Interview with Maria Martin Thacker, April 27, 2022
Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Abstract of Interview with Maria Martin Thacker Sierra Leone, 1965 – 1967, Community Development Sector Maria Martin Thacker was born and raised in Clarksburg, West Virginia. She received a degree in international relations from Dennison University. Wanting to see the world, Maria applied to various international service organizations. Peace Corps offered her an assignment in Sierra Leone. Maria worked in community development. She collaborated with a host country national to produce a centralized workshop on maternal and child health and nutrition for women from the region and spent the following year visiting them in their local communities to provide oversight and support of the training they were doing with the local women. “She first visited her village sites on foot, but then was given a Land Rover. However, following a coup that prohibited gatherings, Maria had to develop alternative work, so she started a pre-school program for neighborhood kids as well as literacy classes for adults. She also taught English at a local school for boys and tropical health for girls. Maria’s service led her to a career in multi-cultural education, intercultural communication, and cultural anthropology.Interview Accession
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Clarksburg, West Virginia father editor Aunt school teacher Foreign Service exam applications American Friends Service, International Volunteer Service Peace Corps evacuation plan Pre-Service Training Hampton Institute HBCU physical fitness language cross-culture trainees couples Virgin Islands Saint Croix Fredrikstid training center Mende language deselection mother fear Dakar capital Freetown Forah Bay College Mende Temne Creole languages Bo site Njala Agricultural Center workshop beni benni seed formula Land Rover moon landing neighbors climate culture American values malaria dancing Bundu Bush secret society mud ritual sisterhood Moyamma Pujihum regional cities coup missionaries pre-school literacy Ahmadiyyah Muslin Jama’at Secondary School for Boys English teacher women protectors religions vacation East Africa hitch hiking post Peace Corps MA multicultural education MA anthropology South Sudan Rodger Hirshland World Wide Schools coming home affluence fast paced American/urban culture curriculum for reentry Akitoye Akiwumi friendInterview Rights
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Thacker, Maria Martin Interview by Randolph A. Adams. 27 Apr. 2022. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Thacker, M.M. (2022, April 27). Interview by R. A. Adams. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Thacker, Maria Martin, interview by Randolph A. Adams. April 27, 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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