Archive - August 30, 2023

By Susan E. Greisen (Liberia 1971-73, Tonga 1973-74) 26 August 2023     I have always been skeptical of habituating wild animals to humans. I’ve seen the damage this has done to the bears in the National Parks in the 60s when I vividly remember traveling in Yosemite as a 12-year-old with my family. Dad encouraged us to crack our car windows to feed bread to the bears…and, so we did. We have home movies of this insanity. Over ten years later when I tent camped there again as an adult, bears were rummaging campgrounds to access the campers’ delicacies. That night armed rangers roamed our campsite tranquilizing the bears as they ripped open a Fiat convertible seeking store-bought food. The damage humans have done is evident. My third blog on Rwanda provided me with another great lesson about humans and wildlife.   Now, 60 years later, what good would . . .

  Ursula Foster (Uganda 2001-03 & 2010-12) will read from her book, From Gulu With Love, and share about her time working with the Peace Corps in Uganda at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 at Revelation Vineyards, located at 2710 Hebron Valley Road in Madison, Virginia. The native of Esslingen, Germany, now a resident of Madison, has traveled the world to create “Völkerverständigung” (understanding between nations). She firmly believes “if we get to know each other, we would see each other as fellow humans and not as enemies,” according to a business release. This belief led her to spend time, in her retirement, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda.  “As a Peace Corps volunteer I had the opportunity to live alongside Ugandans pretty much in the same way they live, to become a part of their everyday life,” she said.  The things she values most from her time in . . .