Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Charlene C. Duline can be contacted at cdulineaearthlinkdnet
Country of Service: Peru
Training Group: Peru II - Health and Nutrition
Cities you served in: Cuzco and Quiquijana
Arrival Year: 1962
Departure Year: 1964
Work Description:
Our job was to supervise the distribution and use of US-donated food to the children of Peru. We began breakfast programs for the school children with volunteer mothers, usually Quechua Indian women, preparing the food outdoors in the cold and mud. We taught them how to prepare the food, and the importance of maintaining clean hands and clean dishes and utensils. An extracurricular activity for most of us was teaching English.
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
In 1965 I became a United Nations Secretary and worked in NYC and East Pakistan. I moved to Paris, France in 1969 and worked at the OECD, an international body. I returned to Indiana University in 1973 and became a Foreign Service Officer in 1976.
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
Living in Quiquijana was the best year of my life. We swept our dirt floors; dusted our clothes; cooked in the outdoor kitchen; shooed away spiders and tarantulas; walked a block to our outhouse until the town fathers built our very own outhouse a few feet from our door. From the surrounding mountains one could always hear lovely flute music even though you could seldom see a person in the mountains. I participated in every activity in my tiny village, and I celebrated a birthday there that will never be forgotten.
Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:
Anyone from Peru I or II.
Originally posted: April 28, 2005
