Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Walter and Tina
I have been privileged throughout my life to have met some extraordinary people.
The nature of my television career has brought me into contact with many celebrities, the famous and “wannabe” famous, but the folks I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones I call “special.” These are folks who through actions, spirit and faith make this troubled world of ours a better place. From time to time I’ll tell their stories. First up are Walter and Tina.
My friends, Walter Brownridge and Tina Nader are two folks who are indeed “special.” Married 20 years, parents of two boys, they are exceptional people who are also “real.” By that I mean they are like all of us in having to deal with the day-to-day pressures of raising children, paying bills, dealing with separate careers and coping with our modern world. Like my family they are multicultural and multiethnic in background. They are, like mine, the “new” American family. But unlike mine, they are a “new” American family in Capetown, South Africa.
Walter is The Rev. Walter Brownridge, Canon Precentor at The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr in Capetown. Walter’s an interesting guy with a background that is somewhat unusual for an Episcopal priest. A Georgetown Law School graduate, he’s been an officer in the United States Marine Corp, a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department and General Counsel for the Chief of Police in Cleveland, Ohio.
But Walter had always felt the call of the ministry. That call became so compelling that in the mid-90’s he and Tina made the decision that he should follow his conscience, leave Cleveland, go to divinity school and pursue his ministry. Needless to say this meant a change for the entire family. Tina, an elementary school teacher, found herself changing careers, becoming a successful account executive in New York City and providing much of the family’s income while Walter was in school. Through it all, they both worked to maintain some sense of normalcy within their family, while also dealing with some fairly serious health problems with their oldest son.
We became friends after they returned to Cleveland, for Walter’s first pastoral assignment at a local church. Tina worked with the local PBS affiliate and I was producing a program for PBS. Introduced by a mutual friend, we discovered we lived within a couple of blocks of each other, out kids went to school together and as couples we had a lot in common. Our friendship was fast and lasting, so I was both excited and distressed when they told us that Walter had accepted a position with the Church in South Africa. Excited because I knew it was a long cherished dream of Walter’s to serve in South Africa, distressed because I would miss friends that had become very dear to our family.
Their transition was not without it’s challenges. Selling a house, finding a house, sorting through the paperwork required by government (U.S. and South African) and church bureaucracies and dealing with the inevitable complications parents must face when they move their children from the familiar surroundings of their neighborhood, school and friends.
To further complicate matters, the sunny August, 2003 day the family was to fly out of New York’s JFK airport to South African was the day of the Great Power Outage, shutting down much of the East Coast and Midwest for several days. Walter, Tina and the boys spent three delightful days stuck in JFK, no place to sleep, not much food, hot, cramped and miserable! When they finally got out, made their way through London and after nearly 30 hours of traveling, arrived in South Africa, they landed in the middle of the worst snowstorm to hit Capetown in seven years! Not an auspicious beginning.
I think of Walter and Tina frequently and we e-mail and talk as much as we can. I never cease to be amazed at their ability to be upbeat while living in a country that struggles with problems most of us cannot begin to imagine. A recent note from Tina reflected the frustration, spirit and optimism that speaks to who they are.
“I've been teaching English full-time in a black township....and Alec has been chronically ill.... I just cut back to part-time this week to get things sorted out with Alec's doctors and teachers...I've also confronted the administration of the school re: my position... I agreed to teach there because I thought they could get no other qualified teachers...When Alec was sick, they brought in several certified teachers from the community - who were very good. When I asked why none of these people had been asked to teach full-time, the reply from the white, female priest who sits on the board was that the parents only wanted a white teacher to teach English...Since then, I have been trying to educate the "powers that be" that it is far better to have a person from the community who is bilingual in Xhosa and English to teach in my place...They have just hired someone who started this week...I will continue to be involved on a part-time basis as a resource for curriculum ideas and a teacher trainer.
My daily 45 min. commute to the township has been wrenching and transforming...The poverty is reminiscent of what I saw on the Navajo reservation...but the density makes it all the more incomprehensible! One million people live in Khayelitsha....many are living in aluminum shacks and cardboard boxes with no running water and electricity...We rarely have phone or Internet access at the school because people cut and steal the telephone wires....Cattle wander around the streets amidst people bathing in washtubs and cooking over open fires...Disease is rampant....(I think I brought home several infections to my family)……....but, the children are irrepressible! They have ravenous appetites for knowledge and boundless curiosity! This is an Anglican school...the only private school in the entire township! (The govt. schools typically have 60-80 students per classroom!) The students feel privileged to be at St. Michael's and so give learning their all...Although it has been rigorous...it has also been a joy to teach them!"
Like I said, special people.
I have been privileged throughout my life to have met some extraordinary people.
The nature of my television career has brought me into contact with many celebrities, the famous and “wannabe” famous, but the folks I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones I call “special.” These are folks who through actions, spirit and faith make this troubled world of ours a better place. From time to time I’ll tell their stories. First up are Walter and Tina.
My friends, Walter Brownridge and Tina Nader are two folks who are indeed “special.” Married 20 years, parents of two boys, they are exceptional people who are also “real.” By that I mean they are like all of us in having to deal with the day-to-day pressures of raising children, paying bills, dealing with separate careers and coping with our modern world. Like my family they are multicultural and multiethnic in background. They are, like mine, the “new” American family. But unlike mine, they are a “new” American family in Capetown, South Africa.
Walter is The Rev. Walter Brownridge, Canon Precentor at The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr in Capetown. Walter’s an interesting guy with a background that is somewhat unusual for an Episcopal priest. A Georgetown Law School graduate, he’s been an officer in the United States Marine Corp, a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department and General Counsel for the Chief of Police in Cleveland, Ohio.
But Walter had always felt the call of the ministry. That call became so compelling that in the mid-90’s he and Tina made the decision that he should follow his conscience, leave Cleveland, go to divinity school and pursue his ministry. Needless to say this meant a change for the entire family. Tina, an elementary school teacher, found herself changing careers, becoming a successful account executive in New York City and providing much of the family’s income while Walter was in school. Through it all, they both worked to maintain some sense of normalcy within their family, while also dealing with some fairly serious health problems with their oldest son.
We became friends after they returned to Cleveland, for Walter’s first pastoral assignment at a local church. Tina worked with the local PBS affiliate and I was producing a program for PBS. Introduced by a mutual friend, we discovered we lived within a couple of blocks of each other, out kids went to school together and as couples we had a lot in common. Our friendship was fast and lasting, so I was both excited and distressed when they told us that Walter had accepted a position with the Church in South Africa. Excited because I knew it was a long cherished dream of Walter’s to serve in South Africa, distressed because I would miss friends that had become very dear to our family.
Their transition was not without it’s challenges. Selling a house, finding a house, sorting through the paperwork required by government (U.S. and South African) and church bureaucracies and dealing with the inevitable complications parents must face when they move their children from the familiar surroundings of their neighborhood, school and friends.
To further complicate matters, the sunny August, 2003 day the family was to fly out of New York’s JFK airport to South African was the day of the Great Power Outage, shutting down much of the East Coast and Midwest for several days. Walter, Tina and the boys spent three delightful days stuck in JFK, no place to sleep, not much food, hot, cramped and miserable! When they finally got out, made their way through London and after nearly 30 hours of traveling, arrived in South Africa, they landed in the middle of the worst snowstorm to hit Capetown in seven years! Not an auspicious beginning.
I think of Walter and Tina frequently and we e-mail and talk as much as we can. I never cease to be amazed at their ability to be upbeat while living in a country that struggles with problems most of us cannot begin to imagine. A recent note from Tina reflected the frustration, spirit and optimism that speaks to who they are.
“I've been teaching English full-time in a black township....and Alec has been chronically ill.... I just cut back to part-time this week to get things sorted out with Alec's doctors and teachers...I've also confronted the administration of the school re: my position... I agreed to teach there because I thought they could get no other qualified teachers...When Alec was sick, they brought in several certified teachers from the community - who were very good. When I asked why none of these people had been asked to teach full-time, the reply from the white, female priest who sits on the board was that the parents only wanted a white teacher to teach English...Since then, I have been trying to educate the "powers that be" that it is far better to have a person from the community who is bilingual in Xhosa and English to teach in my place...They have just hired someone who started this week...I will continue to be involved on a part-time basis as a resource for curriculum ideas and a teacher trainer.
My daily 45 min. commute to the township has been wrenching and transforming...The poverty is reminiscent of what I saw on the Navajo reservation...but the density makes it all the more incomprehensible! One million people live in Khayelitsha....many are living in aluminum shacks and cardboard boxes with no running water and electricity...We rarely have phone or Internet access at the school because people cut and steal the telephone wires....Cattle wander around the streets amidst people bathing in washtubs and cooking over open fires...Disease is rampant....(I think I brought home several infections to my family)……....but, the children are irrepressible! They have ravenous appetites for knowledge and boundless curiosity! This is an Anglican school...the only private school in the entire township! (The govt. schools typically have 60-80 students per classroom!) The students feel privileged to be at St. Michael's and so give learning their all...Although it has been rigorous...it has also been a joy to teach them!"
Like I said, special people.
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