Interview with Hallie Jane Brown, August 1, 2020

Partial Transcript: Good morning. Today is August 1st, 2020. My name is Jay Sztuk. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji in 1974 through 1976.

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about her first introduction to Peace Corps during high school. She talks about originally interviewing for Burkina Faso and her parents' disapproval. She talks about finding her post in Gambia and convincing her parents that she should go. She talks about her family's travel history and having a difficult time selling them on the idea. She talks about her past international travel experience to Poland.

Keywords: Burkina Faso; Democracy; Family; Friends; Health; International studies; Learning; New Mexico; Peace Corps; Posting; Reaction; Republic of The Gambia; Research; Sociology

Subjects: Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia.; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in Medical Program Division

Partial Transcript: Did you get, uh, any encouragement from friends or outside of your family?

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about staying in touch with her friends while serving in Gambia. She talks about applying a second time and the application process. She talks about why she wanted to serve in Africa and her past study abroad trip to Ghana. She talks about how her future goals influenced her decision to apply to Peace Corps.

Keywords: Africa; Application process; Career; Community; Concerns; Culture; Education; Friends; Geography; Ghana; Goals; History; Non-governmental organization (NGO); Nonprofit; Peace Corps; Public health; Reaction; Republic of The Gambia; Service; Social work; Study abroad; Support; Weather; West Africa

Subjects: Non-governmental organization; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: Did you have any background in public health before?

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about working for a project in New Mexico that worked with refugees from West Africa and her introduction to health care there. She talks about landing and training in Masembe and working at the facility that was gifted to Peace Corps. She talks about living with a host family and learning Mandinka. She talks about her placement in the village of Wassu and its importance in trade. She talks about the ethnicity of her host family and their dialect of Mandinka.

Keywords: Africa; Agriculture sector; Cohort; Community advocate; Education; Health care system; Health sector; Host family; International experiences; Jakhanke; Language; Learning; Mandinka (Language); Masembe; Peace Corps; Public health; Republic of The Gambia; School; Service; Si-Kunda; Teaching; The Refugee Wellbeing Project; Trade; Training; Village; Wassu; World Heritage Site

Subjects: Language and languages.; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: So, uh, back to training, you, you lived with a host family then--

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about her typical day during training in Si-Kunda. She talks about her language classes and her after class events. She talks about doing her homework in different parts of the village to meet new people. She talks about the differences in weather between Gambia and New Mexico. She talks about trying to understand her host family's polygamist relationship and how her training helped at her permanent site. She talks about feeling prepared culturally and the process of her technical training.

Keywords: Change; Community; Culture; Differences; Education; Health needs; Host family; Humidity; Language; Mandinka (Language); Ministry of Health; Peace Corps; Public health; Relationships; Republic of The Gambia; Stakeholders; Technical training; Weather

Subjects: Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism

Partial Transcript: Yeah so tell me, the, the Wassu village, uh, sounds like it was a, a--more than a village. Was it more like a, a town?

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about the size and population of Wassu and the businesses there. She talks about the ethnic groups and languages present in Wassu. She talks about living in a row house and describes her home layout. She talks about working alone in the community and picking up where the previous volunteer had left off. She talks about working with the school and the sweet potato farm. She talks about the health center near her site and working in reproductive and child health care.

Keywords: Agriculture; Business; Education; Electricity; Ethnic groups; Evacuation; Farming; Health care; Health center; Health department; Industry; Languages; Living situation; Mandinka (Language); Public health; Republic of The Gambia; Rural; Shops; Sweet potatoes; Tourists; Wassu; West Africa; Wolof

Subjects: Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in education; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: So it sounds like you had to be pretty self-directed and, uh--

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about the difference between her many projects and the previous volunteer's big project. She talks about the compound that she lived in and the family she lived with. She talks about community mapping with the children in the village and learning about the different ethnic groups. She talks about dynamics between men and women, and becoming acquainted with different families.

Keywords: Communication; Community; Community development; Community mapping; Connection; Counterparts; Families; Mandinka (Language); Peace Corps; Politics; Projects; Relationship building; Relationships; Republic of The Gambia; Socializing; Wassu

Subjects: Intercultural communication.; Interpersonal communication and culture; Interpersonal relations and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in education; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: Well, it s--yeah, it sounds like you were very, uh, resourceful and, uh--

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about managing her expectations when going into the project and how that helped her adapt. She talks about being a "busy body" and how that impacted her college and Peace Corps experience. She talks about adjusting to the weather and religion within the region. She talks about the importance of context and knowledge within the community and how that impacted her time at the site. She talks about being one of the only women in her village with a job outside of the house and having a hard time cultivating certain knowledge.

Keywords: Activities; Agriculture; America; Business; Context; Domestic labor; Expectations; Gardening; Gender; Gender roles; Hardworking; Islam; Job; Knowledge; Men; Opportunity; Peace Corps; Productivity; Questions; Ramadan; Relationships; Republic of The Gambia; Social life; Taking advantage; Understanding; Village; Women

Subjects: Intercultural communication.; Interpersonal communication and culture; Interpersonal relations and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism

Partial Transcript: So, uh, but you were the second volunteer there.

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about the ethnicity of the previous volunteer and her insight into the community. She talks about being compared to the previous volunteer's language ability and behavior. She talks about the importance of integrating into the village society and the village's relationship with foreigners. She talks about trying to figure out how many past volunteers had stayed at the site in the last fifty years.

Keywords: America; Americans; Ethnic groups; Foreigners; Language; Lifestyle; Mandinka (Language); Peace Corps; Race; Republic of The Gambia; Tourists; Wassu; World Heritage Site

Subjects: Communication and culture.; Languages and language.; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia

Partial Transcript: Hey, um, gonna backtrack a little bit here.

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about her host father's willingness to utilize western medicine and engage in education. She talks about genital mutilation within the village and the previous volunteer's larger project with it. She talks about engaging her host family in her work and providing them context with what she was doing. She talks about being initially frustrated about not having a counterpart and having a difficult time integrating. She talks about the difficulty of building relationships utilizing a different dialect of Mandinka.

Keywords: Acculturation; Communication; Connections; Contacts; Context; Culture; English; Experience; Genital mutilation; Healer; Integrating; Interventions; Mandinka (Language); Motivation; Peace Corps; Public health; Relationship building; Republic of The Gambia; Tradition; Volunteer

Subjects: Acculturation.; Language and languages.; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: What were some of the things that you enjoyed most about living there?

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about enjoying her time with her host family and building relationships. She talks about witnessing one of her host mothers giving birth and the traditions and ceremonies that followed. She talks about integrating into her community and the jokes and sarcasm within her community. She talks about meeting with other volunteers on Mondays to visit the market and making lunch together.

Keywords: Birth; Ceremonies; Childbirth; Communication; Community; Connecting; Contacts; Culture; Education; Gender; Host family; Other volunteers; Peace Corps; Public health; Relationship building; Republic of The Gambia; Service; Site mate; Social life; Tradition; Tutoring

Subjects: Communication and culture.; Culture.; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Voluntarism

Partial Transcript: So you were there for, oh about a year and a half, um, when, um, you got news about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about the number of COVID-19 cases in Gambia while she was there and her mother's warning about the potential for evacuation. She talks about first hearing from Peace Corps when they shutdown Morocco when working with some trainees. She talks about hearing about the evacuation through a group chat and sneaking back to her village.

Keywords: 2020; Communication; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Evacuation; Host family; Misinformation; Pandemic; Peace Corps; Public health; Republic of The Gambia; Time difference; Training; Village; Whatsapp

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Peace Corps (U.S); Peace Corps (U.S)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia; Volunteer workers in medical care

Partial Transcript: And then, um, when you finally got the word--

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about negotiating with a bus driver to pick up all of the different volunteers on their way to the capitol. She talks about watching all of the other volunteers saying their last goodbyes before being picked up. She talks about not being able to say goodbye to everyone she would have wanted and trying to explain the situation to her village.

Keywords: 2020; Capital; Community; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Decision; Emotions; Explanation; Goodbyes; Leaving; Pandemic; Peace Corps; Republic of The Gambia; Social norms; Stress; Transportation; Village

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Culture.; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia

Partial Transcript: Now you, you had almost completed your service, um--

Segment Synopsis: Brown talks about explaining to the village that she was unlikely to come back as a Peace Corps volunteer. She talks about her current job as a municipal clerk in New Mexico. She talks about staying in contact with her host family in Gambia and seeing Gambia as a sacred place for her. She talks about her service becoming part of her identity and potentially going back as a volunteer. She talks about some of the issues she has with Peace Corps and the reforms she would like to see.

Keywords: 2020; Abuse; Assault; Coming back; Communication; Contacts; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Government job; Identity; Impact; Job; Marriage; Occupation; Pandemic; Peace Corps; Reforms; Relationship; Republic of The Gambia; Service; Sexual assault; Visiting; Wedding

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Peace Corps (U.S); Peace Corps (U.S)--Gambia; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of The Gambia