Interview with Adam Swart, May 28, 2021

Interview Summary

Adam Swart served in Nepal from 2001 to 2004, having briefly extended his service as an English language teacher in a government primary school. He was inspired to join Peace Corps in part by his high school art teacher, who was an RPCV. During the 2.5 months he was in his training village of Gaidakot, he studied Nepali 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, and learned about Nepali customs and the local educational system. Swart asked to be assigned to a small village in Palpa district where the primary language turned out to be Magar, not Nepali. He was devoted to his students, loved his village, and was adopted by his host family. He had a secondary project working with an NGO that served people with developmental disabilities, primarily children with cerebral palsy. He didn’t want to leave, and extended his service by 3 months, only to be evacuated after one month because of a Maoist threat to volunteers in a neighboring district. He COS’ed (Close of Service) prematurely so that he could return to his village to finish his work and properly say goodbye. He continues to return to Nepal to visit. He says his Peace Corps experience is when “the middle of nowhere became the center of everything.”

Interview Keyword

Nepal (Country of Service) 2001-2004 (Date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education Secondary projects Kathmandu (Nepal) Palpa (Nepal) Tansen (Nepal) Gaidakot (Nepal) Magar (Ethnic group) Nepalese (Language) Maoist insurgency Evacuations Host family Departure Magar (Language) Developmental disabilities Cerebral palsy

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Nepal Nepal Teachers Teaching Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers

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.