Kate Schachter and Aleia McCord
Recorded
March 25, 2011
43:41 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
DDD000480
Description
Kate Schachter (60) and Aleia McCord (29) talk about their experiences as Peace Corps Volunteers in Ghana from 2003-2006.Subject Log / Time Code
KS went to Philadelphia for Peace Corps training and met her fellow volunteers. Almost all the other volunteers were younger than KS -- she was 54.
AM remembers the police motorcade that took them from the airport in Ghana to the staging location. The old volunteers threw condoms at the new volunteers as they arrived at the airport. KS didn’t know her placement for the first 3 or 4 weeks. AM went on a site-visit to her village and when she arrived a woman immediately thrust an infant into AM’s arms and left. AM really had to pee, so she found someone else to give the baby to. There was a family in KS’s village that took her in and wanted to cook for her every night. KS brought her cast iron frying pan from home.
KS worked with Adra in Ghana, but she didn’t meet anyone from the organization for a month. AM struggled with the transition from college to work in Peace Corps because there was no system of assessment of accountability. AM enjoyed the in-service training she had with her counterpart. It was interesting to see the other PCVs interact with their counterparts and to see the different assumptions volunteers and counterparts had.
AM helped organized a 5-day 100-mile bike ride for HIV awareness and prevention. A group of 60 volunteers rode their bikes to different villages and did trainings.
KS wanted to stay a third year in Ghana and was approved administratively, but not medically. KS was devastated that she had to come back and had trouble adjusting to the US. When AM got back, she got her first job and was nervous about the differences. KS and AM keep in touch with friends in Ghana through email and Facebook.
Participants
- Kate Schachter
- Aleia McCord