Interview with Robert Horsch, October 30, 2021

Interview Summary

Robert followed graduation from James Madison University in 1995 by joining Teach For America, where he met his future wife. Together in 1997, they were accepted into the Peace Corps and an assignment in the relatively new nation, Suriname, and new Peace Corps host in 1998. Training in the capital, Paramaribo, for 3 months with 20 other trainees, mostly couples, consisted of language instruction in this multicultural/multi-linguistic nation followed by a very helpful site-visit with departing PCVs. Their rather unspecified task was community research and rural development: “Go to your post and do well.” A boat accident up the Suriname River deprived them of much of their supplies. Gradually, they established their roles by conversing with all village members, first in Bofakule, later in Djumu: infrastructure of all kinds, health, and education. Late in his service, PC informed him of his mother’s impending death and brought them stateside for 40 days where they completed an early termination of service in 2000.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps Suriname 1998-2000 Rural Development Community Specialist James Madison University Teach for America Houston tsunami Guyana Community Research Specialist Navy Paramaribo independence Dutch indentured workers slaves infrastructure health sanitation Bofakule Atjoni married couple pidgin Portuguese Spanish Javanese Saramakan English literacy library gathering food premise of Peace Corps PC staff with Guyana shortwave radio mother’s illness salmonella sandflies “seca” amoeba Leishmaniasis health clinic inventoried supplies childbirth case manager

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