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Elizabethtown College held a lecture about the Teachers for West Africa program Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7p.m. in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies’ Bucher Meetinghouse. The two speakers were retired English literature teacher and pedagogy professor Quimby Mamula and her husband, retired physics professor and college administrator Milosh Mamula.
According to Director of the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking (CGUP) and professor of history Dr. David Kenley, both were former teachers of the “Teachers for West Africa Program” (TWAP) in Lagos, Nigeria from 1965-1967. “TWAP was created by Elizabethtown College and funded by the Hershey Company,” Kenley said.
Prior Etown President A. C. Baugher (1893-1962) created the program for the College. Since the program began, Etown and the Hershey Company have sent more than 250 teachers to West Africa to teach a variety of subjects, such as English, French, math and science, in secondary schools. The program lasted from 1962-1972, and not only provided education to students but was also a way for the Etown community to give back. The teachers were sent to communities from which the Hershey Company often receives its supply of cocoa beans.
During the presentation, Q. Mamula and M. Mamula discussed their experiences of both teaching and living in Africa.
“They spoke a lot about their love for their students and Nigerian colleagues,” Kenley said. “They also shared some of the struggles of the political chaos during their tenure.”
One of the political tensions that occurred during their time there was the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) which forced them to return home. According to Kenley, throughout the presentation “they shared photos, cultural artifacts and personal stories.” Q. Mamula and M. Mamula were married before going to Africa and their daughter was born there. The lecture was free and open to the public.
Prior to the lecture, there was a banquet in Q. Mamula and M. Mamula’s honor with President Cecilia McCormick in attendance. Accompanying the lecture, the High Library featured an exhibit located in the Innovation Design Expression Art (IDEA) Lab. The exhibit lasted through the month of February and expanded on the information presented in the lecture, including podcasts and digital archives created by Etown students to help preserve past decades as we are now moving into a more advanced technological world. The exhibit ended Friday, Feb. 21.
These podcasts and archives were created by students enrolled in the Mellon Grant funded course Archival Resources and Digital Humanities. The course was co-taught by Etown archivist Rachel Grove-Rohrbaugh and Kenley in the fall semester. In this course, students researched archives from the TWAP and interviewed teachers from the program to get material for their podcasts.
The event was sponsored by multiple campus organizations including the CGUP, the High Library, Alumni Affairs and the Honors Program.
According to the CGUP website, the center aims to create and oversee programs that advance “global understanding, international engagement and non-violent conflict transformation.” They want to foster students and faculty to have a broader knowledge of global issues, to be sensitive to other cultures and to be committed to values of peace and social justice.
The next event they will hold is a film screening for the documentary titled “Peace One Day” featuring Ware Lecturer Jeremy Gilley. In the film, Gilley talks about how his big idea for Peace One Day was formed, adopted by the United Nations and is now celebrated annually Sept. 21 as International Peace Day. The event will be held Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Brinser Lecture Room located in the Steinman Center.
