Posted on 05/13/2004 12:18:12 AM PDT by ambrose
SIT professor recalls time spent in Uganda with Berg By DANIEL BARLOW Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- An American civilian killed in Iraq last week spent a semester in the late 1990s as part of the School for International Training's Study Abroad program.
Nicholas Berg, 26, a native of West Chester, Pa., spent the spring semester of 1998 in Uganda as part of a development study program with SIT, said Rebecca Hovey, the dean of SIT's Study Abroad program.
Berg's body was discovered Saturday near a highway overpass in Baghdad. A video posted Tuesday on a Web site linked to al-Qaida showed Berg being beheaded, a retaliation carried out in response to the abuse of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.
It is not clear if Berg, an engineering student at Cornell University, ever visited the SIT campus in Brattleboro, said Hovey, but an SIT professor who still lives in Brattleboro was among the approximately six people who accompanied Berg to Uganda in the spring of 1998.
"He was a loner in a lot of ways," said Robin Swett, the SIT professor who spent four months with him in Uganda. "So I wasn't really surprised to learn that he had taken the initiative to go off to Iraq on his own."
While in Uganda, Berg studied the country's language -- Lugandan -- and taught brick-making techniques to locals in that country, said Hovey.
While there, he wrote a thesis paper entitled, "The Experiential Learning Unit as a Tool for Development," according to Swett.
Swett said his thesis paper discussed an innovative press for brick construction. While in Uganda, Berg helped raise funds for locals to purchase a press, she said.
Berg did "very well" and got a high grade on the paper, said Swett.
Hovey said SIT officials only realized Berg's connection to the school after the public relations office at Cornell University called Wednesday morning informing them that SIT would be mentioned in the school's press release on Berg's death.
When Swett first heard the reports of Berg's death, she wasn't sure if it was the same man because he looked a lot heavier in the photos, she said.
But the descriptions she heard of him in the news reports matched the personality she remembered, she said.
"It's a very tragic end for a very unique person with a real promising future," Swett said. "My condolences go out to his family and friends."
Daniel Barlow can be reached at dbarlow@reformer.com.
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