Coming to America Part 1

I CAME TO AMERICA JUST OVER FORTY YEARS AGO in August 1967. It all started with a telegram from the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) that showed up at my parents' home in Luanshya advising me that I had been selected to apply for a scholarship to university in the United States. A few months earlier, in December 1966, I had completed my secondary schooling with what was known as GCE 'A' level exams, a requirement for entry into British universities. I had not done particularly well and thus was not a prospect for university in the United Kingdom. Other options had not opened up and my parents, being missionaries serving God completely on faith, did not have great resources for me to draw upon. So I had given up on a university education and with my father's help applied to the Luanshya branch of Standard Bank (now Standard and Chartered) for a job (see picture above). The Chief Accountant, Mr. Tresize, hired me as a General Ledger Clerk and I enrolled in a correspondence course with the Chartered Institute of Secretaries (CIS) in London, which would eventually give me qualifications to help my career in banking.

But the telegram changed all my plans.

Before leaving Kabulonga School for Boys (formerly Gilbert Rennie) in Lusaka I had joined others in my class in filling out a GRZ application form for scholarships which might be come available for studies overseas. This telegram had been generated when such an opportunity arose through the African Scholarship Program for American Universities (ASPAU) sponsored by the African-American Institute (AAI) in New York.

I think my parents were in two minds about this possibility. It looked to be an answer to all our prayers for a post-secondary education but America was not part of our imaginings. Anyway, we decided to pursue the invitation and see where it led. I had always had an adventurous spirit and the prospect of going to America rather appealed to me. I took a few days off work and Dad drove me the twenty miles to Ndola to board the overnight train for the two hundred miles to Lusaka, as I had done each term for the final two years of high school. In Lusaka I joined twenty four other high school graduates to sit a test which would qualify us for university entrance in the United States. I assume now that the test was either ACT or SAT. I was the only white applicant although I was told others white students from my class had been invited to sit the test.

The next day, after the tests had been graded, nineteen of us were chosen to be interviewed by a committee of five people representing the African-American Institute and the GRZ. I had already indicated my interest in studying geology because I had enjoyed geography so much in school, I was aware of the need for geologists in Zambia's copper mining industry, and I knew that the young University of Zambia did not yet offer degrees in sciences so that was not an option. I do not remember many of the questions I was asked except whether I would enjoy interacting with American students at the university I would attend and what kind of books I enjoyed reading. I do recall the GRZ representative telling those of us interviewed that if we were not selected for a scholarship to America we would probably get a chance to apply for one to the Soviet Union in the weeks ahead.

The interview over, I decided to hitchhike home rather than wait for the overnight train back. I got myself to the northern edge of the city of Lusaka and managed to get a ride all the way to Ndola and then a couple more to Luanshya, arriving home by evening. I went back to work at the bank and never really gave much further thought to the pospect of heading to the US of A.

A few weeks later I received a letter from a college I had never heard of in a state I had never heard of - Carleton College in Minnesota. The letter welcomed me to the college for the 1967-68 year. Since I had heard nothing from the AAI representative in Lusaka I as not sure what to think. A friend advised me not to get my hopes up until I had confirmed it through the appropriate channels as "you can get some strange letters from America". I phoned the AAI lady in Lusaka and she confirmed the letter. So now I had to start really thinking about what this all would mean.

(c) 2008 roy kruse