Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Barbara Castleton can be contacted at alphaactionayahoodcom
Country of Service: Morocco
Training Group: Education
Cities you served in: Settat
Arrival Year: 1996
Departure Year: 1998
Work Description: Taught EFL at Universitaire Hassan 1er, Faculte des Sciences et
Techniques
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
A chance meeting at the Summer Institute of English in Rabat with Dr.
James Coady, the former graduate chair in Linguistics at Ohio University,
lead to a teaching assistanceship and full tuition scholarship at that
university. Following graduation, my husband (a Moroccan) and I made
Morocco and Italy our destinations on a celebratory vacation. On our return,
I accepted a teaching position in the ESL department of Arkansas State
University.
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
The Peace Corps was a transformational experience. The opportunity to be
in service, to set someone else's needs above ego and agenda was both
humbling and exhilarating. Creatively, professionally, personally, and
spiritually, it was intensely validating, and taxed every limit I thought I had,
before pushing me passed those limits entirely. Morocco itself is a
fascinating, kalaidescopic environment. One might be lonely, but never
bored. Every view held tantalizing, often heartwarming detail.
Any message for returned volunteers?:
Don't forget how easy it was to adapt to a sparce, essentials-only
environment, and how, from that perspective, the view of life was much
clearer.
Originally posted: January 17, 2002
