Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-006
Barbara Straub served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana from 1962 to 1964 as a chemistry teacher. She was part of the Ghana II group. She trained at UC Berkeley in the Twi language with a stint in the Oakland emergency room. Straub was assigned to the prestigious Aburi Girls Secondary School, a Presbyterian mission school, which had almost 100 percent expatriate staff. She taught general science, chemistry, and physical education, and sponsored the newspaper club. She developed her own teaching methods to promote understanding of the scientific principles, rather than just rote learning. Despite having a degree from Stanford, Straub had to contend with the headmistress' notion that Peace Corps volunteers were underqualified. She also discusses her bout with malaria and local reaction to the Kennedy assassination. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, December 2, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).