Interview with Donald Yates, October 22, 2020

Interview Summary

Donald Yates served as a Peace Corps volunteer in an Education and Community Development program in the Philippines from 1962-1964. He taught English mostly to girls and young women in the Bilaan Pilot Elementary School, did teacher training and taught agricultural methods to young men in Jolo in the mostly Muslim southern island of Mindanao. He discusses being unprepared for living in a Muslim community and recounts an incident during Ramadan when a man “ran amok” during a traditional hallucinatory dream attacking the barracks which garrisoned Christian police officers there to control the rebellious local population. He discusses the generosity of local people, their love of Americans at the time, and their openness to learning. He says that in Peace Corps, he learned that he was an educator and that the experience made him the man he is today. He shows letters he received from President Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, and Hubert Humphrey in which Humphrey invited him to a White House conference where he spoke about his experience.

Interview Keyword

Philippines (Country of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education 1962-1964 (Date of service) Inter-cultural communication Third Goal activities Impact of Peace Corps on his career San Jose State College (Training site) Zamboanga, Philippines Jolo, Philippines Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Community Economic Development

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Philippines Philippines Male teachers. Muslims. Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers Community development Education

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