2008.11.23: November 23, 2008: Headlines: COS - Burundi: Marriage: Third Goal: Exhibits: Museum: Abilene Reporter-News: Burundi RPCV Aly and Buddy Shanks show African art and artifacts at River Oaks Gallery in Abilene Texas
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2008.11.23: November 23, 2008: Headlines: COS - Burundi: Marriage: Third Goal: Exhibits: Museum: Abilene Reporter-News: Burundi RPCV Aly and Buddy Shanks show African art and artifacts at River Oaks Gallery in Abilene Texas
Burundi RPCV Aly and Buddy Shanks show African art and artifacts at River Oaks Gallery in Abilene Texas
By July 2006, they were feeling a need to settle in the United States -- but not until after one more swing through Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya and a tour of Holland, Belgium and France. In September 2006, the trip back home became a reality. A decision had to be made on where to live. The northern United States was beautiful, they knew, but too cold. "Too many years on the equator," Aly quipped. So the couple decided to do a little "homesteading" by clearing 40 acres of Shanks family land in Callahan County and building a new house there. Hours were spent "designing, thinking, measuring," Aly recalled, until finally ground was broken in February 2007. Buddy and Aly moved into their new home in January and now are ready to share a bit of their life with the friends and neighbors. They love the home they designed and Buddy's cousin built. They love the peace and quiet of rural Callahan County, with plenty of space for animals of all types to roam. They love catching up on American culture they've missed -- the Paramount Theatre, Netflix movie rentals, ACU football games for him and Denver Broncos games for her are a must. But Aly's father made an observation that's never far from their minds: "You guys can't settle down -- you're whole life has been traveling."
Burundi RPCV Aly and Buddy Shanks show African art and artifacts at River Oaks Gallery in Abilene Texas
Clyde couple to share collection during show at local gallery
By Loretta Fulton
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Caption: Buddy Shanks and his wife, Aly, show off some of their African artwork and jewelry that they have collected from their years working in Africa in the Peace Corps and with other organizations. Photo: by Thomas Metthe
He grew up in the small wind-swept West Texas town of Stanton, while she was raised in the Rocky Mountain high of Denver.
With backgrounds so diverse, it was amazing they met at all. But where they met was even more surprising -- Burundi, Africa, where both were serving with the Peace Corps.
That was just the beginning of the twisting, turning, filled-to-the-max life that Aly and Buddy Shanks would come to share.
For the time being, they are settled in a beautiful new home south of Clyde that was built by Buddy's cousin, Eddie Craig, on Shanks family property. The need to "come back home" drew the couple to the site, but they admit that their built-in wanderlust could kick in at any time.
"We'll know," Aly said, if and when that time comes.
Until then, West Texans can share in the adventures that the couple brought with them from their years of travel and work in Africa. Their home, filled with all manner of African art and artifacts, will be on the Clyde Tour of Homes on Dec. 6.
And the couple will display unique African art of all types from Dec. 8 to Jan. 16 at Abilene Frame-N-Art River Oaks Gallery. A reception, free and open to the public, will be Dec. 12.
Some items in the "Out of Africa ... and Beyond" showing will be for display only, while others will be for sale.
Travel adventure
A walk through the Shanks' home gives a quick glimpse of where the couple spent most of their adult lives and the love of the land and people they embraced.
A six-foot tall oil painting of a Masai warrior, large musical instruments resembling decorative banjos that were carved from gourds, a herd of carved giraffes, and a huge assortment of pottery, baskets, paintings and any other piece of art imaginable welcome visitors to the Shanks home.
The house itself was beautifully designed to blend perfectly with its West Texas ranch setting. The interior is large and open -- much like the acreage that surrounds the house. But it is filled artifacts from a different world.
"We built this house with one painting in mind," Aly said, pointing to the framed oil-on-canvas of a South African Masai warrior mounted high on a wall.
Everything else took its place in orderly fashion after that painting found its resting place.
Likewise, the lives Buddy, 60, and Aly, who will be 47 on Nov. 29, fell into place after they found one another. But that journey was hardly in orderly fashion.
Aly Wood graduated from high school in Denver in 1979 and set out on a travel adventure across western Europe. Later, she returned home and worked several jobs before eventually earning a college degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver.
"I was on the nine-year plan," Aly joked. She earned her degree in 1988, one year before her 10-year high school graduation anniversary.
That trip to Europe, which Aly financed with a loan she secured herself at age 18 and eventually repaid, proved to be the launching pad for a life of adventure.
"I think I learned more that three months than all my years in college," she said.
That trip, plus working for the U.S. Forest Service fighting fires in Colorado, traveling across New Zealand on a bicycle and any number of other adventures, eventually led Aly to join the Peace Corps in 1991.
In 1992, she was sent to Burundi, a small African nation wedged between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And that's where she met her future husband, Buddy Shanks. But it would take awhile before the marriage occurred.
Before that happened, Aly also worked for the Jane Goodall Institute, in the office of a United Nations ambassador, and for Catholic Relief Services.
Peace Corps
Buddy's journey to Burundi was as winding as Aly's had been. Born and raised in Stanton, southwest of Big Spring, Buddy attended Abilene Christian University on a football scholarship. He earned a degree in business administration in 1971 and two years later joined the Peace Corps.
Buddy had read a Peace Corps poster in a kiosk at ACU and decided that kind of life was for him. But first, he had a few things to learn.
When Buddy found out he would be sent to Mali in West Africa, he looked up "Molly" and was surprised to learn that no such country existed.
But he soon broadened his scope of knowledge by serving three years in Mali. He came back to the United States and worked three years in Dallas as an accountant with ACCO Feeds before heading off to Sam Houston State University to get a master's degree in livestock management.
By that time, Africa was calling again and Buddy rejoined the Peace Corps, this time as a staff director. He later worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development, came back to the United States for a while, and eventually ended up with the Peace Corps as a training director in what was then Zaire in 1992.
The staff was temporarily displaced to Burundi in 1992, and that's where he met his future wife -- but the "I do" was still far in the future.
From friends to life partners
Aly and Buddy became good friends and remained so for several years. It took an African photo safari with friends and a three-month bicycle trip from Oregon to Maine to seal the deal. Aly thinks she understands what was going through Buddy's mind.
"I guess he thought, 'If I can ride across the country on a bike with her, I guess I can live with her,'" she said, as Buddy smiled and nodded in agreement.
Buddy proposed on Sept. 7, 2003, and the couple was married two days later.
"Now what are we going to do?" was the next question Buddy and Aly asked each other.
The answer was to find jobs. They agreed they would travel to wherever the first one landed a job. That turned out to be Aly, who got an administrative position with the Peace Corps in Chad. The couple moved there in January 2004.
Buddy took a job with the International Rescue Committee in the nearby Darfur region of western Sudan. Ironically, the IRC also has an office in Abilene, and Aly now works there three days a week.
But in 2004, Buddy and Aly were just beginning their married life. It didn't take long for a dramatic change to take place. Just over a year into their new jobs, Buddy and Aly faced a new twist in their lives -- and this time it wasn't a fun-filled adventure they were used to.
In February 2005, Aly discovered a lump in her breast and was flown to a hospital in London where she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In March, the couple flew to Denver, where Aly underwent surgery and follow-up treatment. They lived with her father and stepmother until September 2005, when Aly got the "all-clear" signal from physicians.
Once more to Africa
Buddy and Aly were soon on their way back to Africa.
By July 2006, they were feeling a need to settle in the United States -- but not until after one more swing through Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya and a tour of Holland, Belgium and France.
In September 2006, the trip back home became a reality. A decision had to be made on where to live. The northern United States was beautiful, they knew, but too cold.
"Too many years on the equator," Aly quipped.
So the couple decided to do a little "homesteading" by clearing 40 acres of Shanks family land in Callahan County and building a new house there. Hours were spent "designing, thinking, measuring," Aly recalled, until finally ground was broken in February 2007.
Buddy and Aly moved into their new home in January and now are ready to share a bit of their life with the friends and neighbors. They love the home they designed and Buddy's cousin built.
They love the peace and quiet of rural Callahan County, with plenty of space for animals of all types to roam. They love catching up on American culture they've missed -- the Paramount Theatre, Netflix movie rentals, ACU football games for him and Denver Broncos games for her are a must.
But Aly's father made an observation that's never far from their minds: "You guys can't settle down -- you're whole life has been traveling."
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Headlines: November, 2008; Peace Corps Burundi; Directory of Burundi RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Burundi RPCVs; Marriage; The Third Goal; Exhibits; Texas
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Story Source: Abilene Reporter-News
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