In the fall of her second year in the corps, she met Clement Onyemelukwe. They were married on Boxing Day in 1964, and lived in Nigeria for 22 years, raising their two sons and a daughter, all in their 40s now. They also have three grandchildren and another on the way. Catherine and Clement married at a time when interracial relationships were against the law in her home state of Kentucky. In fact, her parents received "hate calls." But in Nigeria, the wedding was big news; the story was over the AP wire and prompted Life magazine to cover it. An engineer and economist, Clement is the former chief electrical engineer of the Electricity Corp. of Nigeria. They had to leave Lagos when the Biafran War started, but returned in 1970. They left Nigeria as permanent residents in 1986. However, Clement, now an American citizen with his own business, travels to Nigeria every two or three months for a few weeks at a time. Catherine has returned to Nigeria several times, and tries to visit every other year at Christmas. Her youngest son lives there.
Catherine Onyemelukwe, who during her two-year tour in Nigeria met Clement, a Nigerian national, and married him, have been married for 47 years
Peace Corps veterans swap 'war stories' in Westport
Patricia A. Hines
Updated 02:08 p.m., Friday, March 25, 2011
Caption: The wedding of Catherine and Clement Onyemelukwe in Nigeria in 1964. The Westport woman met her husband-to-be when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. Photo: Contributed Photo / Westport News contributed
[Excerpt]
Many Peace Corps volunteers describe their experience as life changing.
No better example is that of Westporter Catherine Onyemelukwe, who during her two-year tour in Nigeria met Clement, a Nigerian national, and married him. They have been married for 47 years.
Onyemelukwe was among the first volunteers to sign up after President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps in 1961.
As he was campaigning for president at the University of Michigan a few months before his inauguration, Kennedy, then a senator, challenged students to "contribute two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world," according to the Peace Corps' website, www.peacecorps.gov. The corps is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In that span, more than 200,000 people have served in 139 nations. In Connecticut, 3,071 people have served since 1961; 138 currently.
Onyemelukwe, who served in Nigeria in the 1960s, recently hosted a party at her Westport home for former Peace Corps volunteers to mark the anniversary. Sixteen corps veterans, spouses, partners and friends attended. They brought food and drink from their Peace Corps host countries. Music and native clothing from the various nations also helped set the gathering's theme.
Perfect thing to do
Onyemelukwe was a senior at Mount Holyoke College, majoring in German, when she became intrigued at the prospect of helping a developing nation. "It seemed like the perfect thing to do. I couldn't imagine doing anything else." After graduation, and with her application to the Peace Corps accepted, she received intensive training at UCLA. She learned languages, particular Yoruba, which is spoken in the southwestern part of Nigeria, and about the native culture. She remembers having to learn to play "netball," similar to basketball and played only by females.
In 1962, she flew from New York to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, with about 70 other volunteers. With the schools not yet ready for the volunteers, the group went on a trip to the eastern part of the country and then traveled north. She gained a good understanding of the country in which she would serve for two years as a German language teacher. "In the first week, I saw a lot of the country, which was just wonderful, it was so amazing."
She taught students at the Federal Emergency Science School who excelled in science and math. The students, who were her age or older, were "eager and smart." To develop her lesson plans, she went to the German Cultural Institute to learn how to teach "scientific German," with which she was unfamiliar. Because the stint at the FESS was part-time, she also taught English, religious knowledge and African history to younger grades in a small fishing village 15 miles away. She was given a Fiat 500 -- having a car was unheard of for volunteers -- to make the trip on local roads. She often had to wait for cattle herders to clear the road with their stock, which they took from the north to the south to sell them. "The cows were bigger than I was."
In the fall of her second year in the corps, she met Clement Onyemelukwe. They were married on Boxing Day in 1964, and lived in Nigeria for 22 years, raising their two sons and a daughter, all in their 40s now. They also have three grandchildren and another on the way.
Catherine and Clement married at a time when interracial relationships were against the law in her home state of Kentucky. In fact, her parents received "hate calls." But in Nigeria, the wedding was big news; the story was over the AP wire and prompted Life magazine to cover it. An engineer and economist, Clement is the former chief electrical engineer of the Electricity Corp. of Nigeria. They had to leave Lagos when the Biafran War started, but returned in 1970. They left Nigeria as permanent residents in 1986.
However, Clement, now an American citizen with his own business, travels to Nigeria every two or three months for a few weeks at a time. Catherine has returned to Nigeria several times, and tries to visit every other year at Christmas. Her youngest son lives there.
In Westport, she has been active in nonprofit and civic organizations. She was president of the Westport Public Library board of trustees during its capital building campaign, was director of development for the YMCA, worked for the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition and now works for the Mill River Collaborative in Stamford. She has spent most of her career as a fundraising professional. She has kept her hand in international affairs too, including membership in the National Peace Corps Association Alumni Group, Friends of Nigeria and the Connecticut Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, for which she recently hosted a party at her home. Onyemelukwe also is the president of the board of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office Committee.
`They taught you how to survive no matter what'
