Interview with Tom Sinclair, May 13, 2021

Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project

Interview Summary

Tom Sinclair served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador - from 1969 to 1971. Tom was an undergraduate at Princeton University when he applied for the Peace Corps along with several friends. He already spoke Spanish and did not have professional goals. Tom laid out towns in the Upper Amazon Basin. To reach the sites he flew to the nearest airstrip and hiked for hours on muddy roads which crossed several rivers to reach the location. Men from the Andean community cleared the rainforest. They build a bamboo house and used the cleared land as collateral for purchasing cattle to build wealth. They built Tom a shack. In his second year Tom decided to become a doctor after seeing a newborn brought to the infirmary in Puyo by another volunteer. The baby, barely recognizable, was healthy within weeks. He returned to Princeton after service and then to medical school.

Interview Accession

2021oh0333_pcrv0220

Interviewee Name

Tom Sinclair

Interviewer Name

Wendy Schumacher

Interview Date

2021-05-13

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Sinclair, Tom Interview by Wendy Schumacher. 13 May. 2021. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Sinclair, T. (2021, May 13). Interview by W. Schumacher. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Sinclair, Tom, interview by Wendy Schumacher. May 13, 2021, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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