Interview with Seetha Speeney, April 8, 2021

Interview Summary

Seetha Speeney served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan from 1998 through 2000 in Community Service, focusing on Economic Development through planning, negotiation, and business support. She learned of the Peace Corps in high school and as an undergraduate at Rutgers University and responded to a campus recruiter. Possessing a fine ability for languages, Seetha attended early organizational Peace Corps meetings in Washington, D.C. with forty other volunteers and went on to train in her host country. She stayed at first with a host family and was then given the opportunity to live in her own apartment in Tuz without running water and sporadic power. Her work involved the NGO, a non-governmental agency, where she helped empower women in the world of work. Seetha lived in an Alpine-like setting and learned to identify and cook her own native food. She is most pleased about mentoring four native teenagers who originally came to her to learn better English, and three of them eventually went to the United States to study and work. Many youngsters in her area knew about baseball, and they asked her to coach their games. She eventually was affectionately known as “Coach.” Seetha has spent the beginning of her post-volunteer career working for the U.S. Peace Corps office in New York City until those offices were destroyed on 9/11. She has been involved in Human Relations since then.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (US) Country of Service: Kyrgyzstan Dates of Service: 1998-2000 Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Community Economic Development Peace Corps (US): 1990-2000 Language Training: Washington, D.C. and host country/town (Tuz) Basic Training: Washington, D.C, and host country/town (Tuz) Culture Training: Washington, D.C. and host country/town (Tuz)

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