Social Studies & Geography
The firsthand accounts of Peace Corps Volunteers will help students understand the cultures and geography of far-flung locations worldwide. Accompanying lessons enhance the classroom value of the stories.
- About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Advanced)
- The hurricane did serious damage to the infrastructure of the country: Homes, roads, bridges, dams, and airports were destroyed or were seriously damaged. The official death toll was approximately 300.
- About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Intermediate)
- On September 22, 1998, Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic.
- Cross-Cultural Dialogue
- I entered the school doors brimming with ideas, innovative teaching methods, and the desire to have an effect.
- Declaration (of a Kgomotso Girl)
- Respect is written
on the walls of this hall - The Extra Place
- But it was a man, a stranger. He was a refugee from Yugoslavia, he said, and he was looking for someplace where he could spend the night. He had no money; he had no place to go. He didn't know anyone in Warsaw.
- Fog's Bounty: Harvesting Water From Fog
- I’m Nathan Lee, Peace Corps Volunteer at Park Natural Monte Gordo on the island of São Nicolau, in Cape Verde.
- Help! My Father Is Coming!
- The idea was all my father's, my 74-year-old father who had never been outside America and who suddenly thought that Sri Lanka, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, would be a jolly place to visit.
- How Can Service-Learning Make a Change?
- The first time we started speaking about how to promote service-learning, all of us on the staff were a bit skeptical. We were not sure even knew how to translate it into Bulgarian with less then ten words...
- ICAN Changes a Nation One Person at a Time
- ICAN, short for I Can Change a Nation is a newly formed youth movement in Soufriere, St. Lucia.
- Ilunga's Harvest
- "My wife has left me, and I've got to harvest my pond," Chief Ilunga said. It was two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and he was breathing hard.
- In the Aftermath of Hurricane Georges
- Hurricane Georges, which hit the Dominican Republic September 22, 1998, was a defining experience in my life. This was my third hurricane, but never had I personally seen, heard, or felt winds of 150 mph.
- Interviews With Peace Corps Volunteers Serving in the Dominican Republic (Advanced)
- I live in the town of Hato Del Yaque, just outside of Santiago, which is the second largest city in the country. It's in the middle of the country, so there are a lot of people who have never even seen the beach.
- Interviews With Peace Corps Volunteers Serving in the Dominican Republic (Intermediate)
- I live in the village of La Pina, in the northwest of the country, in the hills of the central mountain range. I am nine kilometers south of the town of Los Almacigos. It is a 25- to 35-minute motorcycle ride up and down hills on a dirt road.
- Just Like the Old Days
- Take an imaginary trip with me for a moment. Think of where you live right now. Now imagine it a thousand years ago.
- Just an Ordinary Day
- Before I left the States, I tried to imagine what my life in Romania would be like. I envisioned joining the Peace Corps as two years of roughing it.
- The Meaning of Time
- Upon arriving in my village, I needed to learn the greetings in the indigenous language, Malinke.
- Mosetsana
- Mosetsana
walks to school
clinging to her bag of books
(and dreams) - Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge
- I can imagine how a high diver must feel standing at the tip of the board, poised on the balls of his feet.
- Music in the Fields
- Mali, in West Africa, one of the world's poorest countries, has riches that remain a secret to many people of the Western world.
- Nomadic Life
- I'd like to trade with her / my typewriter keys / for the way she navigates the desert, / reads the coordinates of sand.
- Oh, Kingdom in the Sky
- A poem by Mary Ann Camp.
Oh, Kingdom in the Sky
I have come to love your land.
- On Sunday There Might Be Americans
- He walked to the door and pressed his eye against the crack in the straw. There above the rim of the compound wall he could see a sliver of blue. It was Sunday morning.
- Running
- In the mornings I often ran to the summit of Raise the Flag Mountain.
- Seeds of Change
- "If I could fix any problem in the world, it would be making life better for people with disabilities in China." -Nie Jing, a second-year English Education major at Guiyang University, China
- The Senegalese Miracle
- I was one of 60 new Peace Corps trainees who landed at Dakar-Yoff Airport at midnight, excited and tired.
- Sharing in Africa
- People in villages across Kalambayi were trying to kill me. They were feeding me too much.
- A Single Lucid Moment
- The mountains were dramatic and thick with rain forest. No roads had ever scarred them. We had loaded a four-seater plane with cargo (we would fly out every three months to resupply) and flew for 30 bumpy minutes southwest to the mountain ridges.
- Soccer Until Dusk
- My father laughs when I tell him / how in Santa Cruz Verapaz / men quit work at noon, and after lunch / play soccer until dusk.
- Soneka's Village
- I would like to tell you about my special friend Soneka and his people in Tanzania. Soneka is 10 and a member of the Maasai tribe.
- This Is Tanzania
- Karibu! Hamjambo marafiki yangu? That means, "Welcome! How are you doing, my friends?" in Kiswahili.
- Three Lessons
- September. Sunset. The town of Safi, Morocco. I was washing dishes in my sink.
- The Train Ride Home
- As my taxi slows to approach the train station, it attracts a crowd of young men who begin to run swiftly behind the car. Even before the taxi stops, they are opening the doors and the trunk to grab my bags.
- A Typical Day
- Every day, whether I want to or not, I wake up when the rooster crows at dawn. As I climb out of the mosquito net that hangs over my bamboo bed, I hear swish-swish sounds outside my mud hut—the women have already begun sweeping leaves from the courtyard.
- Water Source Protection
- More than 2 billion people—over a third of the world's population—lack access to basic sanitation such as flush toilets or even outhouses.
- Water in Africa
- The narratives from Water in Africa characterize the interconnectedness of water in the daily lives of African people and the Volunteers who serve in their countries.
- What's Mongolia Really Like?
- No matter how much an outsider researches and studies another country, it's difficult to really understand what's going on there until you're physically present.
- A Year
- Leaves draw into themselves and fall from still trees.