Carolyn Gray served in Panama from 1965 to 1967 as a rural community development volunteer.

Why did you want to join the Peace Corps?

What did you do while you were a Peace Corps volunteer?

I assisted a group of Panamanian doctors doing research on goiter in my village. A central water system with iodine was developed later on in the village. Regionally the PCVs worked to strengthen women's credit and savings cooperatives through the Panamanian Department of Agriculture. The village built an elementary school through a self-help program with AID.

What are you doing now?

After leaving Panama, I recruited for Peace Corps, got a MA in Education at Stanford and taught Spanish and World History in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. I continue to volunteer with the schools and help recruit for the Peace Corps.

Carolyn Gray lives in Fairbanks.
 

Some photos from Panama (click on the photo to see a larger image)

l. Maria de Jesús Dominguez, 70, left, and “Chua”, right, and friends in front of the newly constructed Peña Blanca de Las Tablas Elementary School. Goiter or bosio was prevalent in most inhabitants who willingly participated in a study of its causes in 1966-67. A nutritionist found that  the inhabitants made their own salt which did not contain sufficient iodine and also they did not eat fish.

2. Dr. Pablo E. Fletcher of the Panamanian Social Security Hospital examines Srta.. Dominguez in a health study. The University of Panama was a partner in the study.  In return for their assistance in the health study, the University Rector Bernardo Lombardo brought chicks and onion seedlings, and medicines to the village to assist in development projects. Demonstration gardens were set up in which irrigation and fertilization were used. Chickens were raised to increase protein intake and supplement income. A central well system which added  small amounts of iodine to the water was set up after Carolyn left.

3. In 1968-9 a reverse type of Peace Corps, Volunteers In Service To America,  was sent to Colorado from Colombia, Jamaica and Japan. They were assisted by Jon Keeton, RPCV Thailand, out  of Peace Corps Washington, D.C. Carolyn, then working with Peace Corps Public Affairs, helped to introduce them to her state.

4. Cristobol Dominguez leads his self-help team, one of 6, in a project through the Alliance for Progress, to build the Peña Blanca school. Gravel, sand, and labor were provided by the community and AID provided cement and steel rebar and a construction expert who trained the men on the volunteer teams. Cement blocks were purchased by means of raffles and dances held to benefit the construction. The Villarreal Family in Las Tablas graciously provided the dance floor and loan of the liquor license to hold the annual patron saint fiesta for the purpose of school construction. A band was brought in from the area. The typical dance is the tamborito. Violin, accordion, drum, amall guitars called mejorana and socavón were utilized.
 

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Last modified: Sunday February 22, 2004