Interview with Donald Drach, March 8, 2022

Interview Summary

Donald Drach Liberia 1971-1973, PC Headquarters 1973-1974. Drach is a member of Group 28 Liberia, the first group to have its pre-service training in-country. It was a group of fifty teachers. He recollects the unfamiliar smells when he arrived, as well as the music that infused the streets. Drach taught English in an elementary school in Salayea, teaching the students to speak English, the official national language. His students visited him after school which helped alleviate his initial loneliness: he was the only Volunteer in the town. One of his projects was to revive the school library; another was to design and teach a curriculum for adult literacy, which, then, lead him into his training career in the federal government. Drach is active in the Friends of Liberia, as well as in the Peace Corps Community for Refugees. One result of his Peace Corps experiences is that Drach learned to be happy with him self, enjoying his own company.

Interview Keyword

Salayea (Liberia) Adult literacy Teacher Community for Refugees St. Croix (Virgin Islands) Government Accountability Office Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Teaching English as a foreign language

Interview LC Subject

Liberia Teachers School libraries Peace Corps (U.S.) Pennsylvania State University Boston College Substitute teachers Volunteers Zorzor (Liberia) Friends of Liberia (Organization)

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Interview Usage

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