Interview with Becky Masoner McCain, June 15, 2021

Interview Summary

Becky Masoner McCain served as a Peace Corps Health Education volunteer in Chile from 1979-1981. She was attracted to Peace Corps as a way to travel overseas while serving others. At a staging event in the Poconos with trainees headed to Tonga, El Salvador, and Chile, she met her future husband who served in Tonga while she was in Chile. Her training group received Spanish-language training in La Guacima, Costa Rica and technical training in Santiago. She served in a village called Negrete in the south of Chile which had the nation’s highest infant mortality rate. She began as an assistant in the medical clinic, and then worked as a teacher in a preschool for malnourished children. After Peace Corps, she and her future husband planned to go together to Tonga where he planned to serve for a third year; a cyclone thwarted their plans but they did later marry and are still together.

Interview Keyword

Chile (Country of service) Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) La Guacima, Costa Rica Negrete, Chile 1979-1981 (Date of service) Santiago, Chile Southern Hemisphere climate Peace Corps training Spanish language learning Food cultures Host families Health education Preschool instruction Gardening Rural health clinics Infant mortality rates Salvadore Allende Augusto Pinochet Peace Corps couples Republic of Tonga International phone calls Chilean Independence Day (September 18) Nutrition education Reverse culture shock

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Chile Chile Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers

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