Interview with Athanasios "Tommy" Kolovos, July 27, 2020

Project: Peace Corps: COVID-19 Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Oral History Project

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Interview Summary

Athanasios "Tommy" Kolovos served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar from September 2019 through March 2020, in the education program as an English teacher. Kolovos volunteered for several projects overseas while in college. On a volunteer trip to Panama, he worked alongside Peace Corps Volunteers. That experience inspired him to apply to Peace Corps. Training was conducted in a village named Mantasoa, where he stayed with a host family. Language training consisted of Malagasay, and Betsileo dialect. Tommy’s assignment site was in Fianarantsoa. He lived and worked at the high school. A few months after settling in, COVID-19 evacuation was ordered. This interview includes discussion of his training, service, and evacuation. It also includes some discussion of his Peace Corps experience as a gay man in a culture where living openly as an LGBTQ+ individual is not acceptable. Kolovos hopes to return to Madagascar as a volunteer, and may pursue a Peace Corps staff position in the future.

Interview Accession

2020oh0305_pcev0006

Interviewee Name

Athanasios "Tommy" Kolovos

Interviewer Name

Julius "Jay" Sztuk

Interview Date

2020-07-27

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Kolovos, Athanasios Interview by Julius Sztuk. 27 Jul. 2020. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Kolovos, A. (2020, July 27). Interview by J. Sztuk. Peace Corps: COVID-19 Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Kolovos, Athanasios, interview by Julius Sztuk. July 27, 2020, Peace Corps: COVID-19 Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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