Story posted Thursday, June 11, 2009
Feichter Back From Africa
Elk Grove Village trustee and globetrotting democracy educator Pat Feichter at the southern most tip of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean, at the Cape of Good Hope.
Elk Grove Village Trustee Pat Feichter is back on U.S. soil after returning from a weeklong trip to South Africa where he discussed democracy with fellow educators from Africa to Estonia.
At the conference Feichter discussed a possible return trip for Balkan educational leaders to visit Elk Grove Village and made plans to visit Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on an educational fact finding mission himself next fall.
Last year a delegation visited Elk Grove Village from Estonia through the Democracy Project, an international democracy education project funded through the U.S. Departments of State and Education.
Feichter and a colleague from Iowa will conduct a survey of Baltic residents comparing attitudes about democracy to a study conducted by a researcher 10-years ago from both residents who have participated in the program and those who have not.
"(We) toured a black township where the people lived in terrible conditions. Most lived in shanties," said Feichter. He said he saw incredible poverty and high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, AIDS infection and illiteracy.
The trip was not all depressing, Feichter added.
"Went to the Cape of Good Hope yesterday. What an experience! It was rugged and beautiful. On one side was the Indian Ocean with a memorial to Vasco DaGama and the Atlantic on the other side with a memorial to Barthalemew Diez, both famous sea explorers I first heard about in grammar school," said Feichter.
"The scenery was wonderful. There were seals, killer whales and sharks in the waters."
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