I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia from 1966-68 first as an English language teacher in an all-girls primary school and during the second year as deputy director of the National Museum.

After being interviewed for the RPCV Oral History Archives Project, I became a volunteer interviewer and now coordinate the project. I love being an interviewer because I get to meet really interesting and committed people and I learn a tremendous amount about the countries in which interviewees have served. More importantly, the individual stories we preserve are a testament to the Peace Corps’ enduring impact.

I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2004-06 as an English language instructor at the Dnipropetrovsk National University and at a language school. My experience was priceless and rich with so many good memories, all because a wonderful host family, enthusiastic counterpart and future friends who welcomed this clueless stranger with open arms and immense trust.

In 2022, I interviewed for the RPCV Oral History Archives Project and have since become an interviewer and the team’s second multimedia editor. With two invasions of Ukraine since I have returned to the US and the continued rise of disinformation and misinformation blurring reality from fiction, I can’t think of a better way to give back to Peace Corps and the countries who have hosted the program than helping preserve the unique stories and perspectives that have come as a result of the program so that its legacy can continue.

I was a Fiji XXI Volunteer from 1974 through 1976. I was assigned to the Architects Section of the Public Works Department in Suva, where I worked on projects for the Ministry of Health, including some rural nursing stations, and the maternity wing at CWM hospital. I met a young island beauty named Joanna Kleimann in Suva and we recently celebrated our 40 anniversary. Work has taken us from California to the Marshall Islands, Japan, and finally to Annapolis MD. I retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs DC headquarters in 2018.

I am a retired community college English teacher. I first served in the Peace Corps from 1994-1996 – Ukraine Group 3 in Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk, at the time). I then served as a Response Volunteer in Lutsk from 2013-2014 when I and others were evacuated due to the political turmoil. I returned to serve as a Response Volunteer in Uzhhorod from 2015-2016. In each city, I was an English Teacher Trainer. Currently, I am an active hospice volunteer and board member of my community association in Baltimore.

After a career in higher education, I joined the Peace Corps upon retirement in 2009 and was assigned to North Macedonia. Because I wanted to experience as much as I could, I volunteered for the dual language program so I could be part of both the Slavic Macedonian culture and the Albanian Culture. I worked for the Regional Association of the Sheepbreeders of Western Macedonia and extended a third year to serve as volunteer leader. I’ve been interviewing with OHAP since 2018 and help with training new volunteers.

I served in Peace Corps Namibia as a Science Teacher from 2006 to 2008. I later became a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in the Philippines in 2011 as an Audio Video Specialist.

I believe in the power of story to create lasting change. By sharing the experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers living and working with people from different cultures around the world, I believe we will help create peace and friendship between people of different backgrounds.