Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-036
Donald Mooers served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone from 1982 to 1984 on an agriculture project. He later also served as Regional Director for Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia (EMA) at Peace Corps headquarters from 1997 to 1998. Mooers discusses his work in agricultural education and as an agricultural extension agent in Matotoka. This included helping leprosy survivors learn how to farm without hurting themselves. He talks about learning patience, humility, and the importance of grieving in a society in which death is common. He also talks about the unique challenges Peace Corps volunteers faced while working with well-educated counterparts in post-Communist eastern Europe, Russia, and China. Mooers advocates for an upside-down organization chart in which the role of Peace Corps staff is to serve the needs of volunteers in the field. He concludes by discussing the importance of Peace Corps in the 21st century. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, November 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).