No Hudsons Here!

SamJ

Our son Dave is in Mali, West Africa with the Peace Corps. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing his house there. He's been there since last August and will return in November, 2008. :cool:

Aaron D. IL

Sam I am about to join the Peace Corps and will be serving in Romania as an english teacher starting in May. I may just make it back in time for the 2009 National in MI. Hope so......that'll be one great 100 year party I don't really want to miss. Wish my best to your son....we need more altruistic people in our world.

[Deleted User]

Which one is the garage?

Geoff

ACtually, there could well be some Hudsons somewhere. My '53 Hornet came from South Africa, which had an assembly plant supplying the contintent with r.h.d. Hudsons from around 1934 to 1954.

Geoff.

SamJ

66patrick66 wrote:

Which one is the garage?

I don't think he has a garage for his bicycle, which he uses to ride 8 miles to the nearest town with electricity. He has no electricity, running water, etc. in his village. He does, however, have a cell phone...in West Africa they skipped land line technology and went right to cell towers. He has a solar charger for it. :rolleyes:

Unknown

SamJ wrote:

I don't think he has a garage for his bicycle, which he uses to ride 8 miles to the nearest town with electricity. He has no electricity, running water, etc. in his village. He does, however, have a cell phone...in West Africa they skipped land line technology and went right to cell towers. He has a solar charger for it. :rolleyes:

Sounds like a hard life, one which will undoubtedly built character. Has your son served the needy anywhere else?

Unknown

SamJ wrote:

I don't think he has a garage for his bicycle, which he uses to ride 8 miles to the nearest town with electricity. He has no electricity, running water, etc. in his village. He does, however, have a cell phone...in West Africa they skipped land line technology and went right to cell towers. He has a solar charger for it. :rolleyes:

I worked 5 years in Africa. I landed once at a jungle strip in the Ivory Coast about 4 years ago and was approached by a very young shoe shine boy. I was stunned when he answered his cell phone. An African friend of mine joked that the last words of every phone call in Guinea were "Hallo, Hallo!?"



Have a nice day

Steve

SamJ

Dave53-7C wrote:

Sounds like a hard life, one which will undoubtedly built character. Has your son served the needy anywhere else?

He has done short-term work projects in Thailand and Mexico. He also studied in Paris for 8 months two years ago. He's fluent in French, which is the common language in Mali...probably why he was sent there. I did some things to "build character" when I was his age...and guess what? Now some people describe me as a character.

Uncle Josh

I have a pic of a red pickup a guy had for sale in Africa about 4 yrs ago. RHD. Don't know what became of it.

Walt-LA

SamJ wrote:

Our son Dave is in Mali, West Africa with the Peace Corps. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing his house there. He's been there since last August and will return in November, 2008. :cool:

Sam,



Well, It's a long way to the Congo-DR, but there was a Hudson dealership there during the Belgian period..... at which time the country had over 30,000 miles of improved roads, and it was possible to drive from Burundi/Rwanda on the east to the Atlantic on the west....



What is your son's specialty? Walt-LA

Unknown

Since your son speaks French, maybe he could be of help in the Louisiana low country or to our friends in parts of Canada.

ArtS

Aaron D. IL wrote:

Sam I am about to join the Peace Corps and will be serving in Romania as an english teacher starting in May. I may just make it back in time for the 2009 National in MI. Hope so......that'll be one great 100 year party I don't really want to miss. Wish my best to your son....we need more altruistic people in our world.

Yes, that we do! Please accept my thanks and best wishes for practicing peace on a one-to-one basis. I nearly forgot about the Peace Corps program (circa 1961, one of JFK's accomplishments?) until a graduating senior working in my biomedical research lab at Ohio State gave notice that he was off to Africa to teach science with the Peace Corps. Right after getting his degree at the spring commencement! His Mom and Dad are a bit worried but his younger sisters think this is very cool. I have never seen a happier lad who truly believes he can make a difference. And he will. Happy to hear about the noble deeds of HET Club family members!

Aaron D. IL

Yep it was JFK who started the Peace Corps. Co. Shriver was its first head director. Volunteering is actually way up among my generation. A study I read said the general feeling among us is that we don't have the luxury of ignoring the state of the world currently and it is our responsibility to get involved in volunteering. I may not be able to change the world but I hope I can contribute a lot in a positive way.

Unknown

Since help seems to be going overseas, I'm getting the impression that the Peace Corps doesn't do any work in North America? Is that true or do they have programs that are helping the neglected American Indians, Eskimos, etc?

SamJ

Dave53-7C wrote:

Since help seems to be going overseas, I'm getting the impression that the Peace Corps doesn't do any work in North America? Is that true or do they have programs that are helping the neglected American Indians, Eskimos, etc?

The US in-country version of the Peace Corps is called VISTA - Volunteers In Service To America. :cool:

Unknown

I remember now. Thanks! I wonder why we don't hear much about them?

Aaron D. IL

VISTA and Americorps and Habitat for Humanity does work in America and Returning Peace Corps volunteers often serve as teachers poorer/underserved American communities as they work towards their masters degrees or teaching certificates in a program that addresses the fact that a lot of good teachers with the credentials have left those mostly inner city communities to get better pay elsewhere. Also returned volunteers go to schools and talk about the countries they served in to promote understanding of other countries here in America among Americans.

SamJ

Of course, there ARE Hudsons in Africa...we have Club members in South Africa and have run stories in the WTN on African Hudsons. However, where Dave is is very remote...no cars at all, just trucks, motorbikes and the occasional Land Cruiser. Here's a couple more photos...the mountain bike Dave uses ride 8 miles to town (PC volunteers are not allowed to have motorized vehicles, anyway) Dave in his "compound," writing a letter, and village children with their Tabashi (New Year's) new clothes. Hope I'm not boring everybody with this stuff...I'll stop now! :cool: