Richard Piazza's Web Site on his service in Nigeria III
Hi! My name is Rich Piazza. Welcome to the African Journey WWW site. This site is a compilation of the photos, music, and information relating to my participation as a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1961 to 1963 as well as the subsequent 3-month, 10,000 mile motorcycle trip through much of Africa. All references to countries' names, leaders, etc., reflect what they were at that time. A video comprising the full 300 photos, considerable indigenous music, and narration is available for viewing at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Columbia Point in Boston Mass.
Training at UCLA and Departure to Lagos, Nigeria
My identification with the goals of the peace corps actually took place before formation of the Peace Corps. In fact, during my senior year in college, my good relationship with a fellow student from Ethiopia, Terrefe Raswork, led to my inquiries to the Ethiopian government about volunteering for a teaching position there upon my graduation. Although these efforts did not meet with success, the Peace Corps was formed the following year by President John F. Kennedy. And, although I had already started my graduate program I immediately applied for a volunteer teaching position in West Africa. A barrage of testing and interviewing in the spring of 1961 led to acceptance into the 3 month training program at UCLA. The telex from Sargent Shriver informing me of this gave no indication of the intensity that this training would entail. It included medical, cultural, language and other subjects. In September of 1961 I joined up with other volunteers on the UCLA campus.
NIGERIA III
In spite of the demands of the program, the group that came to be known as Nigeria III still found time for parties and recreation. Though a few of the volunteers and even one of the instructors, dropped out of the training program, most of us completed it and eagerly made preparations for departure to Nigeria.
Awo-Omamma
Although Lagos, the capitol, had served as a wonderful introduction to Nigeria I was eager to relocate to a more rural area. I was soon transferred out of the Yoruba's Western Region to the Eastern Region's land of the Igbo. My new duties were in the village of Awo Omamma where I occupied one-half of a recently completed duplex on the property of the Community Grammar School.
Within a few weeks of arrival, a donated generator was connected up and provided electricity to all of the buildings on the campus.
Awo-Omamma
Nicholas, a local boy, helped me out around the house and in preparing meals. He occasionally bunked-in in a spare room at the end of the duplex. On one occasion, in the early morning hours, he discovered under his bed a large poisonous snake which we captured in mosquito netting and later destroyed.
It didn't take me long to get used to the local foods, dress, and haircuts. Two other recent additions to staff were Mr. V.M.Thomas from Kerala, India to teach chemistry and Mr. P.K.C.Panicker from the Bombay area to teach biology. They lived in a similar duplex adjacent to mine and over the coming months I would get to share a number of authentic Indian meals with them.
The Journey Home
As for myself, I made preparations for travel across Africa - the boldest part of my adventure yet. A previous 3 week stay in Liberia during a school break to assist in establishing the new Peace Corps program there helped me assess the difficulty of what I wanted to do. Also my travels around Nigeria had given me some experience in traveling alone through constantly changing cultures and languages. My plan was to head east across the Cameroons, The Central African Republic, the Congo, Uganda, and to Kenya in East Africa. Then north through Ethiopia over to the Sudan, up the Nile to Cairo, and across north Africa through Libya to Tunisia. From there, I'd go through Europe to London to fly home. To do all this I bought a motorcycle with the money given us by the Peace Corps for air fare home. The motorcycle I purchased was a Triumph 350cc, the standard of the Nigerian police force. Besides its extraordinary reliability and durability this choice later proved of great value to me in the Congo. It was very popular with my fellow teachers as well as others from the village. Here, it's tried out by two other Peace Corps volunteers, Jim Crawley and his wife. Dubbed the Road Runner, I painted the symbol on my helmet and headlamp and a Lagos to London destination on the fender.
My departure from Awo Omamma was delayed briefly as news of the assassination of John Kennedy arrived on the very day that my assignment to CGS was completed and I was preparing to leave. In spite of this tragic event I decided to go ahead as planned and loaded up with about 150 miles worth of gas, canned food for several days, a machete (my only weapon), folding cot, mosquito netting, and a few other necessities.