December 15, 2005: Headlines: COS - Niger: Sun-News of the Northland: Croix Thompson is assigned by the Peace Corp to a village about 200 miles outside of Niamey, Niger
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December 15, 2005: Headlines: COS - Niger: Sun-News of the Northland: Croix Thompson is assigned by the Peace Corp to a village about 200 miles outside of Niamey, Niger
Croix Thompson is assigned by the Peace Corp to a village about 200 miles outside of Niamey, Niger
While there, he is working on an agricultural project planting trees for the local village. "The first goal is spreading goodwill, basically, working, talking, and living amongst the villagers," Croix said. "The second goal that I am trying to do is to set up an Arabic gum tree plantation. This will benefit my village because the Arabic gum tree sap (a material that makes candy) is in high demand at the moment and it does really well here in the Sahara Desert."
Croix Thompson is assigned by the Peace Corp to a village about 200 miles outside of Niamey, Niger
Mother travels to Africa to visit son for holidays
By: Heather Moll, Associate Editor December 15, 2005
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Cora Thompson will be leaving the warmth of her Parkville home Dec. 19 to walk an African desert and sleep in a grass hut in an effort to visit her son Croix for the holidays.
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Croix Thompson, a fourth generation resident of Parkville, is assigned by the Peace Corp to a village about 200 miles outside of Niamey, Niger in western Africa.
Cora said her son joined the Peace Corps in a relentless pursuit of public service.
"He has a draw toward military service," Cora said. "I wouldn't let him join the army. I was very unreasonable about it."
Croix said he looked in to the military as an option because he could not find a decent job.
"I figured I could do my part to contribute to some goodwill on top of having a good job," Croix said. "I was denied by the army because I was overweight-twice. Later on, out of the spur of the moment I went to a dinner, I think it was the AARP, and a previous volunteer gave a presentation about her service. After that I signed up and the wheels began to roll from there."
Croix signed up for two years in the Peace Corp to end March 2007.
While there, he is working on an agricultural project planting trees for the local village. "The first goal is spreading goodwill, basically, working, talking, and living amongst the villagers," Croix said. "The second goal that I am trying to do is to set up an Arabic gum tree plantation. This will benefit my village because the Arabic gum tree sap (a material that makes candy) is in high demand at the moment and it does really well here in the Sahara Desert."
He said he is running experiments on how to bring nutrients into the land around his village that will allow the villagers to sustain more crops.
"Also within my village, I am trying to get a one-room primary school built so the children won't have to walk four kilometers to school everyday," Croix said. "The third thing that I am working on is to establish Niger into a rugby playing nation. With that I am working with the president of the World Bank for Niger toward developing the game!"
For the school house project, Croix is seeking schools to donate used or out of date school books and materials such as black boards and desks.
"Anything at all would help," Cora said. "Even an out of date math book is better than nothing, which is what they have now."
Croix sleeps in a grass hut and is paid commensurate with the salaries of the country. He makes $20 per month. Cora said that although her son has learned a lot about making his money stretch, she deposits a little extra into his checking account from time to time.
"He's an only child. I'm extremely proud of him," she said. "If you think about all of the difficulties and challenges he could be faced with in today's society, especially with African American males, he makes me proud."
Croix graduated from Park Hill in 1998 and then went on to graduate from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, with a degree in broadcast journalism.
He worked as an intern at McGraw Hill Publishing Co. in New York, where he played with the New York rugby club.
Cora said when her son left home, he took two rugby balls with him.
She said Croix wants to play rugby so bad, he said, 'If they don't have a team, I'll start one.' Has since been named assistant manager for the Niger National Rugby Club.
"He has really worked hard to be part of the community," Cora said. "It'll be fun to visit so I can really see how he lives and the people who he interacts with."
©Sun-News of the Northland 2005
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Story Source: Sun-News of the Northland
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