Old Letters Tell Tales From Tanzania
Retired professor compiles letters from years in the Peace Corps
www.thetelegraph.com
Harlan and Kathryn Bengtson taught in rural East Africa as Peace Corps volunteers in the mid-60s. A recently written book tells the stories they gathered while they lived there.
President Obama has called on Americans to participate in the nation's recovery by volunteering to serve. It's not the first time a president has asked "what you can do for your country."
President John F. Kennedy, in 1960, also challenged citizens to serve the U.S. "in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries" in a project that became the Peace Corps. And many have since answered that call.
Recently, after retiring from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2000, Dr. Harlan Bengtson and his wife, Kathryn, packed up and moved to Albuquerque.
Sifting through the usual accumulation of "stuff" from the past 30 or 40 years, Bengtson came across a packet of old letters. They were missives he'd sent to his parents when he and Kathryn served as teachers in the Peace Corps in Tanzania, East Africa, from 1965 to 1967.
Wanting to share the stories and the memories from those two very special years with their children, Bengtson transcribed the letters on his computer and compiled them as a Christmas present for the kids.
They loved it -- loved reading it and seeing a different side of their parents' lives. In fact, the former dean of the SIUE engineering school found that everyone he showed the letters to liked them, so he decided to take it a step further.
The project, with a few photographs added, became the book, "Tunakumbuka (We Remember)," which is now available from the publisher and from Amazon.com.
It just may inspire a new generation of Peace Corps volunteers, or put more people on track to answer Obama's call to service.
Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Bengston.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Chicago
Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 2:18 AM CST
