Emily Anne Fishbein and Patrick Phillip Johnson were married in Washington. They met in January 2000, while beginning a stint in Niger in the Peace Corps. They became friends during their three-month orientation with 40 other volunteers in the city of Hamdallaye, Niger.
Emily Fishbein and Patrick Johnson
Published: May 22, 2005
Emily Anne Fishbein and Patrick Phillip Johnson were married yesterday at the Einstein Memorial in Washington. Jason N. Ilstrup, a minister of spiritual humanism, officiated.
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Mrs. Johnson, 28, is to receive a law degree today from George Washington University. She graduated from the College of William & Mary.
She is a daughter of Ruth Fishbein of Belmont, Mass., and Herman Fishbein of Boca Raton, Fla. Her father is the coordinator of adult services at the University of Miami Center for Autism and Related Disabilities in Coral Gables, Fla. Her mother is the manager of performance improvement and risk management for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's health center in Cambridge, Mass. The bride is a stepdaughter of Marcia Fishbein.
Mr. Johnson, also 28, is an Uhuru fellow in the Africa division of the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that promotes democracy. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received both an M.B.A. and a master's degree in international affairs from George Washington University.
He is a son of Toni and William Johnson of Syracuse, Ind. The bridegroom's mother is a director and a former chairwoman of Greencroft, a retirement community in Goshen, Ind. His father retired as the chief executive and the chairman of Goshen Rubber Companies, which manufactured custom-cut rubber seals and gaskets. He is now the chairman of the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County, in Goshen.
Ms. Fishbein and Mr. Johnson met in January 2000, while beginning a stint in Niger in the Peace Corps. They became friends during their three-month orientation with 40 other volunteers in the city of Hamdallaye, Niger.
"It was friendship at first sight, but definitely not love," Ms. Fishbein recalled, adding that she was far more focused on being a good volunteer than on finding a life mate.
Mr. Johnson, however, was smitten "within minutes" of seeing her, he said.
"She was focused, intelligent and happy," he added. "And she was not overly melodramatic about our new environment, unlike some of the other volunteers."
In March, they were dispatched to their posts, which were separated by about 100 miles of rugged country. She went to a village of about 1,000 called Garin Hamani; he to a village of about 100 called Darey Bangou. Ms. Fishbein and Mr. Johnson communicated only through the village messenger who came by monthly, and they didn't see each other again until a July 4 get-together of their entire group of volunteers in Maradi.
"I thought this is going to be my chance, but she was giving the friendship sign," Mr. Johnson said, and was unreceptive to his subtle overtures. Fearing he would be stuck forever in the friendship zone, he decided to make a move the following month and boarded a 100-foot boat that would be passing near her village. The only other passengers were the captain, his helper and 100 sheep bound for market. Over the course of the 30-hour trip, Mr. Johnson said he sat - and slept - on a "two-inch wide support strut." When the boat reached a point near Ms. Fishbein's village, Mr. Johnson debarked and bicycled the final 10 miles to make his surprise visit.
"It looked like he'd just been through a war," Ms. Fishbein remembered. "I was impressed that he wanted to see me that badly."
They spent five days together, Mr. Johnson working in the fields with Ms. Fishbein and the villagers. It was the first time the two had spent time together without other Peace Corps volunteers around.
"The people in my village adored him," she recalled. "They are very discerning and good judges of character. That they loved him was important for me. It is like when your family gives a guy the O.K."
