2010.10.23: October 23, 2010: Maggie Brossoit remembers the day her Peace Corps group of English-as-a-second-language teachers was expelled from Libya as the country underwent revolution in the fall of 1969
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2010.10.23: October 23, 2010: Maggie Brossoit remembers the day her Peace Corps group of English-as-a-second-language teachers was expelled from Libya as the country underwent revolution in the fall of 1969
Maggie Brossoit remembers the day her Peace Corps group of English-as-a-second-language teachers was expelled from Libya as the country underwent revolution in the fall of 1969
Like David Baraga, St. Cloud State University alumni Maggie Brossoit and her late husband, Mark, joined the Peace Corps to serve their country by helping in another country. They journeyed to Libya together in 1968 after Mark used a Peace Corps application as a way of suggesting the college sweethearts get married. "We sat down in the lounge and he pulled out a brochure that said ‘Married Couples in the Peace Corps,' and that was his proposal," Brossoit recalled, with a laugh. Both 21, the couple completed a year in Libya mentoring trainee English teachers, but three days after returning from a vacation in Europe became caught in the military coup led by Muammar al-Gaddafi to overthrow the Libyan government.
Maggie Brossoit remembers the day her Peace Corps group of English-as-a-second-language teachers was expelled from Libya as the country underwent revolution in the fall of 1969
Peace Corps has lasting impacts among area residents
By Adam Couzens • Special to the Times •
October 23, 2010
[Excerpt]
Like David Baraga, St. Cloud State University alumni Maggie Brossoit and her late husband, Mark, joined the Peace Corps to serve their country by helping in another country.
They journeyed to Libya together in 1968 after Mark used a Peace Corps application as a way of suggesting the college sweethearts get married.
"We sat down in the lounge and he pulled out a brochure that said ‘Married Couples in the Peace Corps,' and that was his proposal," Brossoit recalled, with a laugh.
Both 21, the couple completed a year in Libya mentoring trainee English teachers, but three days after returning from a vacation in Europe became caught in the military coup led by Muammar al-Gaddafi to overthrow the Libyan government.
"We were in Tripoli, one of the three (national) capitals, and it happened right outside our house," Brossoit recalled. "It was a bloodless coup, but it was very frightening because they rolled the tanks down the street … and there was shooting, but they weren't shooting at anybody, they were just shooting to keep people inside."
She added: "Within six weeks, he (Gaddafi) had kicked us all out of the country and that was the end of the Peace Corps in Libya."
Brossoit subsequently taught English at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School for 32 years until moving into retirement in 2004, and Mark Brossoit was a teacher at Sartell Middle School until his death from cancer in January 2004.
Heavily involved with Christian mission work in Uganda since 2004, Brossoit said that despite her abbreviated Peace Corps service, she treasures the experience as "a special moment with my husband" and a "window onto the world."
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: October, 2010; Peace Corps Libya; Directory of Libya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Libya RPCVs
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Story Source: SC Times
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