Connie Morgan

My advice to you is to work hard and study hard. Discover what you’re good at. Each person has a gift, something you’re good at. Use your imagination. Be physically active. Try going for a week without technology. Enjoy people. Listen to your teachers. Value your family.

Connie Morgan

My name is Connie Morgan. I was born June 19, 1951. I am honored to be here with you to share my life story. Sixteen years of my life was spent in Africa, a country I love. My parents already had three girls, and then they had identical twin girls. One of them was me.

We had a lot of fun being twins. Our mom dressed us the same until we were twelve years old. The teachers would try to keep us straight. “Which one is Connie? Which one is Kathy?”. As we got older, we mixed up when we went out on dates. Even today you probably wouldn’t be able to tell us a part.

In eighth grade we moved to Washington State. My dad was a Lutheran minister. It was an okay move because I had my twin sister. College was different. My sister and I decided to go to different colleges. That was very hard. In the summer of my college years, I had fun working as a camp counselor. I graduated with degrees in Psychology and Education. I did some office work and then began tutoring refugees from Cambodia.

I got bored with my life and had an opportunity to go to India to be a volunteer at an international school. I spent one year in India. I traveled to interesting places like the Taj Mahal and went hiking in the Himalayan Mountains. It was a wonderful experience. I came back to the United States wondering what I would do next.

I soon met my husband and it was love at first sight. We married in March, 1981. We decided that we would do something that would help other people in a different part of the world. We signed up to do church ministry in Kenya, East Africa in September, 1983. The sad part about our decision was saying goodbye to our family and friends and of course my twin sister.

Our wonderful adventure began. I learned Swahili, the language of east Africa. We moved to a village and into a not-so-fancy house. It had no electricity, no trees, a toilet, but not a flush toilet. It had bars on [the windows] but not screens and glass. We put up screens because the mosquitoes would come in. They were our enemies.
We had a baby girl, Christina. She went to a wonderful school in Kenya, loved to climb trees, and had many friends. We had one of the few cars in the village. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, my husband would have to take someone to the hospital. We became good friends with many people. We were part of a community development team. We had meetings with them to see how they could make their lives better. We tried to help them with health care, clean water, and babies’ immunizations.

One exciting thing about Kenya is the animals. We could see many animals in their natural habitat. My favorite animal was the elephant. They are so intelligent and play as a family. My favorite food of Africa was the fruit, especially the mango and I loved the beautiful beaches of the Indian ocean, the palm trees, and flowers. I loved the people. They are so welcoming. If they have food, they want to share it with you.

They taught me the importance of family and extended family. Happiness is found in people not in the things you have. When our daughter was in seventh grade, we decided it would be better to come back to the United States so she could go to high school here. We wanted her to know this country and her family.

It took about a year to adjust to our life in Minnesota. My husband teaches college. I was hired in Columbia Heights ten years ago. My husband has been back to Kenya several times, but I’ve been back only once.