Life's Travails ~ Ursula and Marvin

Friends,

You probably received, as I did, an e-mail purporting to be from Ursula, describing being attacked in Madrid, losing her money, bank cards, purse, and cell phone, and asking you to send money via Western Union.  This is a scam.  Ursula’s e-mail account was hacked by cybercriminals, who also blocked her access to her contact list, thus preventing her from warning the people on her contact list that it was a fraud.  Ursula is fine--just somewhat frantic.  She has a new e-mail address, which I’ll distribute to our Peace Corps group via e-mail.

I’ve had two other friends in the last couple of years who were hacked with a nearly identical message.  It was painful and embarrassing for them, and awfully inconvenient to lose their contact lists. 

You probably also received Marvin’s messages about a valve in his heart failing, its replacement with an artificial valve, his rapid recovery, and his palpable joy as he has been reminded what a blessing life is.  I’ll enter them below just to make them “part of the record.”  It’s wonderful to still have you with us, Marvin.

- Tony

* * * 

   

DEAR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND BOTH:

One and a half weeks ago (Nov. 18), I arrived home to Hawaii from a trip to Las Vegas with my brother Norman.  It was a good trip and I was feeling healthy. I was happy. LIFE WAS GOOD.

I decide to go to bed early that evening.  But then, two hours later –   wow!!!!.  I can’t breathe; I got fluid in the lungs; I am passing out; there are  fire trucks, ambulances, all the neighbors are outside, emergency ward; hospital!!!!  The next time I am aware of what is going on I am in a Intensive Care Room – I have no idea what hospital.  I am sooo thirsty; I have tubes all over the place; no one is smiling; I can’t move; I can’t do anything – this is not a happy place!!!!    I learned that one of my heart valves (the mitral valves) had exploded (excuse my use of medical terms)  and needed to be replaced with an artificial valve -  I did not have a heart attack.  I had been in very serious condition.

The doctors, nurses, and all the medical practitioners were good and they had all done a great job.  However, I do get mad at all the technicians that had to come into the room every hour to draw my bodily fluids and to see if I am breathing.  But  I definitely do have a new respect for them. Previously, by biggest pride in life was that I had never stayed in hospital except to get circumcised in 1953. 

I have never felt so helpless or so dependent in my life. By my side,  during the entire episode was my Masako – she decided everything, did everything, communicated to those who needed to know, she was everything.  Without appearing to be overly dramatic (hell, it is dramatic), I have never felt so luved in my entire life.  And then two days later, my daughter Marcie and son Mark are here from Salt Lake and Denver to help look after me.  Other than when we were ”making the numbers at the crap table” with my kids, I have never felt so close with them.  On Thanksgiving day, I got to watch “the undefeated” Green Bay Packers play Detroit – “it was bonding to the max.”  And the support and the luv from the family and friends were awesome (please keep it all coming).

With all that good stuff happening to me, I got released from the hospital and went home  on Thursday – Thanksgiving day JUST 6 DAYS AFTER IT BEGAN!!!!

I have no pain, I am walking Each day I am getting stronger.  I do not drink.  My spirits are good.  Daughter is teaching me the new media technology for the e-book and smart phone (yes, I can do Text Messaging) – I am feeling mentally sharp.  And, yes, the GREEN BAY PACKERS ARE UNDEFEATED!!  LIFE IS GOOD.               

* * *

UPDATE  

Can you believe it but it has been two weeks now since I experience the ruptured heart valve.  Thursday and Friday, we visited the cardiac surgeon, my primary care physician and the rehab director.  They are all pleased and surprised with the progress I have made (i.e. no pain, no infection, good energy, walking every day, breathing well).  Just weak from the trauma and operation.  Bottom line is that we are on the way back.

A good way to spent your rehab in order to keep mentally sharp is to have your daughter instruct you in the ways of IPHONE4 AND KINDLE FIRE.  I am happy to report that I am now ready to receive “WORD TEXT MESSAGES” from you.  My cell phone is 808-430-5447 (land line is the same 808-235-1043)

Thank you much for all your love and support.  Please keep in touch.   

Happy Thanksgiving

This entry is overdue; my apologies.  I have been having problems with the formatting of entries to pages, and have spent too many hours trying to get that straightened out.  New material this time includes a letter of condolence that Bill Prosch received from a former student upon the death of Bill’s brother.  Bill asked that it be posted; you can see it immediately below.  There is also a new chapter (Chapter 11) for Jerry Mills’ novel-in-progress, My Heart Is Like a Cabbage; another entry for the Ten Minutes page, and a link (see under the “Links” section part way down the right hand side of the blog page) to the photos Erick took at the Ten Minutes session itself.  

Erick noted, “I have posted a selection of pictures that I took at the meeting on flickr.  I selected the "best" (sharpest) image that I had of each member and then included a few others that I liked for their expression or context.  I didn't caption these pictures.  It's more private that way and anyway we know who we are.  I think someone is missing from the set but I can't remember who. :-)”

I wish all of you a Thanksgiving of safe travel, loving friends and family, and abundant food and other blessings.

- Tony

Mr. Prosch,

I learnt of your brother’s passing away through my brother’s (Hamid Charm’s) message to you and your family.  May I also take this opportunity to register my heartfelt condolences to the family, and more especially to you, for the big loss.  Only a heart that loves feels the painful sorrow of parting.  May God grant him a safe passage to Paradise.

It’s many years now, but I still remember you, Mr. Bill Prosch, my English Language and Literature teacher (Forms One and Two) at Kolenten Secondary School.  I thank you so much for having contributed towards what I am today.

Your brother’s departure to the hereafter is God’s wish and cannot be altered nor challenged, and so let us all take it in good faith.  He is doing His will.

Haroun Charm

Kolenten Secondary School (Jnr)

Kambia

232-76-866429

Twenty more minutes of reflection...

“Ten Minute” reflections on...well, on what the Peace Corps experience has meant in our life, what our life has meant, what life in general is about...continue to come in at a slow pace.  Char’s idea was really an invitation to speak from the heart, and the responses have been rich and deeply personal.  I hope others--whether they attended the reunion or not--will take the time to add their contributions.  Two more have come in since the last posting--from Bob Rawson and Bob Gross--and have been added to the “Ten Minutes” page.  I realized, belatedly, that, unlike Jerry’s novel, there was no reason to add new entries at the bottom of the page.  In fact, it would make them much easier to access if they were at the top.  So I moved the last four entries to the top, with the most recent first, in reverse chronological order.  [You can see all of the entries by clicking on “Ten Minutes....,” the last item under “Pages” on the right hand side of the blog page.]

    Jim Murphy continues to faithfully keep me posted on news from Sierra Leone.  Thanks, Jim.  Here is the latest:

AFP - 8 November 2011

Freetown

Sierra Leone

First iron ore shipment in 30 years

The London-based African Minerals Limited (AML), which is mining iron ore in Sierra Leone, on Tuesday began loading the country's first iron ore export for 30 years, the shipment bound for China.

The loading of the 40,000 tons of ore, which will be completed by the end of the month, is destined for the Shandong Iron and Steel Group in eastern China, the company said in a statement.

AML Executive Chairman Frank Timis pronounced himself "delighted that our Phase 1 Tonkolili Project with major expansion still to follow has reached this important milestone which will see the company emerge as a world-class iron ore exporter.

"The shipment represents the first iron ore to be mined and exported from Sierra Leone for almost 30 years and will undoubtedly have a significant positive impact on the people of Sierra Leone and the country's economy," he enthused.

He added that with planned near-term expansion to 20 million tons per annum "we will shortly become the largest fully integrated exporter of iron ore in west Africa."

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koroma described the imminent iron ore export as "a significant milestone."

"The strong relationship built with African Minerals is testament to the long term partnership the government of Sierra Leone is committed to building with responsible natural resource companies," Koroma added.

                                                     

                                                                          - Tony

A Full Menu!

       A full menu for blog readers this week!  

       There are new additions to the “Ten Minutes” page, sent by Ray, Char (including Char’s poem), and Jack Johnston, so be sure to check that out.  Jack sent his with a note explaining, “I had hoped to share this experience with everyone at the reunion, but since I was unable to attend at the last minute, I’ll include it here for you to post on your post-reunion blog page.”  Jack also wrote that Emily is recovering nicely.

     If you were there and haven’t e-mailed me a copy of your remarks yet, please try to get something in before it all slips away.  Also, if you weren’t there, please feel free to send in your own “ten minutes” contribution, as Jack did.  I’m not sure how to describe them, except to say that they were reflections on what the Peace Corps experience has meant to us, in more personal terms, for the most part, than we shared in the yearbook.

       You’ll also find, on the My Heart Is Like a Cabbage page, a new chapter added--Chapter 9.  This is my own response to Jerry after a quick reading of the chapter:  “Maybe it's having been a teacher for so many years myself, with the same impulse to reach students, the same ambiguity about wanting to break down barriers while discouraging familiarity, but I could actually feel my body tensing up as I read on.  I identified with the teacher, with the student, with their different ambitions, with their hope and fear and shame.  This must be the most tightly focused chapter in the novel so far.  Nice work.”

       Judy Cline sent a note that those of us who have photos, films, stories, poems, etc.,  might considering posting them to the Peace Corps site, since the Peace Corps is also gathering these items.  The link to do so is http://collection.peacecorps.gov/

     Char already sent a book recommendation to everyone via e-mail, but I’ll post it here as well:           

in the U.S. the title is Someone Knows My Name .... by Lawrence Hill

in Canada it was The Book of Negroes

Lawrence Hill's novel is told in the voice of Aminata Diallo, who is abducted

at 11 in West Africa and sent as a slave to South Carolina. years later, she makes

her way to freedom, serves the British in the Revolutionary War and registers her

name in the historic Book of Negroes, an actual document that provides a record

of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to resettle in Nova Scotia, and

returns to Sierra Leone as one of 1,200 former slaves who embarked on a perilous

journey back to Africa. Hill is a master of transforming neglected corners of history

into brilliant fiction, and in Aminata Diallo has created one of the strongest female

characters in recent Canadian literature.

i encourage all to read this powerful , brilliant novel ..... which is in development for

a movie.  you'll want to name your child, your pet , your anything Aminata ... after

this most powerful character.

       And thanks to Jim Murphy, who keeps me posted on items about Sierra Leone which appear in the New York Times.  The most recent were a pair of columns by Nicholas Kristof--the first, dated Oct. 9, with the headline “In This Rape Center, the Patient Was 3,” and the second, dated Oct. 13 with a Kenema byline, is headed “One Girl’s Courage.” 

On Pilgrimage

Friends,

     Our time in DC was a wonderful reunion--much better than anything, speaking for myself, I had dared hope for.  Thursday night and the two Saturday events stand out especially in my mind.  Thanks so much to Char for her steady hand throughout, to Rufus for taking care of all the logistics in advance and then turning Saturday night into a climactic celebration at his home, and to Bob Hopkins for coming up with the idea for Thursday’s dinner and then providing the funding to make it possible.

The feeling for each other, when most of us hadn’t seen each other for nearly fifty years, was startling.  The gap in time may have had the same effect on you as it did me; I was able to see that so many people have been on pilgrimage.  The loud-mouthed, crude, boisterous Char of our training days is still loud-mouthed, crude, and boisterous--as well as gentle, compassionate, and wise.  Jane has a radiant vitality and love of life, Mary Mullin D’Amico an aura of kindness, Ursula an openness that has made her stronger rather than vulnerable, Bob Gross a quieter attentiveness to others and an ability to listen and hear, Jerry Mills the courage to reveal his love and pain, Mary DeWan a steadfast, ageless commitment to justice and making a difference, Steve a spiritual home in Buddhism, Wilbur a healthy gratitude for who he is and for a life that almost slipped away....

It seems wrong to stop there when I could go on and on, but I wonder if others had that same sense that this was a group of people in which many have, over the course of an often-difficult life, struggled toward the light.  I was humbled and honored to find myself among such friends.

All the best,

Tony

Toward the light

Chapter 8

     In this last chapter of  My Heart Is Like a Cabbage prior to our reunion in DC, Jerry Mills chronicles an abysmal first Christmas abroad by his protagonist Stephen, who sees things go from bad to worse and worst.  Here are the first few paragraphs; for the rest of the chapter, click on the link under "Pages."

“Kusheh, Mr. Livingston,” a voice, nearly a whisper, said from somewhere behind me.

A hair-raising rush brought my body to high alert, and the paperback I was reading fell to the floor.   Visitors were forever materializing from nowhere at our bungalow.

Craning my neck, I saw Kadiatu leaning against the arch at the entrance to the living room.

“Kusheh, Kadiatu.”  I retrieved the book hoping to disguise my lost composure.  “Aw di bohdi?”

“Di  bohdi wehl-o . . . tehnki,” she replied shyly.  “Mr. Clifford, he say to tell you dinner is almost ready.”

Another Fortnight, Another Chapter

     In Chapter seven of My Heart Is Like a Cabbage, a lonely Stephen is preparing to spend a very "white" Christmas, feeling alienated from his fellow staff members, his Peace Corps training, and his surroundings.  Here are the opening paragraphs; to read the rest of the chapter, click on the title of the novel under "Pages" on the right side of the blog page.     - Tony

The Sierra Leone of our contemporary consciousness—infamous for diamond smuggling and the rapacious savagery of a “civil war”—this was not the Sierra Leone I believed I had come to in 1962.  For me, located where I was at the edge of the Colony mountains and within an hour’s time from world-class beaches on the Atlantic, it held all the charm and, more, the unrelenting monotony of a South Sea island.  It was the land of palm wine, hammocks, malaria, and bureaucratic ineptitude—a kind of shuffling, swaying, sensual dance toeing the tightrope of survival.  The only violence that assaulted my senses in those first few months was the appalling poverty and in-your-face presence of disfiguring and debilitating diseases—elephantiasis, yaws, ascites, kawashiokor, even leprosy—afflictions not hidden from sight in hospitals or clinics, those institutions of convalescence that keep pain and suffering hidden from American eyes.  

There was an undersized, precocious boy in my first form English class, delicate of feature, so irresistibly cute your heart melted as he hobbled from the classroom at the end of the period on a leg swollen to the size of a tree trunk by elephantiasis.  And, yet, Kei’s disarming smile is what I remember most, those perfect white teeth gleaming, an uncomprehendable felicity, a charmed mystery that defied understanding.

Exploding into Verse... and Just Exploding

In the first section below, Marvin Hanson’s reminiscences lead him to break into verse, which he asks that Char read on his behalf at the reunion.  In the second, Jerry Mills takes his young protagonist, Stephen, into ever more embarrassing and frustrating situations in Chapter 6 of My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.  (Go to “Pages” on the right of the blogpage and click on “My Heart Is Like a Cabbage” to read the full chapter.)  Somehow my sense of life as a PCV in Sierra Leone will have to combine these two wildly different takes on the Peace Corps experience.  Enjoy!    - Tony

* * * * 

I can't think of anything that will be more fun than sitting around, drinking a beer (or ten) and talking story with our colleagues and friends from our Sierra Leone days as you have planned....  I bet the nostalgia will be flowing.  I don't know if 

it is part of getting a bit older, but I find it a lot of fun to sit 

(preferably on the beach) and to exchange stories from times past.  Just this past week I had a visit from one of my closest friends from the seminary days well over 50 years ago.  It was a blast, with lots of laughs and lots of memories.  The only problem (as my Masako pointed out) was that I tended to repeat myself, I tended to repeat myself, I tended to repeat myself.  I know you are all going to have a most wonderful time, and I wish I could be there with you to share in the happy times. But Washington D.C. is a tad too far for us Hawaiians to travel.  So for the 60th reunion, let's do it here in Paradise.

I wanted to write a poem for this special occasion and ask that you share it with the folks.  Sadly, my poetic skills have definitely failed me in recent times.  The theme I wanted in my  verse is that I am happy.  And much of the happiness is due directly or indirectly or not at all to the fact that I got to be with you guys in 1962-1964 in New Paltz and in Sierra 

Leone.  (Char, please share this on my behalf when you are all together talking about your past and your present lives.)

I am happy for that experience in Sierra Leone. (Who else can say they taught 

Latin in the bush schools in West Africa?)

I am happy that I got all those graduate degrees out of the University of Michigan, which loved having returned Peace Corps Volunteers back in the 60's.

I am happy with all the diverse and varied careers I have had throughout my life (social worker, health planner, auditor, chief financial officer of a hospital, sumo wrestler, and gigolo in Waikiki).

I am happy that I met my wife, Mary, a PCV in Venezuela.  Twenty years together before she passed on from cancer in 1987.

I am happy for the two kids I have and the three grandchildren who are smarter and cuter than any of your grandchildren.

I am happy for all the world travel I have been able to experience.  When younger, it was exciting to travel to the places like Cambodia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China but now that I am a bit older, I definitely prefer the Mediterranean cruises.

I am happy for having moved to Hawaii 24 years ago and now have retired to the beach to meditate on the "eternal variances of life."  It don't get no bettah.

I am extremely happy for now being with Masako for over 23 years.  She is definitely the ultimate life companion and is the major reason why I am happy.

I am happy that because of the Peace Corps, I got to meet some super wonderful people like Bob Rawson, Char, Kay White, Mary Mullin, Dave Frame, Tony.  Please give all these folks a great big hug (kiss) for me.

I am happy for all the memories that I have enjoyed this past year from the 

stories shared by Tony Russell, Gerry Davis, Char, and Jerry Mills.  Thanks so much.

I am happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy. (Sorry, did I 

mention I tend to repeat myself?)

- Marvin Hanson

• * * *

Chapter 6

In late November, the lab equipment arrived.  As was the case with the sea chest of my personal belongings, shipped from St. Louis even before we departed for Sierra Leone, so, too, the shipment of lab supplies and chemicals was weeks tardy in its arrival—this after the urgency pressed upon me to prepare the order.  And just as I had managed to get by with a single suitcase of belongings for nearly two months, in my role as Science Master I had to make do for all those months by drawing on my meager knowledge of chemistry and physics, and botany, the only college level science course I ever made an A in.  

Another Chapter, Another Link

     Thanks to Jim Murphy, who sent a copy of the Bureau of African Affairs' Background Note on Sierra Leone.  It's full of information, and an excellent resource.  I've posted a link to the U.S Dept. of State's website where the background note can be found; look for it under "Links" on the right hand side of the blog page.


     Also, Jerry Mills has sent along the fifth chapter of  My Heart Is Like a Cabbage, which you can also find on the right side of the blog, under "Pages."  Jerry says this is his favorite chapter; it's strong work, bringing back many memories--both good and painful.      - Tony

My Heart Is Like A Cabbage ~ Jerry Mills

     Below you'll find the beginning of the fourth chapter of Jerry Mills' ongoing serialized novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage, based on his experience in Sierra Leone.  To read the full chapter--or the full novel--go to "Pages" on the right side of the blog page and click on the novel's title.       - Tony

 

Chapter 4

My stomach was growling the next morning—a little hunger, a little anxiety—as we raced down the highway toward Peninsula Secondary School.  Ron and I had overslept.  Samuel, already dressed in his freshly washed uniform, white shirt and gray shorts, had awakened us, his brow glistening with sweat, his face nearly radiant with anticipation. 

We skipped the ritual of breakfast; I grabbed a banana as we raced out the door.  Ron informed me Clifford was a stickler for punctuality, the lack of which, he deemed, was the reason Africans were not ready to join the council of world citizens.  I was apprehensive, a thousand scenarios of the first day flashing through my head.  My liberal arts degree was small comfort; my only classroom experience had been a stint as an assistant in a Botany lab my senior year at Mizzou.  Stage fright loomed in my fantasies of standing before a class of some thirty students.

The school was located at an intersection about a mile and a half further down the road leading to Bo.  Uniformed students walking along the highway waved at the Jeep as we passed.  They didn’t seem too concerned about the prospect of being late.....  

Night Walk

          Jerry Davis has sent another installment of his Peace Corps Journal, this time describing an incident where he, Dave Frame, and Anne Burdick were stranded on a Sierra Leonean road at night.  Below is the opening paragraph; to read the full entry, go to “Pages” on the right and click on “Jerry Davis’s Journal.  Then scroll down the page until you see the bold heading "December, 1962:  Night Walk with Dave Frame and Anne Burdick."        ~ Tony

* * * *

Night Walk with Dave Frame and Anne Burdick, December, 1962

 An American, working in Bo, borrowed a car and talked Anne Burdick, Dave Frame, and myself into going to Freetown with him for the weekend. The capital city was 165 miles from Bo.  We left Bo with high hopes and expectations.  The beaches in Freetown were beautiful and the soothing salt water reminded me of Old Orchard Beach in Maine. 

Novels, We Have Novels, We Have Lots and Lots of Novels

This week sees another installment of Jerry Mills’ serial novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.  I really responded to this chapter; let Jerry know what you think (ge5mil@cox.net).  Jerry has mentioned that he is having some trouble working out the kinks in e-mail service up in Nutrioso, where their cabin was singed by the mammoth Wallow fire--the largest in Arizona history, said to be 95% contained today after burning 840 square miles. So if he’s slow in getting back to you, consider the circumstances.

Three weeks ago Jack Johnston sent a note that he also wrote a novel about his Peace Corps experience!  He said, “ For what it's worth, I also wrote a novel (much shorter -- 170 pages) dealing with the same material, which was used as a Master's Thesis in Fine Arts at the University of Maryland 40 or so years ago .  I'm currently investigating having the text scanned and made available as a computer file to anyone in our crew who fancies a copy.  My problem at the moment is finding someone who can scan the text and produce an editable file instead of a PDF (and doesn't charge an arm and a leg).  I should have something in hand well before reunion time.”  So we have another novel to look forward to.  Great!

And I should mention that Hap Cawood also has published a fine novel called The Miler.  I enjoyed it immensely, partially because so much of it paralleled my own experiences growing up in a part of West Virginia very much like Hap’s terrain in Kentucky--including being a runner, dealing with friends and elders unlike myself in many ways, dating a 9th grader when I was entering my senior year of high school--and partially because of the quality of the work itself.  Although most of the novel is told from the standpoint of Jeremiah James--the bulk of it during his high school years--Hap occasionally switches the narration to Jeremiah’s younger sister, Sarah.  Both of them are perceptive and thoughtful, yet believable and likable, and the differences between what the two are aware of often creates a gentle humor.  

There are numerous surprises in Hap’s book, experiments and hidden depth that all seem to work, and belie the familiar surface of a story about growing up in the mountains.  It is at once a coming-of-age story, a sports story (with numerous races chronicled as JJ becomes a one-man track team for Harlan), a portrait of a place and a time, and something more: a sensitive exploration of an interior life in all these contexts.  Highly recommended.

Now that three of you have come out, who else is out there?!                                                     

   

                                                          - Tony

Chapter 2 and a Ballgame

As promised last week, you can now read the second chapter of Jerry Mills’ novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage, which sees the narrator arriving in Freetown, having to rapidly adjust his expectations, meeting his future housemate, and hiking downhill from Fourah Bay in search of a night on the town and a cold beer.  Go to the novel under “Pages,” click on the title, and then scroll about three-fourths of the way down the page for “Chapter 2.”

Speaking of beer and good times, Judy Cline sent the following note with a link to “Peace Corps Night with the Washington Nationals," a Friday night ballgame while we’re in DC for the PC reunion.    “You might want to put this on our Sierra Leone II blog.  It would follow our visit on Friday to Africare.  What could be better after dancing High Life than a beer and a hotdog at a ballgame?” 

http://events.peacecorps50.org/event/ee5f1dcc990e7cd40fc3ad4014215e51

                                        

                                                    - Tony

Rufus, Jerry Davis, and Jerry Mills

     Rufus has been busy.  Our Thursday night dinner in DC seems to be all set: as Char wrote, “Contract signed, Hopkins on the line with his credit card, all is well.  Rufus has done a marvelous job.”  In addition, the restaurant is set for Friday’s lunch, and we have the whole place reserved--again, thanks to Rufus.  Rufus  has also organized a fundraiser for the Phil Delta Kappa Foundation’s annual drive and for his nonprofit Jah-Kente International.  Energy!  You can see the updated arrangements under “Pages” at “Planning for the 50th PC Anniversary in DC....”

          *          *          *          *          *

  Jerry Davis has sent another installment of his Sierra Leone memoirs, this time describing a lorry ride he took from Freetown to Bo.  It brings back a lot of images.  To see the new section, go to “Pages” on the right side of the blog and click on “Jerry Davis’s Journal.”  (I have a vague recollection of a PCV--not a member of our group, I think--riding in a lorry with his arm hanging out the side and having it broken when another vehicle passed too close.  Does that strike a chord for anyone else?)

          *          *          *          *          *

And Jerry Mills has sent the second chapter of My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.  But we’re sticking to the every-other-week schedule, so you have that to look forward to next week.  Jerry and his wife, by the way, were driven away from their vacation at their cabin near Nutrioso, Arizona, by the largest wildfire in state history.  As of a few minutes ago, the fire has burned 478,452 acres of forest, mostly ponderosa pines.     - Tony

Jerry Mills, Aminatta Forna, Sean Farren, and Wilbur

          The moment we’ve been waiting for:  Jerry Mills has sent the first chapter of his novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.  Jerry will be taking a Charles-Dickens-like approach, trying to write chapters quickly enough to meet a regular “publication” schedule.  I will keep adding installments as they arrive.  To read what has come to date, go to Pages on the right side of the blog and click on the novel’s title.      - Tony

          *          *          *          *          *          

         Also on the literary front, Jim Murphy sent me an article about Aminatta Forna, a woman from Rogbonko in Sierra Leone who won the 2011 Commonwealth Prize for her novel The Memory of Love, which follows the lives of three men as they try to come to terms with  the war in Sierra Leone and its aftermath.  A London University law graduate and former international reporter for the BBC, Forna has also written a compelling memoir called The Devil That Danced on the Water.  She has said, “"What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write about that."  It’s a fascinating article.  Here is a link so you can read it for yourselves:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/aminatta-forna-my-country-had-a-war-it-would-be-extraordinary-not-to-want-to-write-about-that-2291536.html

            *          *          *          *          *

The Friends of Sierra Leone listserv recently carried the following message from Sean Farren, whom some of you may remember.  I’ve posted it here because you may not have seen it and might enjoy contacting Sean.  [His e-mail address is correct as it appears here, without the “m” in “yahoo.co.”]   - Tony

Hi, 

I've recently become aware of FoSL.  I'm a member of a similar group in Ireland--Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (www.slip.ie)--and would like to make contact with former colleagues at the Catholic Training College, Bo, where I taught 1961-64, and at Holy Trinity Secondary School, Kenema, 1967-69. SLIP members include former missionaries, teachers, nurses, doctors, development workers, etc., as well as Sierra Leoneans living in Ireland. We recently held a very successful reception to mark 50 years of SL's independence. It was an evening of acquaintances and friendships renewed. The names of PC volunteers were frequently mentioned as tales from the past were recalled. So any former colleagues, I would love to hear from you.  My e-mail address is seanfarren@yahoo.co.uk

Sean Farren

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     Wilbur Mellema has had a humorous exchange with other ex-SL PCVs about the news that the newest group of PC trainees (45 new education trainees: sound familiar?), which left for Sierra Leone last week, is being referred to as SL II, evidently because they are the second group after the long break caused by the civil war and its aftermath.  Wilbur wrote, “How about SL 28, or whatever?  Can't the people in the Peace Corps office count?  I'm a real 2'er and won't stand for being left in the bush of history.” 

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My Heart Is Like A Cabbage ~ Jerry Mills

A few weeks ago Jerry Mills wrote me that he had been working on a semi-autobiographical novel about his experience in Sierra Leone.  He was halfway through, he said, and wondered if I would be interested in posting it in installments on the blog.  I was excited at the prospect, and figured that the process might also help Jerry push through to finish the novel.  When I checked online, it appeared that there was no limit to how long a “page” on a blog can be, so I’ve created a new page on the blog for his work, which is titled My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.

          Jerry and his wife have retreated to the mountains to escape the heat, but he assures me that he can find a way to keep episodes coming every couple of weeks.  I’ll alert you as new installments arrive.  Here are the first few paragraphs of his opening “To the Reader” section.  To continue reading, click on the "My Heart Is Like a Cabbage" link under “Pages” to the right.    - Tony

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Dear Reader,

My Heart Is Like a Cabbage is an autobiographical fiction of the two years I spent in West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, a teacher of English and Science at Peninsula Secondary School in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.

I first tried to write a novel about this experience while a graduate student at Southern Illinois University during the spring of 1969.  Unhappy with the result, I put the manuscript in a box where it remained for nearly 40 years, unread but omnipresent at the edge of consciousness, like a floater in the eye, part of the baggage that I carted to my current home in Arizona, part of the shards of an experience I could never satisfactorily exhume from memory.       - Jerry Mills

Potpourri

A variety of items have come in the past week or so from people who would like news, possibilities, and suggestions passed on to other members of the group, so today’s entry is a sort of “News of the Week in Review.”

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Photo of Darleen Beals taken in 1962 at the Magburaka hospital; 
sent by Judy {Salisbury) Cline


First, several folks wrote in response to the news of Darleen Beals’ death.  She and her husband Alan were indeed in Sierra Leone at the same time as our group, and some of you knew them well.  In addition, they were quite active in the Northern California Peace Corps Association; Darleen was the editor of the organization’s newsletter, Connecting.  Below are some of the e-mails I received.

Wilbur wrote, “Yes, Alan and Darleen Beals were friends, and we ran into each other at NorCal functions.  They were enthusiastic supporters of PC and all things Sierra Leonean; they were a good team together.  News of her death came as a surprise to me.  If I recall, they were particularly close friends of Bob Rawson.”

Bruce wrote to tell me that Darleen was with the Medical Group in Magburaka that arrived a few months after we did, and Alan was with the Community Development project that came at the same time.

Jane Koning said, “I can fill you in about Darleen Beals.  She was a nurse working at the Magburaka hospital with the medical team of PCV's  (the same group Frans was with).  Al Beals was in another PC group, called Rural Development  I think, that often came through Magburaka.  They met as volunteers in Magburaka and were married after returning to the US.  I've seen Darleen and Al once or twice at Peace Corps gatherings in California.”

And Bob Rawson sent this note:  “Has anyone filled you in on Darleen Beals?  She was not a Beals when she was a volunteer.  Al Beals, her husband to be (they met in S.L.), was also Peace Corps.  He was in a rural development group and was stationed in Temne country with Bill Prosch and John Benanti.  Darleen was with the nursing group stationed in Magburaka.  Both the nursing group and the rural development group (I think) arrived not long after we arrived.” 


Here is a link for a tribute to Darleen which appears on the Northern California Peace Corps Association website:  http://norcalpca.org/content.cfm?id_con=32

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Bob Gross forwarded a May 11 New York Times article reporting on a scheduled Congressional hearing sparked by ex-PCVs going public about being sexually assaulted during their Peace Corps service.  Bob said that he felt this issue needs a lot more attention, and wondered whether women from our group would be willing to weigh in on the topic.  Here is a link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/us/11corps.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

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And Judy Cline wrote about an essay contest she thought would be of special interest to our group because there are so many writers among us.  It is called the “Enterprise Solutions to Poverty Contest,” it is open to all RPCVs, the prize is $5,000,  and the deadline for submission is July 31.  Here is a brief description from the National Peace Corps Association website: 

The Peace Corps Community’s Enterprise Solutions to Poverty Essay Contest

April 2011 – Washington, DC – The National Peace Corps Association and the SEVEN Fund are sponsoring a global competition inviting the submission of essays that describe innovative ideas for fighting poverty. The winning author will get $5,000, be featured in WorldView magazine, and be a special guest at a distinguished panel in Washington, DC on September 24, 2011, during the four-day weekend of events for the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.  


For details, go to http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/resources/peace-corps-50th-anniversary/sevenfundessaycontest/#dates 

- Tony

Another photo from Paul Chantrey

Here is another photo sent by Paul Chantrey.  He writes, 

“This was our first house in Bo.  It was the home of Sir Milton Margi who was the Prime Minister.  In one of the attached outbuildings was a torn-down printing press on which Sir Milton printed an upcountry newspaper.  On the other side of the hill behind the house was where the Dumbar Field was located that was used for the visit of the Queen in 1961.  

“We had a number of interesting visitors to the house.  One was an American professor who was traveling from South Africa all the way through to North Africa, updating his book.   We also had an American student who was on his way the the University of Ghana.  He had an interesting encounter with alligator peppers in the jolaf rice.  There were cries of ‘Eat bread, no, no not water!’  Everyone in Bo knew this house had Peace Corps Volunteers living in it, so European and American visitors were frequently directed our way."

The Margai house

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An e-mail today on the Friends of Sierra Leone listserv mentioned the death from acute leukemia of a woman named Darleen Beals.  The note said that she and her husband Alan “were volunteers in Sierra Leone in the early 60's (62-64?). They were very active with Northern California Peace Corps Association activities.”  The names aren’t familiar to me, and they weren’t members of Sierra Leone II, certainly, but perhaps they were members of a group that overlapped with our service, so I thought I would pass the news on.  Perhaps some of you will have known them.     - Tony

More Photos from Paul Chantrey

Paul Chantrey has been sending me photos occasionally.  (I’m not sure how much of a treasure trove he has.)  Below are three you might be interested in.  

The first was taken from the train, heading upcountry.  Paul was able to catch the back end of the train as it went around a curve; that looks like Jerry Davis in the window behind him.  I remember that it was a narrow-gauge railroad, but I never rode it.  Did it run just from Freetown to Bo, or did it go on to Kenema or another town?

                    The second pictures a young Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in Bo upon the occasion of the queen’s 1961 visit to Sierra Leone.  (To see an archival video of the queen’s visit, in Freetown and elsewhere in the country, click on the “Sierra Express Media” link under “Links” in the right-hand column of the blog.)

And the third is of the Bo Teachers College staff and the school’s graduating class in 1963.  (Identifications supplied by Paul.)

First row: Sean Farren, Irish staff volunteer; Father Walsh, Irish priest; David Williams, PCV; Tom Maxwell, Irish staff volunteer; Father O’Sullivan, Irish priest;  Al McIver, PCV; Father O’Toole, Principal;  Rex Jarrell, PCV; Paul Chantrey, PCV.  

Second row: Mr Kanaua, Mr. Soi-Gnandy, Mr. Sam, Mr. Lahai, Mr. Fefgagula, Mr. Turay, Mr. Lansana, Mr. Moseray, Mr. Jaba, Mr. Bangura, Mr. Ngebeh.

Third row: Mr. Massaqua, Mr. Bundu, Mr. Pessima, Mr. Dauda, Mr. Gbekpa, Mr. Tanu, Mr. Sarh. 

The photo was taken in front of the main entrance to the Bo Teacher Training College.  The priests were all members of the Holy Ghost order.