Interview with George Charles Koch, May 17, 2024

Interview Summary

George Charles Koch served as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Liberia I from 1962-1964 in an education program. He discusses cultural orientation and teacher training at the University of Pittsburg and his group’s low attrition rate. He discusses differences in teaching in Monrovia and in the village of Gbarnga where he taught 12 mixed age elementary school students. He talks about eating new foods in daily meals with his principal’s family, working with Peace Corps business volunteers to help local farmers sell their watermelons in Monrovia after losing their local market, meeting Gene Kelly and the Liberian Vice President, and using anti-venom serum to complement a shaman’s treatment of a snakebite. He also talks about adventures traveling to neighboring countries during the exuberant post-independence period. He credits Peace Corps with enabling others to meet Americans in new ways and helping shape him in ways that clarified his values.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (US) Liberia (Country of Service) Education (Peace Corps program) 1962-64 (years of service as Peace Corps Volunteer) University of Pittsburg (site of US-based training) Monrovia (capital of Liberia and site of first assignment) Gbarnga (small village where he was stationed during the second year) Leon Weintraub (roommate during first year in Monrovia) Via (principal’s name) International Voluntary Service (IVS) Tom Quignby, Peace Corps director in Liberia.

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