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Let Yourself be Led: A Peace Corps Odyssey
316 pages, Paperback
Published November 2, 2023
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October 10, 2025Michael McQuestion MS’94, PhD’00
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From the author:
In the mid-1970s a primary health care movement arose worldwide under the motto “Health by the people.” The approach was community-based and relied on appropriate technology. In one Philippine town, Peace Corps volunteer Leo McClatchy is determined to implement such a program. He is aided by a benevolent provincial governor, a charismatic physician, local Catholic priests, and grassroots government agency counterparts working with the same poor, rural population. But the formal health care system, to which he is assigned to work, frustrates Leo’s every move. Wins and losses unexpectedly emerge as the target barangays take up the program. Leo comes to understand the underlying cultural and political forces enveloping him while steadily disconnecting from his previous life. A new romance grows. Along the way, Leo and his fellow Peace Corps volunteers nurture each other and undertake daring adventures throughout the scenic archipelago. His two years over, Leo leaves disheartened. Twenty-five years later, he returns to find that he had more impact than he had imagined.
Author
From the author:
In the mid-1970s a primary health care movement arose worldwide under the motto “Health by the people.” The approach was community-based and relied on appropriate technology. In one Philippine town, Peace Corps volunteer Leo McClatchy is determined to implement such a program. He is aided by a benevolent provincial governor, a charismatic physician, local Catholic priests, and grassroots government agency counterparts working with the same poor, rural population. But the formal health care system, to which he is assigned to work, frustrates Leo’s every move. Wins and losses unexpectedly emerge as the target barangays take up the program. Leo comes to understand the underlying cultural and political forces enveloping him while steadily disconnecting from his previous life. A new romance grows. Along the way, Leo and his fellow Peace Corps volunteers nurture each other and undertake daring adventures throughout the scenic archipelago. His two years over, Leo leaves disheartened. Twenty-five years later, he returns to find that he had more impact than he had imagined.
Displaying 1 of 1 review