2006.08.26: August 26, 2006: Headlines: COS - Micronesia: NorthJersey.com: Micronesia RPCV Cecilia Hartmann has made her life in the South Pacific
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2006.08.26: August 26, 2006: Headlines: COS - Micronesia: NorthJersey.com: Micronesia RPCV Cecilia Hartmann has made her life in the South Pacific
Micronesia RPCV Cecilia Hartmann has made her life in the South Pacific
After her arrival, Hartmann soon learned her assignment was among the most difficult for Peace Corps workers because the Pacific island is so secluded. At that time, only three flights a week landed there and only an occasional ship. It had no electricity, roads or running water. The only American on the island, she was housed with a family with 10 children. Although English is the second language, Chuukese is the difficult mother language. Despite linguistic difficulties and the huge adjustment of living in a two-room, wood-and-aluminum-roofed shack, Hartmann decided to stay beyond her initial two-year commitment.
Micronesia RPCV Cecilia Hartmann has made her life in the South Pacific
jersey mosaic Paterson native has made her life in the South Pacific
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
The year was 1970. The Vietnam conflict was being fought by guerilla fighters in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
That same year, Cecilia Hartmann of Paterson graduated from Seton Hall University in South Orange with a desire to do something positive. So she joined the Peace Corps.
"I wanted to go to Vietnam, but it was off limits," says Hartmann, 61. "I wanted to work with children."
Instead, in 1971, she was sent to Chuuk, a remote island that is the most populous of the four states making up the Federated States of Micronesia. Hartmann now calls Chuuk home, and for the past 25 years she has been teaching school there.
Life was primitive on the lush island bathed by intense tropical sun. Hartmann's mistake was failing to wear sunglasses as protection from the harmful ultraviolet rays. About two years ago, her vision started to blur due to cataracts. The condition deteriorated to the point where she needed an operation not available in Micronesia. She did research on the Internet and returned home to Paterson to stay with her sister and mother. In May, a surgeon at PBI Regional Medical Center in Passaic performed operations on both eyes. She returned to Chuuk in July with perfect vision.
In Paterson, Hartmann's home away from home is the Lakeview section of the city near the Clifton border. The middle-class neighborhood of orderly single-family homes has changed little since Hartmann left it, more than two decades ago.
Her modest Paterson home was luxurious compared to life on Chuuk, which is considered a Third World country. After her arrival, Hartmann soon learned her assignment was among the most difficult for Peace Corps workers because the Pacific island is so secluded. At that time, only three flights a week landed there and only an occasional ship. It had no electricity, roads or running water. The only American on the island, she was housed with a family with 10 children. Although English is the second language, Chuukese is the difficult mother language. Despite linguistic difficulties and the huge adjustment of living in a two-room, wood-and-aluminum-roofed shack, Hartmann decided to stay beyond her initial two-year commitment.
Hartmann says she liked teaching in a much simpler environment.
"I was going to stay anyway because I liked it, but then I met my husband, who was a descendant of some of the early German traders," Hartmann says.
First settled by ancient people sailing east from Asia and north from Polynesia, the islanders were later joined by explorers from Germany, Spain and Japan.
Chuuk's harbor and surrounding waters were heavily bombed by the United States during World War II, an effort to dislodge the Japanese fleet. As a result, the harbor holds the world's largest collection of underwater shipwrecks. Contemporary Chuuk, formerly know as Truk, is now a destination for scuba divers.
Hartmann calls the natural beauty of the island alluring.
"My heart is on the island," she says. "It's a very traditional society, very non-aggressive. It was much simpler with no telephones, no satellites, no computers. The food was different. We ate mostly fish and breadfruit."
That has changed over the years, and Hartmann now has e-mail and Internet access -- when the electricity works. She turned to the Internet when her cataracts needed to be removed. Medical help was available in Hawaii or California, but Hartmann decided to fly nearly 20 hours to New Jersey.
"PBI and Dr. (Michael) Mund answered my e-mails," she says, adding that the doctor was recommended by family and friends. Doctor and patient conferred by e-mail and set a tentative surgery date.
Mund, who is chairman of PBI's ophthalmology division, says the cataracts were removed by a small incision and replaced with new intra-ocular lens implants. He recalls being amazed to learn that Hartmann was e-mailing from a South Pacific island.
"I was very happy and privileged for the opportunity to improve the health of a patient who not only lives a world away, but who had also dedicated herself in improving the lives of others," he says.
Reach Diane Haines at 973-569-7046 or haines@northjersey.com.
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Story Source: NorthJersey.com
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