Interview with Gretchen Cowman, October 10, 2022

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

Interview Summary

Gretchen Cowman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1999. Gretchen was an Americorps/Vista volunteer before her Peace Corps service. During training she learned the Shona language, lived with a rural and an urban family and went to Victoria Falls with a group of other trainees. She was a science teacher and lived in housing for the local teachers. She occasionally went to Harare to get groceries but preferred the local cornmeal which she bartered the neighbors for. Gretchen extended her service and was able to add new biology and physical science classes to the school curriculum. She also established a library of practice exams. The village lacked electricity, but Gretchen had science materials for the students to turn on a lightbulb with a battery. Influenced by a presentation by Peace Corps staff, as a secondary assignment Gretchen visited student homes on the weekends.

Interview Accession

2022oh1688_pcrv0658

Interviewee Name

Gretchen Cowman

Interviewer Name

Wendy Schumacher

Interview Date

2022-10-10

Interview Rights

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Cowman, Gretchen Interview by Wendy Schumacher. 10 Oct. 2022. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Cowman, G. (2022, October 10). Interview by W. Schumacher. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Cowman, Gretchen, interview by Wendy Schumacher. October 10, 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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