Peter Northrop Goes to Ethiopia

Peter Northrop is a modern day Odysseus. This 23-year-old, cut from the fabric of wanderlusts and do-gooders of the Nixon era, leaves Clinton for a nine-month teaching position in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the fall.

Northrop said he had always had plans of branching out.

“My whole life, I grew up in a small town,” he said. “I went to college in Willimantic, which is a stones throw away. I just always wanted to immerse myself in an unknown culture with different values.”

“I wanted a different experience than I would get in America, and even Europe,” he continued. “I want to experience something new.”

Northrop’s initial efforts towards multiculturalism were through a firm in China. But the offer fell through two years ago. This past January, he learned of an opportunity to teach spoken English and grammar to children in Ethiopia.

“When I heard about the program, I knew,” he said. “It’s a great cause and I knew I had to do it.”

Northrop will be teaching at St. Joseph’s School, an orphanage and Catholic school located in the heart of Ethiopia’s diplomatic center. The opportunity offers no pay beyond room and board.

Ethiopia has a large disparity of wealth; the rich students who attend St. Joseph’s pay tuition that allows the orphans to attend classes for free. The school enrolls roughly 1,500 students. Northrop will work with children from age 8 to 15.

This will not be the first time Northrop has taught young children. Over the last five years, he has served as a counselor at Red Barn Children’s Center in Clinton.

While attending Eastern Connecticut University, Northrop pursued a degree in psychology and a minor in education. He worked as a student teacher before dropping his minor to focus on his degree.

“One thing about going to college at Eastern,” he said, “there’s a pretty heavy Hispanic community there and I was working with a lot of kids who don’t speak English. I have experience [teaching someone] who is from a different culture and [speaks] a different language how to learn English.”

In preparing for the trip, Northrop, like any diligent traveler, has gone through the rounds of vaccinations and paperwork.

“I’m lucky,” he said. “The capital city is something like 9,000 feet above sea level. That’s the thing, malaria and yellow fever survive in the low-lying areas; they don’t survive at the altitude that the city is.”

Worried that he might still come off as a tourist, Northrop has started to immerse himself in Ethiopian culture. He has been studying a language book and engaged in conversation with diplomats from the area.

“I’ve heard nothing but good things about the culture and the people,” he said. “They’re supposed to be the friendliest, warmest people you’ll ever meet.”

Northrop recently visited Lalibela Restaurant in New Haven to acclimate himself to local cuisine.

“After having the food there, I am excited to eat all of their other traditional foods,” he said. “[It’s] the closest that you can get to traditional Ethiopian food and how to eat [it].”

By far, Northrop’s largest challenge in preparing for the trip has been in finding the means to travel to Ethiopia. To offset high costs, he has been working 50-60 hour work weeks to raise the $2,800 needed for relocation.

“My family is not wealthy or anything, we’re normal working class people,” he said.

Communication has also presented a challenge.

“It takes like two weeks to get a response sometimes from the school because they don’t have internet readily available all the time,” he said. “I don’t really hear back often.”

Northrop has been circumventing the issue with the help of the Morse family, who serve as diplomats to the area.

“They have been wonderful,” said Trish, Northrop’s mother. “They give awareness of children in need. They raise awareness of families in need. They are the most guiding, inspiring, and wonderful people because they’re walking along with us on this journey.”

Northrop said his parents’ reaction to news of his move has been, altogether, positive.

“I can’t say enough good things about my parents,” he said. “They’ve always taught me that no matter who it is, you treat everybody exactly the same. Whatever culture, whatever race they are, it doesn’t matter. Everyone should be like that; but you have to act on it—it’s not just saying the words, you've got to show you can do it.”

His mother's opinion has certainly been an influence in his decision to go.

“He really thought a lot about [the trip] and that’s what made it right for me,” said Trish. “He has it in him. I don’t know how else to say it. He cares about children and wants to make a difference in their lives.”

“I’ve seen him sit and talk with a child that no one else could reach,” she continued. “I’m really happy for him to have this opportunity. It’s an opportunity of his lifetime. Sometimes you have to let go and let your children fly, even if it’s to Ethiopia.”

Northrop is interested in staying on past his nine-month position, but, naturally, falls prey to the pressures of finances and his college loan deferment. He hopes to continue his dreams of multiculturalism with the Peace Corps following his term in Ethiopia.

It is rare to find a person Northrop’s age eager and relentless for the experience of global volunteerism. While this adventurous spirit has always been a part of Northrop’s DNA, it is perhaps his need to help others that has kept him on the move.

“Throughout his childhood and teenage years, if he decided to do something he did it,” said Trish. “Sometimes he was slow in doing it, but he did it to the best of his ability. That’s Pete in a nutshell.”

Clinton, small though it is, has instilled a strong foundation upon which larger-than-life dreams, like those of Peter Northrop, grow.

Northrop assures that though he will be far from home, he won’t be far from the people or lessons that give him strength.

“Growing up in a small town, I had a strong group of friends that I’ve hung out with my entire life,” Northrop said. “Not seeing them, not seeing my parents or my sister is going to be a big change. It’s not a bad thing at all—it’s a great thing.”

As the date gets closer, the excitement shows.

“There’s nothing that’s going to stop me,” he said. “For better or worse, it’s going to be a life changing experience. And I’m almost totally sure it’s going to be for the better.”

To help Peter Northrop raise funds for his trip to Ethiopia or to find more information about his itinerary, visit http://www.gofundme.com/petenorthrop.