Glorious Broughton Oral History Interview
Interviewer(s): Evelyn Ganzglass
Interviewee(s): Glorious Broughton

Evelyn Ganzglass: This is Evelyn Ganzglass. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Somalia from 1966 to 1968. Today is March 14, 2019, and I'm interviewing Glorious Broughton, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in neighboring Kenya from December 1980 to February 1983, and she worked on a project related to building cooperatives. So, Glorious, why did you decide to join the Peace Corps?

Glorious Broughton: I joined Peace Corps because I had been thinking about working in a foreign country, and I didn't know how to go about it. One day when I was looking at the newspaper, it was the Sunday paper from San Francisco, because at that time I was living in Oakland, California. I saw an ad for Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya for cooperatives. That Monday, I called and talked to a representative who then obtained an application for me.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And that was it.

Glorious Broughton: That was it. I applied for a specific job in a specific country.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And how old were you when you applied?

Glorious Broughton: I was in my thirties.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You were in your thirties, which is pretty late to be applying, at least in my day. People were much younger. I don't know.

Glorious Broughton: Even today there are some of the older people who will apply. And I was not one of the oldest because we had a woman in my group who was in her sixties.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah.

Glorious Broughton: So we had a pretty good mix and there were three of us who had obtained our master's degrees. But by and, by and large the majority were recent college graduates and there were approximately 32 of us.

Evelyn Ganzglass: 32. So you, um, well, talk a little bit about your, your background. Where did you grow up? Did you grow up in Oakland?

Glorious Broughton: No.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Where did you grow up?

Glorious Broughton: I grew up in Taylors, South Carolina, which is within Greenville County. That's the largest city in South Carolina. I was educated in the Greenville County public schools. I graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and then started working in New Jersey for AT&T. And at that time, AT&T offered us something that I couldn't give up. I couldn't say no to, and that was our master's degrees.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Wow.

Glorious Broughton: They offered to pay for it at Fairleigh Dickinson University and.

Evelyn Ganzglass: In New Jersey?

Glorious Broughton: Yes, in New Jersey. And at the time I matriculated through the Rutherford campus, which no longer exists. But that was how I got my master's degree, because AT&T offered to pay.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And what was your bachelor's and master's degree in?

Glorious Broughton: My bachelor's degree is in psychology with a minor in history, and my master's degree is in finance. I have an MBA in finance.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So what did you do at, um, at AT&T?

Glorious Broughton: Well, it's interesting, because when I told my advisor in college that I wanted I was going to major in psychology and minor in history, he said, and just what do you plan to do with that? And I said, I plan to get a job with a company that wants a college graduate and does not care what their major is in.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Well, you knew that.

Glorious Broughton: I found the job, AT&T. There were lots of us that they hired as security owner correspondents.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Say that again?

Glorious Broughton: Security owner correspondents.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Okay.

Glorious Broughton: So what I did, um, I communicated with the shareholders and the bond holders any questions that they had, which meant that I needed to learn something about stocks and bonds.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah.

Glorious Broughton: So they had classes for us and we learned all of this. We learned all about wills and trusts, because some of the people, when they, when relatives or someone else would die, they would need to transfer that stock and the bonds into someone else's name. And, you know, we needed to see certain documentation. So it was, it was a good intro into business as well as estates. So.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So you really didn't have much to do with telephones?

Glorious Broughton: Oh, no, I had absolutely nothing to do with telephones. It was the, it was dealing with the shareholders.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So how did you end up in Oakland, California?

Glorious Broughton: Well, after I got my master's degree, I decided that I wanted a change. You know, once again in my mind, I'm thinking I want to work and live in a foreign country. And so I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. And my brother, who lived in Oakland, California, said, well, why don't you come here? So I packed my bags and I moved to Oakland, California, and I worked in a bank there and, uh, it wasn't really what I wanted to do. And I kept looking for other positions and that one Sunday. I didn't usually buy the San Francisco Chronicle, but that Sunday I went out and bought the San Francisco Chronicle, and as I was looking through the want ads there it was. Peace Corps Kenya.

So why did you want to live overseas? Why did you want to work overseas?

I have no idea. It's just that I've always had this desire to travel and to do things. I remember when I was in the fifth grade, 1959, that's when Alaska became a state. That's when Hawaii became a state. To this day, I cannot remember anything about a class where my teacher talked about Hawaii. I'm sure she did, but I have no recollection of it. But I do remember Alaska, and I remember her talking about Sitka being the capital of Alaska when Russia owned Alaska. And I kept saying, you know, here's this little girl in a rural area, little Black girl. And she said, I want to go to Alaska. I had no idea how I would ever get there, but.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You did.

Glorious Broughton: I made it there. Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Well, good.

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What was your, so you applied, they responded, and they took you?

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: How long did that take? Is that a?

Glorious Broughton: I believe it was in July that I applied and I was accepted right away because the month of August I left Oakland and spent the month of August in South Carolina with my mother. So then when I went back to Oakland, I had to go through my physical, and my physical was at the Alameda Naval Base. So I went through that. The doctor did not really want to pass me because I have bunions on my feet. And I'm like, they've been there as long as I can remember. And so he had me do some exercises, and so he said, okay, you can go.

Then, uh, in October we went to Philadelphia, and that's where we had our staging. And of course, we had to go through all these psychological tests and there were more health things that were involved. And of course, I come across this ophthalmologist who does not want me to go because of my eyesight. And at the time I was wearing contact lenses. So I convinced him that I could wear ski goggles. I don't know. I don't ski. I have never been on skis, but I have seen people in ski gear. And I said, well, I can wear ski goggles. So he said.

Evelyn Ganzglass: The problem, the problem was that you had contact lenses?

Glorious Broughton: Right. And he was saying, well, it's dusty. And I said, I can wear ski goggles. So he said, get yourself a pair of ski goggles and you can go. So I had a few little bumps along the way, but then next thing I know, I'm on a plane headed to Nairobi, Kenya.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So you said there were 32 people in your group?

Glorious Broughton: I think it was around 32, but all of us were not cooperative volunteers. It was a mixed group. Some were music teachers and the rest of us were cooperative volunteers.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What did your family think about your going?

Glorious Broughton: Well, um, the only person who really questioned me was my mother, when I spent that month in South Carolina with her. One of our favorite places to go was always the library. And in the library there's this big giant globe and you can sit there and it twirls around. So we're looking at where we are. And as the globe moved around, I said, well, that's where I'm going. And so she said, well, why do you want to do this? Why are you going so far away? And I said, well, I think one of the reasons I want to do this is because I believe that had you had the chance, you would have done it. Because my mother loved to travel. But of course, having ten children, she wasn't really able to do too much traveling so. But so she just smiled and that's it.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And that was it?

Glorious Broughton: That was it.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And your friends were, were they surprised?

Glorious Broughton: Not really. Not really. And one of my brothers did come visit me while I was in Kenya. The one in Oakland, he visited me while I was there.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And we can talk about that later on. So let me ask you about training. Were you the only African American in the group or were there others as well?

Glorious Broughton: There were three of us. One was a music teacher. And there were two females and one male. And the male was also a cooperative volunteer.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So by the sixties, I mean in the sixties, I think it was where we had one African American in our group. But you were there in the eighties, so it was a much more mixed group by that time.

Glorious Broughton: But guess what? That was also one Chinese.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah.

Glorious Broughton: Yes, he was full blooded Chinese.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Born in the United States?

Glorious Broughton: I'm not sure where he was born, but he was educated in the United States. I believe his name was Jim Lee. So, you know, nobody really knew but.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: But he was 100 percent Chinese.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Great. Good. So you got on the train, uh, train, on the plane in Philadelphia and flew directly?

Glorious Broughton: No, we did not, no. We did not board the plane in Philadelphia.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: We boarded a bus in Philadelphia that took us to JFK.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah.

Glorious Broughton: And then we flew from JFK to Germany. I'm trying to think of the name of the city in Germany. Frankfurt. We went to Frankfurt, Germany, and from, that was on TWA, and from Frankfurt we were there all day. Then we boarded a Kenya Airways flight from Germany to Nairobi.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So what happened when you got to Nairobi?

Glorious Broughton: Well, they had told us several things to be cautious of. And one of the things that I didn't think was going to affect me because I felt like I was in good physical condition. They told us be prepared because you're leaving a very low altitude. When you land in Nairobi, you will be 5,000 feet above sea level.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah.

Glorious Broughton: And as I started walking, I was like, oh, wait a minute. I didn't, I didn't think it was going to affect me like that. But it did. But in a couple of days, you recuperated from it.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And you then did the training in Nairobi, in country?

Glorious Broughton: No.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Where was the training?

Glorious Broughton: We did some training, but it wasn't in Nairobi. I don't remember the name of the place in Kenya where the training was. But one thing that I do want to point out, when we were in Nairobi, we stayed in a hotel named Karen. And most people have seen this hotel. And the reason they've seen it is because it was featured in the movie Out of Africa.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: So I had to throw that little part in.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Had Out of Africa been filmed before that or?

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh, so, did you recognize that?

Glorious Broughton: I had not seen the movie. I'm not a big movie person, so I had not seen the movie.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Okay. So it must have been a pretty quaint looking place to be in a movie.

Glorious Broughton: It was an interesting place. It was not well kept. The swimming pool had no water in it, and it, it was sufficient for us. But I would not say that it was a good place for tourists. Does it still exist? I don't know, because Nairobi is so different now.

Evelyn Ganzglass: I would guess. Right. I was in Nairobi in 1967.

Glorious Broughton: Ooh.

Evelyn Ganzglass: I bet it's changed a lot since then. So you, talk a little bit about the training you had in country.

Glorious Broughton: Okay. Most of our training was done by host country nationals. We did cross-cultural training. Actually, we started cross- cultural training in Philadelphia. And then we continued on in country. And we also had language teachers. So we had in-country cross- cultural training for part of the day. And we also had Swahili training the rest of the day. And, uh, it was interesting. I don't know why this has come to me, but one of the instructors pointed out people who would not stay. They said they had worked with Peace Corps long enough and they were able to tell us specifically who was not going.

Evelyn Ganzglass: They actually told the group that?

Glorious Broughton: No. It was more or less private conversations that some of us had with some of the instructors, and they were 100 percent correct.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Interesting. What were the characteristics that they would mention?

Glorious Broughton: I don't remember what they said, but they just said she will not make it. He will not make it. She's going to leave early. And all these people left. But they said they had worked with Peace Corps long enough to know who was going to make it and who wasn't.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What was the cross-cultural training like? Did it prepare you for living in a village? Well, I don't know where you actually ended up living.

Glorious Broughton: Well, actually, I lived in a city.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Okay.

Glorious Broughton: My assignment was with a wood carving co-operative in Mombasa, and I was a rather unique volunteer. And the reason I say that is because the volunteers who are in the co-operative program had to travel. Most of them were farm cooperatives, and they would have to travel from farm to farm. I unfortunately never learned how to ride a bicycle. They wanted to give me a motorcycle, but I could not master riding a motorcycle. So they had to find a position for me that did not require me to travel.

And actually my first assignment was with a women's co- operative in Kaimosi, which was up near Lake Turkana, uh, Lake Victoria. And unfortunately, things didn't work out there. So I, so I was only there for a few months. Then I ended up in Mombasa with a woodcarving co-operative. And those carvings that the men did were shipped all over the world. And I remember when I came home, I went to the Library of Congress and I went into the gift shop and I spotted an Akamba carving and I picked it up and I saw the sticker on the bottom, Akamba carving. And I said, oh, I probably put that sticker on that myself. But they were shipped all over the world.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So. Okay. So you didn't live in a, in a village. But just to go finish the questions about, about the training. Did you, what did you think about the training? Both the language training and the cross- cultural training.

Glorious Broughton: The language training was good, although I wasn't able to use very much of it because where I lived and where I worked, the people said to me, would you please speak English? Because English is more valuable to us than Swahili is to you. And I agreed. So I spoke mostly English. But I needed the Swahili when I went shopping, because when I went to the market, the people did not speak English, so I needed my Swahili at that point. As far as the cultural part, that's a very difficult thing for me to answer. And the reason being is that I think I adjust pretty well to wherever I am.

You know, just like people talk about how they leave home for the first time and they're home sick. I don't think I ever experienced that. I wasn't homesick. I was always anxious to go and see different places. And as a child, I didn't have very many opportunities to travel. My only opportunities to travel were through the church and I would go to these conferences. They needed teenagers to go to this conference, that conference, my hand was always up, so I was able to see quite a bit of South Carolina that way.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Mm hmm.

Glorious Broughton: And I don't think I left the state of South Carolina until I was in the 11th grade. So, and that was to go to Atlanta to visit my sister who was living there. So, so the cross-cultural part didn't really affect me that I don't really remember too much. But I do remember people asking me questions about the United States and how I would frame my answers. One of the questions would be, I remember one question was, well, if it gets really cold in the United States, how do people heat their house? How do people stay warm? And so here I am trying to explain heating systems, and I'm trying to explain roofing systems. And then I remember one question was, are you really an American? I said, well yes. Well, what does the average American look like?

Evelyn Ganzglass: It's because of your color?

Glorious Broughton: Right. So I said, well, I think if you take a person, take one person from every country in the world, put them in a room, walk in that room. That's what the average American looks like. I mean, I'm coming up with all kinds of answers. And, you know, then, of course, there was always the racial part. Whereas, um, this man asked me. And I had never heard this before, but he said, why is it that Black Americans don't like Africans? And I said, excuse me? I said, I've never heard that before. He said, I want to know why. I want you to tell me why African Americans don't like Africans. And I said, Well, I'm sorry, I can't answer that question for you.

And he said, well, I know why. I said, well, would you tell me? He said, well, my brother married a Negress. I was like, what? What kind of a word is that? I never heard that word before. And so I told him, I said, look, I think we need to get something straight here. I said, one of the reasons I'm here is to learn about other cultures, to learn, to see whether or not what I learned in school was accurate. I said, because you really don't want to know what some of the books that we used in school said about you. I said I didn't believe it. I said, and I'm here to validate what I believed. So.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So when he talked about his, his brother marrying a, quote, Negress, that was in the United States or what was he talking about?

Glorious Broughton: I don't even know. I don't even know how the conversation ended. I don't know where that man came from. That was, you know, because I met people all over the place and that was just the part of a conversation I really remember.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Having been a volunteer in Somalia and Mombasa having lots of Somalis, he may have been a Somali who were very bigoted against non Somalis or Negroid Africans. And maybe that's not a nice thing to say, but it was really true.

Glorious Broughton: Now that you mention that, he could have been Somali. And the reason I say that is because where I lived in Mombasa, most of the people who lived there were Somalis. So he could have been Somali.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So I think you were getting a little East African cultural issue built in here.

Glorious Broughton: I don't know.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Anyway, so you said you first went to Lake Victoria.

Glorious Broughton: This town, Kaimosi, it was near Lake Victoria.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And what kind of a cooperative was that?

Glorious Broughton: It was a women's co-operative where they did tie dye.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Hmm.

Glorious Broughton: And the main reason it did not work out, I believe, is because Peace Corps provides people. And there had been volunteers before me, but they were not Peace Corps. They had some German volunteers there, because they left notes in German. And I believe there was somebody that was a British volunteer there. But the last people there were German. And the problem was that the Germans brought money and the Germans would buy material and they were artists. I am not an artist. And so they were teaching them new designs and everything, and they were buying material, buying dye, and everything. They were selling it. And then they'd bring the money back and split it among the women, and then they would get more money from their organization and buy more material.

Well, they were disappointed in me, number one, because I'm not an artist. And I told them, I said, well, I'm here for the business end, and you already have the knowhow as to how to make these, to do this material and make these beautiful designs. There was a man who was working there with me, and the goal was for me to get the business end set up and he was to take over once I left. Well, I convinced them to dye this material. I took the material into town and I sold it. I came back and I said, well, we're going to split the money up, this amount of it, among the women who are members of the cooperative. The rest of the money will be used to buy materials so that you can create more designs.

Well, that was completely foreign to them because that wasn't the way they had been doing it. So once again, here's another disappointment in me as a Peace Corps volunteer, because I didn't have any money. All I had was me. So I contacted my associate Peace Corps director and informed him as to what was going on. And so he said, well, just come on back to Nairobi. And they found another job for me in Mombasa, working with all men at this woodcarving co-operative. And that worked out quite well.

Evelyn Ganzglass: But it's just interesting. So the women's co-op ended up with no help.

Glorious Broughton: Right. I know during the time I was there, Peace Corps did not send another volunteer there because the APCD, he went there and he looked at the place and it was like, no.

Evelyn Ganzglass: But why was that?

Glorious Broughton: Once again, Peace Corps was doing their best to place me because I couldn't ride a motorcycle. So most of the cooperative positions involved farmers and they had to visit the farms and that just didn't fit for me.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So. So you ended up in Mombasa. Mombasa was a pretty big city at that point.

Glorious Broughton: Yes, it was the tourist capital for Kenya.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And talk about how you lived in Mombasa before we get to the co-op. What was that like?

Glorious Broughton: Well, I had to find a house. So I found a house. And I had no furniture. And I, you know, it was easy for me to get a matatu from where I live to where I work. But unfortunately, someone broke into my house and stole most of my things. But the cooperative where I worked decided that they would give me an askari to watch my house at night. And the man was there at night and.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Askari meaning watchman?

Glorious Broughton: Watchman. Right. So even though he was there, everybody had to know that the man was there. But once again, someone's trying to break into my house and, you know, he's running them off. I'm screaming and everything. So eventually I found another place to live. And what this place was, it was like a little studio. It was built for the servants, because there was like six apartments and there were six of these little servant places. And I guess the management decided that they could make more money by renting out that as well as the apartments. So that was, what I had was a one room living space. And, you know, it was a little small kitchen and a small bathroom.

And as I said earlier, most of my neighbors were Somalis and in two of the apartments were two women. Well, there was a woman in each one. Each one had their children and they both had the same husband. And it was kind of interesting looking at the dynamics, because one had a refrigerator and one had a, had a television. So they got together and the one with the television said, I want a refrigerator. And the one with the refrigerator said, I want a television. So he was, he had to come up with some money to get these items for these women. And I became rather close to the children of one of the women. And every day that I would go home, the children would run to me and say, rafiki, rafiki, meaning friend, because they couldn't pronounce my name.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: And so they would all run to me. And so we had a nice conversation. And one of the things I did with the children was that I had a world map on my wall. And so they would come over and we would talk about the world. But then I also had a map of Africa, and by the time I left, um, the little girl, I think she must have been maybe about eight years old at that point. If I would say something like Kinshasa, she'd go to the map. There it is.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Great.

Glorious Broughton: Yeah. So she learned most of the major cities and all the different countries all over Africa.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That's great. That's great. So did you become friends with the parents too, with the women too?

Glorious Broughton: I was unable to become friends with them because they spoke Somali. They did not speak very much Swahili and they spoke no English. I was uncomfortable speaking to their husband, who spoke Arabic, Swahili, English. I mean, he spoke so many different languages, and I think he spoke German as well, because they, there were a lot of German tourists that would come to Mombasa and you would go to restaurants and the menu would be in German. That's how many Germans would show up there. So I was not comfortable talking to him. So therefore.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You didn't want to become the third wife?

Glorious Broughton: There was no way I was going to become the third wife. No.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You never know.

Glorious Broughton: Well, some of the men where I worked, they asked me. They said, well, why don't you stay here and marry a Kenyan? And I said, no, I can't do that. And they said, well, why not? I said, well, because you can have more than one wife. And they said yeah. I said, well, why is that? Said, well, a man wants to know who his children are. I said, well, why can't I have more than one husband? And they said, oh no, women don't have more than one husband. I said, well, why is that? This is because a man wants to know who his children are. And I said, well, even if you're married, if I'm married to one man, that doesn't mean that those children are yours. So, you know, we would laugh and have fun like that.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So then you were safe in that apartment.

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: No more.

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: No more break ins.

Glorious Broughton: No more break ins.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And did you need a guard?

Glorious Broughton: No, no.

Evelyn Ganzglass: It was just.

Glorious Broughton: No, I was, I was comfortable. I felt comfortable. I was safe and everything.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Well, so. So this co-op, how many men worked in the co- op?

Glorious Broughton: You know, I don't think I've ever known that number, but I would say.

Evelyn Ganzglass: A lot?

Glorious Broughton: I would say at least 200.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: It was a large co-op. Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And what was, what was your role?

Glorious Broughton: I was a business adviser. And one of the things, as I told you, the woodcarvings that they did were shipped all over the world. So one of the things I did was set up a program whereby we would have form letters to send to these places to request the money, because a lot of times they were not being paid. And one of the reasons they weren't being paid was because they weren't asking for the money. And once I started sending out these letters saying you owe X number of shillings, the money started coming in. So in.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Little detail.

Glorious Broughton: Right. And then another thing was that they had built a new showroom. As I said earlier, I'm not an artist, but I helped set up the showroom and it was a place where, um, the tourists would come and the tour guides would bring tourists there. And what I found out was that I had to, we had to get the money together really quick when the tourists would come in and buy items, because in order to keep the tour guides to keep coming there, we had to give them a little gratuity.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Which I think happens throughout the world.

Glorious Broughton: Yes. Yes. And if they didn't get the gratuity, what one of the tour guides told me was that they would not stop coming there, but they would tell the people, don't buy anything. Yeah.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So were there other, were there other cooperatives where they, the tour guides could have taken people?

Glorious Broughton: Oh, there were but, um. And plus, you could buy these items on the streets in Mombasa and the co-op didn't really get anything from that, although a lot of the men who were on the streets in Mombasa were members of that co-op.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So did they do their own carving and then just sell it in the street? Is that it?

Glorious Broughton: Yes, that's what they would do. But they would more than likely do the carvings there and then they would put some in the showroom because each member had a number. So when something was sold, the cashiers in the showroom would write down the member's number and how much it sold for, so they would get part of the profit.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So this was maccambe art?

Glorious Broughton: Akamba.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Akamba. Akamba.

Glorious Broughton: Yes. A-K-A-M-B-A.

Evelyn Ganzglass: A-K.

Glorious Broughton: A-M-B-A.

Evelyn Ganzglass: How much did things get sold for?

Glorious Broughton: There were various prices. They were, uh, you know, it all depended on what it was that you were buying. I can't really remember the prices, but they varied because some, some were very small. Maybe it was an elephant. And then you might have a very tall giraffe. So the prices were going to vary.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Varied. So you helped them with their billing and, uh.

Glorious Broughton: Yeah.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Were there other things that you were involved with as well?

Glorious Broughton: Just making sure that they had, um, you know, that the people in the showroom were prepared and they had paper to wrap up things. So it was just a little bit of doing everything. It was kind of like an office manager, so to speak.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Had any Peace Corps been there before?

Glorious Broughton: No, not to my knowledge. But there was someone behind me.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Good.

Glorious Broughton: Actually, I met the guy. Years later, I met him.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What did you do in your spare time?

Glorious Broughton: In my spare time, I spent as much time as I could with my neighbors. There was one young man. He had some difficulties. He worked where, at the cooperative, but he wasn't able to handle his business. He never had money. They paid him for the work that he did. And so he was one of the people that, um. I noticed that he was constantly asking people for money. So I told him, I said, well, look, why don't we look at what you make and see if we can't figure out how to make this money work. So I worked with him. I put money in the file cabinet and I would go to the post office with him periodically. So he opened up a savings account at the post office.

And whenever he would run out of money and he would ask me for money, I said, well, I can't really give you anything, but I do have some work at home that you can do. So I would have him maybe wash sheets or. And the one thing that I always hated to do was to get my paraffin for my chico so that I could cook. So I would have him go to the store and buy that and bring it to my house. And I would pay him for his services. So that was one of the things that I did.

And there was another young man that worked there and he, his whole thing was, how can I get to the United States? He was constantly asking me, how can I get to the United States? And I said, well, look, I can't tell you how you can get there, I said, but I think before you leave Kenya, regardless of where you go, you need to learn more about Kenya. And so what we would do, we would take day trips. And one of the day trips that we would take would be to the Gedi ruins. And he said, I've never been here before.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And what are the Gedi ruins?

Glorious Broughton: It was just the place where, um, back during the time when the Arabs were heavily in that area, they had built this more or less like a fort, and now it was in ruins.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Mm hmm.

Glorious Broughton: And so he had never been there. And then there were other places that we would go, you know, as long as it was a day trip. And then eventually he told me that he was going to Nairobi. So he went to Nairobi and he came back and he was telling me about, uh, about Nairobi. And other places that he could go, but he would have to spend the night. You know, I didn't go with him. And so he said, you know, Kenya's not such a bad place. And, and I remember this one young man, he saw me reading a book. I don't remember the name of the book or the author, but he questioned me about reading that book. He said, why would you read a book by that author? I said, well, what's wrong with this author? He said, well, he's. He came up with all kinds of negative things about the author. And I said. It was something about what he promoted.

And so I said, well, have you read any of his books? And he said no. I said, well, why are you saying this about this man? He said, well, I read in the paper that this is what he. I said, look, I respect everybody's opinion as long as it's your opinion, I said, but I can't accept it when it's not your opinion. And so when I'm finished reading this book, I want you to read it. And then you tell me what you think about this author. I said, true, it's only one book of his, but tell me what you think about him. So he read the book and he said, why are they saying those things about this man? I said, I don't know. I said, but that's why I wanted you to read the book. Eventually, he left that job and he got a much better job. He worked at the power company, the electric power company, where they did the billing and everything. So we kind of lost touch with each other.

Evelyn Ganzglass: But this was all in English? Everybody's English was that good?

Glorious Broughton: Yes, everybody's English was that good. And because most of the classes at the schools were taught in English and they spoke Swahili at home. And then one day I met a man who asked me if I had done any acting, and I said no. And so he said, well, would you like to do some acting? I know this group that is looking for some actors. And so I said, oh, okay. So he asked me to meet him downtown on Moi Avenue, which is the main street. I don't know if you've seen pictures of Mombasa, but they have. One of the main pictures is these big, huge elephant tusks that cross the street like that. Anyway, so I said, okay, I'll meet you there. So then he said, well, the place is right around the corner. And I walked around the corner and there's this sign. Voice of Kenya. I'm like, what?

Because that's the national, that was the national television station, radio station. Everything was the Voice of Kenya. And so I went in and the woman talked to me. And so she told me about this, um, it's kind of like a soap opera that they were doing on Kenyan television. And I said, okay. So it was kind of like a part written for me, because it was about this Kenyan man who was married to a Black American. So I'm like, oh, okay. Well, it fits me. So I did a few episodes of that. And it was interesting because even in Nairobi, I was walking down the street one day and someone said, didn't I see you on television last night? And I really didn't know how to respond because.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That's so funny.

Glorious Broughton: I had never been in that kind of a situation before.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You became a Kenyan TV star.

Glorious Broughton: Uh, somewhat. Somewhat.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Sounds like lots of fun.

Glorious Broughton: It was. It was. It was.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What did Peace Corps think about that?

Glorious Broughton: Well, Peace Corps didn't really have anything to say. The only thing they had to say was that if you did anything outside of your job, you could not be paid for it. And if you were paid for it, the money was to go to whatever organization you worked for. And to this day, I have not been paid. I was going to give the money to the cooperative where I was working, and unfortunately, they never got their money because I never got anything.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That sounds good. But you taught them how to bill for their sculpture. You should have learned how to do that for yourself.

Glorious Broughton: Yeah. Oh, you know, back to Kaimosi when I was there.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Kaimosi is what?

Glorious Broughton: That's where that women's co-operative was.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh, yeah.

Glorious Broughton: I didn't, um. I didn't really have a lot of work to do. And I met a woman who, there was like a school nearby. It was kind of like a junior college. And so she asked me if I would teach a business course. So I said yes. And so of course I had no paper, I had no materials whatsoever. I did have paper and a pen. So what I would do is write out questions and exercises for the students. But I had to write it like five or six times because I had no way to reproduce anything. So I did that for a while until, you know, until I left. So that was all gratis work.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Were there other Peace Corps volunteers in Mombasa?

Glorious Broughton: Oh, no, wait a minute. Now, that was Kaimosi.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That was Kaimosi.

Glorious Broughton: There was another volunteer there. She was a music teacher.

Evelyn Ganzglass: In Kaimosi?

Glorious Broughton: In Kaimosi, yeah. Yes, she was, she was a music teacher. So I don't know what it was like when you were in Somalia, but in Kenya they didn't like for the volunteers to be too close together because they wanted us, because they felt like if we were too close together, we would gravitate to each other and not reach out to the wider community.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah. So but were there are others in Mombasa?

Glorious Broughton: Um, I think. They weren't in the city of Mombasa, but they were close by.

Evelyn Ganzglass: But you didn't really interact with them?

Glorious Broughton: I didn't really interact with them because that was one I know he was nearby because, uh, he came to my site of. Peace Corps had asked him to accompany the ambassador to Kenya. He went to a lot of the different sites. So he was the person who was chosen to accompany the ambassador to different sites within the Mombasa area. So there were others there, but we just didn't interact with each other.

Evelyn Ganzglass: What did you do while you were on vacation? Were there vacations? Did you travel in Kenya? Did you travel in East Africa?

Glorious Broughton: I did. Um. As you know, I was a little older, so. I probably shouldn't say this, but I didn't adhere to all the rules. But I'm the type of person who looks at the rules and then says, I don't think I really have to follow this. And then I look at the rules and I say, oh, I think I better follow this one. So one of the rules was, your first year there you were to stay in country for your vacation. I didn't do that. I went to Nairobi and asked for my passport.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh, they kept it in Nairobi?

Glorious Broughton: Yes, they kept it. They said we didn't need it and therefore to leave it there because robbery, robbery was pretty high. And they said, people always want your passport, so leave it here for safekeeping. If you ever need it, just say so and we'll, we'll give it to you. So I asked for my passport and I hopped on a plane and I went to Zimbabwe. And I stayed there for about a week. I left Zimbabwe and went to Zambia, and I stayed there for a few days and then returned to Kenya.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: Most of my travel inside of Kenya was after my brother came. We went on a safari near the Tanzania border. It was, my brother couldn't quite adapt to life in Kenya. He came and I said, we're going to stay at this local hotel and then we're going on the safari tomorrow. So he said okay. So we checked into this little local hotel that I always stayed in. It was inexpensive. It was clean and everything. The next morning we had to walk over to the Intercontinental Hotel to catch the bus to go on the safari. He was angry. He said, never in my life have I not had access to hot water. He said even if there was no in hot water, I could put a pot of water on the stove and boil it. No hot water. Well, at that time, Nairobi was notorious for having water problems.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Mm hmm.

Glorious Broughton: So I said, look, there's nothing I can do. I said, so you might as well just get dressed. We're going down to the Intercontinental Hotel and get on the bus and go on the safari where we stayed overnight at different places. So when we got on the bus, we're sitting there and I'm listening to people who are getting on the bus who had stayed at the Intercontinental. The Intercontinental Hotel charged just as much as a hotel here in United States would charge. So I said to my brother, hmm, would you have preferred to pay maybe 100 times more and stay at the Intercontinental? These people didn't have any water. At least we had water.

So, you know, then we went on the safari and we stayed overnight. There was one place that was, um, we stayed at different hotels because there was one where you had these underground, it looked kind of like an underground place. But you had, because we couldn't go outside, and they had these places built underground that had windows. So you could go in there and you could look out at the animals as they came, because it was all about the animals. And so therefore, you could not go out on your own.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: And even when you were in the vehicles. One place we stayed, we had to stay, we stayed in a tent. There was a hotel, but they chose to put us in a tent. And it was really nice tent because those are not for camping. And the tent, we had to unzip it. There was a floor on the other side. You unzip it and there was a nice bathroom. But in order to get from the hotel where we had our meals, we had to be driven even though it was walking distance and there was always someone riding shotgun, just in case.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Because of the animals?

Glorious Broughton: The animals, right. So they did not want us to be attacked by the animals.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So that was a really good experience.

Glorious Broughton: It was. It was.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Did your brother enjoy that?

Glorious Broughton: He did. He did. But after the safari, we went to Mombasa so he could see where I lived. And his comment was, why are you living like this? You don't have to live like this. And I said, well, I think it's a pretty nice place. I said, you know, I didn't expect to live like I live in the United States. I said, this is perfectly fine for me. He said, no, I can't deal with this. So he left early.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Oh.

Glorious Broughton: I had to go back to Nairobi with him and he caught a flight and left.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And did he have any regrets later on or?

Glorious Broughton: I don't think so. But he was like some of the people who, you may have had some in your group. They wanted everything to be just like home. And I said, well, if I want things to be like home.

Evelyn Ganzglass: I wouldn't come here.

Glorious Broughton: I'd stay at home. You know, I don't need to leave home to experience the same thing that I experience at home.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Exactly.

Glorious Broughton: And I mean, even when I was in Kenya, I did something that I don't do very often here. I went to the movies a couple of times in Nairobi. I, I can almost count the number of movies I've been to in a movie theater here in Washington in the last ten years. And I could count them on one hand and have fingers left over. So, you know, I just wanted to do things that.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Other people were doing.

Glorious Broughton: Well, you know, as long as I was going with a Kenyan, you know, I was okay.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Have you stayed in touch with any of the Kenyans that you knew?

Glorious Broughton: We stayed in touch for about ten years and then after that, it just kind of faded off.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Well, I cut you. So your brother came halfway and then you continued working in this co-op?

Glorious Broughton: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. I was like, oh no, I'm not going to leave. No, there's no way. And plus, when he came, he came during my second year. I must have had maybe about four or five months left.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Okay.

Glorious Broughton: So there was no way I was leaving. And I extended an extra month because I was afraid of coming home in the winter.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Ah. So you finished your tour and then what? What happened?

Glorious Broughton: Well, this one man, this African American man who was in my group, he and I decided we would leave together. So we left and we went to Ethiopia. Uh, what was interesting about Ethiopia was that we needed a visa. We knew that things were just getting back on track with the United States. And I think the year before they had just started allowing U.S. citizens to come as tourists, so they would only give us a three day visa. So we went there and it was so different from Kenya. I mean, every place I went was so different. One of the things, even when I was in Zimbabwe, you know, my mind is on Kenya and I'm like, is it okay if I take a picture? Because there were so many places we were restricted that we could not take pictures in Kenya. So can I take a picture? Oh, sure. Go ahead and take a picture.

So we left Ethiopia. And the main reason I was traveling with John was because I wanted to go to Egypt, and I knew that it was not safe for me to go alone to Egypt. So we went to Egypt. We spent maybe three weeks going to the pyramids. We went to Alexandria. We. And I still remember people saying, oh, there's no need to go to Alexandria. There's nothing there. Well, we went to Alexandria and there's the Mediterranean. I'd never seen the Mediterranean. And I still remember, we walked down this one street and I call it the street of gold, because all the shops, practically everything in there was gold. I was like, wow, I've never seen it.

And I remember we were on a bus leaving the hotel we were staying in, and we were headed to the pyramids and the bus was crowded and everything. So all of a sudden we're in the desert and there's nothing there. And then all of a sudden I said, John, look! There are the pyramids, there are the pyramids! And because of the terrain, the pyramids disappeared. Whoa. So anyway, we made it to the pyramids. We met this man. And this was in January. This was in January or February. It'd be February. So it was cold in Egypt. I didn't have proper clothes. And so this man said, look, take my coat and my scarf. He said, and bring it back to me before you leave. So I kept his hat and scarf for maybe about four or five days. Then we went back to the pyramids. I'm looking for this man. And so I gave him his hat and coat back, his coat and scarf back. And, you know, we did the typical tourist thing. We had to ride the camels and all of this stuff.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: And, you know, we went inside the pyramid. I don't think I will ever go into the pyramid again. I'm not, I'm more claustrophobic now than I was then. And having to bend halfway over to walk up in there, I was like, no, I won't do that again. But, um.

Evelyn Ganzglass: It was an experience.

Glorious Broughton: It was an experience. So when we left Egypt, uh, that's where we split. He went to Greece and I went to Tunisia. Then I went to Morocco, then Senegal. And then back home.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Great. And have you been back to any of these places?

Glorious Broughton: Senegal. I went there in 2013. I was there in '83 and 30 years later, I'm back in 2013.

Evelyn Ganzglass: To Senegal?

Glorious Broughton: Yeah, to Senegal.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That's great.

Glorious Broughton: It was quite different. And I look at the pictures that I took when I was there in '83, and then I look at the way it looks now. Completely different.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: Completely. The only thing that was disheartening to me about Senegal was that they had these streets, the sidewalks that have these beautiful tiles in the sidewalk, and they just haven't been maintained. You can still see the beauty that is there. It just needs to be brought back to life.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah, just hasn't been.

Glorious Broughton: But I was with a tour group when I went in 2013 and, um. I don't know if things have changed there or if I changed or if it's a combination. Because we weren't allowed to, in Dakar, we were not allowed. Well, I shouldn't say we weren't allowed. I should say we were encouraged not to leave the hotel unless we were on that bus. And even though I was on the bus and I'm looking around and I'm like, would I be comfortable walking these streets alone? Because in '83 I had no problems walking those streets alone. I went wherever I wanted to go. So I don't know if the city changed, if I changed, or if it was a combination.

Evelyn Ganzglass: It's probably the same thing in Kenya or other places you've been.

Glorious Broughton: It might be. I just remember that I did leave Senegal in '83 before I was, I wanted to leave. And the main reason I left was because I kind of lost my temper on the street. This man walked up to me and he said, hey sister. I said, yeah? You're an American, aren't you? And I said yes. He said, he got close to me, he said, you want something? And I said, what? He said, you want to buy something? I said, wait a minute. Look, you might think all Americans deal with drugs. I don't do drugs. He's like, calm down. I said, no, look, I don't do drugs, but I know the best hashish in the world comes out of Morocco, and I was just there. If I had wanted something like that, I would have gotten it in Morocco.

And he was like, calm down, calm down. I said, no, you're going to walk up to me and you're going to insult me like that and you think I'm supposed to just take it? I said, uh uh, no, it's not going to work that way. And so he said, oh okay, calm down, calm down. And he ran away. And so I turned around. TWA office is right down the street here. So I went to the TWA office. When can I get a flight to New York? And that was when I left.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Hmm.

Glorious Broughton: But other than that, I was happy. I was enjoying myself, just relaxing and just seeing the scenery. And I was. To this day, I kind of regret that I lost my temper.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah, well.

Glorious Broughton: But I had just.

Evelyn Ganzglass: It was also probably part of traveling by yourself.

Glorious Broughton: Yes. Yes. Because I'd been through all those Arab countries and I hadn't had any problems.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Mm hmm.

Glorious Broughton: The only one that I kind of incurred, incurred a problem was in Egypt. And that's the reason John and I were together, because I knew not to go to Egypt alone. And men would make passes and I was like, this is my husband. I don't see a ring on your finger. I'm like, what in the world? And I had never been approached like that. And even though they were crazy, I still went on to Tunisia and Morocco and all those places by myself. And I didn't have any problems. The only thing, um, in Casablanca, I realized that I was trying to do something that I wasn't supposed to do. And it was, it seems like such a harmless thing. I wanted to get something to eat. And they had these outside cafes, so I wanted to sit outside on the sidewalk and have lunch. And people started looking at me and I realized, oh, men only. So I said, okay, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Well, things are different now.

Glorious Broughton: Oh, okay.

Evelyn Ganzglass: I just came back from Morocco.

Glorious Broughton: But that was the one thing I wanted to do.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Things are quite different. And where did you come back to?

Glorious Broughton: Well, uh, you know, I said I was trying to avoid the winter in the United States. Well, it was in February. We landed at JFK. First of all, the flight from Dakar was delayed because JFK was closed. And when we came in, we were the first flight in in three days.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Because of snow?

Glorious Broughton: Because of snow. And I had a friend in New Jersey and I had sent him a telegram telling him that I was coming in to JFK and to meet me at the airport. Well, when I got to the airport, he was not there. So I called him and he said, the reason I'm not there is because I kept calling the airline and they couldn't tell me where your plane was going. They, at one point, they said it was going to Boston. He said, so I'm on my way. So he came to the airport and met me and he had a shopping bag. I'm like, oh, that's a nice shopping bag. So he opens up the shopping bag and he has one of his coats and a hat and a scarf. He said, I didn't know what kind of clothes you would have, but with all the snow and everything, I know you need proper clothes. So I was like, okay. Coat was too big and everything. And I'm like, I'm glad. Because all I had was a little thin leather coat.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So that was kind of hard reentry.

Glorious Broughton: Uh, yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Was it hard reentering culturally as well?

Glorious Broughton: Um, I don't, I didn't think so. The one thing, because Peace Corps had given us these readjustment sessions before we left, I was prepared. Because they said, you know, you're going to go home and you've had this great experience and you're going to want to talk about it and nobody is going to want to hear it. So. And that was exactly the way it was. You know, they want to hear 2 minutes and that was it. They didn't want to hear anything else.

Evelyn Ganzglass: That was true of your family as well?

Glorious Broughton: No, not of my family. They were more interested. But I remember a year later, a friend, a woman that I know who lives here in Washington, she had come home and, um. She was telling me how people were saying how bad she looked. So I told my mother about it. And so she said, well, you know, you weren't looking so good. I said, oh, what was wrong? She said, well, first of all, you had lost a lot of weight. And she said, it was just something about your skin. It just didn't look right.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Hmm.

Glorious Broughton: But then, you know, I guess after staying in that bright sunshine and all of that, because sometimes I would get tired of all the heat and everything and I would get on the train and go to, or go to Nairobi. And, you know, during the rainy season, you get off the train, because it was an overnight trip. So around 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning, you're arriving in Nairobi and it's like 35 degrees. But by lunchtime, you know, a couple of hours later, it's in the seventies. But it was always refreshing to me to get off that train and feel that cool air. Yes, it was. That was the good part.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So where did you end up living coming back?

Glorious Broughton: Well, when I came back, I ended up here in Washington because of the noncompetitive eligibility for federal employment.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And where did you end up working? What federal agency?

Glorious Broughton: Okay, well. The first federal agency was the Office of Human, the Office of Personnel Management. And it was really funny how I got the job because I don't remember what position I applied for. I don't know what agency I applied, where the, what agency the job was. But I remember I had to send my application to Philadelphia. And on a Friday night this man, Carlos Esparza, called me on a Friday night and he said, you sent your application to Philadelphia for X, Y, Z position. I said, yes I did. He said, well, the person who got your application did not think that you were a fit for that position. And he said, I used to work in Philadelphia. I've only been in Washington a couple of months. So they called me and told me about you.

Now, this man is an SES. He's in the senior executive service. He's calling me on a Friday night. And so he said, so would you be interested in a job here at the Office of Personnel Management? And I said, well, yes. So I still remember, he said, here's a telephone number. Monday morning called Dot Mustard. That was her name, Dot Mustard. And he said, talk to her and she'll tell you where to go from there.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So that's where you ended up working?

Glorious Broughton: That's where I ended up working my first federal job. I was, I mean, it seemed like the stars just lined up for me.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So it was really easy transition.

Glorious Broughton: Yeah, well, actually, I was working some, I was working for a union, Local 639 in Northeast. I had been doing temporary work, and then finally this place hired me permanently, but I was still looking because it was a secretarial position and that wasn't what I wanted. And so things just lined up. I started December 31st, 1983. And Carlos Esparza had hired some other people who were in, who had noncompetitive eligibility. And he said that the reason he wanted us to start on December 31st, 1983, was because they were changing the retirement system. He said, and this way you will have a choice to stay with the old system or to move to the new system, just by starting one day in 2008, in 1983. Yeah.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Good. Good. So did you continue your career in the federal government after that?

Glorious Broughton: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And let's see, I worked. Office of Personnel Management. Peace Corps. Office of Personnel Management. Department of Agriculture, two different agencies at Department of Agriculture. Then I went to the Department of Energy. The Export-Import Bank.

Evelyn Ganzglass: My goodness.

Glorious Broughton: And my last 13 years were with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. It took me almost full circle because when I came back from Peace Corps, I was working with the union. So what does Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service do? They work with unions, although I wasn't working with the union, but still it helps to know something about unions, even though I was in Human Resources.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Great. So have you stayed in touch with Peace Corps at all in your activities? I know I met you that way.

Glorious Broughton: Yes.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So this is a, I'm just asking it for the interview. How have you stayed involved with Peace Corps?

Glorious Broughton: Well, at one point I would go to, when I first came back, I would go to a lot of the happy hours and meet people and find out what was going on. And one of the people that I met, and I cannot remember his name, but anyway, he was a financial adviser with Legg Mason, who no longer exist. But anyway, I remember him giving his presentation and I was like, wow, that's something I think I might be interested in. So he said, um, he was not asking for our names and telephone numbers. He said, if you want any further information, you can pick up my card on the way out and contact me. So I went home and I told my husband about it. And so he said, well, maybe we should put some money in this.

And so that was how we started investing. And that was through a Peace Corps volunteer. Yes, a returned Peace Corps volunteer. And one of the things I enjoy doing is being an advocate for Peace Corps on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, this year I couldn't do it because of the, because of jury duty. But I've done it several times. And that's one of the things I always look forward to.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Have you been involved in? So that's what you've been doing. Have you stayed involved in the Washington D.C. Peace Corps group?

Glorious Broughton: Not lately. It seemed like after I got a little older and the people coming in kept getting younger and younger, it just felt like I didn't really have that much of a connection with them.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: And even some of the, I get, you know, I do send money to them and I'm on their email list. So I see the things that they're doing and any way that I can support them, I will but.

Evelyn Ganzglass: It's a pretty young group.

Glorious Broughton: It is. It's very young. And, you know, it's, I feel like it's time for me to step aside and let them take over. But I was very active with the 50th anniversary, planning the activities at the, uh, at Arlington Cemetery.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Okay.

Glorious Broughton: Yes, I was very active in that, but I wasn't active with the 55th. I attended sessions, different things that were going on with the 55th, but I wasn't active in that.

Evelyn Ganzglass: When you think back on your Peace Corps experience, what impact do you think it had on your life?

Glorious Broughton: I think it makes me look at things in a more global manner. I listen to the news sometimes and they will say, oh, well, people in this country, they only make 10 cents an hour. And it makes me sit back and say, well, how much does it cost to live? You know, because.

Evelyn Ganzglass: You understand that.

Glorious Broughton: Right. And I remember one of the things that people would ask me, well, how much money did you get when you were a Peace Corps volunteer? I said, listen to what I was, I was a volunteer. I got a stipend to pay for things, but I wasn't paid a salary. Well, how much money did they give you just to live on? I said, well, it doesn't really matter, because what I was given was more than enough for me to survive on. If you translate that into U.S. dollars, there's no way that I could live on that. I said, so I always have to say, what does it cost to live in that place?

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: So I think that's one of the things that has impacted my life. And when people tell me, well, people aren't making that much money in this country or that country. Well, I don't know how much it costs to live there. And even if you break it down to the United States, it costs different amounts of money to live in different parts of this country. And certain places people think are inexpensive are not inexpensive, because housing in South Carolina costs a lot more than people think it does. And one of the things that always amazed me was that when my mother was alive, there were certain grocery items I would buy here and I would take there. And then there were certain grocery items there that I would buy there and bring here.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So because the cost is so different.

Glorious Broughton: Right. The cost was completely different.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Interesting.

Glorious Broughton: Completely different.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Have you thought about the impact of Peace Corps on Kenya or your, your work specifically?

Glorious Broughton: Um, not my work specifically, but the impact of Peace Corps on Kenya. I think because of all the, for lack of a better term, free labor that the country was getting from Peace Corps volunteers, I think they profited quite well. And I am hopeful that eventually Peace Corps will go back. I was very disheartened when I found out that Peace Corps was no longer there. But as the, this was during the 55th anniversary, the director of Peace Corps was saying, was explaining that Peace Corps has been suspended rather than abandoned in the country.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: So if things get better, then it'll be easy for a Peace Corps to just go back in. So hopefully that will happen.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So the question is about the third goal of Peace Corps, bringing the world back to the United States. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Glorious Broughton: Well, I think that goal is being met in a multitude of manners. One is that there's so many of us that have had this experience seem like. And so therefore, we are bringing in other experiences to people that we interact with every day. And at my church, there's several people, you know, it seemed like practically every time I turn around, there's another person that's telling me they're a returned Peace Corps volunteer. So our whole outlook on the world as a whole is more globally centered as opposed to people who have been right here in Washington, D.C., from birth to age 80 or whatever.

And I think it just, I think people will look at us and say, oh wow, that's an interesting experience. I've had lots of people say that to me. Oh, you did what? You just interrupted your career and went into Peace Corps? I said, yes. You know, I was still young. I felt like I was still young. I could do anything I wanted to do so.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And you did. It was great.

Glorious Broughton: Yes. I think I have had a fantastic life. Fantastic. And Peace Corps is definitely one of the highlights. I remember I took a class one time dealing with public speaking. And so we had to give a speech about something that had impacted our lives. Of course, you know, you know what my topic was.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Yeah.

Glorious Broughton: Yep. Yeah.

Evelyn Ganzglass: So that's probably a good place to end this, this interview. Is there anything else you'd like to say before we, before we end it?

Glorious Broughton: The only thing I have to say is that I wish Peace Corps still had that motto. The toughest job you'll ever love.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Mm hmm.

Glorious Broughton: Because I loved it. It was not easy. Would I do it again? I wanted to. But because of budget situation, I will not apply. I feel like the number of volunteers has sunk so low that it would not be. I think it would be selfish of me if I applied and got in and took a slot from someone who's never had the experience.

Evelyn Ganzglass: And that's why we advocate.

Glorious Broughton: That's why we advocate.

Evelyn Ganzglass: Great. So thank you so much.

Glorious Broughton: Thank you.