Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-004
Catherine Tansey served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 1970 to 1972 as a TEFL teacher (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Her group was one of the first to receive their training in-country, in the fishing town of Safi. Training included both Moroccan Arabic and French as well as classes in culture, customs, and politics. Tansey taught in the provincial oasis town of Oujda, near the Algerian border. Her students in the lycee (high school) were mostly 18-19 years old. She discusses many experiences and challenges during her service, including adjusting to the local culture, food, and desert-like environment; experiencing an attempted coup d'etat while receiving language training in Casablanca; her students going on strike; a harrowing train ride; and the shock of learning that her first apartment, unbeknownst to her and her roommate, was in a "red light" district. Interviewed and recorded by Stanley Laser, September 13, 2019. 1 digital audio file.