Pat Savoie Volunteers in Tanzania

October 2010 Pat Savoie Volunteers in Tanzania By Pat Savoie After thinking about it for years, I fi- nally signed up for a four-week stint with Global Volunteers to help teach English in Tanzania, Africa. What a great experience it was. Global Volun- teers, with headquarters in St. Paul, is not associated with any political or re- ligious group and has volunteer pro- grams all over the world. However, the school I was assigned to in Pom- mern was run by The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. Wow— in such a foreign, distant place and yet not so far from my roots. On arriving in Dar-es-Salaam, I met the three other women volunteers (three of us teachers, one a nurse) and our Team Leader, the Tanzanian Coun- try Manager, Edward Mgeni and Mo- hamed Kassim, our Driver. The next morning on our way Iringa we passed through Mikumi National Park, where baboons stared at us from the side of the road, an elephant held up traffic, and lots of wildlife seemed unconcerned about the invasion of people and cars. In Iringa we got our green. The women often carried a Kobe Bryant. last shot at the internet and spent a plastic pail balanced on their heads, a The secondary school I worked in comfortable night at the ELCT Church baby slung in a wrap on their backs, had students whose ages varied from and Hospice. and a toddler or another young child 14 to 20 years old depending on their Pommern, not on any map I have following along. All were dressed in previous preparation. I worked with a seen, is only about 35 miles from the amazingly colorful African pat- nice young man who was a very com- Iringa, but it took us about two very terned fabric. petent and dedicated teacher, but he bumpy hours to get there. The village All the people were black, black. No had some serious handicaps. consists of two boarding schools and shades of brown in this area. And One class of 43 students and another clusters of red adobe houses and fields their great smiles and beautiful eyes of 52 had five textbooks, which the of grain and corn, all tended to by always offered a warm greeting. Their teacher plucked from the “library” and slim bodies and the elegant bone struc- hand. The earth was deep red and the Continued on page 7 grass and trees a brilliant emerald ture of their faces reminded me of Alan Lamson Goes Into the DMZ Despite the Danger, It Was Worth the Trip By Alan Lamson water resources, on the 38th parallel, which happens to be the exact location “You’re going into the DMZ. Isn’t of the DMZ. that dangerous right now?” Ms. Moon arranged to have us met by It was true that tensions between the a young college student, Jung Rok An, two Koreas had heightened consider- and his father who have started a DMZ ably since a North Korean submarine Ecology Research Institute to teach had evidently sunk a Korean warship, high school students about the special Cheonan, and 46 sailors drowned after flora and fauna in the DMZ, an area that the ship went down. But I very much has been mostly uninhabited for nearly wanted to visit the DMZ and so did sev- 60 years. eral others, including English Professor They met us at our hotel and drove us Jane Hallinger with whom I first visited into the Civilian Control Area where Korea in 2007. there are a few farms but not many peo- On that visit we had looked through ple. telescopes into the DMZ and North One of the places we stopped at is the Korea from an tourist observation point site of an annual eagle migration from near the demilitarized zone, a strip of Siberia and Mongolia during the winter land about 2.5 miles wide and 160 miles months. Several thousand eagles nest long that has served as a buffer between in this wetland area of the Jangdan North and South Korea since the end of Peninsula. the Korean war. From left--Korean soldier, Dr. Nam, I asked Jung Rok An how that many This time we received special permis- David Carle, Alan, Jane Hallinger eagles were able to survive in this area. sion to visit an elementary school (only and Janet Carle visited the DMZ. He said that the eagles feast on the en- 30 students) in the only inhabited vil- Photo courtesy of Julia Kim. trails of slaughtered pigs that the locals lage in the DMZ, Taesungdong, a farm- leave for them. No wonder they con- ing village of about 300 people, all of Pasadena. Jane Soloway, who started tinue to spend their winters here. whose families owned land in this area the pen pal connection, asked us if we Cranes, geese and wild ducks also win- before the Korean War. could distribute T-shirts from Poly for ter in the area. The villagers pay no federal taxes and the students at the school. But a disturbing trend in the area has are exempt from military service. The The day of our visit, June 25th, was full been the proliferation of ginseng farms school had recently begun an electronic of surprises. Before visiting Korea, I because ginseng is a very profitable pen pal connection with 4th grade had asked Ms. Moon, our contact with crop. The problem is that ginseng classes at Polytechnic elementary in the city of Paju—now a Friendship City plants are protected from the sun with with Pasadena— if shade cloth that discourages migrating we could visit birds from landing. In certain areas, we some of the eco- saw acres of ominous looking black logical areas near shade cloth. the DMZ. Two The pristine ecological areas we vis- members of our ited are also scarred by miles of barbed party, David and wire and observations posts, one of Janet Carle, retired which we visited. Observation Post forest rangers from #1, the first of scores of military obser- the Mono Lake vation posts line the entire length of the Students at Gunnae Elementary perform at the opening area, are working DMZ. Soldiers constantly scan the of Dr. Yung Nam’s Dental Clinic. on a book about Continued on Page 6 Photo Courtesy of Gunnae Elementary. 2 Did a Beautiful Woman Really Convince Harry Kawahara To Retire from PCC? In our last edition of “Staying Con- Long Beach, this was the nected,” Fay Chandler, formerly of the most beautiful woman in the English Division, wrote an intriguing ar- entire galaxy. Can you be- ticle about some unique experiences she lieve that? Right then and had in the classroom at PCC. She also there I said to myself, Harry, mentioned one you are well over the hill and special humor- you need to think seriously ous moment about your retirement.” while teaching And sure enough, I did re- English in Ro- tire. It was a great decision. mania, after I thoroughly enjoyed my her retirement. work at PCC and derived a I recall being lot of satisfaction from my entertained by service, but now that I am re- recollections of tired, I can say without reser- her adventures. vation that I am delighted to It occurred be retired. Harry Kawahara to me that with Please think back to your the large number of PCC retirees, there days on campus. Surely must be an abundance of episodes we there must be incidents that could share with each other, from our happened to you that would years of service in the classroom or in be of interest to us. Consider our different campus work locations that the thousands of human in- would be of interest to others. teractions we had daily with Let me tell you one of mine. I shared colleagues and contacts Check out this picture of Miss Thailand Uni- this at the year end Academic Senate with our myriad of diverse verse 2005, and see if you think this is a young students with a wide array Breakfast upon my retirement in 2005. woman you would remember meeting. “I believe I can tell exactly when I de- of fascinating backgrounds. cided it was time to retire. Shortly be- Think of it as a sharing of manner.” Indeed, it is an award that is fore actually retiring, I was reading the “family stories” within the larger PCC well-deserved. Los Angeles Times and noticed the family. Please give this some serious Bill has been a valued mentor to me photo of a very attractive Asian woman thought. since our time together at PCC. He was with a glittery crown on her head. The Don’t be shy; write up something and an exceptional administrator, and was a caption said she was Miss Thailand Uni- submit it to Mikki Bolliger, our newslet- superb political science professor. His verse—the most beautiful woman in the ter editor. Send your story to Pasadena classes were always filled to capacity entire universe. Then I read the article City College, Retirees’ Association, with students wanting to sit under his in- about her and it stated that she was once 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA formative and insightful tutelage. an international student at PCC. I was 91106. He has also been a most active com- amazed. w w w w w w w munity volunteer. He served as Presi- Out of curiosity, we went back to our I was also very pleased to learn that dent of PLAN (Pasadena Literary Action appointment logs, since we keep those Bill Goldmann was recently recognized Network), on the Board of the Pasadena for our international students.

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