Today's Featured Biography

 
Brian Dsilva

On July 4th 1968, the D’Silva family arrived in Ames, Iowa from Bombay India. It included my parents, Arthur and Cecilia, and my brothers Adrian and Collin (AHS ’74). To say that it was a cultural shock was putting it mildly – moving from a large cosmopolitan fast moving city of a few million people to a small quiet town like Ames was not exactly what I had in mind.

However, my experience at Ames High during the 68-69 school year was one which I remember till this day. It impacted me in many ways – not the least of which was laying the foundation for me to better understand and appreciate not only Ames, Iowa but also the United States of America. It also provided me with the foundation to pursue my interests in the rest of the world and especially Africa. As I was only at AHS for one year, I did not have an opportunity to get to know many of my 363 classmates. However, I did appreciate the efforts taken by a number of them to make me feel at home, to teach me some things that I did not know and also expose me to some aspects of living in the US in the late 1960s. I do remember each and every one of my teachers and the administrators and am very appreciative to all of them for the knowledge they imparted and the experience of “learning”.

Some of the people that I remember and thank for all of their kindness –Charlie Ellis for taking me to AHS Friday night home football games (I had no idea what American football was before that); John Haas who was kind in so many ways including driving me home via Main Street where we stopped to listen to Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”; Ed Pier for a lot of great discussions and letting me experience not only sledding at the Country Club Hill, but then sliding on the ice as we hit an electric pole (in the car that he was driving) and escaped intact ; Ed Oslund for inviting me to the party at the end of swim season – that was my first experience in consuming a little too much on an empty stomach ; a friend who shall remain unnamed who showed me the difference in plants which grew wild in Iowa and those that at that time had potential “medicinal benefits”.

My most memorable class was Mary McNally’s Advanced Standing English Class. When we were studying the Bible as part of mythology she was concerned that I was not understanding the material and so one day asked me if I was familiar with what we were discussing– I politely told her that I was Catholic and so did know what was going on in class. I cannot leave this section by not talking about Mrs. Hutchcroft and the ladies in the cafeteria that I worked with every day, especially those who said that I had “dish-pan” hands.

It was only a week after graduating from AHS that I started summer school at Iowa State University and stayed there for 9 years.

While I knew that I had international interests, I never thought that going to Iowa State would sow the seeds of a career and life focused on Africa. For that I can only thank a great program that Iowa State had which was called SPAN (Student Project for Amity Among Nations). Teresa Beer from our class was part of this program and we traveled to Japan together. It was a unique study abroad program, which I was able to spend three, summers abroad – one in Japan, next in Ghana and West Africa and the last in India. My academic interests led to a BS in Computer Science and Economics. But it was the range of my extra-curricular activities at Iowa State, which taught me a lot – probably one activity was the annual Institute on World Affairs where students and faculty jointly designed and ran a weeklong program on current world affairs. How else would I be able to go to Des Moines airport and meet Margaret Mead and drive her to Ames for her lecture – and there were many more people – fascinating, some controversial but all instrumental in my lifelong education.

I had some great professors at Iowa State. Among them – Prof John Timmons and Prof Earl Heady. It was through Prof Timmons that I was introduced to the Sudan and a 38 year plus relationship through the trials and turbulence of the country --- and of course the birth of the new nation of “South Sudan”.

It was Prof Timmons who made sure that I got to meet John Garang a student at Iowa State from Sudan with whom I developed both a close friendship (1977-2005) and worked with him as a colleague at the University of Khartoum. He then went on to lead the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) , negotiated a peace agreement and culminated with being sworn in as First Vice President of Sudan on July 9 2005.

My work in Sudan began first as a Ford Foundation Visiting Professor (1982-84), and then with USAID (1987-90). This eventually led to me being part of the US Government team (2001-2005) that helped negotiate the end of a 23-year civil war in Sudan, the longest in Africa. This was part of a life learning experience that I cannot replicate nor forget. While at times it was stressful for my family (including my parents, wife and kids) – at the end of the day I felt that I had made a small contribution in bringing peace to this part of the world – only to be taught once again that overcoming long lasting hatreds caused by religion, ethnicity or any other factor cannot be overcome by a signed piece of paper. It did not take long after celebrating the independence of South Sudan on July 9 2011 (with my wife) in Juba Sudan, that I retired from the US Government in January 2012. Little did I imagine at that time that in less than 2 years the newest country in the world would descend into civil strife and a level of blood letting among its people which was not seen since Rwanda.

Fortunately, I have had other memorable experiences working and living in Sudan and South Sudan. Among these are the friendships that are still maintained over the last 35+ years. It is rewarding to see the next generation pick up the mantle in the fight for equality, human rights and recognition of the value of every human being.

My life focus on Africa would not have been possible without the contribution of my parents; and my wife Corinne Bormann who I met at Iowa State and married in 1977. We have shared our African experiences –for the most part good but we have had our share of difficult living conditions, transitions to and from the US and health issues which come up – no different than anyone else (probably the most difficult was the aftermath of the bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya in 1998 when we were living there and I was working with USAID).

Our children: Patrick lives in Boulder, Colorado with wife Emily and their son Caleb (3 and a half yrs); our daughter, Anna and her kids, Nolan (7) and Harper (5) live within a 30 minute drive of our home in Reston, VA. Both spent their formative years in Sudan and Kenya and enjoyed our travels to many parts of North, East and Southern Africa. Probably the most meaningful trip that I did was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with our son Patrick in 2000. He made it to the summit and I managed to make it up to 16000 feet. Our kids and grandkids are a constant source of joy and of course keep us young. So the Life Cycle continues --- whether in Bombay, India; Ames, Iowa or Reston, Virginia.

We welcome visitors to our home in Reston, Virginia. We are only 8 miles from Dulles airport and 26 miles from the White House. One of the highlights of my senior year at Ames High was our trip to New York and Washington DC which coincided with the funeral of President Eisenhower. I remember going out to Dulles airport to see the arrival of President DeGaulle, never dreaming that 11 years later I would be living so close to Dulles and 50 years since graduating from Ames High we are still here, coming and going to Iowa from Dulles airport.

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