What is Your Project? I'm happiest when I have a project. In my younger days I felt unimportant, just talking baby-talk to my children and doing the routine housework. I felt intimidated by professional women, with their smart clothes, earned money and 'in the know' conversations. I admit I didn't know about the various wars, about politics or technical communications. I'd learned to sew for my children, teach piano and I studied Russian, but who cared about those subjects in the career world? I did have a college education and so was employed for short stints as a medical technologist and social worker. However, I always felt guilty working and leaving my children with baby-sitters, so I'd quit after earning enough for a down payment on our home or some other need. In l969 I got 'roped' into being Chairman to start an adult literacy league in Sonoma County, as all the teachers were busy at their professions. In other words, I was not a professional person, but could probably handle a volunteer position. Well, Adult Literacy was my project for over ten years, helping me to find my innate capabilities for organizational skills, foreign language acquisition and growing interest in other cultures. I taught literacy classes at several junior colleges as well as in San Quentin Prison and trained over l000 tutors to toot, I mean teach, illiterate adults to read, write and speak English. Hey, I'm not so dumb! My children are all grown and the world is out there! My mother wouldn't let me go anywhere. I'll show her! So my next project was teaching Science in Sierra Leone, West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. After two years of high adventure wearing tie-dye dresses and bargaining in Mende, (besides teaching Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English and everything else I knew), I returned to civilization for my next project (which led to other projects!) I enrolled at Sonoma State University and earned BA and MA degrees in English by writing about....you guessed it, AFRICAN ADVENTURE: PEACE CORPS ASSIGNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE l982-84. It's hard to keep 'em "down on the farm after they've seen" the Third World, so my next project was...you'd never guess it...rejoining the Peace Corps to teach English in Pakistan. I learned Urdu, wrote in Arabic script and wore the veil. What fun! And look at those camels sauntering down the dirt road! Well, Sadaam interfered with this project. I was evacuated out with all Americans in January of l991 as the Gulf War was imminent. Oh well, I needed a new hip anyway after my Pakistan adventures "irritated," "augmented" and "acerbated" my hip condition - so, I got a free hip joint through the Peace Corps. In l992 I was again mobile, so I joined a Healing Arts Tour to the Ukraine and taught Bible Wisdom - after all, I said to the tour leader, I believe Truth heals, and he said, "Right on, lady. Can you stay an extra week? The country has just allowed religious freedom and the people are starved for the Bible." Can I top that project? I didn't think I could, but in l994 I read an ad in the Elderhostel Bulletin that said, "Do you want to teach English in China?" Fortuitously I had been studying Chinese and was in want of a project, so I applied for the job and was told that I was "suitable." I lived through a year of boiling hot-freezing cold weather, climbing thousands of staircases, being run over by a biker and having my head reglued , being poisoned, accidentally of course, but also meeting wonderful eager students and improving my Chinese. Back home again I resorted to my role as mother, grandmother, great grandmother, pianist, organist and writer. Ho hum. Say, There's another ad (l998) to teach English in China, and it's only for 2 l/2 months! Where's my suitcase? This time I landed in Qinhuangdao by Bo Hai Sea near North Korea. I didn't know what COLD was 'til I landed here. Long underwear was the most important item to own and fortunately the Headmaster's wife rushed a quilted pair into my room after the first ten minutes. Again, I made many friends, got around in primitive Chinese and brought home a lot of loving gifts. Well, at last I have arrived to tell you of my present project - getting Braille supplies and funds to Milton Margai School for the Blind where I taught English and all other subjects with Braille equipment. Headmaster Sam Campbell recently contacted me that due to civil strife, Braille paper could not be found in Sierra Leone as well as other needed equipment. Also, blind graduate Thomas Alieu had entered the Freetown University as a law student and needed law books put onto cassettes. I sent one batch of Braille paper (from Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco) as well as a Braille watch and cassettes. Through the Sports Page in the Press Democrat I had found a Sierra Leone native who was returning home to see his mother after the civil war there had decimated over two-thirds of the country. Yes, he said, he would love to carry the equipment and some funds to Freetown and to personally give to Sam Campbell, headmaster of the Blind School! So December l4th Amadu left America to give aid to Freetown blind students. How's that for a project? Follow-up several years later. Amadu arrived in Sierra Leone during the rebel war and had to flee for his life. He couldn't find his mother, was beaten up, and my gifts for the blind school were stolen! He did get back to the USA and later returned to see his mother when the civil war simmered down.. The blind school eventually received aid from the British and the government. Lawyer-to-be Thomas finished his studies at Forah Bay University and is waiting for the chance to be sent to law school in England. End of my African Project. New projects were: A return to China, then a teaching assignment in India 2001. What next? Back for more Got a Life!

Teaching English to Nurses in India My Georgian Literacy Student, Alex Putkari & Language Chart