Ruth (Musunu) Titi Manyaka ’69 keeps hope alive for some of the world’s most vulnerable people

Mileham, Mardi

English

Ruth (Musunu) Titi Manyaka ’69 keeps hope alive for some of the world’s most vulnerable people

DigitalCommons@Linfield

Linfield Magazine Volume 4 Number 1 Summer 2007 Article 12 Summer 2007 Keep the Spirit of Hope Alive Mardi Mileham Linfield College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/linfield_magazine Recommended Citation Mileham, Mardi (2007) "Keep the Spirit of Hope Alive," Linfield Magazine: Vol. 4 : No. 1 , Article 12. Available at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/linfield_magazine/vol4/iss1/12 This article is brought to you for free via open access, courtesy of DigitalCommons@Linfield. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@linfield.edu. When Ruth (Musunu) Titi Manyaka ’69 began writ-ing a young woman on the opposite side of the world, shecould not imagine how her life would change.Manyaka was reunited with her friends and mentorsAllen and Margaret (Cook) Anderson, both ’47, andfriend and former college roommate Carol (Smith)Hosler ’68 of Kearny, Ariz., when she traveled from Africato give the commencement address to the class of 2007.Calling Anderson her “spiritual father,” Manyaka said hewas instrumental in bringing her to Linfield College.  Manyaka, the daughter of an American Baptist pastorand a teacher, was raised at a mission station in the Congo.She began writing to Hosler, who encouraged her toattend Linfield. Anderson, the head of the Baptist YouthFellowship in Washington state, galvanized young peoplewho held car washes, mowed laws and organized garagesales and other fund raising events to help Manyaka attendLinfield.“The generosity of your hearts has continued tospread and we have touched generation after generationsince we left Linfield,” Manyaka said. After completing a biology degree at Linfield,Manyaka received a master’s degree in public health fromLoma Linda University. She later met and marriedRaphael Titi Manyaka, a graduate student in engineeringfrom Cameroon. Eventually they returned to Cameroon,where Manyaka taught biology at a secondary school inDouala, the country’s capital, and raised four children.Following her retirement from teaching in 1999, shefounded Women, Environment and Health (WEH), anon-governmental organization devoted to serving theneeds of the most vulnerable populations in LittoralProvince. This past January, she hosted a group of Linfieldstudents and faculty who worked with WEH in the localvillages. (See related story on page 12.)The goal of WEH is to address the basic problemsfacing rural communities in Cameroon. “Women are the core of every society, and that can-not be overstated in the context of the Cameroon,”Manyaka told the more than 5,000 people who attendedgraduation. “Someone has said, when you educate awoman you educate a nation.”Cameroon, located in the Congo basin of CentralAfrica, is rich in biodiversity and endowed with numer-ous natural resources.However, the people are poor and don’t benefit fromthe natural wealth around them. Many live on $1 a day orless. WEH is trying to help communities organize toimprove their lives, she said.“Poverty, ignorance and disease are the biggest ene-mies of Africa today,” she added. “We believe if we cancombat poverty, we empower people to fight ignoranceand disease.” WEH has organized an agricultural project forwomen, growing food crops and livestock and helpingfind markets for the produce as well as improving the dietof local families. They have identified 800 orphans andprovide school materials for nearly 400. They are traininglocal villagers to address common diseases such as malar-ia, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The biggest challengethey face is HIV/AIDS, Manyaka said, with many believ-ing that it is due to misfortune or evil spells. She praised Linfield Professor Sherry Archer, PortlandCampus Director David Groff and the 14 students whospent last January Term working with her and others, call-ing them Linfield’s ambassadors to Africa.“I believe these young people had an experience thatcannot be matched elsewhere,” she said. “Your coming toAfrica opened your eyes to a world different from the oneyou are familiar with. I challenge each of you this day toset a goal to serve mankind. No action is too small to gounnoticed. “Say no to prejudice, no to war, no to indifference,”she urged the graduates. “Make it your aim to touch atleast one life at a time. Keep the spirit of hope and com-passion as you go on life’s journey and never give up.”– Mardi MilehamRuth (Musunu) Titi Manyaka ‘69, left, was reunited at commencementexercises with Allen Anderson ‘47 and her former roommate Carol(Smith) Hosler ‘68, who were instrumental in bringing Manyaka toLinfield from the Congo. Manyaka presented the commencementaddress and then visited with a number of friends from her Linfield years. Keep the spirit of hope aliveAlumna tells graduatesThough founded prior to the American Civil War,McMinnville College’s place on the frontier insulatedit from that terrible conflict. No records have come tolight of any founders or students serving for either theUnion or the Confederacy. Oregon Baptists did splitbetween pro- and anti-slaveryfactions, with McMinnvilleCollege subscribing to theanti-slavery cause. The first recorded alumnito die during combat – BertieClark and Frank Hibbs – par-ticipated with at least 17 otherMcMinnville College studentsin the Spanish-American Warof 1898. Eleven nurses andtwo interns left the GoodSamaritan Hospital to providemedical services in that con-flict, as well. The First World Warfound McMinnville Collegegraduate and army LieutenantLeonard Hopfield, class of1901, drilling roughly 75 menfrom his alma mater for enlist-ment at the end of the springsemester of 1917. Roughly167 McMinnville Collegemen were veterans of theconflict, with at least six killedin the line of duty. GoodSamaritan sent off 103 gradu-ate nurses to Army hospitals,many serving in France.Mobilization for WorldWar II at Linfield was com-mensurate with the size and gravity of that conflictfor the nation. Over 500 alumni, faculty membersand trustees saw service, with 25 listed as dead ormissing in action. Nurses from Good Samaritanalso rallied to the cause, with over 100 enlisting. In1945, a liberty ship, the S.S. Linfield Victory, wascommissioned at the Oregon ShipbuildingCorporation in Portland.No records can be found of alumni lost in theKorean War, the first for which draft defermentsbecame available for college students. Films ofKorean War soldiers being treated for battlefieldwounds were shown during a 1952 chapel programto bolster Linfield’s turnoutfor the annual Red CrossBlood Drive. College draft defer-ments continued dur ingthe Vietnam War-era, butbecame controversial andwere ended by a draft lotteryamong all selective-serviceregistrants in December of1969.  By this time the coun-try was deeply divided onthe merits of the war, andthe student-rights movementcame to the fore at Linfieldas across the country.According to Linfield Bulletinrecords, which may not beexhaustive, at least five alum-ni died in Vietnam. Theywere Army Captain RichardGoss ’54, Army LieutenantRalph Leroy Williams ’62,Navy Lieutenant StephenRichardson ’63, NavyLieutenant Wayne AlanArmstrong ’63 and ArmyLieutenant Paul H. Eklund’63. Eklund received posthu-mous awards of the BronzeStar Medal and the SilverStar Medal.The most recent Linfield graduate to die indefense of country was Army First Lieutenant ErikMcCrae ’01, who died in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 4,2004. English Professor Lex Runciman published afitting tribute to McCrae in the fall 2004 edition ofThe Linfield Magazine.– Marvin Henberg(Editor’s note: This vignette provides a look back through 150 years of history as Linfield approaches its sesquicentennial in2008. Marvin Henberg, professor of philosophy, is writing an illustrated history titled Inspired Pragmatism: An IllustratedHistory of Linfield College. Barbara Seidman, dean of faculty, is editing the text and will write an afterword for the book. Itwill be available through the Linfield College Bookstore this fall.)This plaque, listing the names of Linfield students andalumni who were killed in World War II, used to hangin Memorial Hall. The name of Hubert A. Santo wassubsequently added. – Rob Reynolds photo reproduction2 0   -   L I N F I E L D  M A G A Z I N ELinfield in the war yearsApproaching the sesquicentennialS U M M E R  2 0 0 7 -   2 1

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