Lives of Consequence
E. John White III ’66, P’94
Retired Principal and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer
For years, E. John White III ’66, P’94 and his wife Kathryn P’94 have supported the Connect Africa Foundation, a grassroots organization that underwrites orphans’ educations, disperses funds for micro-loans, and provides classes for adults. In September 2014, with five other Connect Africa supporters, they visited Uganda, to meet the students they sponsor.
The Whites married soon after graduation and served as Peace Corps educators in the Philippines. Upon their return to the U.S., White taught sixth grade in rural Virginia. “The typical sixth grader is about 10, but in my classroom ages ranged 10 to 17,” he recalls. “What we learned along our way in Philippines, and then as teachers, is that if you really want to make a difference in the lives of poor kids, you want to connect with them as early as possible.”
After earning his master’s degree at Oberlin College, White continued to teach, shifting his focus from middle school to first grade. He later served as a principal for elementary schools in Lake Forest, Ill., Buffalo N.Y., and Grosse Pointe, Mich.
A U.S. history major at Hobart, White says that during his time as a student, “being an educator was not on my radar.” He remembers, however, a service trip to a state-run home for children with disabilities. “I spent a few times there and was overwhelmed with the contrast with the life I had and the lives these kids had,” he says. “It was difficult and stuck with me. It’s been there as I’ve gone through life.”
Now retired, he and Kathryn, an Episcopal priest who graduated from Wells College, first became involved with the foundation through their church. In the years since, they have supported three students to attend Uganda’s Mengo Senior School, which was founded in 1895 by the Church Missionary Society of the Church of England (now the Church of Uganda), making it the oldest school in the country.
Now, having been to Uganda, the Whites are “all the more committed to Connect Africa. We’ve increased our giving on specific projects, worked with the director, and told our story in schools to show our own kids a little bit of perspective about life in a different country.”
“In Uganda, like in other Africa countries, a whole generation was wiped out by AIDS,” White explains, noting that the orphans of that generation are often cared for by grandmothers. “Connect Africa specifically provides tuitions for kids to go to school, school placement, and micro loans for a lot of the grandparents taking care of the kids. For $25 or $50, you can really do something to make a difference.”
With the support of donors like the Whites, Connect Africa works with villagers to improve their lives, providing crucial financial support to the guardians of orphans to start their own businesses and for students who have no other means of obtaining an education.
“These kids were five to 10, an age group I’d spent my life reaching out to and teaching,” White says, “and to see the poverty -- that was hard. What made it more challenging was that we had the opportunity to know a lot of these kids.”
White sees supporting the foundation as a natural outgrowth of his and Kathryn’s lifelong commitment to education. On the trip to Uganda, they and the other volunteers brought with them about 500 pounds of books to help organize the school’s new library with students.
Reading to the students, seeing them explore the new space, White says that for him and Kathryn, “the fundamental takeaway” from the trip “was our deep gratitude for who we are, the life of privilege we’ve had. It was inspirational to see these families, these kids who are eager to learn, highly motivated, and committed to their studies."