“How would you like a trip to America for seven months on full salary, all expenses paid for both you and your partner. We will supply you with a new car to use during your stay and give you some one to look after your needs and make appointments for you?”

         This actually happened to me, believe it or not. I didn’t think I could accept this kind offer as we had four young children. But my parents offered to look after two children and my sister and her husband the other two.

         My wife and I were both put under pressure and encouraged to accept for the good of the country. I was to become an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow and study agriculture extension and communication.

         1968 was the year of riots, due to the Vietnam war, the assignations of   Martin Luther King  and Robert Kennedy and we were in the thick of it.

         We drove from coast to coast,  not once but twice, driving over 7,000 Kms.  We attended seminars at Princeton, Aspen, and Williamsburg, summer school at the University of Colorado and a communication workshop for Michigan State University at Lake Atwood.

         With over 220 professional appointments we met a diverse range of people and shared the hospitality of many generous families.  People were so kind to us.

         We used an old fashion tape recorder to keep in touch with our family and to share interviews and sound effects with them. If only we had an iPad in those days.

         Under my father’s guidance the children were forced to listen and to share our adventures. May they forgive us. 

         There were some interesting tapes sent home. One was an eye witness  account of the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign and a witness at his assignation. Another was a tape made at a North American First Nation pow wow. We were two of only four white people to witness this event held in Wyoming between First Nation tribes from three or four states.  These tapes are now held at the National Library of New Zealand.

                  When you arrive in a strange country there is always apprehension. What a relief when out of the crowd at the Philadelphia airport a women stepped out of the crowd and asked;  “Are you Geoff and Joyce Moss? I am Carol Raezer. My job is to look after your needs, organise your appointments  and arrange your itinerary.”

         The next day we were taken to the EEF headquarters at 256 South 16th street to be welcomed by Hampton Barnes, the Executive Director. “Anything you wish to do in America is open to you. Go where you like. Do what you wish. Don’t work too hard. Look at the good and the bad and form your own conclusions.” said Hampton. ” But don’t work too hard like the last New Zealander. Make time to go to some shows and look at our National Parks. Make this  place your home while you are in the States.  Here’s a key to the building. Feel free to come and go day or night . We have a library  and there are coffee making facilities – help yourself.”

         We travelled and had all sorts of adventures. We visited many of the great National Parks. We received much home hospitality and met some wonderful people.

         These seven months changed my life.

         In Illinois Professor Hadley Read took us under his wing. He made facilities available for us and at the end of the tour we returned to Urbana to  test out  my recommendations on ways to improve communication for New Zealand agriculture.

         This second visit turned out to be significant. It was through this contact that decades later I was headhunted by John Woods, a friend of Hadley,  for a senior position in the United Nations Development Programme,  based in Bangkok.

         Hadley had recommended when I returned home my report should be kept in a draw and not shown to anyone. He suggested that whenever the opportunity rose I should pull it out and put one more recommendation into practice. I  regretted  I did not take his advice.

         Back in New Zealand when I tabled my report it was put into the too hard basket. It took me over a decade to get my thirteen recommendations implemented.  Now they have all gone.

While I was working in Thailand in 1986/7 the Department of Agriculture was closed down. The staff were made redundant. Thousands of AgLinks topics, were sent to the dump.

         AgLinks were fact sheets containing the latest recommendations from scientists to farmers.  Now scientists are bitching they are having trouble getting their latest finding implemented.   These were  described as ” A Rural Google system, before Google.”

Such is life!

Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)

For more on this topic download our FREE book  “Rolling On” on our website using Google.