Dan & Donna sitting with the host family mother and father (Sina & Faiva) at the party the night we were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers for Tuvalu. The white around the necks is baby powder; it is a custom in Tuvalu to show appreciation during...
Luta and Donna Ryherd in a boat crossing the lagoon of the atoll of Nui, Tuvalu. Luta stayed close to Donna, because she had a life presrever and Luta did not know how to swim. July 1983
New Amsterdam, Guyana is below sea level. The only place with any elevation is the Canje Bridge between New Amsterdam and Canje. Part of my exercise routine includes scaling the bridge a few times a week. Most people travel by foot, bicycle,...
My husband and I recently painted a World Map on a blank wall near the Junior High School in the Eastern Region of Ghana. To encourage the students to actually use the map, we did activities related to the World Cup. One day we located all the...
Let me start by saying we were NOT allowed to drive as volunteers. I'm sitting in a parked Trabant (car produced in former East Germany) in front of my building in Bekescsaba, Hungary in June 1993. Most Hungarians used bicycles or public...
This photo was taken in Bekescsaba, Hungary in May 1993 at a folkdance performance in the city center. Many of my students are performing in this group. You will notice the wine bottles on the heads and in the hands of the dancers. The dance...
Peace Corps Volunteers came together to start an annual Children's English Language Drama Festival in Hungary. This is a photo of my 8th grade students at the finals in Hajdunanas for the inaugural year - 1992. I found the play in a textbook in...
Taken in October 1969 in Kangavar, Iran, this picture was taken at the wedding of my housekeeper's 17 year old son. Prior to the wedding, the bridegroom, family and friends dance through the alleys to music by a reed horn player and drummer.
This photo shows fellow Volunteer Donna and myself in front of a little apartment in Kingston, Jamaica. Machetes were a common landscaping tool and very cheap. Notice the bike, which was the common way we got around in the city. We were just...
For our first Thanksgiving in Haiti, all of the Volunteers traveled to Hinche to celebrate with the three forestry and fishery volunteers and their neighbors. We roasted a turkey and served it along with some Haitian favorites like rice with pigeon...
This photo was taken on Christmas Day 1991 from the window of my flat in Bekescsaba. Many volunteers in Hungary found themselves living in a flat in a communist-style block of buildings. I had a furnished, 2-room flat where a large family would...
This photo was taken in the living room of my host family's home in Jaszbereny at Christmas time in 1991. In the photo you can see the grandmother, the 3 children, me and the parents. Volunteers lived with a family during the 3 months of our...
Peace Corps volunteers decided to start a softball league where classes of students could play against each other. This photo is of my 8th grade students at a tournament in Szarvas, Hungary. Our softball equipment was collected by people from my ...
This picture was taken with my host family shortly before training ended in September of 1984. They took such good care of me. At first they attempted to serve me meals that they thought were Americanized. When they realized how much I liked...