Grades 6–8
Letters, folk tales, poems, and stories from Peace Corps Volunteers around the world will fascinate students and introduce them to unfamiliar peoples and cultures. Accompanying lesson plans enhance the value of the stories in the classroom.
- About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Advanced)
- The hurricane did serious damage to the infrastructure of the country: Homes, roads, bridges, dams, and airports were destroyed or were seriously damaged. The official death toll was approximately 300.
- About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Intermediate)
- On September 22, 1998, Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic.
- Chiggers and Other Challenges
- One of my biggest work challenges has been my involvement in the small coffee-growing community of Las Quebradas (the Streams) to develop a proposal for a water system. Of the communities in our county, Quebradas is the farthest from town, isolated by a long, rutted dirt road.
- Cross-Cultural Dialogue
- I entered the school doors brimming with ideas, innovative teaching methods, and the desire to have an effect.
- Enough to Make Your Head Spin
- "I'll have coffee," I tell the waitress at a cafe during my first week in Bulgaria. She shakes her head from side to side. "OK, tea," I say, thinking that maybe there's something wrong with the coffee machine.
- The Extra Place
- But it was a man, a stranger. He was a refugee from Yugoslavia, he said, and he was looking for someplace where he could spend the night. He had no money; he had no place to go. He didn't know anyone in Warsaw.
- Half Man, Half Limping Rabbit
- If I didn't mention Dracula in the same breath as Romania, it would be like disregarding a pink elephant in the room, so I'll say it ... Dracula!
- Help! My Father Is Coming!
- The idea was all my father's, my 74-year-old father who had never been outside America and who suddenly thought that Sri Lanka, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, would be a jolly place to visit.
- Ilunga's Harvest
- "My wife has left me, and I've got to harvest my pond," Chief Ilunga said. It was two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and he was breathing hard.
- In the Aftermath of Hurricane Georges
- Hurricane Georges, which hit the Dominican Republic September 22, 1998, was a defining experience in my life. This was my third hurricane, but never had I personally seen, heard, or felt winds of 150 mph.
- Interviews With Peace Corps Volunteers Serving in the Dominican Republic (Advanced)
- I live in the town of Hato Del Yaque, just outside of Santiago, which is the second largest city in the country. It's in the middle of the country, so there are a lot of people who have never even seen the beach.
- Interviews With Peace Corps Volunteers Serving in the Dominican Republic (Intermediate)
- I live in the village of La Pina, in the northwest of the country, in the hills of the central mountain range. I am nine kilometers south of the town of Los Almacigos. It is a 25- to 35-minute motorcycle ride up and down hills on a dirt road.
- Ivan the Fool
- Once upon a time, there was a czar who had three sons. When the time came for the sons to marry, the czar called them to his chamber.
- Just Like the Old Days
- Take an imaginary trip with me for a moment. Think of where you live right now. Now imagine it a thousand years ago.
- Just an Ordinary Day
- Before I left the States, I tried to imagine what my life in Romania would be like. I envisioned joining the Peace Corps as two years of roughing it.
- Lithuanian Gardens
- A garden actually plays another role besides being a source of food. It keeps the family together because the children are needed to work there.
- 'Magic' Pablo
- "Let's imagine," Pablo would say, "that Michael Jordan is walking with us." He would smile. "What would these people say?" he would ask, pointing to the women in dark blue cortes and white húipiles.
- The Meaning of Time
- Upon arriving in my village, I needed to learn the greetings in the indigenous language, Malinke.
- Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge
- I can imagine how a high diver must feel standing at the tip of the board, poised on the balls of his feet.
- Music in the Fields
- Mali, in West Africa, one of the world's poorest countries, has riches that remain a secret to many people of the Western world.
- Nomadic Life
- I'd like to trade with her / my typewriter keys / for the way she navigates the desert, / reads the coordinates of sand.
- On Sunday There Might Be Americans
- He walked to the door and pressed his eye against the crack in the straw. There above the rim of the compound wall he could see a sliver of blue. It was Sunday morning.
- One Step at a Time
- We each have our own idea of what's right and what's wrong. We each judge for ourselves whether something is good or bad, fun or boring, worthwhile or pointless.
- Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
- Romania has turned me into a pack rat. Not that I didn't collect things in the past.
- Respect for Authority
- For most of the 20th century, Mongolia was a socialist state under the strict shadow of the Soviet Union. When the Russian influence and aid ended abruptly in the early 1990s, Mongolia was left to start a market economy on its own from scratch.
- Running
- In the mornings I often ran to the summit of Raise the Flag Mountain.
- A Rural Honduran Day
- Some people might find life in a small Honduran pueblo monotonous, boring.
- The Senegalese Miracle
- I was one of 60 new Peace Corps trainees who landed at Dakar-Yoff Airport at midnight, excited and tired.
- Sharing in Africa
- People in villages across Kalambayi were trying to kill me. They were feeding me too much.
- A Single Lucid Moment
- The mountains were dramatic and thick with rain forest. No roads had ever scarred them. We had loaded a four-seater plane with cargo (we would fly out every three months to resupply) and flew for 30 bumpy minutes southwest to the mountain ridges.
- Soccer Until Dusk
- My father laughs when I tell him / how in Santa Cruz Verapaz / men quit work at noon, and after lunch / play soccer until dusk.
- Soneka's Village
- I would like to tell you about my special friend Soneka and his people in Tanzania. Soneka is 10 and a member of the Maasai tribe.
- A South African Storm
- It's a Saturday afternoon in January in South Africa. When I begin the 45-minute walk to the shops for groceries, I can hear thunder cracking in the distance up the mountain in Mageobaskloof.
- The Talking Goat
- The chief and the village elders listened carefully as Tugba told them of his talking goat, and his seven years in the jungle. When Tugba finished, the chief deliberated with the elders for a few moments. Then, he stood up to deliver his verdict.
- The Third Question
- There are certain conversations and key phrases in Romanian that you get especially good at repeating when you become a Peace Corps Volunteer.
- This Is Tanzania
- Karibu! Hamjambo marafiki yangu? That means, "Welcome! How are you doing, my friends?" in Kiswahili.
- Three Lessons
- September. Sunset. The town of Safi, Morocco. I was washing dishes in my sink.
- To Your Health
- Many customs and traditions in Bulgaria are related to hopes for good health. When you make a toast, you say "Na zdrave," or "To health." On your birthday, friends, colleagues, and even perfect strangers tell you "to be full of life and health."
- The Train Ride Home
- As my taxi slows to approach the train station, it attracts a crowd of young men who begin to run swiftly behind the car. Even before the taxi stops, they are opening the doors and the trunk to grab my bags.
- The True Cost of Coffee
- January is the "mero mero," or height, of coffee season in Corquín.
- A Typical Day
- Every day, whether I want to or not, I wake up when the rooster crows at dawn. As I climb out of the mosquito net that hangs over my bamboo bed, I hear swish-swish sounds outside my mud hut—the women have already begun sweeping leaves from the courtyard.
- Waking Up, Stepping Out
- I wake to chattering voices, a bus horn, bells ringing, an old man with a hacking cough, the squeak of a rusty latch opening across the hallway.
- Water in Africa
- The narratives from Water in Africa characterize the interconnectedness of water in the daily lives of African people and the Volunteers who serve in their countries.
- What's Integrity?
- I once heard "integrity" defined as the quality of a person who does what's right when he or she knows that absolutely no one else is watching.
- What's Mongolia Really Like?
- No matter how much an outsider researches and studies another country, it's difficult to really understand what's going on there until you're physically present.
- Where Life Is Too Short
- The strangest thing about my adopted home community in South Africa is the number of establishments selling tombstones in town.
- Where There's Smoke
- One day last fall, my Nepalese friend Kumar invited me to have lunch at his family's home. Like most homes in the surrounding village, his is built from packed clay and cow dung.
- Working With Environmental Issues
- I have parasites. They live in my stomach. I can feel gurgling after I eat or when I lie down to rest.
- Working for the Common Good
- The damage was extensive. You could actually see how the rivers had flooded their banks destroying whole towns. People came to us and said they had lost their town, they had lost their way of life, they had lost their way of living.