Interview with Gary Tower Brown, September 17, 2020

Interview Summary

Gary Tower Brown served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia from 1966 through 1969 working in Education, Health, and Youth In Development. Gary’s interest in international work started with a trip to Belgium during high school with American Field Service. Peace Corps training was conducted at Columbia University, including practice teaching at schools in New York. Gary was assigned to a village school in Somalia, but left due to mistreatment by locals. He then worked with a medical team, based in Hargeisa, testing and inoculating for tuberculosis throughout northern Somalia. In his second year, Gary identified a need for polio vaccination. He arranged for acquisition and distribution of vaccines. Through another volunteer, Charles Baquet III, Gary became aware of a need for youth education in prisons. He approached the director of the prison in Mogadishu, and was able to establish a recreation and education program there. The interview includes discussion of programs that Gary initiated, and his views on Peace Corps.

Interview Keyword

Somalia (Country of service) Somalian (Language) 1966-1969 (Date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Health Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Youth in Development Peace Corps (U.S.)--1960-1970 Mogadishu (Assignment site) Hergeisa (Assignment site) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Imprisoned youth Polio (Disease) Tuberculosis (Disease)

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Somalia Somalia 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.