0704 Summer 2003.pdf - Friends of Nigeria

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Your newsletterneeds you!How Time flies — how quickly our memoriesfade...There can be few readers of the newsletter whose lives were not insome way, and for some profoundly so, affected by their time spent in thePeace Corps. We hope the newsletter helps keep the flame alive of thoseheady days back in Nigeria where careers were born, friendships sealed,personal values changed and many happy memories formed.Share those memories.• Tell us how Nigeria changed your life.• Let us know what you have been doing all these years.• Share with us your memories of Nigeria.(With aplogies to Lord Kitchener)Take a moment to write a few words for the newsletter while your memory is still crystal clear about what reallyhappened all those years ago.How time flies — how quickly the world changes...One of the frustrations with this job is that as we have to send the newsletter by bulk mail, most of you onlyreceive it about four weeks after printing.As a result, a number of articles we publish are somewhat out of date by the time you read them and some,because of the delay, we don’t print at all.How time flies — before you know it is time to renew...Why is FON like PBS? We both offer our services to all viewers or readers although a relatively small numberactually are members.Consider the special goldenrod cover on every other issue to be our FON pledge break.As the newsletter arrives every three months whether you are a paid-up member or not, it’s easy to forget to renewyour membership. Please check your renewal date on the mailing label. Peter Hansen, the FON Membership Chair,recently contacted a number of lapsed members with great success.On the positive side, Peter also reports that at the moment the membership stands at some 437 members out of atotal possible of over 1600 or just about 27%. This is the highest number onrecord to date and a good percentage for an organization like this but as myteachers used to say, there is room for improvement.No . Sir,What would we do with the added income of many more members? Well we I don’t mean maybe...might• send out the newsletter by first class mail…• increase the size of the newsletter…• launch into colour or even possibly color…• provide additional suppot for development projects in Nigeria...Andy PhilpotEditor.2 FON NEWSLETTER
FRIENDS OFNIGERIASUMMER 2003 Vol 7, No 4NEWSLETTERRememberingThe HONDA 50By Jack Finlay (03) 61–64I never had one. The Honda 50 came after our time asvolunteers. But we are connected, somehow, I think—if you canbelieve the following story. When Johnny Skeese (03) 61–64 andI returned from a year in Gabon in mid ’65, it seemed thatpractically every volunteer had one. We recall there wereaccidents—some even fatal, as we still remember a fallencomrade from those days. But the Honda 50 also provided agood deal of pleasure to volunteers of the 60’s. And we arecertain that many of you have a story or two to tell about yourHonda 50. Some of your as yet untold tales are no doubthumorous. Following early accidents, we recall that Peace CorpsNigeria issued certain strict rules—one being that any volunteercaught riding his or her Honda 50 without a helmet would besent home. Does anyone really know if any PCV was sent homefor such an infraction? We do not, but we do know of onevolunteer who had to use his Honda when there was no helmeton hand. As he told it, he went to the kitchen and obtained ametal pot which he placed over his head. He then drove the 15–Johnny (l) and Jack (r) at the Ghanaborder with the Ivory Coast.Sweet young thing: Are you applying for the Peace Corps?Macho man: No way! You have to wear a helmet.20 km required of him at the time—in the hope that, in theevent caught, his “effort” would be considered and leniencyapplied to this strict helmet rule. If the chap involved is “outthere,” rest assured that at least this one of your stories isremembered.But our story is perhaps linked to the origin of the Honda50—or so we have come to think. Back to the beginning. Whenwe—i.e. Nigeria (03)—arrived in December of 1961, Nigeria(01) was on hand at the Lagos airport to greet us. Remember—Nigeria One had gone to the country long before the rest of us.In fact, though Ghana (01) received all the attention (and Whitehouse sendoff), Nigeria (01), I believe, was the very first PCVgroup overseas! But, of course, they went there (after a couplemonths at Harvard) for continued pre-service training at theUniversity of Nigeria at Ibadan. In the meantime, we started ourstateside training at UCLA in August ’61. Both Nigeria(01)and(03) began their PCV teaching assignments in January 1962.Nigeria (02)(University of Nigeria at Nsukka folks) was thereforethe first PCV group to actually begin work in Nigeria havingarrived for duty in the fall of ’61. In those days, there were no(Continued on page 9)SUMMER 2003 3
Page 1: July 1, 2003$PricelessTEMPUSJ.F.K.T
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 and 12: (Continued from page 1)Remembering
Page 13 and 14: Memories, Fond and OtherwiseThe tem
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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