January 14, 1997
In my family tree there are many nationalities: Dutch, Danish, English, Irish, French, German and American Indian (Potawatomi tribe, Algonquian nation), and probably some more that I don’t know about. One of my most famous ancestors was Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island.
I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I received my early education. I am the oldest of six brothers. I had my fill of a house full of kids at an early age, so I haven’t been in any hurry to fill up a house with kids of my own.
I spent my summers in northern Michigan, hiking, swimming, water skiing, canoeing and having a good time. When I was old enough, I got a job in a tourist-type restaurant working as a cook and pie maker. We specialized in cherry pies and sometimes I would make 300 of them in a day. (Traverse City, Michigan is the Cherry Capital of the world!!)
After graduating from high school I went to Michigan State University. My original major was electrical engineering, but what I really wanted to be was a teacher, so after coming to my senses I changed my major and graduated with a B.S. in Social Science/Education. I had minors in Psychology and History.
I worked my way through school primarily as a cook. During my senior year I wanted to learn how to fly so I got a night job as a janitor and used the money for flying lessons. I got my pilot’s license about the same time that MSU gave me a sheepskin. Since then I have learned to fly hang gliders and parasails.
I graduated in the middle of an academic year and thought I had a teaching job lined up. The job fell through and so I went to grad-school for a while and then, through the Peace Corps, I was recruited by the United Nations to help with a nutrition program (all that cooking experience) in Yemen, which had just finished ten years of civil war and was one of the poorest countries in the world. Yemen was the only country in the Arabian peninsula that didn’t have any oil wells. They also didn’t have telephones, television, paved roads, or an airport in the capital city (they had one down by the Red Sea -- arriving passengers had to crawl over sand dunes to get to the shack that served as a terminal). What Yemen did have was some of the world’s friendliest people -- just like Hawaii -- good food, great weather and awesome architecture. The Yemenis were born to build. check out some old National Geographics in the Library or try my Yemen Page at http://www.maui.net/~daud/yemen.html. I fell in love with the place!!!
About six months after I got there, the Peace Corps decided to send some nurses and teachers to Yemen. One of those teachers eventually became my wife. We didn’t get married until 1989. We got hitched in the Blue Nile cafe in Alexandria, Egypt, after a honeymoon cruise on the Nile. (A story too long for this missive!)
After leaving Yemen, I traveled for six months, until my money ran out. I had already had a great adventure in East Africa, traveling overland from Asmara, in what is now Eritria, to Nairobi, then by train to the coast, and by boat to one of the finest islands in the world, Lamu. I circumnavigated Mt. Kilamanjaro, visiting all the game parks in the area, camping to save money; it was a truly unforgettable journey.
Anyway, back to my trip home from Yemen. I went to Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium, traveling by train, bus, boat and car most of the way. I guess I could write a book on my life from 1973 to 1975. I won’t bore you with more details at the moment.
I got home in late 1975 and entered the University of Michigan to finish my master’s degree. I ended up graduating from MSU (again!!--it’s a long story) with an M.A. in English, spent the summer of 1977 in Vermont working as a teacher-trainer for new Peace Corps volunteers and then got a job in Algeria, teaching English in their National Electronics Institute. From Algeria I did my usual amount of vacation travel and got to know Morocco and Tunisia.
I stayed in Algeria for three years, then stopped in Portugal on my way home. I found a job at the American Language Institute in Lisbon, and spent a year there. Then I got a job at the University of California at Santa Cruz and worked there for a little over two years.
In 1983 I went back to Yemen with Eastern Michigan University. I stayed in Yemen when they left (1985) and worked for Oregon State University (1985-1990), The Experiment in International Living (1990-1992) and then got a job with the Peace Corps again, as their Associate Director in Yemen in charge of their education programs. I did that until civil war broke out again in Yemen in May 1994. After the pleasure of three days of bombing, shelling and rocket attacks, my family and I (along with several hundred other foreigners) were evacuated on American military C-130s, which had flown in from Saudi Arabia.
Later in 1994, after the Peace Corps decided not to return to Yemen, I went to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, to do a three-month teacher-training course for Peace Corps Volunteers. Turkmenistan used to be a Soviet Republic (Central Asia). Sorry I don’t have enough time to write a book on it now, but let me just say that Yemen is paradise compared to Turkmenistan.
After leaving Turkmenistan I joined my family on Maui, and wouldn’t you know, MCC was looking for English teachers. So here I am in my second semester of teaching English on the Valley Isle. In case you’re wondering “Why Maui?”, my wife was born here, and so, by the way, was my daughter. My daughter was born during the gulf war. The American government had evacuated all non-essential personnel from Islamic countries in case something should go wrong, so I was exiled on Maui for a couple of months and got to help with the delivery. We named our daughter Bilqis which was the given name of the Queen of Sheba. The area which is now Yemen was Sheba way back when, so Bilqis is a popular name there. See: http://www.maui.net/~daud/bilqis.html
With all the traveling I have done, you may be wondering what languages I speak. Well, my English is pretty good of course, I’m more or less fluent in Arabic, my French is passable, Portuguese is fair and I know some tourist Spanish, Italian and Swahili. I also learned a few words of Turkmen and Russian when I was in Turkmenistan. I guess now it’s time to work on Hawaiian, or pidgin at least.
Well, if you haven’t learned enough about me yet, I’m happy to talk anytime. It’s frustrating trying to reduce your life to two pages, isn’t it? I’ve enjoyed teaching at MCC so far and I’m looking forward to working with you this semester. Teaching isn’t just my vocation, it’s one of my hobbies (anybody for flying lessons?) Here’s to a good semester...!!!