1962.03.01: March 1, 1962: Headlines: COS - Tanzania: 1960s: The Volunteer: Eugene Schreiber writes: The Peace Corps begins in Tanzania - From The Volunteer Newsletter March 1962
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Tanzania:
Peace Corps Tanzania:
Peace Corps Tanzania: Newest Stories:
1962.03.01: March 1, 1962: Headlines: COS - Tanzania: 1960s: The Volunteer: Eugene Schreiber writes: The Peace Corps begins in Tanzania - From The Volunteer Newsletter March 1962
Eugene Schreiber writes: The Peace Corps begins in Tanzania - From The Volunteer Newsletter March 1962
Starting out with eight weeks in El Paso, Texas, we received a detailed background of Tanganyika, brushed up on American history and institutions, and got our first dose of Swahili. After El Paso we headed for Washington to meet the President, bussed up to New York to visit the United Nations and Adlai Stevenson, and then flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. There we became the first trainees to confront the Peace Corps Field Training Center and tried our hands at mountain climbing, two-mile runs, endurance swimming, three-day hikes, rope-swinging, and Tarzan-like obstacle courses. After a month of this, we were off to Africa. Enroute from Nairobi, Kenya, into Tanganyika, it was a mere sign of a golf course fairway-reading "Beware of Lions"-that startled us into the realization that at long last we really had made it.
Eugene Schreiber writes: The Peace Corps begins in Tanzania - From The Volunteer Newsletter March 1962
TANGANYIKA
by Eugene Schreiber
Since the inception of the Tanganyika project on June 25th of last year, thirty-five engineers, surveyors and geologists have undergone four distinct Peace Corps stages.
Starting out with eight weeks in El Paso, Texas, we received a detailed background of Tanganyika, brushed up on American history and institutions, and got our first dose of Swahili. After El Paso we headed for Washington to meet the President, bussed up to New York to visit the United Nations and Adlai Stevenson, and then flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. There we became the first trainees to confront the Peace Corps Field Training Center and tried our hands at mountain climbing, two-mile runs, endurance swimming, three-day hikes, rope-swinging, and Tarzan-like obstacle courses. After a month of this, we were off to Africa. Enroute from Nairobi, Kenya, into Tanganyika, it was a mere sign of a golf course fairway-reading "Beware of Lions"-that startled us into the realization that at long last we really had made it.
For seven weeks, we lived as a group in Tengeru, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, where we underwent intensive Swahili at the Natural Resources School. This was our third phase in the Peace Corps. Then, after nearly five months of training, we were handed our assignments and dispersed into the field.
Today the thirty-five of us are scattered throughout Tanganyika. Our jobs vary considerably. The five geologists are mapping the country for the location of economic minerals. The twenty-one surveyors are making an inventory of the present rural road network and laying out and supervising the construction of feeder, farm-to-market dirt roads. These feeder roads, which Tanganyika vitally needs to transport cash crops to market, are being built primarily by hand labor. Most of our twenty-one surveyors are working in pairs, based in towns but spending the majority of time on safari in the bush. Included in their parties, besides the normal complement of rodmen and chainmen, are African trainees who are being taught surveying on the "job: Eight" of our "nirie~civiFengirieefs "are"serving""as assistant resident engineers on construction sites of major trunk roads and bridge crossings. The ninth is teaching math, English and roadbuilding at the Public Works Department School in Dar es Salaam, the capital.
Now a little on our happenings to date. Beyond a doubt, the highlight of our tour took place during Tanganyika's Uhuru celebrations, when the former Trust Territory became the 22nd independent African nation since World War II, It's a rarity indeed when one witnesses the birth of a country, and to each of us it was, aside from the color and gaiety, a sobering and inspiring event.
Now that we're old hands in the way of jungle lore, we try to be nonchalant when we stumble across any rhino, hippo, lion, giraffe, zebra or other wild animals. For Tanganyika is the heart of the world's big game country, Nonetheless, you can bet that each of us has his camera handy on safaris into the bush.
We feel we're fortunate serving here in Tanganyika. The work is up our alley, the people have been wonderful, and perhaps most of all we can't escape the feeling that we're at the right place at the right time. As Tanganyika's chief Engineer of Roads and Airdromes told us back in El Paso, "I can assure you, you won't have been taught what you will learn, and it won't be found in textbooks . . . You're jolly lucky." We agree.
John White and associates survey for feeder roads in Tanganyika.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1962; Peace Corps Tanzania; Directory of Tanzania RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Tanzania RPCVs; The 1960's
When this story was posted in August 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: The Volunteer
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Tanzania; 1960s
PCOL44209
41