The Access Program

When I was in Lubumbashi, I interviewed 18 people for 10 teaching position for the Access Program. Access is a U.S. State Department program that offers two-year scholarships to high school students all over the world to learn English. After Carole, T.C. and I made our final choices, Carole went about selecting the fortunate 100 students who would be given the full scholarships. She arranged for them to meet in central locations, ordered all the books and workbooks, trained the new ten teachers and has had the program up and running for 4 months already.

Dorothy was one of two women we chose as a teacher for the Access program. She was born in Equateur Province (North), Congo. Lived in Kinshasa for a time and then with her husband moved to the Lubumbashi area where she gradually completed her education in order to be an English teacher of secondary school students. She is going to be fifty this October. She has nine biological children, her youngest is thirteen, I believe. A step-child makes ten. Then there are the children of a neice who live with her. And her own grandchildren are living with her.

Well, having that kind of busy home life might be enough for one person, but Dorothy decided that she wanted to go on with her education, so she is in the process of getting the equivolent of a master's degree in criminology so she can be more effective in her work with women's rights. She was also selected to attend a six-week program in the U.S. in order to learn how to be a more effective teacher. She was the only person from Congo out of people from 28 countries. She is currently in Kinshasa waiting for her documents to be completed. Her flight goes out on Thursday. She has never been outside of Congo. I can't imagine what she is going to think when she lands in Hartford, CN., then is bussed to Amhurst, MA. After several weeks of study, they are flown to Wyoming and California. She is very eager for this new adventure and will never be the same because of it.

Photo: Dorothy from Lubumbashi.