Interview with Sonia Desai, September 27, 2021

Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project

Interview Summary

Sonia Desai served as a Peace Corps Education volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1991-1993. She was raised in an Indian-American family in Malaysia and the US, and international work always appealed to her. During her last year at San Franciso State University, she applied to Peace Corps end eventually was assigned to the Dominican Republic. Training emphasized language and culture, and included many trips into the country from the training site in Pantoja. Her first site was in Blanco Arriba, but due to challenges in finding work and a threatening incident with a local man, she opted to change sites. Settling in El Pujador, she continued to face challenges to her Americanness due to her South Asian descent, but she raised funds to contstruct a school. On returning to the US she joined a non-profit aiding persons displaced by the war in El Salvador and has continued to work internationally since.

Interview Accession

2021oh0861_pcrv0396

Interviewee Name

Sonia Desai

Interviewer Name

Craig Tower

Interview Date

2021-09-27

Interview Rights

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Desai, Sonia Interview by Craig Tower. 27 Sep. 2021. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Desai, S. (2021, September 27). Interview by C. Tower. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Desai, Sonia, interview by Craig Tower. September 27, 2021, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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