Molly Steinbauer who spent more than two years in Tanzania, Africa, while serving the Peace Corps, has had an opportunity to return there because of her foreign language studies at Ohio University and her past experiences in Tanzania.
Internship takes Clyde native back to Tanzania
By Jeanette Liebold-Ricker
Molly Steinbauer, a Clyde native, who spent more than two years in Tanzania, Africa, while serving the Peace Corps, has had an opportunity to return there because of her foreign language studies at Ohio University and her past experiences in Tanzania. She is on an internship with the Education Development Center of Tanzania.
At OU, Molly was studying Swahili, the language she learned to speak with the natives in her remote village in Tanzania. Since Steinbauer began her Swahili studies at OU, she realized that while she had been able to communicate with her villagers, the language she learned was grammatically incorrect and was a mixture of several languages picked up by the villagers from various sources.
"It (class) was definitely breaking down what I knew," she said.
Steinbauer flew to Africa earlier this month and will remain there until September. There, she will work with nongovernment organizations, gaining experience with the sponsoring organizations.
Some of her duties will include locating children under the age of 15, without families, who are forced to work and teach them skills to improve their quality of life.
According to the International Human Rights Standard, children younger than 15 are not allowed to work, she said.
Steinbauer will implement programs to educate those children, although they can't be forced to stop working, she said. These programs will offer the children a primary education for grades one through four.
Another program she will be working with involves a form of "radio soap opera," where life skills are taught via "educa-tainment" or education with a message. One of the life skills taught will be how to deal with or prevent HIV/AIDS, she said.
Steinbauer also plans to return to the remote village that she left in December 2001, thinking she was saying good-bye forever.
She said she is not sure what she will find there because the harsh life -- with a life expectancy averaging 40 years, she said -- causes the natives to age quickly.
Since the village is so remote, the Peace Corps decided not to send in a replacement for her in 2001.
During her time there with the Peace Corps, she worked to improve the quality of life of a village of 1,500 natives. Her accomplishments included establishing many agricultural projects, teaching alternative agricultural procedures and teaching the villagers to grow more cash crops. Her biggest accomplishment was establishing a library, purchasing books with funds donated by Clyde families.
After she returned from Tanzania in December 2001, she and a friend spent two years working with Habitat for Humanity in Los Angeles. She has been a student at OU for the past two years, and will continue her studies when she returns in September. Steinbauer, now 28, is the daughter of Tom and Mary Ann Steinbauer of rural Clyde. She attended St. Mary's School and is a 1994 graduate of St. Joseph Central Catholic High School.
Jeanette Liebold-Ricker's column appears each Wednesday and Saturday in The News-Messenger. She may be contacted by writing her at 1134 N. Main St., Clyde OH 43410 or call her at 419-547-8177.
