My Cuso International years were almost a lifetime ago.

Strolling Queens University campus, I stopped at a Cuso International sign and entered. Emerging into spring sunshine hours later, I realized that I had signed on the dotted line at age 24. I would fly to Nairobi, Kenya for two years in June. A crash course in Swahili and East African culture began in a month! I started teaching physiology to the first class of medical students at the University of East Africa’s Nairobi campus. I also made two good friends early on: a Scot, who persuaded me to buy and share an old Land Rover with his family, and the curator of Kenya’s National Museum, who began to include me on her frequent safaris to Kenya’s dusty corners.

Although I had gone to Kenya to teach, Africa’s people had much to teach me—valuable life lessons, which continue to serve me well half a century on. It took a few months to learn how to present a technical subject to students whose English-language skills could be weak. (English was a third or fourth language for many, just learned in high school!) I was asked to extend, ultimately staying four years.

On weekend trips to Kenya’s dusty hinterlands, I learned how people made a living in harsh environments. Once, tasked with collecting plants for the Nairobi Arboretum, I was assisted by two young lads whose claim to fame was the ability to speak Swahili. We spent four days picking plants in the area.

Rural blacksmiths were particularly fascinating. Using simple tools, they crafted agricultural implements, machetes, and spear tips. One pair of blacksmiths demonstrated iron smelting from charcoal and locally sourced ore. Their technique dated back 3,000 years to Meroë, Sudan, 1,000 kilometres to the north. Among the tools they made were small, precise tweezers for removing thorns. They also fashioned handsome jewelry of iron, copper, or al
I found rural Africans courteous and generous. They expected the same of me. I hope I did not disappoint. uminum, and could even make car parts if needed.