Interview with Melinda Mixer, August 25, 2022

Interview Summary

Melinda Mixer was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru from 1967-1970 with an agricultural program. Her training in Mexico, with a cohort of about 50 volunteers, emphasized Spanish language instruction. Other aspects of training, such as raising rabbits, had less relevance to Peru. She was placed as the only volunteer in a small town, Sabandía, just south of Arequipa, where her host agency was the Servicio de Investigacion y Promocion Agraria (SIPA). She worked to develop a nutritional education program in the schools. After six months, she asked to be relocated. She spent the rest of her service in Chuquibamba, a small village without electricity or running water, high in the mountains northeast of Arequipa, but where another female volunteer was already working. To develop school nutrition programs in the surrounding area she had to learn how to ride a horse. Support for her work from either Peace Corps or SIPA was limited. Her return to the U.S. was challenging, and she soon left to travel the world. She later earned a bilingual teaching certificate and taught for many years, a job she loved.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peru (Country of service) 1967-1970 (dates of service) Peace Corps job: Agriculture Peru Argentina Brazil Peace Corps U.S.-- 1960-1970 Peace Corps U.S.—Management Peace Corps U.S.—Training Spanish (Language) Quichua (Language) Catholic Church CARITAS Callao Sabandía Chuquibamba Arequipa Lima Machu Picchu Servicio de Investigacion y Promocion Agraria (SIPA) nutrition program Peace Corps Staff Primus stove Indian Bilingual teaching horse electricity water rabbits

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