Interview with Susan Hoyt Aiken, October 12, 2022

Interview Summary

Susan Hoyt Aiken was in the first Peace Corps group to serve in Ethiopia, 1962-1964. Drawn to PC by her missionary family background and JFK’s call to action, she was eager to ”set the tone”. During her stay Sue visited the mission where her grandparents had worked in Kenya. Training was at Georgetown University. There volunteers studied the Amharic language. Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie had asked for Secondary School teachers--nearly 300 volunteers were sent. Sue’s assignment was to teach English in a boys’ high school on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Students were eager to succeed so that they could gain admission to college. Sue says her conversational English exchanges with students were one of her positive experiences but regrets that her job did not allow her contact with Ethiopian women. Sue counts PC as helping her to stay open to new things and to be a creative problem-solver.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (U.S.) Ethiopia (Country of service) 1962-1964 (Date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education Ethiopia Zanzibar Kenya Peace Corps (U.S.)--1960-1970 Post-colonial English Amharic

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