Afghanistan

  I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan from December 1971 through early 1974. After training, my initial assignment didn’t materialize. In Fall 1972 I served with famine relief team in Ghor province. In Kabul I assisted the karakul sheep pelt export office with the English language correspondence. In 1974 after trekking with Peace Corps friends in Nepal, I took a distinctly not-Peace Corps summer job managing the pool at the USAID recreation compound in Kabul. After returning to the U.S. I worked as a recruiter for ACTION/Peace Corps/VISTA in Rochester, New York. A recent 2023 inspiring highlight of my life was the reunion in Denver for Peace Corps Afghanistan Volunteers.                    

  Picture the way it was —  My husband, Randy Cowart, and I taught English in Faizabad, Badakshan province for two years, 1972–1973. In 1974, we extended for a third year to teach English to employees of Ariana Afghan Airlines in Kabul. It was difficult to select only 8 photos, but we wanted to share the special beauty of Faizabad and the surrounding area, as well as hint at a few adventures.                        

Picture the way it was — At the end of 1971 at age 22, Toby Marion went to Afghanistan to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer, where he worked as a high school science teacher trainer in Kapisa Province for two school years, followed by teaching at the faculty of engineering of Kabul University for three semesters. His recently published book published by Peace Corps Writers  “Afghanistan: Crossroads and Kingdoms: My 1970s Peace Corps Service and Recent Afghan History,” is available on Amazon. Toby gives  talks about his work in the ’70s and the difficult past fifty years of history in Afghanistan. In Kabul, he lived through the 1973 coup d’etat against Afghan King Zaher, the Soviet invasion in 1979, the mujaheddin resistance of the 1980’s which defeated the Soviets, the 1990’s civil war, the American and NATO nation building from 2001 after 911, and the ultimate victory of the . . .