Dawning Horizons

Book excerpt: Spanning decades and continents, Dawning Horizons is a personal story – part travelogue, part political commentary. Bergen picks up from the final chapter of his first memoir, Four Years Less a Day – a WWII Refugee Story, and takes us to Africa and China. Initially Bergen struggles to learn a new language, juggling school with making a living and fi nally pursuing his vocation. Initially teaching in Manitoba and Ontario, he then pursues his dream and joins Mennonite Central Committee’s Teachers Abroad Program. His life, lived in faith, takes him first to Malawi, where he meets his wife Bettie. With a dry humour, Bergen recounts the innovations of an inventor – a beehive, a piston engine, a hot water system – some to test his ideas and some to address a need. Surprising and challenging opportunities arise along the way and Bergen takes them on, looking for and finding solutions. After Malawi, Botswana and a short stint in Winnipeg, Bergen and his wife then head off to teach in China. Come journey through history and geography as you follow one man’s steps toward his horizon.