


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

[User] It wasn't suspended. No, it was not suspended at all. But instead of being the culture, we all were venting our feelings and discussing that. So actually, it was, it was a very good thing for us because we could be together and we could talk with a mature adult who could help, could help us a bit, you know, guide our thoughts and our reflections and our feelings and what was happening.

[Assistant] Do you recall if you were in touch with your family at this point?

[User] I don't remember.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] I don't remember. It was much more important to me being in touch with our other, our group of trainees, because we were the ones who were so moved by JFK that inspired us to be there in the first place. And those were the best people to be together with.

[Assistant] Yeah. And then the training continues then?


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

[User] I don't remember.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] I don't remember. It was much more important to me being in touch with our other, our group of trainees, because we were the ones who were so moved by JFK that inspired us to be there in the first place. And those were the best people to be together with.

[Assistant] Yeah. And then the training continues then?

[User] And then training continued, right.

[Assistant] And we come up to the excruciating final selection.


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

[User] I don't remember. It was much more important to me being in touch with our other, our group of trainees, because we were the ones who were so moved by JFK that inspired us to be there in the first place. And those were the best people to be together with.

[Assistant] Yeah. And then the training continues then?

[User] And then training continued, right.

[Assistant] And we come up to the excruciating final selection.

[User] Right, which was terrible, which was just before Christmas. We, we finished our, our session. Our training session finished in December, somewhere around December 15. And then we were all on two weeks vacation. We all went home to our families. And then after Christmas on January 1st or January 2nd, we then went to Guatemala. So our training. [tape break] Was when they told us some of the people that were selected out and we could not believe it. One of our, Mike's and my very best friend, was selected out. Stu Ogletree from Chicago, a wonderful guy. And we never, never, never understood why he was selected out. We had no reason at all. Some other people were selected out and we, I mean, that seemed okay. We could see something. But Stu, he was just great and that was it.

[Assistant] Were you aware that in '63, were they still doing FBI background checks as part of?


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

[User] And then training continued, right.

[Assistant] And we come up to the excruciating final selection.

[User] Right, which was terrible, which was just before Christmas. We, we finished our, our session. Our training session finished in December, somewhere around December 15. And then we were all on two weeks vacation. We all went home to our families. And then after Christmas on January 1st or January 2nd, we then went to Guatemala. So our training. [tape break] Was when they told us some of the people that were selected out and we could not believe it. One of our, Mike's and my very best friend, was selected out. Stu Ogletree from Chicago, a wonderful guy. And we never, never, never understood why he was selected out. We had no reason at all. Some other people were selected out and we, I mean, that seemed okay. We could see something. But Stu, he was just great and that was it.

[Assistant] Were you aware that in '63, were they still doing FBI background checks as part of?

[User] Yes, they were. They were.

[Assistant] Did friends of yours call your family or?


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

[User] Right, which was terrible, which was just before Christmas. We, we finished our, our session. Our training session finished in December, somewhere around December 15. And then we were all on two weeks vacation. We all went home to our families. And then after Christmas on January 1st or January 2nd, we then went to Guatemala. So our training. [tape break] Was when they told us some of the people that were selected out and we could not believe it. One of our, Mike's and my very best friend, was selected out. Stu Ogletree from Chicago, a wonderful guy. And we never, never, never understood why he was selected out. We had no reason at all. Some other people were selected out and we, I mean, that seemed okay. We could see something. But Stu, he was just great and that was it.

[Assistant] Were you aware that in '63, were they still doing FBI background checks as part of?

[User] Yes, they were. They were.

[Assistant] Did friends of yours call your family or?

[User] Yes, they did. They, all of my references were checked. Every person that I had put down was checked. It took almost a full year for the selection process from, I mean, it was almost a full year from when I sent in that application to May of 1963 when I was accepted. Almost a full year.

[Assistant] And you were aware that you were being checked on?


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

[User] Yes, they were. They were.

[Assistant] Did friends of yours call your family or?

[User] Yes, they did. They, all of my references were checked. Every person that I had put down was checked. It took almost a full year for the selection process from, I mean, it was almost a full year from when I sent in that application to May of 1963 when I was accepted. Almost a full year.

[Assistant] And you were aware that you were being checked on?

[User] Yes, because I asked my people and they said, oh yes. So they were checking on everybody.

[Assistant] They didn't find out anything?


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

[User] Yes, they did. They, all of my references were checked. Every person that I had put down was checked. It took almost a full year for the selection process from, I mean, it was almost a full year from when I sent in that application to May of 1963 when I was accepted. Almost a full year.

[Assistant] And you were aware that you were being checked on?

[User] Yes, because I asked my people and they said, oh yes. So they were checking on everybody.

[Assistant] They didn't find out anything?

[User] It was all well-hidden.

[Assistant] So you made it through selection.


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

[User] Yes, because I asked my people and they said, oh yes. So they were checking on everybody.

[Assistant] They didn't find out anything?

[User] It was all well-hidden.

[Assistant] So you made it through selection.

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] As did the chocolate sipper?


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

[User] Yeah.

[Assistant] As did the chocolate sipper?

[User] The chocolate milkshaker and the surfer.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] He didn't make it through the two years, but he made it through that.

[Assistant] At that point, about how many were left in the group?


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

[User] The chocolate milkshaker and the surfer.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] He didn't make it through the two years, but he made it through that.

[Assistant] At that point, about how many were left in the group?

[User] I think.

[Assistant] You said you started with 62.


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

[User] He didn't make it through the two years, but he made it through that.

[Assistant] At that point, about how many were left in the group?

[User] I think.

[Assistant] You said you started with 62.

[User] Yeah, I think, I think there were about five or six people that were selected out. So we had about 57.

[Assistant] At the point, now you're going home for two weeks of leave. Did you have any clear idea of what you would be doing once you got to Guatemala?


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

[User] Yeah, I think, I think there were about five or six people that were selected out. So we had about 57.

[Assistant] At the point, now you're going home for two weeks of leave. Did you have any clear idea of what you would be doing once you got to Guatemala?

[User] No. Well, all we knew is community development.

[Assistant] Theoretically.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Nobody had come out from Peace Corps, Washington Peace Corps, Guatemala to?


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

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Nobody had come out from Peace Corps, Washington Peace Corps, Guatemala to?

[User] Other than the psychologists?

[Assistant] Yeah. Yeah.

[User] You know, not that I remember, Bob. Some people's memories are much better than mine. I've been filled with 128 countries in my head and filled with 60 different slideshows. And I've pushed out a lot of stuff from the older days.

[Assistant] Two weeks at home.


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

[User] You know, not that I remember, Bob. Some people's memories are much better than mine. I've been filled with 128 countries in my head and filled with 60 different slideshows. And I've pushed out a lot of stuff from the older days.

[Assistant] Two weeks at home.

[User] Two weeks at home.

[Assistant] And then?

[User] Parties. Seeing lots of people who lived in New York came down to meet my parents and spend a little time in my house.

[Assistant] Were you engaged?


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

[User] Parties. Seeing lots of people who lived in New York came down to meet my parents and spend a little time in my house.

[Assistant] Were you engaged?

[User] No, we weren't engaged, but we were seeing each other a lot. At one time, you see, I liked both the surfer and Mike.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] And at one time Mike said to me, look, who's it going to be, Dave or me? And I said, I don't know. And he said, well, you need to decide. And I said, okay, let me walk around the block this way, and you walk around that block that way. So we walked around and then we met on the other side of the block and I said, it's you. And he said, okay, then you need to tell Dave. I said, okay.

[Assistant] So the two weeks at home were kind of fun.


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

[User] No, we weren't engaged, but we were seeing each other a lot. At one time, you see, I liked both the surfer and Mike.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] And at one time Mike said to me, look, who's it going to be, Dave or me? And I said, I don't know. And he said, well, you need to decide. And I said, okay, let me walk around the block this way, and you walk around that block that way. So we walked around and then we met on the other side of the block and I said, it's you. And he said, okay, then you need to tell Dave. I said, okay.

[Assistant] So the two weeks at home were kind of fun.

[User] It was really fun. It was really fun to see Mike, see some of my friends, and have Mike come down and meet my parents. And it was, yeah, it was. It was fun and exciting. I thought we finished that part of it. I'm filled with Spanish and Guatemalan culture. And I think I know a little bit about the country.

[Assistant] About how to sew a dress.


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

[User] And at one time Mike said to me, look, who's it going to be, Dave or me? And I said, I don't know. And he said, well, you need to decide. And I said, okay, let me walk around the block this way, and you walk around that block that way. So we walked around and then we met on the other side of the block and I said, it's you. And he said, okay, then you need to tell Dave. I said, okay.

[Assistant] So the two weeks at home were kind of fun.

[User] It was really fun. It was really fun to see Mike, see some of my friends, and have Mike come down and meet my parents. And it was, yeah, it was. It was fun and exciting. I thought we finished that part of it. I'm filled with Spanish and Guatemalan culture. And I think I know a little bit about the country.

[Assistant] About how to sew a dress.

[User] Yeah, yeah, a little bit about some of the cultural things.

[Assistant] And then up to the point when you're getting on the plane to fly down there, any second thoughts about maybe I shouldn't be doing this?


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

[User] It was really fun. It was really fun to see Mike, see some of my friends, and have Mike come down and meet my parents. And it was, yeah, it was. It was fun and exciting. I thought we finished that part of it. I'm filled with Spanish and Guatemalan culture. And I think I know a little bit about the country.

[Assistant] About how to sew a dress.

[User] Yeah, yeah, a little bit about some of the cultural things.

[Assistant] And then up to the point when you're getting on the plane to fly down there, any second thoughts about maybe I shouldn't be doing this?

[User] No, not at all. Absolutely no second thoughts at all.

[Assistant] And nobody tried, your family didn't try to say?


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

[User] Yeah, yeah, a little bit about some of the cultural things.

[Assistant] And then up to the point when you're getting on the plane to fly down there, any second thoughts about maybe I shouldn't be doing this?

[User] No, not at all. Absolutely no second thoughts at all.

[Assistant] And nobody tried, your family didn't try to say?

[User] No, they were very, they were very happy for me. My parents were always very happy for me throughout my exploits.

[Assistant] So now you fly down to Guatemala. Did the whole group go together?


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

[User] No, not at all. Absolutely no second thoughts at all.

[Assistant] And nobody tried, your family didn't try to say?

[User] No, they were very, they were very happy for me. My parents were always very happy for me throughout my exploits.

[Assistant] So now you fly down to Guatemala. Did the whole group go together?

[User] Mm hmm. The whole group together went on a plane?

[Assistant] Chartered flight or just a regular flight.


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

[User] No, they were very, they were very happy for me. My parents were always very happy for me throughout my exploits.

[Assistant] So now you fly down to Guatemala. Did the whole group go together?

[User] Mm hmm. The whole group together went on a plane?

[Assistant] Chartered flight or just a regular flight.

[User] No, a regular flight. We have a photo somewhere of all of us standing on the steps, coming down the plane, all of us there together.

[Assistant] Was anyone there to greet you?


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

[User] Mm hmm. The whole group together went on a plane?

[Assistant] Chartered flight or just a regular flight.

[User] No, a regular flight. We have a photo somewhere of all of us standing on the steps, coming down the plane, all of us there together.

[Assistant] Was anyone there to greet you?

[User] Yeah, there were, there were a few people there to greet us. The director of the country, the, yeah, I think the ambassador, the director of the Peace Corps, director of the country. Um. There were, there were a few people. Who else might have been there?

[Assistant] Oh, that's about it. Some Guatemalan officials?


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

[User] No, a regular flight. We have a photo somewhere of all of us standing on the steps, coming down the plane, all of us there together.

[Assistant] Was anyone there to greet you?

[User] Yeah, there were, there were a few people there to greet us. The director of the country, the, yeah, I think the ambassador, the director of the Peace Corps, director of the country. Um. There were, there were a few people. Who else might have been there?

[Assistant] Oh, that's about it. Some Guatemalan officials?

[User] Yeah. The director of the, Peace Corps director of the country. And also there were a few other reps that handled the different areas of Guatemala. They were all there.

[Assistant] Remember who the director was?


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

[User] Yeah, there were, there were a few people there to greet us. The director of the country, the, yeah, I think the ambassador, the director of the Peace Corps, director of the country. Um. There were, there were a few people. Who else might have been there?

[Assistant] Oh, that's about it. Some Guatemalan officials?

[User] Yeah. The director of the, Peace Corps director of the country. And also there were a few other reps that handled the different areas of Guatemala. They were all there.

[Assistant] Remember who the director was?

[User] Yeah. Andy Hernandez.

[Assistant] Okay. And the ambassador?


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

[User] Yeah. The director of the, Peace Corps director of the country. And also there were a few other reps that handled the different areas of Guatemala. They were all there.

[Assistant] Remember who the director was?

[User] Yeah. Andy Hernandez.

[Assistant] Okay. And the ambassador?

[User] The ambassador, I can't remember. I want to say John Bell, but I think that was when I was in Quito, Ecuador. There's been too many ambassadors in my life.

[Assistant] Yeah. You get off the plane, what happens next?


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

[User] Yeah. Andy Hernandez.

[Assistant] Okay. And the ambassador?

[User] The ambassador, I can't remember. I want to say John Bell, but I think that was when I was in Quito, Ecuador. There's been too many ambassadors in my life.

[Assistant] Yeah. You get off the plane, what happens next?

[User] We get off the plane and we go in and we talk and then they say, okay, we're going to divide you up and we're going to send you around the country. Everybody is going to go get on a bus and go take a trip around the country.

[Assistant] Just like that.


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

[User] The ambassador, I can't remember. I want to say John Bell, but I think that was when I was in Quito, Ecuador. There's been too many ambassadors in my life.

[Assistant] Yeah. You get off the plane, what happens next?

[User] We get off the plane and we go in and we talk and then they say, okay, we're going to divide you up and we're going to send you around the country. Everybody is going to go get on a bus and go take a trip around the country.

[Assistant] Just like that.

[User] Well, it was pretty soon after. I mean, it wasn't just like that.

[Assistant] I assume you had a few days?


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

[User] We went, we checked into the hotel. We always stayed at the Palace Hotel in Guatemala City. And whenever we were called in for things, it was always the Palace Hotel. So we were all checked into the Palace Hotel for the first day or maybe two days, and we had some meetings and discussions and stuff. And then they said, okay, we think the best way for you all to get familiar with your new country is to get on a bus and go travel around. So Mike and I went together.

[Assistant] Oh, okay.

[User] So we got on a bus together and traveled around the countryside and we had a very interesting cultural experience.

[Assistant] Which was?

[User] Which was, they have what are called the chicken busses in Guatemala, where everything is thrown on top. Everything, everything, everything. And Mike and I were sitting in these little old rickety busses. We were sitting in a seat and he was next to the window. And I was inside and the window was open. And we're going through some town and all of a sudden all this water comes into our window and we jump up and move, and it's coming into our window and the window in front of us where a little indigenous couple is sitting. And they just sit there. And what the water is, it's the pig up top is urinating and it's pig pee coming into the window. And the little couple sitting in front of us just sat right there, and we of course, just jumped up and got out of the way. So that was that was a very early memory in our trip by bus ride around Guatemala.

[Assistant] So you were gone how long on this bus ride?


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

[User] So we got on a bus together and traveled around the countryside and we had a very interesting cultural experience.

[Assistant] Which was?

[User] Which was, they have what are called the chicken busses in Guatemala, where everything is thrown on top. Everything, everything, everything. And Mike and I were sitting in these little old rickety busses. We were sitting in a seat and he was next to the window. And I was inside and the window was open. And we're going through some town and all of a sudden all this water comes into our window and we jump up and move, and it's coming into our window and the window in front of us where a little indigenous couple is sitting. And they just sit there. And what the water is, it's the pig up top is urinating and it's pig pee coming into the window. And the little couple sitting in front of us just sat right there, and we of course, just jumped up and got out of the way. So that was that was a very early memory in our trip by bus ride around Guatemala.

[Assistant] So you were gone how long on this bus ride?

[User] Uh, not very many days, I think like two days or three days. They just stuck us all out there and said, go get on the bus and go somewhere.

[Assistant] Do you recall your initial reaction to being in Guatemala?


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

[User] Which was, they have what are called the chicken busses in Guatemala, where everything is thrown on top. Everything, everything, everything. And Mike and I were sitting in these little old rickety busses. We were sitting in a seat and he was next to the window. And I was inside and the window was open. And we're going through some town and all of a sudden all this water comes into our window and we jump up and move, and it's coming into our window and the window in front of us where a little indigenous couple is sitting. And they just sit there. And what the water is, it's the pig up top is urinating and it's pig pee coming into the window. And the little couple sitting in front of us just sat right there, and we of course, just jumped up and got out of the way. So that was that was a very early memory in our trip by bus ride around Guatemala.

[Assistant] So you were gone how long on this bus ride?

[User] Uh, not very many days, I think like two days or three days. They just stuck us all out there and said, go get on the bus and go somewhere.

[Assistant] Do you recall your initial reaction to being in Guatemala?

[User] Um.

[Assistant] And your use of language?


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

[User] Uh, not very many days, I think like two days or three days. They just stuck us all out there and said, go get on the bus and go somewhere.

[Assistant] Do you recall your initial reaction to being in Guatemala?

[User] Um.

[Assistant] And your use of language?

[User] Yeah, uh. It was, I was struck by its beauty. It's a very beautiful country with beautiful volcanoes and really quite lovely. So I was struck by the scenery of it.

[Assistant] Did you immediately begin using your language?


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

[User] I hope so. I better. I like to talk a lot. I'm sure I must have.

[Assistant] Okay, okay.

[User] English wouldn't have done very well with people. I'm not at all shy with people. I talk to anyone and everyone.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So I think I was much better at it than Mike, who it was. It was, he was still learning Spanish and I was much more advanced than he. So I would have done all the initiating and talking.

[Assistant] Were there any inhibitions about talking politics, taking photos?


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

[User] English wouldn't have done very well with people. I'm not at all shy with people. I talk to anyone and everyone.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So I think I was much better at it than Mike, who it was. It was, he was still learning Spanish and I was much more advanced than he. So I would have done all the initiating and talking.

[Assistant] Were there any inhibitions about talking politics, taking photos?

[User] Well, they told us not to talk politics. In Peace Corps training, we were told not to talk politics and not to talk religion. So that was fine for me, since I didn't usually ever talk about either of those things anyway. I was not very much into politics. Never have been. Nor religion.

[Assistant] Now when you get back from the bus ride or the bus tour or whatever, what's the next phase of being in Guatemala?


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

[User] So I think I was much better at it than Mike, who it was. It was, he was still learning Spanish and I was much more advanced than he. So I would have done all the initiating and talking.

[Assistant] Were there any inhibitions about talking politics, taking photos?

[User] Well, they told us not to talk politics. In Peace Corps training, we were told not to talk politics and not to talk religion. So that was fine for me, since I didn't usually ever talk about either of those things anyway. I was not very much into politics. Never have been. Nor religion.

[Assistant] Now when you get back from the bus ride or the bus tour or whatever, what's the next phase of being in Guatemala?

[User] Then we were assigned to our communities.

[Assistant] Did you have any opportunity to give input as to your preference?


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

[User] Well, they told us not to talk politics. In Peace Corps training, we were told not to talk politics and not to talk religion. So that was fine for me, since I didn't usually ever talk about either of those things anyway. I was not very much into politics. Never have been. Nor religion.

[Assistant] Now when you get back from the bus ride or the bus tour or whatever, what's the next phase of being in Guatemala?

[User] Then we were assigned to our communities.

[Assistant] Did you have any opportunity to give input as to your preference?

[User] Yeah, I said I wanted to be assigned with Mike and that's when they said absolutely not. You two are much too affectionate a couple. You're going to be split up, sent on different ends of the country.

[Assistant] The implication being that the relationship was somehow not?


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

[User] Yeah, I said I wanted to be assigned with Mike and that's when they said absolutely not. You two are much too affectionate a couple. You're going to be split up, sent on different ends of the country.

[Assistant] The implication being that the relationship was somehow not?

[User] Yeah, they were afraid that we were going to be too, too much in love with each other and not do work.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] Not develop our communities. I know, but it was, it was fine. It was good. Our relationship was really too fast.

[Assistant] So your initial response to that was, well.


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

[User] Yeah, they were afraid that we were going to be too, too much in love with each other and not do work.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] Not develop our communities. I know, but it was, it was fine. It was good. Our relationship was really too fast.

[Assistant] So your initial response to that was, well.

[User] Well, I wasn't happy. Neither one of us were happy, but it was okay. And I think it was a wise decision on the part of the Peace Corps staff.

[Assistant] Now so you weren't too long in Guatemala City?


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

[User] Not develop our communities. I know, but it was, it was fine. It was good. Our relationship was really too fast.

[Assistant] So your initial response to that was, well.

[User] Well, I wasn't happy. Neither one of us were happy, but it was okay. And I think it was a wise decision on the part of the Peace Corps staff.

[Assistant] Now so you weren't too long in Guatemala City?

[User] No, we're not very long in Guatemala City before we were assigned to our sites.

[Assistant] And to, uh, where were you assigned? Was it with anybody else and had been Peace Corps there before you got there?


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

[User] No, we're not very long in Guatemala City before we were assigned to our sites.

[Assistant] And to, uh, where were you assigned? Was it with anybody else and had been Peace Corps there before you got there?

[User] Okay. I was assigned to Quezaltepeque, which is a little village in the, in the far. I have to look at the country. By Salvador. What's that? East. In the eastern part, on the eastern part of Guatemala, near the Salvador border, in a mountainous area, very kind of dry desert mountainy. There had been no Peace Corps volunteers there before, and I was assigned with a woman and a man. Three of us were assigned together. In 1963 in Guatemala, they were assigning mixed couples because at that time they thought it was better for women not to be alone.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] Soon after that, they again changed the course of direction and they did not put men and women together at all. It caused a problem in our village. The village said, who is the wife? There's one husband and two women living with him, because we lived in one house, and the people in the village could not understand. None of you are married to that man? Men and women. You are from the States and men and women are living together and you are not married? We didn't think that happened in the States. We thought you didn't live together until you were married. So it caused a problem and they stopped doing that maybe a year later or maybe two.

[Assistant] How did the three of you sort through this?


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

[User] Okay. I was assigned to Quezaltepeque, which is a little village in the, in the far. I have to look at the country. By Salvador. What's that? East. In the eastern part, on the eastern part of Guatemala, near the Salvador border, in a mountainous area, very kind of dry desert mountainy. There had been no Peace Corps volunteers there before, and I was assigned with a woman and a man. Three of us were assigned together. In 1963 in Guatemala, they were assigning mixed couples because at that time they thought it was better for women not to be alone.

[Assistant] Okay.

[User] Soon after that, they again changed the course of direction and they did not put men and women together at all. It caused a problem in our village. The village said, who is the wife? There's one husband and two women living with him, because we lived in one house, and the people in the village could not understand. None of you are married to that man? Men and women. You are from the States and men and women are living together and you are not married? We didn't think that happened in the States. We thought you didn't live together until you were married. So it caused a problem and they stopped doing that maybe a year later or maybe two.

[Assistant] How did the three of you sort through this?

[User] Um, we just kept laughing and saying, no, it's not my husband. And Ginny would say, he's not my husband because Doug was very lazy and Doug always had amoebas. And when it was time to get on the mules and go out to the little schools way out, far away, Doug always said, oh, my stomach hurts. I'm having an amoeba attack. You girls go ahead. You'll be fine without me.

[Assistant] Yeah. Now, in initially coming into the village, had someone arranged housing for you?


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

[User] Soon after that, they again changed the course of direction and they did not put men and women together at all. It caused a problem in our village. The village said, who is the wife? There's one husband and two women living with him, because we lived in one house, and the people in the village could not understand. None of you are married to that man? Men and women. You are from the States and men and women are living together and you are not married? We didn't think that happened in the States. We thought you didn't live together until you were married. So it caused a problem and they stopped doing that maybe a year later or maybe two.

[Assistant] How did the three of you sort through this?

[User] Um, we just kept laughing and saying, no, it's not my husband. And Ginny would say, he's not my husband because Doug was very lazy and Doug always had amoebas. And when it was time to get on the mules and go out to the little schools way out, far away, Doug always said, oh, my stomach hurts. I'm having an amoeba attack. You girls go ahead. You'll be fine without me.

[Assistant] Yeah. Now, in initially coming into the village, had someone arranged housing for you?

[User] Yes, they had found housing for us.

[Assistant] Who was the “they” in this case, Peace Corps?


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

[User] Um, we just kept laughing and saying, no, it's not my husband. And Ginny would say, he's not my husband because Doug was very lazy and Doug always had amoebas. And when it was time to get on the mules and go out to the little schools way out, far away, Doug always said, oh, my stomach hurts. I'm having an amoeba attack. You girls go ahead. You'll be fine without me.

[Assistant] Yeah. Now, in initially coming into the village, had someone arranged housing for you?

[User] Yes, they had found housing for us.

[Assistant] Who was the “they” in this case, Peace Corps?

[User] I think it was the rep in our part of the country.

[Assistant] So there was a regional Peace Corps rep?


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

[User] Had gone ahead of us, yes. Right.

[Assistant] An American?

[User] An American guy. Sklar. Joe Sklar was our guy, Joe Sklar. And I think there may be had been like three, three reps.

[Assistant] Could be.

[User] The country was kind of divided up and they each had, were assigned those volunteers in that.

[Assistant] So let's talk about your initial being in the village.


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

[User] An American guy. Sklar. Joe Sklar was our guy, Joe Sklar. And I think there may be had been like three, three reps.

[Assistant] Could be.

[User] The country was kind of divided up and they each had, were assigned those volunteers in that.

[Assistant] So let's talk about your initial being in the village.

[User] It was wonderful.

[Assistant] Did you have any?


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

[User] The country was kind of divided up and they each had, were assigned those volunteers in that.

[Assistant] So let's talk about your initial being in the village.

[User] It was wonderful.

[Assistant] Did you have any?

[User] I loved it.

[Assistant] Did you have anybody to whom you were?


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

[User] It was wonderful.

[Assistant] Did you have any?

[User] I loved it.

[Assistant] Did you have anybody to whom you were?

[User] I taught girls basketball.

[Assistant] But before you got there, to whom did you initially relate? I mean, you had housing arranged for you.


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

[User] I loved it.

[Assistant] Did you have anybody to whom you were?

[User] I taught girls basketball.

[Assistant] But before you got there, to whom did you initially relate? I mean, you had housing arranged for you.

[User] And we had a house.

[Assistant] But day one of being a Peace Corps volunteer there, where do you go? I mean, what did you do?


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

[User] I taught girls basketball.

[Assistant] But before you got there, to whom did you initially relate? I mean, you had housing arranged for you.

[User] And we had a house.

[Assistant] But day one of being a Peace Corps volunteer there, where do you go? I mean, what did you do?

[User] That's why I went out and played basketball with the girls.

[Assistant] Just from the get-go?


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

[User] Yeah, just from the get-go. I made friends with the kids. What they said to us in Peace Corps training was make friends with the kids.

[Assistant] Yes.

[User] If parents, if you do something good for a kid, you're going to get the parents on your side.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] And being that I love kids, I went out, and I loved sports. So I went out and I would play basketball with the girls and the boys, and I made friends with the kids. And you know what? I hadn't been there more than two weeks and there was a knock at our door and I opened the door and here are four little kids standing there with a little puppy. Dona Betsy, would you like this puppy? We thought you might like this puppy. It was a little white dog that I named Sam, Samuela. She was a she, but I called her Sam for short. And the kids loved this little dog that they gave me. So it was, it was a real in to the town, because now the kids gave me a dog, and I had this dog to walk around with me.

[Assistant] These children's families and others in the village must have known you were there. Who did they think you were?


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

[User] And being that I love kids, I went out, and I loved sports. So I went out and I would play basketball with the girls and the boys, and I made friends with the kids. And you know what? I hadn't been there more than two weeks and there was a knock at our door and I opened the door and here are four little kids standing there with a little puppy. Dona Betsy, would you like this puppy? We thought you might like this puppy. It was a little white dog that I named Sam, Samuela. She was a she, but I called her Sam for short. And the kids loved this little dog that they gave me. So it was, it was a real in to the town, because now the kids gave me a dog, and I had this dog to walk around with me.

[Assistant] These children's families and others in the village must have known you were there. Who did they think you were?

[User] That was very difficult to explain that. Yeah. Peace Corps volunteer. Well, what do you do? What is your job? Well, our job is, um, well, we're to come here and we're to help you develop your village. Oh, you are? Oh, well. Now you see before, now here's another thing I forgot. We were also assigned to work with CARE, and that was to be our first in to the village.

[Assistant] Ah, okay.

[User] CARE. And CARE had hot lunch programs going on and school gardens. And so in our village, in Quezaltepeque, which was a big town. It was a big town, not a little village, but a big town. The three of us were to go out to all these different schools all out in the aldeas outside of the town of Quezaltepeque and start hot lunch programs and start care of gardens. So we had seeds and we had dry milk and bulgur wheat, all the CARE products.

[Assistant] Was there a CARE official who sort of got this thing going?


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

[User] That was very difficult to explain that. Yeah. Peace Corps volunteer. Well, what do you do? What is your job? Well, our job is, um, well, we're to come here and we're to help you develop your village. Oh, you are? Oh, well. Now you see before, now here's another thing I forgot. We were also assigned to work with CARE, and that was to be our first in to the village.

[Assistant] Ah, okay.

[User] CARE. And CARE had hot lunch programs going on and school gardens. And so in our village, in Quezaltepeque, which was a big town. It was a big town, not a little village, but a big town. The three of us were to go out to all these different schools all out in the aldeas outside of the town of Quezaltepeque and start hot lunch programs and start care of gardens. So we had seeds and we had dry milk and bulgur wheat, all the CARE products.

[Assistant] Was there a CARE official who sort of got this thing going?

[User] Yes. And the head of CARE, we were like 21 and 22 years old. The head of CARE was 28 years old. And we thought he must have been at least 40. He was so organized and knew everything, what to do, and we could always ask him questions and problems and he always could help us. And we thought he was way older than we are because he seemed to know so much.

[Assistant] But he wasn't a Guatemalan?


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

[User] CARE. And CARE had hot lunch programs going on and school gardens. And so in our village, in Quezaltepeque, which was a big town. It was a big town, not a little village, but a big town. The three of us were to go out to all these different schools all out in the aldeas outside of the town of Quezaltepeque and start hot lunch programs and start care of gardens. So we had seeds and we had dry milk and bulgur wheat, all the CARE products.

[Assistant] Was there a CARE official who sort of got this thing going?

[User] Yes. And the head of CARE, we were like 21 and 22 years old. The head of CARE was 28 years old. And we thought he must have been at least 40. He was so organized and knew everything, what to do, and we could always ask him questions and problems and he always could help us. And we thought he was way older than we are because he seemed to know so much.

[Assistant] But he wasn't a Guatemalan?

[User] Kenny Kent. No, Kenny Kent. Yeah. He was from the States. He was from California.

[Assistant] Yeah. Was he resident in the same town?


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

[User] Yes. And the head of CARE, we were like 21 and 22 years old. The head of CARE was 28 years old. And we thought he must have been at least 40. He was so organized and knew everything, what to do, and we could always ask him questions and problems and he always could help us. And we thought he was way older than we are because he seemed to know so much.

[Assistant] But he wasn't a Guatemalan?

[User] Kenny Kent. No, Kenny Kent. Yeah. He was from the States. He was from California.

[Assistant] Yeah. Was he resident in the same town?

[User] No, no, no, no, no. He was in Guatemala City. He was in Guatemala City.

[Assistant] But accessible to you?


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

[User] Kenny Kent. No, Kenny Kent. Yeah. He was from the States. He was from California.

[Assistant] Yeah. Was he resident in the same town?

[User] No, no, no, no, no. He was in Guatemala City. He was in Guatemala City.

[Assistant] But accessible to you?

[User] He. Yeah. So he was accessible to us and he gave us a lot of assistance and support and encouragement and ideas on how we should go about doing what we were doing. So we worked with a priest in Quezaltepeque. There was a priest, Padre Antonio. And Padre Antonio liked Jennie and me very much. And he would, he would be responsible for finding mules for us to go on these long journeys out to the schools. And he accompanied us many of the times.

[Assistant] Did you ever spend nights out or were you always back in?


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

[User] No, no, no, no, no. He was in Guatemala City. He was in Guatemala City.

[Assistant] But accessible to you?

[User] He. Yeah. So he was accessible to us and he gave us a lot of assistance and support and encouragement and ideas on how we should go about doing what we were doing. So we worked with a priest in Quezaltepeque. There was a priest, Padre Antonio. And Padre Antonio liked Jennie and me very much. And he would, he would be responsible for finding mules for us to go on these long journeys out to the schools. And he accompanied us many of the times.

[Assistant] Did you ever spend nights out or were you always back in?

[User] No, we always came back. We'd go out and come back. I don't remember ever spending a night out. I remember always going out in the early morning and coming back and it was a long day. And that's why Doug's amoebas always were bothering him and he didn't want to go.

[Assistant] So within the first six months, you had a clear role and part of it related to the CARE program you were?


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

[User] He. Yeah. So he was accessible to us and he gave us a lot of assistance and support and encouragement and ideas on how we should go about doing what we were doing. So we worked with a priest in Quezaltepeque. There was a priest, Padre Antonio. And Padre Antonio liked Jennie and me very much. And he would, he would be responsible for finding mules for us to go on these long journeys out to the schools. And he accompanied us many of the times.

[Assistant] Did you ever spend nights out or were you always back in?

[User] No, we always came back. We'd go out and come back. I don't remember ever spending a night out. I remember always going out in the early morning and coming back and it was a long day. And that's why Doug's amoebas always were bothering him and he didn't want to go.

[Assistant] So within the first six months, you had a clear role and part of it related to the CARE program you were?

[User] Well, but I didn't last in that village six months.

[Assistant] Okay, go ahead.