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