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In Service
Native of city discovered his life's mission in a changing South Africa
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Norton Tennille is in town to see his mother and to attend a reunion of the 1958 Reynolds graduating class.
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Published: August 17, 2008
Updated: 08/17/2008 12:30 am
A thought came to Norton Tennille as he watched the Atlantic and Indian oceans collide just outside Cape Town, South Africa, in 1994.
"This is the place for me."
And with that thought, Tennille, then 53, traveled back to Washington, closed his law practice of 20 years-plus and committed himself to helping the people of South Africa.
At the time, South Africa was making the transition from centuries of white rule to the democratically elected government of President Nelson Mandela.
"It was pretty close to epiphany," Tennille said about his decision to move to South Africa. "But in fairness, I had been thinking about getting out of D.C. for so long."
Within four months, Tennille had moved to Cape Town and set up the South African Environment Project, a nonprofit organization focused on environmental issues. It wasn't long before he realized that what the country really needed was support for its schools, particularly those in impoverished townships.
The organization, now called the South African Education and Environment Project, focuses mostly on education programs for pre-school children and high-school students in Cape Town.
Tennille has been in Winston-Salem for the past several weeks, visiting his mother, Margaret, a five-term state representative who left office in 1984. Now in her 90s, she lives at Arbor Acres retirement community.
Tennille, 67, is the oldest of her three sons. He graduated from Reynolds High School in 1958 (his 40-year reunion is another reason for his visit), was a Morehead Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill, studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968.
He later moved to Washington and practiced environmental law, taking cases for such groups as the Natural Resources Defense Center and the N.C. Wildlife Federation.
Eventually he found that the work offered little fulfillment. "Even though it was an exciting career, I was doing most of my work for corporations, and I found very little socially redeeming value in it," Tennille said.
In 1993, Tennille met a young lawyer from South Africa. Tennille, who has had a long interest in international affairs, enjoyed learning about the country's history, culture and the historic transition that was taking place.
He jumped at the chance to visit a few months later. After three weeks, he decided that this was a country where he could make a difference.
"At that point, South Africa was such an unknown. There were predictions of blood baths," Tennille said. "A lot of people questioned my sanity."
His brother, Ben Tennille, was not one of them. His mother's example had made an impression on her children.
"She certainly trained all of us to look at public service as a part of our lives," said Ben Tennille, who is a judge for the state's business court. "In a way, this is a fulfillment of her earlier training. Certainly, it's a unique way he's chosen to do it. This is a very unique challenge, and he's always been interested in unique challenges."
Norton Tennille's organization, SAEP, reaches children on several fronts. At the high-school level, SAEP sponsors poetry workshops and debate teams, supplies science and math tutors, helps publish school newspapers and provides training in computers and information technology.
Among other programs, it also provides "Gap Year" internships for recent high-school graduates. The interns in the program learn leadership skills, volunteer in the community and take some academic courses to prepare them for college and their careers.
Many of the volunteers who help run the programs are American college students. Tennille has used his contacts here to form partnerships with many universities including UNC Chapel Hill, Duke and Yale. Students from the University of Cape Town also serve as tutors and mentors in various programs.
Tennille's organization has a Winston-Salem flavor. Winston-Salem residents and natives sit on its various boards.
Ray McKinney, a retired Wachovia executive, met with Tennille at the suggestion of a mutual friend, J.D. Wilson, a Winston-Salem resident and SAEP board member.
McKinney and his wife were in South Africa for a safari. They met Tennille for lunch and later toured some of the Cape Town townships with him.
Tennille's devotion to improving the lives of children in the face of so much bleakness moved McKinney. He is now the chairman of the advisory council and is involved in fundraising and planning for the organization's future once Tennille retires.
Wilson said it's difficult not to be impressed by Tennille's achievements.
"He has a sincerity of mission and purpose. There is nothing whatsoever in it for him. It's all about making a difference in the lives of children in Cape Town," Wilson said. "It's very inspiring and to think this is a native of Winston-Salem, taking what he learned in our community as a child and at Reynolds, and he's off in the world making huge differences."
Tennille said that the work has been as rewarding as he hoped it would be more than 14 years ago when he decided to open a new chapter in his life.
"This is a classic case of letting yourself fall and letting the world support you," Tennille said. "You never know what is going to happen when you let go."
■ Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at 727-7420 or at lodonnell@wsjournal.com.
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