The American Civil War 150th anniversary

Today is the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. I heard on the news yesterday that only 17 million Americans have family that fought in the Civil War. That is about 5% of the US population, which I find amazing. Although our family is an immigrant family (and we trace one branch back to the Mayflower), we had several great-great relatives who fought in the Civil War.

My Dada was 94 when he died in 1963. One of my earliest memories is of sitting on Dada's lap, smelling the pipe smoke and feeling like all was safe in the world. Dada was Walter Bennett (http://www.konvalinka.com.benhome.htm/). His Dad was Michael Bennett, who immigrated from Ireland in the 1830's and raised a regiment for the Civil War. Michael must of been quite some guy; fell off his horse and broke his leg on the way out of Brooklyn whilst leading his regiment to war. He did eventually make it to the War.

The Robertsons also sent some of their sons to the War. None of them died, but I don't think they had happy memories of the war. The library in Leyden Massachussettes was the result of one of the boys refusing the government pension for participation in the Civil War. When the Robertson's were young men (17 - 21), they joined a regiment that ended up in Louisiana, not a happy place to be.

When Joseph left for college, I could not sleep. I was so worried about him I would wake up at 3 am and not fall back to sleep. I kept telling myself this was a ridiculous emotional reaction. When his great-great uncles and grandfathers were his age (and in the 1860's) they were off fighting battles and in the malarial swamps of Louisiana; they managed to make it home. Being sent off to Amherst College was a picnic compared to that experience. And then Joseph decided to go to Africa!

The picture is: 1. The Robertson Library in Leyden Mass. and 2. The Mbinga Library in Tanzania that has the reading room named in honor of Joseph Lawrence Chow.

It takes a village

Hynek, our last au pair, came to the US last week and stayed with us. Hynek first came to us in March of 2001, and then he stayed in the US for several years learning how to teach. He is back in the Czech Republic now teaching. Before Hynek, Oz from Germany was with us, before that was Elian from France and before that we had Julia from Sweden. They all came to the US to learn English, and stay in the states for an extended visit. The boys learned how to interact with people who were learning how to speak English (very slowly), and about different cultures, and also many useful household repairs, like breaking broken windows and repairing holes in the wall (before Mom and Dad got home!). They also got driving lessons as they got older! They were so lucky to have these great kids come and teach them for a year at a time. The house could be a little wild, but there was alot of energy and fun. The au pair experience was great for us. Before we had au pairs we had Jennifer and Christine, two neighborhood girls who loved my boys. They were our babysitters and summer helpers when the boys were little. They have kids of their own now, and we still visit and go to significant family events. They loved the boys and also brought a lot of energy and and fun to the house.

FPCV web site

http://fpcv.org/volunteers/joseph-chow/?pid=264 This is the link to the Joseph's page on the fpcv web site. The site was started in memory of Jermiah Mack as the mom said in an email to me, people search for their loved ones on the internet; and this gives everyonea place to find them. Thanks so much for this site, at least I know Joseph is still out there.

Peace Corp 50th anniverasary

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corp. Through the Chow family, we are very connected to the Peace Corp. Joe's Aunt Myra served in the Philippines 1979-81; Joe served in Tanzania and now his cousin Morgan is serving in the Philippines. I doubt very many American families have as strong a connection to the Peace Corp. Last month I heard from a fellow fpcv mom. fpcv stands for fallen peace corp volunteer. It is not something to expect, someone to die in the Peace Corp, but it happens. 279 have died in service to their country. Joseph was not toting a gun, or using hand grenades. But he was on a mission for the USA, and he believed in our country, and our value system. He truly believed in what he was doing. Education, and showing the world the humanity of the US. And we saw that he was good at doing that. His students appreciated him, and felt comfortable; and he could approach anyone in Tanzania and discuss their daily life with them. And the Tanzanians loved it. Joseph, and the Peace Corp, represent America in every village that they serve in. When Joseph's coffin was led out of the church, we got to follow. As we exited the chapel, the bells were playing the Star Spangled Banner. Now, at every political, business, sport and academic event where they play the Star Spangled Banner, I put my hand over my heart and cry.

Serenity Prayer

I found this prayer on a laminated card in my Dad's wallet when he died in 1996. I took it, and have carried it for the last 15 years. Dad was not an alcoholic (though he did like his gin on the rocks with olives and onions- the Meltini!), but I think this prayer can be a guide through so many of lifes experiences. It certainly has helped me in the last 18 months.

God grant me the Serenity

to accept the things

I cannot change,

Courage to change

the things I can,

and the Wisdom to know

the difference.

Dad always told us not to dwell on things we could not fix. Wipe yourself off and go forward. Nothing has ever been as difficult to go through, but we are going forward.

Library

Today we heard from Mbinga; the books actually made it to the library! Now Ray has the next thousand books to send to Mbinga. 2,000 books, I hope thay have space for them all!

We will be in Mbinga at the library May 13-14 and hopefully they are not overloaded with books!

Thanks to Greenville Elementary school for doing the book drive, and to my employer, Celgene Corporation, which paid (and will pay) for the transport of the books to Tanzania!

Japan

I've been meaning to write a blog thanking the Japanese government for saving American Peace Corp worker Joseph Chow from starving in Tanzania. It seems like the Japanese need a positive story after the events of the last few days.

When Joseph finally got to Tanzania in January of 2008 he was nervous, and we were scared. He was originally sent to Kenya, and had finished his training and been assigned to a site in western Kenya in November 2007. However, political unrest caused the Peace Corp to close down the program. Unlike most of the other volunteers from Kenya, Joseph was "lucky" enough to get another Peace Corp posting - in Ndanda Tanzania.

When Joseph arrived in Ndanda, school was not in session, and there was not much for him to do. Unfortunately, his pay check did not follow him to Tanzania. He ran out of money the first month he was in Tanzania. We had to wire him some money (yes, one can still wire money!). When Joseph went to pick up the wire transfer at the Western Union Office in Ndanda, the clerk at first refused to give it to him because his id read "Joseph Lawrence Chow", not "Joseph Chow". We had to call Western Union in the US, who contacted the Western Union in Ndanda to get the money released.

Luckily, there was a JICO worker living in the next building from his, her name is Erina. Erina was so happy to have someone else in the village that she could speak with. She had been there for about 6 months, and was teaching chemistry at the school.

Joseph and Erina had dinner many nights, cleaned out labs, and tried to figure out how to teach together. I am sure Joseph did alot of ranting and raving, and Erina was a good listener. How she saved Joseph was that she fed him when he ran out of money. The first mistake Joseph made was lending money to a villager - he soon learned not to do that again. I think he said he had no money for about a week that time. Then in May he planned a two day AIDS awareness day at his school, with many other schools coming to the site. Joseph applied for, and got a US government grant, but the money had not arrived by the time the payments had to be made. Joseph emptied out his bank account to make the payments for the event - leaving him with not a penny to his name for two weeks. Anyway, these are only the times that he told us about running out of money. I am sure there were others! Thank goodness for Erina who would feed Joseph and loan him some of her hard earned money (the Japanese pay there young workers about twice what the PCV's get).

When I was in Tokyo a month ago I met Erina for breakfast, we had a nice talk, and she showed me her pictures of Ndanda. It is so important for us to stay in contact with his friends - it is a connection.

I wrote Erina today to make sure she was okay. She is in Tokyo and pretty safe - happy to be busy with work. Her parents city bore the brunt of a level 6 earthquake today.