Interview with Donald Drach, March 8, 2022

Partial Transcript: I'm Peggy Walton and I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 1994 to 1996 and as a Response Volunteer there from 2013 to 2014 and then again from 2015 to 2016. Today, is March 8, 2022 and I'm interviewing Don Drach.

Segment Synopsis: Drach discusses his time as a Volunteer in Liberia from 1971 through 1973 and serving as a staff member in Washington, D.C. for ten months upon returning to the U.S. Drach mentions that he entered Peace Corps training four months after his college graduation and that, while attending high school in West Berlin, Drach was inspired to give service by a speech given there by Hubert Humphrey.

Keywords: College majors; Germany; Hubert H. Humphrey; International travel; John F. Kennedy; Liberia; Peace Corps staff; Study abroad; Transition periods; Washington (D.C.); West Berlin (Germany); Peace Corps (U.S.)

Partial Transcript: How did you prepare to leave for two years?

Segment Synopsis: Drach reports that his application was initially misplaced, but eventually he was invited to serve in Liberia, although he had requested a placement in South America. Nonetheless, Drach says he as still happy to be accepted into the program.

Keywords: Invitations; Liberia; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps applications; Pennsylvania State University; Reston (Va.); South America; Washington (D.C.); Waiting periods

Partial Transcript: What were the reactions of your family and friends to your decision to go?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says his friends were not surprised by his decision to join Peace Corps and that his parents eventually came to support his choice.

Keywords: Liberia; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps applications; Support; Letters

Partial Transcript: Alright. So, then tell me a little bit about the pre-service training and where was it and what was in it.

Segment Synopsis: Drach says his cohort departed for Liberia after a staging in Philadelphia, and that they were the first to receive pre-service training in Liberia. He descibes his cohort, saying it had about fifty members, all of whom were in the education sector. Drach feels that the training was good but their housing in Liberia was too Americanized to properly prepare them for their service conditions. Drach also believes that the trainees should have spent less time grouped together and more time interacting with the local people. He mentions that, since English was the national language, the trainees did not study any native or local languages.

Keywords: Amenities; Cultural training; Culture shock; Housing; Inoculations; International travel; Liberia; Local languages; Monrovia (Liberia); National languages; Orientation; Peace Corps (U.S.); Philadelphia (Pa.); Running water; Teaching English as a foreign language; Technical training; Volunteer workers in education; Staging

Partial Transcript: Tell me some of your initial reactions, uh, after you had landed there, after you were, you know, once you got there.

Segment Synopsis: Although he found the weather uncomfortably hot, Drach says he was happy to arrive in Liberia and he found the people to be welcoming and colorfully dressed. He remembers that after a week after his cohort's arrival, William Tubman, the country's long-time president, died. This led to a chaotic period of mourning which frightened some trainees, who returned to the U.S. as a result. Drach says his pre-service training only lasted six weeks, and the program was designed to be in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Education.

Keywords: Liberia; Local people; Ministry of Education; Monrovia (Liberia); Mourning; Partnerships; Peace Corps (U.S.); Politics and government; Pre-service training; United Nations; United Nations Development Programme; William Tubman; Locals

Partial Transcript: Where were you posted?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says he was assigned to the elementary school in the town Salayea. Drach describes the town, and says he primarily taught English for grades one through six. He also describes the teaching conditions in the school.

Keywords: Borders; Elementary schools; Guinea; Isolation; Religion; Supplies; Support; Teachers; Teaching English as a foreign language; Volunteer workers in education; Zorzor (Liberia); Salayea (Liberia)

Partial Transcript: So, how did you, um, overcome that?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says that over time he was able to get over his initial feeling of loneliness. Drach found the local people welcoming and met up with other local Volunteers on weekends. He describes some of the teaching conditions at his site.

Keywords: Class sizes; Local people; Locals; Loneliness; School systems; Socializing; Support circles; Teachers; Transition periods; Traveling; United States. Agency for International Development; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: What, what did you like about teaching?

Segment Synopsis: Because of his Volunteer experience, Drach went on to earn a master's degree in Education when he returned to the U.S. Then, he began working as a substitute teacher in Boston.

Keywords: Boston (Mass.); Boston College; Career paths; College majors; Education; Gender roles; Substitute teachers; Teachers; Master's degrees

Partial Transcript: So, if you got off work early afternoon, what'd you do after that?

Segment Synopsis: Drach describes his daily activities and his housing. He says that, like many other Volunteers in Liberia, he hired a housekeeper.

Keywords: Finance; Food; Housekeepers; Liberia; Living alone; Living conditions; Malaria; Peace Corps (U.S.); Volunteers; Housing

Partial Transcript: What was your relationship with the chief?

Segment Synopsis: Drach describes his relationship with the village chief and the chief's family.

Keywords: Chiefs; Kids; Manners and customs; Peace Corps (U.S.); Villages; Formality

Partial Transcript: How did you spend your leisure time?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says he visited other Volunteers and spend time reading. Drach spent time with the local kids. During his first extended school vacation, Drach traveled with friends to Ghana and Ivory Coast. Later, Drach visited Mali, the Niger River, and the Sahara Desert.

Keywords: Africa; Books; Ghana; International travel; Ivory Coast; Local peoples; Locals; Mali; Niger River; Peace Corps (U.S.); Sahara Desert; Vacations; Volunteers; Volunteers; Site visits

Partial Transcript: So, so you would go to visit other Peace Corps Volunteers and you were a tight group.

Segment Synopsis: Drach says that some of his best friends were members of his cohort and that he is involved with several Returned Volunteer groups.

Keywords: Cohorts; Peace Corps (U.S.); Personal relations; Returned Peace Corps Volunteers; Returned Volunteer groups; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: Um, did you have any secondary projects or did you collaborate on any, any projects with others?

Segment Synopsis: Drach helped to set up a functioning library at his school. Drach also taught an adult literacy class in the evening.

Keywords: Adult literacy; Books; Community involvement; Libraries; Literacy; Mathematics; Peace Corps (U.S.); Teachers; Teaching; Volunteer workers in education; Career paths

Partial Transcript: What would you say are your main accomplishments of these, of these two years?

Segment Synopsis: Drach comments that, as a teacher, it is difficult to know and assess one's impact on one's students. Like many Volunteers, Drach believes that, while a Volunteer, he gained more than he gave.

Keywords: Peace Corps (U.S.); Personal growth; Personal impact; Students; Teachers; Volunteers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: What about, sort of, looking at your experience in terms of the Three Peace Corps goals of, um, providing technical assistance. Sounds as if you did that well in the classroom, um, is that an apt assessment?

Segment Synopsis: Drach discusses addressing the three goals of the Peace Corps. Drach says he returned to the U.S. with a greater appreciation of the abundance of goods available here and discusses his activities with Friends of Liberia and with Peace Corps Community for Refugees.

Keywords: Bonn (Germany); Culture shock; Ebola; Friends of Liberia; Guinea; International travel; Israel; Lifestyles; Literacy; Monrovia (Liberia); New York City (N.Y.); Non-governmental organizations; Partnerships; Privilege; Retirement; Returned Peace Corps Volunteers; Second Goal; Sierra Leone; Third Goal; Vietnam War; First Goal

Partial Transcript: So, tell me what you did, um, in, I guess you were in D.C. then in, from seven--what'd you say, from '73 to '74?

Segment Synopsis: Drach discusses his job at Peace Corps headquarters, which involved answering in-coming calls on the toll-free number.

Keywords: Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps staff; Recruiting; Socializing; Toll-free numbers; Transition periods; Washington (D.C.); Telephone calls

Partial Transcript: And then, you went into graduate school, right?

Segment Synopsis: Drach explains how his Volunteer experience helped get him into Boston College.

Keywords: Boston (Mass.); Boston College; Finance; Graduate schools; Plans; Stipends; George Washington University

Partial Transcript: And then, what did you do? You went to, you were a substitute teacher?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says that after completing graduate school he was hired as a reading specialist in St. Croix, where he worked there for five years.

Keywords: Crime; Educations; Reading specialists; St. Croix (Virgin Islands)

Partial Transcript: Well, what made you leave?

Segment Synopsis: Drach left because he was robbed at gun point and because he felt he would always be treated as an outsider there.

Keywords: Armed robberies; Community; Guns; Local people; Outsiders; Robberies; St. Croix (Virgin Islands); Locals

Partial Transcript: Um so, then what did you do when you got back to the States?

Segment Synopsis: Drach moved back to Washington, D.C. and eventually found a job with the Government Accountability Office where he stayed until retiring over twenty years later.

Keywords: Career paths; Counterparts; Government Accountability Office; Marriage; Philippines; Retirement; Transition periods; Washington (D.C.)

Partial Transcript: Were there any kinds of, um, were you aware of any kind of diversity issues, especially being in West Africa or among your group members, um, those issues of assimilation and inequities?

Segment Synopsis: Drach says that his cohort of fifty members included about four or five Black Americans, and all but one of the Black Volunteers early terminated. Drach says he has heard anecdotally of people in Liberia treating Black Volunteers with less respect than they treat White Volunteers as well as of racism among the more recent Volunteers.

Keywords: Black Americans; Cohorts; Diversity in the Peace Corps; Hispanic Americans; Liberia; Local people; Locals; Minorities; Racism; African Americans

Partial Transcript: One thing, one of the things I learned in the Peace Corps, was to be, I learned how to be happy with myself.

Segment Synopsis: Drach discusses how, because he lived alone for two years as a Volunteer, he had to make a number of personal adjustments. Drach shares an embarrassing personal event from pre-service training.

Keywords: Peace Corps (U.S.); Pre-service training; Traveling; Volunteers; William Tubman; Zorzor (Liberia); Living alone