Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-147
Natasha (Tasha) Prados served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru from 2011 to 2013 on a water and sanitation project. She was stationed in Rio Grande, right off the Pan-American Highway about 8 hours south of Lima. There she worked to increase access to potable water, build the local community's first sewage system, install improved cook stoves for women cooking on open fires, and reduce trash burning. She also taught classes on HIV prevention, sanitation and hygiene, English, vocational orientation, and more than 300 hours of exercise classes. Prados talks positively about her host family and the general openness and friendliness of people in the community. However, she notes that she found the machista (machismo) culture and the relaxed attitude toward punctuality challenging. She concludes that in her experience, Peace Corps volunteers were not colonial imperialists, as she had feared, because local communities were deeply involved in development activities. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 25, 2019. 1 digital audio file.