Interview with Natalie Tallie Firnhaber, October 24, 2022

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

Interview Summary

Natalie “Tallie” Firnhaber, Afghanistan 1968-1970, Health Talli joined Peace Corps after graduating from college with a degree in nursing. She explains that while her three months of language, cultural and technical training was very limited due to its training location in the US rather than 'in country', the people in Puli Khumri helped her learn Dari and improve her communication. It was in Puli Khumri where she served as a nurse along with another Peace Corps volunteer for two years where they created a clinic to treat patients' wounds caused by tuberculosis and also provide eyeglasses for those who were noticing issues with their eyesight. Tallie returned to the US with culture shock that helped form her next steps to study anthropology and leave nursing for a career in archaeological conservancy. She found herself back in Kabul, Afghanistan years later for work and explains how the war zone changed the face of the capital but the people’s warmth and kindness had not. She now teaches English to Afghan refugees and is able to harness her Peace Corps experience of the past to help families from Afghanistan adjust to live in the US today.

Interview Accession

2022oh1708_pcrv0678

Interviewee Name

Natalie Tallie Firnhaber

Interviewer Name

Urvi Mehta

Interview Date

2022-10-24

Interview Rights

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Firnhaber, Natalie Tallie Interview by Urvi Mehta. 24 Oct. 2022. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Firnhaber, N.T. (2022, October 24). Interview by U. Mehta. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Firnhaber, Natalie Tallie, interview by Urvi Mehta. October 24, 2022, 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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