In 1965-67, I was the Contractor's Overseas Rep for Syracuse University which had won the contract to train the Peace Corps teachers for Tanzania to replace the TEA teachers. Margaret Rose (Polga) TEA (IC) was my wife then, and our first child, Marin, was born there. My job was a little vague but, basically, as an ex-TEAer (Mzumbe Sec School in Morogoro, Tanzania, 61-63), I was supposed to ease the transition from TEA to Peace Corps because the East African ministries were not pleased to replace the older and more experienced TEA teachers with Peace Corps volunteers. (I used to joke that Sargent Shriver finally got to his brother-in-law, pointing to a world map showing only East Africa using non-Peace Corps teachers to make the switch.) As a further step to show the "bona fides" of Peace Corps's intent to work with the Tanzanian government, I was housed in the Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Education and not the Peace Corps office in Dar-es-Salaam. I visited schools, observed teachers, ran a few meetings and conferences but basically was a trouble shooter for the ministry if and when one of those "inexperienced Peace Corps teachers" ran into trouble. Thankfully, that happened very infrequently, and looking back on the experience, the transition from TEA to Peace Corps went smoothly.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.