2011.03.30: March 30, 2011: Peace Corps volunteer Steve Clapp considers his time in Yola, Nigeria, from 1963 to 1964 as "the defining experience of my life"
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2011.03.30: March 30, 2011: Peace Corps volunteer Steve Clapp considers his time in Yola, Nigeria, from 1963 to 1964 as "the defining experience of my life"
Peace Corps volunteer Steve Clapp considers his time in Yola, Nigeria, from 1963 to 1964 as "the defining experience of my life"
In addition to his work experience, Clapp said he met his first wife, the mother of his two daughters, during his Peace Corps training at Columbia University. He and his three fellow volunteers in Nigeria remain close friends. Clapp said among his Peace Corps legacies was a fresh perspective on his own country. Now a journalist specializing in food policy, Clapp, 72, a former Reston resident who lives in Culpeper, said his overseas experience was different. As an English teacher at a secondary boarding school, Clapp lived in "very nice housing" and was even a member of the local social and tennis club.
Peace Corps volunteer Steve Clapp considers his time in Yola, Nigeria, from 1963 to 1964 as "the defining experience of my life"
Area Peace Corps veterans to celebrate 50-year anniversary
by Janet Rems | Special to The Times
[Excerpt]
In Nigeria
Like Craig and Williams, former Peace Corps volunteer Steve Clapp considers his time in Yola, Nigeria, from 1963 to 1964 as "the defining experience of my life."
In addition to his work experience, Clapp said he met his first wife, the mother of his two daughters, during his Peace Corps training at Columbia University. He and his three fellow volunteers in Nigeria remain close friends.
Clapp said among his Peace Corps legacies was a fresh perspective on his own country.
Now a journalist specializing in food policy, Clapp, 72, a former Reston resident who lives in Culpeper, said his overseas experience was different.
As an English teacher at a secondary boarding school, Clapp lived in "very nice housing" and was even a member of the local social and tennis club.
Clapp noted that one of his students went on to become the vice president of Nigeria and founded an American-style private university, called the American University of Nigeria, in Yola.
While he was in Nigeria, President Kennedy was assassinated, and people from the remotest villages came to offer their condolences, he said.
Clapp has written a memoir of his experiences, "Africa Remembered," which is available on Amazon.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: March, 2011; Peace Corps Nigeria; Directory of Nigeria RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Nigeria RPCVs; The 1960's
When this story was posted in December 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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Story Source: Fairfax Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Nigeria; 1960s
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