Group XXII description
From Rpcvdraft
| Nigeria Group XXII | |
 FON.org | |
| Group description: | Teachers |
|---|---|
| Service years: | 1966 - 1968 |
| Number of volunteers : | 75 |
| Trained at : | Boston University |
| We were stationed in the North | |
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Our group was great.
Contents |
Training
Group 22 trained at Boston University beginning the third week in June, 1966, ending mid-August.
The Director of Training was Bill Southworth (see message reference), and the staff included:
The political scientist A A Castagno of BU, (see reference link) who provided an academic view of Africa.
The Hausa expert John N Paden, who had lived in Kano, gave lectures on Hausa culture, including the very useful advice that, to learn proper pronunciation, listen to the Hausa kids, since they speak more slowly and clearly. Link for more about John.
Sam Adams, an RPCV who had served in the Western Region.
Language instructors Ralph Fotheringham, Monty and Fran Bessmer
Hausa "informants" Haroun al Rashid Adamu, Zakari Kano, Felix Obinani, Benji Ishyaku
In the five years of Peace Corps existence, training seemed to have evolved from an early emphasis on survival skills (what the military nowadays might call "training the snake eaters"), to what was basically an academic program with some field experience in the Boston schools and a week doing community action in the then black ghetto of Roxbury.
A great strength of our training was the Hausa language/culture program. The instructors and informants used the book (then in manuscript form) by Charles and Marguerite Kraft, Introductory Hausa. (Material link) Language classes ran 4 or 6 hours per day, depending on other demands, and included a lot of time in BU's language lab. Most of us were amazed to find we could actually bargain in Hausa with the traders who showed up at the ambassador's residence in Lagos our first night in country.
Service
We served.
Service Started
We arrived.
Service Events
What was going on.
Service Ended
Our service ended
