Pernambuco ag co-op volunteers - September 2004 - See Photos
Name click to e-mail
Trained/GR
Served in
Present Location
Comments: Peace Corps and Brazil was truly a life-changing experience. I have not been back--other life-changing decisions have taken me to Asia. But I would still love to go back someday.
Vicencia and Fortaleza, CE, Coops & Legal Aid Sept 67- Feb 69
Arlington, VA
Comments: I was the youngest Peace Corp volunteer when I started training, just turned 18. I meet Bob Henne during training. We went to Petrolandia together. Later he left for another town and I returned to the U.S. Three years later be married. Bobs a retired welding instructor and I'm a retired NICU nurse.
Served in Pernambuco '67-69. John Burns was our fearless leader...still in touch with at least 2 of the group I served with Billy Mai and Bob Martin. returned to SA in '70-71 but not to Brazil...to Colombia...would enjoy hearing from others in my group.
Having been a PCV certainly comes back to visit you in many ways...whether it be the adoption of my two children (now in college), interfacing with visiting Brazilians to my whole foods market location, or talking to co-workers in Portuguese...it has still been a great and rewarding experience.
There is a plan afoot to have a FULL SCALE reunion during the 50th Peace Corps anniversary shindig in 2011...please contact me if you can help! Abraços!
Recife-Ribeirão & Santarém, PA Aug 68 - Nov 70 Health & Rural Coop
Colorado Springs, CO
You can see that I still keep Timbauba as my address--at least in cyberspace! I am retired now but still return to Brazil every several years and just returned from a trip to Brasilia. I consider Peace Corps the major formative experience in my life. It has been interesting for me to see my kids also live in Brazil and carry the cultural richness of that country into another generation.
Glad I went to Nazare. Loved Brazil but not the PC as much. Tried to
raise rabbits. Didn't work well. Tried all types of handicrafts but also
didn't pan out. Learned about perseverance.
Four of us were placed by the Smithsonian at the Tapacura Ecological Station to work on water ecology and terrestrial ecology. There were 2 Smithsonian teams. The other team worked in Brasilia on setting up the park system. The area was beautiful and the people were very friendly and fun. At the end of the 2 years I went to graduate school and presently work for the MA Department of Environmental Protection.
69-71(Coop. dos Trabalhadores Rurais de Limoeiro, PE), 71-73 as Volunteer Programmer in Recife (worked in all NE states) and 74 as PC trainer in BH and Recife.
Ilheus, BA, Brazil
Comments:
I was part of the Junior year training program at the Univ. of Texas in
Austin. After graduation, we trained in Petroplis, Rio de Janeiro.
I have 2 children and retired from the City of Seattle as the Director
of the Office for Civil Rights.
The last time I was back to Recife was in 2007. I didn't hardly
recognize the city anymore. I stayed near the hotel Boa Viagem and the
hotel was all boarded up.
I worked for USAID and then retired in 2007. I am currently auditing
part time for Catholic Relief Services.
I look back with some nostalgia and satisfaction (and even some humor) on my João Alfredo experience. The rough edges of life in rural Brazil seem less important compared to the friendships and human contacts we lived with daily. Jim Reed
My experience in the Peace Corps was the most rewarding time of my life.
In Nazare da Mata, I worked for short periods of time with two
volunteers on the list - Nancy Scheper-Hughes who went on to do great
things in Timbauba and Donna Vogt who succeeded me in Nazare da Mata. I
returned to Brazil in 68 to get married and Wayne Bjorlie served as my
best man.
(Jan 12)
After Peace Corps I was Ass't Director of Peace Corps training program for Pernambuco, then worked as consultant for USAID/Brazil. Later was with Mellon Bank in Rio, with Security Pacific Bank in Chile, São Paulo and Los Angeles. Most recently Director of Credit for Banco Brascan in Rio. Telephone in Rio:21-2556-0269. Calls welcome.
I was never technically a volunteer, I returned at the end of training, but I have always treasured the brief instant of being in Peace Corps.
I returned to school for a semester and after almost two years as an auto mechanic, started work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky doing soil surveys. As fate would have it, I stumbled onto this new technology in 1981 called Geographic Information Systems and after a couple of false starts, began managing a system for Kentucky's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet in 1988.
I was in the last Peace Corps group, I believe there were 88 of us in Miami, where we were stuck for anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks waiting for visas.
Jaboatão Community Development, Labor May 65 - 67 Paraiba (Pianco)
Kingston, WA
Peace Corps service continues to be a highlight of my life. After many careers and abodes around the world, I look forward to reconnecting with our group.
Limoero Maternal & Infant Care Health Program/nutrition
St. Paul, MN
Only stayed for a short time...4 months! My foot was in a cast for most of the 4 months I was there, since I broke it during "carnival" time doing the Samba in Lavras! Finally decided to return to the US for proper medical treatment. But that wasn't the end of my PC career...after my foot healed, went to Malaysia and did my 2 years of Peace Corps service there.
Goiânia & Recife Health/Community Development Aug 64 - 66
Sitka, Alaska
Mary Crowell
I used to belong to friends of Brazil but lost touch when they disbanded. I am not sure of my number of the group, I made it up. My group has had two reunions recently.
Next month I'll attend my 50th high school graduation reunion. I haven't seen ANY of them since graduation. It would be great to contact some of the RPCVs with whom I served in Brasil at this time also.
2nd to last group in Brazil; placed by Smithsonian; lived and worked at the Estacao Ecologica do Tapacura with 3 other PCVs (Clyde Asbury, Elaine Hartmann, Tom Gula)
After finding this page, I noticed that Tim George had added information. I lived with Tim (and two others, Clyde Asbury and Elaine Hartman) at the Tapacura Ecological Station, about an hour west of Recife in Pernambuco state (from Sept 77 until Nov 79. I served a final year in Salvador, Bahia (working out of the Federal University of Bahia), and departed when Peace Corps/Brazil closed its doors in Dec 1980. Those were wonderful times. I'm currently the science supervisor of the Springfield Public Schools in NJ.
Ecological Studies Recife & Salvador Aug 77 -Dec 80
Basking Ridge, NJ
I recall Strongin and Wilkins, two guys from NYC (both recent
Columbia Law School grads) in our training group who suffered more
severe culture shock in Milwaukee than they did in Pernambuco. Both
left after one year, having reached the magic age (from a draftable
standpoint) of 26.
I had a great experience in Brazil and continue to stay in touch
with its music, politics, language, World Cup prospects, and the
destruction of its rain forest. I'm still in touch with a half dozen
of the terrific band of brothers (and a few sisters) who comprised
our group and the one that succeeded us in 1970. Please contact me
if you are thinking of attending any of the World Cup matches in
the new stadium outside of Recife.
Have worked for USDA since 1974. Presently economic analyst for cotton subsidy program. Went back to the site in 1994. It had grown concentrically, but not much else had changed. All of the neighbors were still there. The co-op was still there.
