Amanda Moore
Reporter

Dr. Ruth McDowell Cook hopes to return in one piece with all limbs properly attached. She prays that she won’t encounter any unidentifiable furry objects or find any creepy, crawly creature cohabiting with her in the apartment.

“The first time I see a bug or a mouse or a spider that I can’t identify, I’m going to be a little bit distraught,” said Cook.

Next semester, Cook will spend her sabbatical at Africa Nazarene University, a small college located 24 kilometers outside of Nairobi, Kenya, learning about a culture entirely different from Milligan’s East Tennessee culture. While in Africa, she will research two native African authors and teach two English courses at ANU.

A sabbatical is a leave of absence for a semester from teaching obligations to a college or university. Every seven years, professors are allowed a sabbatical, but it must provide time for professors to rest and do research in relation to their teaching area.

Cook’s sabbatical is a unique opportunity because it’s the first and only sabbatical she will have, having taught college for 35 consecutive semesters.

The research component of Cook’s sabbatical includes studying Nobel Prize-winning authors Nadine Gordimer, author of “The House Gun” and “Burger’s Daughter,” and J.M. Coetzee, author of “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Life and Times of Michael K.” Both authors wrote about Africa during apartheid, the rule of a white government and explore the effects it has on the people of South Africa.

“I could’ve stayed here in Jonesborough and just imagine what it is like in a third world country and struggle against the remains of colonialism,” said Cook. She said she chose to go to Nairobi because being in a third world country helps to understand the life the people in those countries live.

She also chose to go to Africa to fulfill a childhood dream. “When I was a little girl, praying for people in other lands, missionaries, blah, blah, blah, it was always Africa that I prayed for. It instilled a desire within me to know more about Africa,” she said.

Cook will spend 17 weeks - from Dec. 31 to April 29 - at the 124-acre campus in the middle of Maasai plains. The scenery provides all the natural beauty necessary for serenity and relaxation.
The campus is surrounded by a protective wall and has a guarded gate, which as Cook said, “Gives me a little bit of a sense of security.” The 11-year-old college has approximately 700 students, representing 18 different countries.

Since English is the students’ second language, Cook will not need to learn their language to communicate with them. Cook will teach eight hours a week at ANU. She plans to teach a literature course that includes mostly Kenyan literature and a basic grammar course.

“One of my goals is that I could bring my enthusiasm for literature into that arena,” she said. “To help general education students appreciate literature will be a challenge, but I think I can do that.”
Cook has several goals outside the classroom as well. In addition to her research, she plans to do some personal writing and reflecting. She also wants to learn about the culture in which she will be living.

“I want to get to know the people and get to know their way of life and what’s important to them and how they look at the world,” she said. “I’m hoping to get into the rhythm of the African culture.”
 

“One of my personal goals is to chill out,” said Cook. Since her mother’s death last spring, Cook has felt the need to withdraw from the hectic pace of life and take the time to relax. She hopes that this trip will allow time for some much needed rest and relaxation so she can be more active in campus life here at Milligan when she returns; perhaps she will teach the campus some African hymns and dances she learns.

Her time in Africa will also provide the opportunity for some introspection. “It will be a time of withdrawing from life as I have known it for 17 years (as a college professor), and trying to figure stuff out about myself and the world and why I’m such a bleeding heart at my age.”

“I just need to be apart with the Lord … to get to know Ruth in the sight of God, to hear the Lord’s voice,” she said. “What is it that the Lord expects of me and my life?”

Nearby the college is a day school for AIDS orphans run by a man to whom Cook has donated money. She would like to spend time volunteering there on the weekends, helping feed the children or just being “hands-on.” Cook said, “There are just so many possibilities, but none of them are clear to me yet.”

Although she plans to occasionally participate in some touristy activities, most weekends she will just get her sack of groceries from Nairobi and read or write in the solitude of her apartment without the voice of the television in the background, and hopefully without any furry or creepy, crawly friends.
“I’m looking forward to a simpler thought life,” she said.

All bugs aside, Cook’s trip to Africa will provide time for her to fulfill many goals on a campus on the other side of the world where, as she would say, “they love Jesus the same as we do here at Milligan, which is lovely.”