Interview with Athanasios "Tommy" Kolovos, July 27, 2020
Project: Peace Corps: COVID-19 Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Oral History Project
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
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
Interview Keyword
Peace Corps (U.S.)--2010-2020 Madagascar (Country of service) 2019-2020 (Date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education Malagasay (Language) Betsileo (Language) Mantasoa (Training site) Fianarantsoa (Assignment site) Peace Corps (U.S.)--2020-Evacuation Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteer (EPCV) LGBTQ+ Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Peace Corps (U.S.)--2020- #covid19 Diversity in the Peace CorpsInterview LC Subject
Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Madagascar Madagascar COVID-19 (Disease) 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 VolunteersInterview Rights
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Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
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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.
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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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