Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2005-025-013
Frank Gorman served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 1969 to 1971 as an architect. He joined instead of going into the military. His in-country training consisted of intensive language classes with an emphasis on French and some Arabic. In his architectural work on housing in Morocco, Gorman learned from trial and error that designing houses to blend in (or resemble old city buildings) led to instant acceptance. During his tour, an assassination attempt was made on the king. Everyone heard this news except for Gorman and his friend, who realized something was wrong after encountering trucks of armed soldiers on the otherwise empty streets. After serving in Morocco, Gorman re-enlisted for another year and was sent to the Congo (later called Zaire). No white people had been seen in the Congo since missionaries were slaughtered there ten years before. Gorman had to work with a local Black man so as to not be perceived as hostile. He was able to build a school for the blind with a floor plan tailored to their needs. Interviewed and recorded by Ernest Zaremba, August 19, 2004. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).