The Erickson-Bismarck Plan

A Joint Student-Alumni Effort Successfully Aids Foreign Undergraduates

DARYL ERICKSON '63, a Dartmouth junior from Bismarck, N. D., has a strong conviction that international understanding can be fostered by giving foreign students at Dartmouth a chance to spend vacation periods in the home communities of undergraduates and alumni in different parts of the country. To that end he will be hard at work this term trying to develop a program that he helped to launch in a modest way last summer.

When Erickson and Kjell Johansen '64, also of Bismarck, learned that two of Johansen's classmates - Ephraim Aniebona, from Awka, Nigeria, and Amin El-Wa'ry of Jerusalem, Jordan - were to remain in this country for the summer without work or any special place to go, they invited them to come to Bismarck. With the help of a Dartmouth alumnus in Bismarck, John H. Hoeven Jr. '52, jobs with the state highway department and a local construction firm were arranged, and a plan was devised for having the visiting students live with several different families during their stay.

How the summer worked out, and what it meant to Aniebona and El-Wa'ry, is best told in their own words. Each has prepared a brief account, printed here:

It was not until three or four days prior to the beginning of the last summer vacation that I decided to travel from Hanover to Bismarck. Some of my friends in the College thought this was a wild venture, but I had quite a different view. I felt that by staying in one part of the United States I would never get an overall picture of this vast country. So, on receiving an invitation from Mr. Daryl Erickson to come and work in Bismarck for the summer, I seized the opportunity.

I travelled by car and train with a friend from Jordan and on June 10 we were in Bismarck. According to a Nigerian proverb which says that a chicken in a strange land stands on one leg, I stood on one leg for the first few days. But I found something that I had been used to: hot weather. Consequently, I often slipped into my national costume, which made people stare at me with great curiosity.

On June 14 I began to work for homebuilding Decker Enterprises. I enjoyed my work most of the time because it was varied. But my employment was not continuous. Owing to the terrible drought to which North Dakota, as well as some other states, was subjected this summer, and the consequent deterioration of business in the affected areas, Decker Enterprises could not help laying off most of its workmen. So I lost my job for a full month.

At the construction site I got to know nearly all the workers, and they made a great impression on me. I learnt from them what I could never have gathered from professors. I found some of them very intelligent and capable of fostering international relations better than whitecollar workers.

Perhaps the greatest pleasure I had was in my home stay. I lived with three different families at one time or another, namely the Hoevens, the Enges, and the Ericksons. I cannot find words to express the profound gratitude I cherish for these families. Participating in household life has helped me immensely to gain greater insight into the American people and their domestic maners. In my opinion, to be a temporary member of a family incomparably outweighs staying in a hotel for the summer.

I also had other experiences that are noteworthy. When I was in the secondary school, I once read a book called TheCircus Is Coming, which was all Greek to me because I did not understand how people could rope-walk or elephants could dance. So when I went to the circus in Mandan, I was thrilled by the intelligence of animals (including man), the death-defying feats of the acrobats, and the humor of the clowns.

The Rodeo offered me everything I wished to see about cowboys, and I appreciated their performance more after my first attempt at horse-riding on a cattle ranch near Forbes.

If I am asked to mention some of the best mothers at cooking in Bismarck, I think I can make a fair try even though I do not wish to imply that I am a gustatory connoisseur. I really enjoyed most of the dinners and picnics that I attended while in Bismarck, and I must compliment my fellow foreign student from Jordan, whose pleasant nature gave great warmth to every such occasion.

There was, however, one misconception some friends of mine had about my vacation. They entertained the notion that I did not enjoy the summer because I was jobless for more than four weeks. Well, as far as making good money was concerned, the summer was a partial failure for me. But friendship and experiences are worth more than money.

Thus by leaving that city for college again, I know that I left behind many friends and acquaintances, some of whom I hope to see again when I go there next, before I finally leave this country for my home. For their hospitality and generosity, I have nothing more than innumerable thanks to offer in return.

When a young man leaves his country to go to another for education, believe me, he means to get the best out of it. One of the most interesting things he would like to observe and study is the people of that country: how they live, how they feel about things, how different they are from the people he grew up with. Living on a college campus surrounded by students, I am afraid, does not help him very much; in fact, I dare say it might give the wrong impression.

I always wanted to get out of the small area commonly called the campus (except for Harvard where it is strictly known as the yard, and to call it campus is an unforgiveable sin). I wanted to get out and see the real American - the American who is not in a book or on the screen. My chance came this summer when one of my friends from Bismarck helped me get a job there, and another invited me to stay at his house.

I didn't know what to expect from this experience, but fortunately everything went all right and I passed one of my nicest summers. In Bismarck I found a home. Indeed I found N. D. quite a bit different from N.Y.C. Friendliness seemed to beam all over, I liked the sincerity, which was fairly common, and the way everybody respected everybody else's opinion and freedom to do whatever he wanted.

After what I've seen and heard, I think that if diplomats could contact the people as well as we can, then understanding would easily be achieved between two peoples. But what happens in most cases is that they see and meet and eat with one and only one type of people: persons masked with diplomacy. I talked with some people in Bismarck and we seemed to understand each other fairly well. Each one had his own problems, but one goal was common for both: prosperity and peace on this earth.

Family life was not that different after all. I had always had the impression of a very loose relationship between parents and children, but I found out that this was a rather exaggerated thing, and that there is still the respect, which I should call mutual, between parent and child. And I sort of liked this change from what I am accustomed to see around me: the very strong ties between not only parents and children but also related families. I feel that there should be more freedom in those circles because I am sure this helps develop the mentality of the children by making them depend a little bit on themselves to solve some of their problems.

Photographed in Bismarck, N. D., this summer are Ephraim Aniebona '64 of Nigeria (seated), John Hoeven '52, Amin El-Wa'ry '64 of Jordan, and Daryl Erickson '63, who had an active part in vacation arrangements for the foreign students.