Interview with Jeff Martin, March 24, 2023
Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Jeff Martin served as a married Peace Corps Volunteer in an Agricultural Extension in Papua New Guinea from 1989-90. He discusses the excellent training they received in Goroka, including an eye-opening 1-week home stay in the hilltop village of Akameku. He tells stories about traveling to small outlying islands and serving as a liaison between local farmers and the Ministry of Agriculture. He discusses life on the outer island of Tagula, where they were stationed, and the overall varied Papuan cultural beliefs and practices. He also discusses early termination because of his wife’s medical condition, reentry to the US, and his family’s subsequent life-long connection with Peace Corps, including serving as the Peace Corps Public Affairs Officer in Denver and being the spouse to the Assistant Peace Corps Director in Micronesia, where he wrote Feeding the Kids to the Sharks, and later, the Country Director in St. Lucia. He discusses the impact growing up overseas had on his daughters.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
Interview Keyword
Peace Corps (US) Papua New Guinea (Country of Service) Agricultural Extension (Peace Corps program) 1989-90 (years of service) Peace Corps Public Affairs Officer in Denver1995-2000 spouse of Peace Corps HQ staff, Elizabeth Neeson, (ex-spouse and assistant director, Micronesia 2007-10 (years of service) and Country Director, St Lucia, 2010-15 (years of service) motivation to join the Peace Corps Peace Corps Training married volunteer Akameku (site of home stay during training).Interview Rights
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.Interview Usage
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Add this interview to your cart in order to begin the process of requesting access to a copy of and/or permission to reproduce interview(s).
Martin, Jeff Interview by Evelyn Ganzglass. 24 Mar. 2023. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Martin, J. (2023, March 24). Interview by E. Ganzglass. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Martin, Jeff, interview by Evelyn Ganzglass. March 24, 2023, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt71bs55n0ww1