RPCV Gerald Schumann honored for work teaching electronics in Cameroon
Read and comment on this story from The Jersey Journal on RPCV Gerald Schumann who was honored for his work teaching electronics in the Peace Corps in Cameroon from 1962 to 1964. Jubilee Chairman John B. Bilikha, one of Schumann's many students and now a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon, said Schumann's accomplishments were many. Bilikha credited his former mentor with equipping the Ombe library with thousands of textbooks and computer tapes, sponsoring engineering studies in the U.S. for three of his former students and furnishing thousands of Ombe college badges to the school. Read the story at:
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'TOUCHED' - TO THE CORPS
Volunteer returns to Cameroon for fete at college
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
By Ronald Leir, Journal staff writer
Bayonne's Gerald Schumann, a 72-year-old Korean War veteran, was recently invited to Africa to be honored for something he did some four decades ago, something that had little to do with guns or parachuting out of planes.
Schumann, a spry-looking engineer and educator, was feted last month at the Golden Jubilee of Ombe, in the Republic of Cameroon, for teaching electronics there as an American Peace Corps volunteer from 1964 to 1966.
Jubilee Chairman John B. Bilikha, one of Schumann's many students and now a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon, said Schumann's accomplishments were many.
Bilikha credited his former mentor with equipping the Ombe library with thousands of textbooks and computer tapes, sponsoring engineering studies in the U.S. for three of his former students and furnishing thousands of Ombe college badges to the school.
Schumann also taught Ombe faculty. In gratitude, Ombe school officials dedicated the Gerald Schumann Information Technology Centre in his honor.
Schumann, a practical man hardened by four years of military service in Okinawa during the Korean War and seven years as an Army Reservist, said the return to Ombe - accompanied by his daughter Ingrid Adams - "just touched me so much. This old tough paratrooper had tears in his eyes at both the invitation and honors given me."
Born in Schenectady, N.Y. into a hard-working, blue-collar family whose father had visited Cameroon as a boy when it was still a German colony, Schumann entered the military in 1948 after graduating from high school. After four years of service, he enrolled at Penn State under the G.I. bill and completed a degree in electrical engineering. He then worked five years in military communications.
"In the middle of the 'Cold War,' I answered President Kennedy's call for Peace Corps volunteers," Schumann said. "He completely swept us off our feet."
Because all his students spoke different tribal languages, the Peace Corps sent Schumann and the other volunteers to Ohio State to learn a version of pidgin English which the natives also spoke.
Living conditions were still primitive in many ways, with Cameroon having just won independence in 1960. The volunteers were driven back and forth from a "3-star hotel," where centipedes routinely crawled along the walls and ceilings. Fortunately, the creatures were non-poisonous, Schumann said.
Weather and food were other concerns.
"The humidity was just terrible," Schumann recalled. "But then you'd also have the dry season part of the year, when the wind would come in from the Sahara and coat everything with dust."
Adjusting to the local cuisine was difficult, particularly after an attack of diarrhea he got from a diet of spicy vegetables, he said.
Those issues aside, however, Schumann said he had no regrets, though he laments the lack of economic growth in the country.
"Still, it was one of the greatest adventures I had in my life," Schumann said. "We might not have changed the country but we have changed the lives of some of the people and I think, in our small way, if each of us is willing to do something, then perhaps, collectively, we can make changes."
Perhaps what Schumann is most proud about is his part in helping three of his former students to attend American graduate schools to advance their training and careers: Edward Tiagha, who worked at the Brookhaven atomic research lab, now runs a computer business in Kenya; Dennis Muma is an architect in Atlanta, Ga.; and John Bilikha is teaching electrical engineering in Cameroon.
After his Peace Corps service, Schumann taught in New York high schools for 20 years and retired in 1986 to teach math at the College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York.
A member of Grace Lutheran Church of Bayonne, Schumann performs with the Rheinischer Bund, a German singing group based at Schuetzen Park, North Bergen. He and his wife, Charlotte, have lived in Bayonne's Bergen Point for the past two years.
Ronald Leir can be reached at rleir@jjournal.com.
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Cameroon; Special Interests - Electronics
