Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2017-034
Christy Allen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland from 1974 to 1977. She applied to the Peace Corps after completing her undergraduate degree, despite strong opposition from her mother. Her training occurred in a number of different locations within Swaziland, and provided exposure to various kinds of schools as well as instruction in the siSwati language. Allen was assigned to work in a secondary school in Hlatikulu, a chilly mountainous area, in a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program. The interview includes a discussion of how white Peace Corps volunteers traveled through South Africa during apartheid, as well as the challenges that occurred when a volunteer married a host country national. Interviewed and recorded by Phyllis Noble, 15 February 2017. 3 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).