Pag« 22 Section II Portland Obaorvar. Tburaday. Juna 2S, iggo
Our three graduates-------------------------
The Observer is proud to feature our
three graduates: fu n g a l K um bula,
graduate o f Portland Stale University;
Spencer Barrett, graduate of the Univer
sity of Portland; Terry Lynn Robertson,
graduate of Wilson High School.
TERRY LYNN ROBERTSON
FU N Q A I K U M B U L A
Fungai Kumbula has completed the first step in his
long effort to prepare himself to help build the new
nation o f Zimbabwe.
Born in Harare, Zimbabwe on June 18, 1954. Fungai
is one o f ten children, seven boys and three girls. He at
tended mission schools, but when he was ready to begin
college there was no school fo r Black youngsters.
Fungai was accepted by Fourah Bay College in Sierra
Leone, but the scholarship fell through. His goal at that
time was to study English and English Literature. He
taught school - history, math, geography and English -
for two years. History was a problem. “ I told them
what was in the book, but 1 told them the truth too.
Active in the underground movement to liberate
“ Rhodesia,” Fungai was selected to leave the country to
go to school. “ Some were to go to get m ilitary training
to liberate the co un try; others were to go fo r an
education to build the new nation.” In excess o f 10,(MM)
students have been educated abroad and are returning
to the newly liberated Zimbabwe. Most were provided
scholarships by the United States, private organizations
or schools, but Fungai was not so lucky.
In 1972 he received word from his brother, Dr. Ten-
dayi Kumbula, that he could come to Los Angeles to
study. Because Rhodesian passports were good only for
travel to Botswana and South Africa, Fungai obtained
permission to go " v is it" in Botswana, where he ob
tained a British passport and a U.S. visa. Afraid to take
the papers back to Rhodesia, he left them at the
American embassy and went back to say goodbye to his
fam ily. When he was ready to leave, he asked for
another pass to "v is it” Botswana, but was given per
mission to stay for only seven days. " I was on a seven
day pass from 1972 until the Ian Smith regime fe ll."
Others who returned home after leaving under similar
circumstances were kidnapped at the airport and never
heard from again.
Fungai arrived in Los Angeles in September o f 1972
and attended Los Angeles Adult School to take science
and math. He had decided to major in science in order
to be o f greater benefit to his country. He attended LA
Southwest College in pre-pharmacy for two years., then
could not raise the money to continue.
He saw a notice announcing that Portland State
University was seeking foreign students students and
would provide scholarships, so in 1976 he came to Port
land.
At PSU he switched to Medical Biology. Money con
tinued to be a problem - his scholarships didn’t continue
and he couldn't work on a student visa. This delayed his
education for another year, but last fall he returned to
school and has now completed the requirements for
graduation -- but he will not receive his degree until he
can pay the remainder o f the university fees.
Now that Zimbabwe is free, Fungai hopes to visit his
family in 1981. He will go to Edmonton, Alberta that
tall where he will teach and continue his education. His
goal is to do research in tropical disease, a problem
neglected by the colonial regime.
Fungai has been an active supporter o f A frica n
Liberation while in the U.S., working with the AFSC
Southern Africa Program, speaking and writing. He
began writing when he read an article on Africa in the
Oregon Journal, written by Ronald Reagan. " I called
the editor and asked how they could print such lies. He
said to write an article and they would print it. I did and
they put it on the editorial page, so I ’ ve been writing
every since.”
Fungai has written a regular column in the Observer
since September o f 1976 and can be seen on Art Alexan
der’s program TCB, on Channel 10.
Of his country, Fungai said, “ I ’ m so glad the past
finally is resolved and that at last 1 can talk about my
country with pride and not with bitterness.
" I am now a citizen instead of a nobody in the land of
my birth. I am most encouraged by the styles of the new
. •
• at a
/ v- i «sir
FUNGAI KU M BU LA
government has taken to build a unified Zimbabwe. The
nation has a great future.
“ Zimbabwe to me signifies the beginning o f what
Nkruma was talking about - a United States o f Africa.
We will be trying to work, not just with Zimbabwe, but
all o f Africa to build an economy a giant o f its size and
population entitles it to be.
"Z im b a b w e w ill have a m ajor impact on South
America. We hope to see a liberated Namibia and a free
South Africa by the end o f the decade.”
Terry Lynn Robertson is a 1980 graduate o f Wilson
High School, where she majored in business. In ad
dition to the required courses Terry took all the business
courses offered - business math, business English, ac
counting, typing, short hand and office experience.
" I like office w ork,” she explained. " I like to answer
the phone, type, file and all o f the other office work. I
enjoy working in different offices and learn something
new from each. They have different procedures and
ways o f doing things.”
Terry plans to attend Oregon State University this
fa ll, m ajoring in Business A d m inistration. She w ill
minor in fashion design, with hopes o f someday having
her own fashion design business. “ That will just be a
m in o r," Terry explained. “ 1 love to draw and have
always wanted to be a designer, but I don’ t think there
are many Blacks in that field.” She also might try ar
chitecture.
Terry attended Eliot, Holiday and King elementary
schools, then in the fifth grade was transfered to M ult
nomah where she graduated from the eighth grade.
During her grade school years she was busy with school
activities, including sports.
At Wilson, Terry “ just went to school, with no school
a ctivitie s.” She enjoyed Wilson and feels that she
received a good education. “ I was way out there — so
far away in the white-man’ s boon docks - that there
was no place to go. I f I had gone to school in the neigh
borhood, I would have been involved in all kinds o f
things and wouldn’ t have spent as much time studying.
“ The people you hang around with make a lot o f d if
ference. The people I knew at King all went different
places. We never got together again.
“ I enjoyed high school. I was already out in the white
world at Multnomah, but Wilson was totally different
than anything I knew. I think 1 profited from it . "
VOUR RCHICVEmCRT
Albertsons