December 11, 2019 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Dan Douglas (Botswana) — Fulfilling the Third Goal of the Peace Corps — Global Citizen

Dec 11 2019

To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans — the Third Goal, Peace Corps Act My Contribution to the “Third Goal” I went to Botswana as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1968 with a master’s degree in classical history – and I actually taught some history in the secondary school to which I was assigned. But I was also asked to teach English, and that became my passion and my main contribution to the young men and women of Botswana. When I returned to the United States in 1970, I enrolled in another MA course, English as a Second Language, at the University of Hawai’i, and then a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Edinburgh University in Scotland. I didn’t begin “educating America” quite yet, though, as my wife (whom I had met and married in Botswana) and I spent several . . .

Talking with Nancy Heil Knor (Belize), author of WOVEN

Dec 11 2019

Nancy, where and when did you serve in the Peace Corps? I had the privilege of serving in the village of San Pedro Columbia in Belize, Central America, from 1989–1991. I loved it! The village is inhabited by K’ekchi Mayan families who are mostly subsistence farmers. When I lived there, the population was about 1,000 people; it was one of the larger Mayan villages in the southernmost district of Belize. What was your Peace Corps project assignment? Originally, I was sent to the village to teach the villagers how to plant carrots in order to increase their intake of Vitamin A. Vitamin A helps prevent vision loss — something that many of the K’ekchi experience. The project, which was called Relevant Education for Agricultural Production (REAP), was a district-wide initiative, but, unfortunately, we Volunteers found it difficult to implement. Most of us were trained as teachers and had . . .

Archive - December 11, 2019