Interview with Alan Kusunoki, March 21, 2023

Interview Summary

Alan Kusunoki served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a Community Economic Development program in Afghanistan in 1971-72. As a recent civil engineering graduate, he worked with a UN mentor testing building materials and developing a building code for Afghanistan and helping the residents of Bamiyan improve construction practices. He discusses living with fellow PCVs in Kabul, speaking Dari well, friendships he made and traveling extensively throughout the country for the Central Authority for Housing and Town Planning. He talks about varied Afghan perceptions of him as an Asian American. He talks about meeting his future wife, an Afghan woman who worked for the Peace Corps and had lived in his native Hawaii. He tells stories about how his work in Afghanistan landed him a job immediately upon return to the US. He discusses his on-going connections with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in Hawaii and his work with Rotary Clubs through Partnering for Peace.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (US) Afghanistan (Country of Service) Community Economic Development (Peace Corps program) 1971-72 (years of service) Diversity in Peace Corps Peace Corps Training Motivation to join the Peace Corps Afghanistan Cycle 9 (first professional architecture, engineering and city planning group of 22 PCVs in Afghanistan) Polytechnic University (University established by the Soviet Union in which he had access to laboratory facilities) Vietnam War (historical context) subsequent political turmoil in Afghanistan (historical context) Rotary International Partnering for Peace (a partnership between Rotary International and the Peace Corps).

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