 Hesston College chemistry professor Jim Yoder is pictured with the 2007-08 University of Swaziland Chemistry Department faculty members on the day he and Phyllis left Swaziland. "This is one of my favorite pictures," Yoder said. "These [people] now are all my wonderful, good friends." |
July 17, 2008
Jim Yoder, chemistry professor at Hesston College, says he and his wife Phyllis are thankful for the opportunity to spend ten months during the past school in Swaziland on a Fulbright grant. Yoder taught chemistry and supervised research for students at the University of Swaziland. The couple spent two years at the same institution 1979-81 while serving with Mennonite Central Committee.
“I am so grateful for this opportunity that resulted from my 35 years of teaching at Hesston College, our previous time in Swaziland, and the Fulbright Foundation,” Yoder said. “It was a dream come true.”
The couple arrived in the rural town of Kwaluseni, where the main campus is located, on August 8, 2007. They arrived back in Hesston May 30.
“We arrived over there about 10 days before classes started,” Yoder said. “But I didn’t know my specific assignments until a few days before classes began. That was both exciting and frustrating.”
During the first semester, Yoder collaborated with other faculty members on chemistry classes on all levels, involving lectures and lab supervision. He also taught upper level organic chemistry and supervised the research of three fourth-year students.
“The heart of my experience came during second semester when I had the full responsibility for 95 students in first-year chemistry,” he said.
“Halfway through that second semester, I asked students to evaluate my teaching,” he said. “The response was overwhelmingly effusive praise, which was unbelievably humbling and gratifying.
“Ninety-nine percent of the students are Swazi. My chemistry students were friendly, hard-working, and teachable, with a good sense of humor, I experience a lot of camaraderie with them.”
 Hesston College chemistry professor Jim Yoder (second from left) with several first-year chemistry students in the laboratory at the University of Swaziland. |
“Every student opting for this kind of research is hoping to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, an overwhelming, ever present cloud over that country and the whole region of South Africa,” Yoder explained, noting that Swaziland ranks number-one in the world with highest percentage of its population suffering from the dreaded disease.
“Post-natal testing of mothers reveals that one-third of mothers in Swaziland have AIDS,” he said. “AIDS makes you vulnerable to all kinds of other diseases and has overwhelmed the public health systems in that country.
“The government and medical professionals can’t keep up,” he stressed. “Life expectancy is below 40 and the middle-aged section of the population is disappearing, leaving orphaned and vulnerable children.” So grandparents step in to care for their grandchildren, and what orphanages exist are bursting at the seams.
Yoder also was involved with the same kind of phyto-chemical screening research at an advanced level, at the invitation of one of his faculty colleagues. “It was good to be connected with research at a graduate school level.”
Yoder developed many friendships with his colleagues on the university’s faculty. “The all-African chemistry department faculty members come from a variety of countries,” he said. “They are fine, dedicated, and helpful, as well as a forgiving bunch of people.”
Most discouraging for Yoder were several severe student disturbances with enough vandalism and threat to property that the university shut down twice during the first semester for a total of four weeks. “I and some of my faculty colleagues began to wonder if the whole school year would be cancelled,” he said. “And I found myself wondering---what was going to be the meaning of this year for me.
“Apparently, student unrest is quite common in Africa, especially Nigeria,” Yoder explained. “It usually emerges from student dissatisfaction with something. At our university, the disturbances weren’t entirely unjustified.”
Yoder and his wife Phyllis lived in a two-bedroom home that was part of staff housing on campus. “It was four blocks from where we lived during our MCC assignment 1979-81,” he said.
Phyllis, who had just retired from the nursing profession before they left for Swaziland, did not take on an assignment. “She enjoyed her role as homekeeper, doing needle work, and cultivating relationships with three Mennonite Central Committee young adults serving with MCC’s SALT program who were assigned to Swaziland for the year. She also kept me emotionally stable, especially during the hard times.”
 Dr. C.M. Magagula, vice chancellor (and CEO) of the University of Swaziland, presents Hesston College chemistry professor Jim Yoder with a gift of appreciation for his contributions during his Fulbright year at that institution. |
The other occurrence came at the end of the school year, when a student came to Yoder’s office. “My mother, a high school science teacher here in Swaziland, wants you to know that she was a student of yours back in 1980,” Yoder recalls the male student telling him. “She attributes her ability to stay in chemistry due to my teaching.
“So I found out that I had been teaching a second generation student,” he said. “That helped me realize that that’s what happens in education anywhere. But it was a bit unexpected, yet affirming, to see this occur in this context. It gave even more meaning to this year in a tangible and meaningful way, and makes it exciting to be an educator.
“In addition,” Yoder said, “I don’t know what the solution is to all of Swaziland’s problems, but I do know, that if there is one, higher education will have to be a part of it, and I am thus proud to have contributed to the educational process there.”
How will he be different now that he’s back at Hesston College? “The experience again increased my sensitivity to what it’s like to encounter another culture,” he said. “So I’ll be more sensitive to what international students experience in their classes with me.
“Broader than that,” Yoder continued, “I realized that the academic environment is a different culture to all students. Each comes with a different background and family, so each needs to be treated uniquely.
Finally, Yoder added, “I develop new curriculum and materials for my classes every year. But they’ll have a new unique flavor for the 2008-09 school year.”
He will present a paper on his Swaziland Fulbright experience at Indiana University’s “20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education,” sponsored by the American Chemical Society, at the end of July.
Yoder and his wife Phyllis will share highlights of their Swaziland experience with Hesston College alumni and friends Saturday evening, September 27, during the 2008 Homecoming Weekend banquet.
Yoder, a 1962 graduate of Hesston College, and a 1964 graduate of Goshen (Ind.) College, holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry (1969) from Indiana University (Bloomington).
Hesston College Chemistry Department