Peace Corps Voices

Photo by Larry Manire, peacecorpsvoices.org

A fascinating audio history celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, WXXI presents Peace Corps Voice, Sunday, August 28 at 10 p.m on AM 1370/FM-HD 91.5-2. The one-hour radio documentary describes the impact of service on returned Peace Corps volunteers by combining audio recordings they made in a myriad of different countries, throughout each decade of the Corps' history, with contemporary interviews with them. From Ghana in the 1960s to Nepal in the 1990s to recent service in Benin, these recordings will present a national non-commercial radio audience with the voices of those who American volunteers met, lived with and, in one case, married. The project aims to offer an aural tour and history of the Peace Corps with a focus on how living and working abroad influenced the volunteers in their future endeavors.

Authors of Peace Corps books, including Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman and Stanley Meisler, contribute their expertise. Their perspectives provide context for the volunteers’ stories and offer insight about the changing role of the Peace Corps in American foreign policy. Two returned Peace Corps volunteers serve as humanities consultants on the project, to ensure the stories depicted are culturally sensitive and help select content that best reflects the diversity and extent of Peace Corps service.

To learn more about this program, visit: http://peacecorpsvoices.org .