0704 Summer 2003.pdf - Friends of Nigeria

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Book ReviewMesa Verde Press, Indianapolis IN. ISBN 0-9607220-2-5, tradepaper, 144pp., $14.95, 2002. Illus: Photos shot by author during war;maps of Africa, Nigeria, and Biafra; chronology of events; glossary.How difficult it is to be objective about a book that bringstears to the eyes! As our 2002America talks of war, I read,almost in relief, the “war stories”of John Sherman, a Peace Corpsvolunteer in Nigeria/Biafra in themid-1960s. At least those sick,frightened and dying children mayhave survived the immediate painof war by now or more likely, theyhave died and their suffering isover. Nevertheless, as I stand inJohn when workingin Malawi in 1968.line at a local grocery for myannual flu shot dispensed by acareless man who keeps droppingparts of the syringes on the floor, I think of Biafra.After graduating from college, John Sherman joined thePeace Corps and was sent to Nigeria to teach English at asecondary school in that country’s Eastern Region in 1966. Lessthan a year later, that area seceded from Nigeria and declareditself to be the Republic of Biafra. As relations between the twogovernments worsened into a civil war, the Peace Corpsevacuated its volunteers and sent Sherman to Malawi. Hereturned to Nigeria in August of 1968 with unofficialdocuments, hoping in some way to alleviate the suffering of theBiafran refugees and make contact with his former students.Feeling he was a loose ball bouncing around Africa, he was ableto work with the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) near where he had been teaching in Biafra before it wasreclaimed by the Nigerian military.Using a journal from that time, Sherman has composed abittersweet memoir of events and feelings he experienced in thatthree-year period. With the aid of aliterary device he moves back and forthbetween his return as an ICRC workerand the Peace Corps period which, inthe book, is indicated by italics. Heremembers fondly many funny, happytimes with his students, their families andthe general state of being white in ablack society. These italicized paragraphsreveal a joy of living, dancing the HighLife (a popular, energetic dance), sharinggroundnuts (peanuts), learning to snapLt. Col. ChukuemekaOdumegwu Ojukwuin 1967.10 12 FON NEWSLETTERReviewed by Betty ParkerWar Stories:A Memoir of Nigeria and Biafraby John Sherman (23) 66–67fingers in a handshake (I still can’t do it)and a feeling he was making acontribution.The book begins as Sherman is attempting to get back toBiafra. These paragraphs, which describe the Red Cross portionof his African journey, though factual, are also vehicles of a sadwisdom, revealing a young man determined to make a differencein a situation in which he has little control and great personalrisk. Once, when he witnesses almost more suffering than he cantake, he wishes that just for a few hours, he could be somewherewhere his values are not tested. When soldiers who terrorize hisfriends need food or medicine, he questions whether or not ahuman is still human in a uniform. Because he is in an areawhere he is dispensing food and medicine to both Nigerian andBiafran refugees, he muses about being forced to be neutral.He speaks of war as the “last great horror we inflict uponourselves,” and because he is touched more by the children whocan no longer smile, he reminds us that books can be reprintedbut children cannot be replaced. As an antiquarian bookseller Ihave to agree grudgingly that he is right, at least in spirit.Sherman left Africa in 1969, but returned in 1971 to work inGhana in both the Peace Corps office and as national directorof the American Field Service. He took courses in AfricanStudies at the University of Ghana, and he also taught in Zairebefore returning to the United States in 1975.He and his family lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico from 1977-85. While there he edited El Palacio magazine, worked at St.Catherine Indian School and wrote a “Generally Sherman”humor column for the Santa Fe Reporter. He also did a series offeatures for the Albuquerque Journal North on historic Santa Fe.“Santa Fe, A Pictorial History” was first published for the FirstNational Bank there in 1983 and is now a scarce piece of SantaFe literature in the original limited edition. It was reprinted in1996, and “Taos, A Pictorial History” was published in 1990.•Reviewed for and originally published in SouthwestBookViews, Winter 03, Vol. 2, Issue 1. Reprinted withpermission. A generalist in her love of books, Betty Parkerreviews a wide range of material for Southwest BookViews.John Sherman has lived and worked in Nigeria (twice), Biafra,Malawi, Ghana and Zaire. He is currently a resident ofIndianapolis. He and his wife Lois, who was also in Nigeria(23) anda teacher at Sir Francis Ibiam Secondary School in Afikpo, and wasevacucated to Togo, have two children,Chizoma and David. John has had acareer which included being a classroomteacher of English and Journalism tana marketing and PR executive in thenonprofit and corporate world. Hecurrently owns a PR firm inIndianapolis and pursues an activefreelance writing career. He is theauthor of three books of poetry andtwo pictorial history books.John in 2002.
Memories, Fond and OtherwiseThe temperature – HOT!Rides in loaded down lorries,BIG mosquitoes and Smiling kids.Real chalkboards.Culture Shock – or not.A Honda 50–Honda burns.Trains with the coal burning engines leaving you covered with soot.Rainy season deluges and MUD.Dry season heat and dust.A coup d’etat and military rule.Pounded yam and egusi stew.Palm wine and Star beer.Sleeping under mosquito netting.Trying to learn how to add and subtract pounds, shillings and pence.Teaching your houseboy or girl to boil water.Bucket baths and bucket latrines (different locations).Being called to by all the neighborhood kids - Oyinbo, Oyinbo!Earning 11 cents an hour.Boiled peanuts.Columns of driver and army ants on the grounds and on the walls.“You de tryo”.Lengthy philosophical discussions about our “value” to Nigeria.Bargaining over a couple of cents for tomatoes at the local market.Dancing the “highlife” late into the night.Listening to BBC and VOA on the radio.Hausa traders and their bags of treasures.Little kids faces peering in the windows at night.The smell of cooking with palm oil.The most helpful neighbors in the world–especially when it came to decapitating a chicken.The new M.L.(Maximum Leader), Jack Vaughn.His plans to cut out the hostels and reduce living allowances.Ju Ju trinkets and kola nuts.Gamma Globulin shots that made sitting a near impossibility.Military roadblocks and car searches.Dissolution of a federation.PC/W versus PC/N.The phases of adjustment.The mass exodus of the Igbos through Benin City in October 1966 leaving behindclosed corner shops, few taxis and fewer mechanics to fix my Honda.Overloaded lorries heading East.Learning to tie headscarves and wrapper skirts and hoping they would STAY tied.Hitchhiking trips around the country and West Africa.Sleeping in places that were too weird to mention.Visiting with friends.And, Many, Many more…CLeigh Gerber Purvis (12) 65–67, Sabongidda-Ora and Benin CityObituaryJerry E.Binker(Staff)63–65Jerry E. Brinker, M.D., PublicHealth Service medical officer assignedto thePeace Corps in Enugu, Nigeriafrom 1963-64 and Ibaden, Nigeria,1964-65,died on April 28, 1990 inOklahoma City, Oklahoma.Dr. Brinker was born on April 2,1936 in Des Moines, Iowa. A graduateof the University of Iowa, he alsoreceived his medical degree there in1962. Following his Public Healthenlistment period, Dr. Brinkercompleted a residency in pathology inIowa City. He served as chief,laboratory service, at the VA Hospitalin Tucson, AZ from 1971 to 1973 andas consultant pathologist with ProjectHope at the University of the WestIndies, College of Medicine, KingstonJamaica.Dr. Brinker was chief of thelaboratory service at the VA MedicalCenter in Muskogee, Oklahoma from1974 until 1990 with 1983 and 1984spent as chief, laboratory service at theLBJ Tropical Medical Center in PagoPago, American Samoa.Dr. Brinker’s wife, Linda, continuesto reside in Muskogee followingretirement as a library media specialist.Daughter Julie is currently pursuinggraduate studies at Texas Woman’sUniversity having been a facultymember in the theater departments ofthe University of NewHampshire and Illinois State University.Both Brinker sons are M.D.’s. Allen isan epidemiologist with the FDA inRockville, MD and David practicespathology in Baltimore, MD.•WINTER 2003 11 13
Page 1 and 2: July 1, 2003$PricelessTEMPUSJ.F.K.T
Page 3 and 4: FRIENDS OFNIGERIASUMMER 2003 Vol 7,
Page 5 and 6: Photo: BBC(Episode Four)By Ron Sing
Page 7 and 8: (Continued from page 4)Institution
Page 9 and 10: Welcome!New Friends of Nigeria Memb
Page 11: (Continued from page 1)Remembering
Page 15 and 16: Letter From Nigeria“Ime omugwo”
Page 17 and 18: (Continued from page 3)And the Winn
Page 19 and 20: A History Of ThePeace Corps inNiger

0704 Summer 2003.pdf - Friends of Nigeria

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