By Admin1 (admin) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 11:10 am: Edit Post |
After a three-month crash course in Arabic, David Goff went to teach English in Libya’s Sahara Desert
After a three-month crash course in Arabic, David Goff went to teach English in Libya’s Sahara Desert
David Goff ’68
Country: Libya
Assignment: teaching English
Major: drama
When David Goff ’68 and his roommate, Rich Lockett ’68, joined the Peace Corps, it was the height of the Vietnam War. Goff thought the opportunity to immerse himself in another culture sounded appealing, but he also appreciated the draft deferment benefit it brought.
After a three-month crash course in Arabic, Goff went to teach English in Libya’s Sahara Desert. Many of his students were Bedouin children who lived outside the village. “Instead of a bike rack, we had a place where donkeys were tied up,” he recalls.
In addition to teaching English, Goff also provided villagers with an image of his own country.
“I was the first American they’d ever seen,” he says. “Their impression of America was that we were the Wild, Wild West.” “They were very welcoming,” he adds.
Unfortunately, his tour of duty was cut short when Muammar Qadhafi seized power in a 1969 military coup and threw the Peace Corps volunteers out of the country.
Goff went to graduate school at the University of North Carolina and spent 20 years in television. He now sells real estate in Indiana.
“The Peace Corps is the best way in the world to find out what you’re made of,” he says. “I often think to myself that no matter how I have to live, it will never be as challenging as it was in Libya.”