Overseas Personnel in Current Service

• Maritime Conference
• Serving The International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
• September 1984 to Present

Zenora Rackham was born in Trinidad and Tobago and was educated at the St. Augustine Girls’ School, which had close connections with the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago and The United Church of Canada. Following graduation, Zenora worked for two years as a laboratory technologist with the Lever Brothers in Trinidad before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1964 to attend Dalhousie University, where she majored in biology. There she met her future husband, David, whom she married in 1971. After graduating with her Bachelor of Science degree, Zenora worked for approximately 10 years in the School of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine at Dalhousie University.

David W. Rackham is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has received the degrees of B.Sc., M.A., and Ph.D. from Dalhousie University. In November 1977 David and Zenora moved to Sackville, New Brunswick, with their daughter to take up a position in the Department of Psychology at Mount Allison University. David served on the faculty of Mount Allison University from 1977 through 1984. After a year serving on the faculty of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, David, along with Zenora and children Andrea and Graeme, moved to Japan as United Church of Canada overseas personnel assigned to the International Christian University (ICU)

As overseas personnel, Zenora works with various weekly women’s groups associated with the International Christian University campus church. Zenora is also a part-time English teacher at the ICU High School, and a part-time student counsellor. Much of the counselling is carried out in the informal and relaxing atmosphere of her campus home. Zenora has become a “mother” to many overseas students over the years and was one of the early recipients of the Friends of ICU Award for Distinguished Service to the university community. Along with David, Zenora has been a long-term member of the campus-based ICU church and also is a member of the nearby ecumenical West Tokyo Union Church. Zenora has also offered a Bible study course for Toyo Eiwa University, part of the Toyo Eiwa Educational System founded by Canadian Methodist missionaries in the 19th century. Zenora also serves with the Board of Trustees of the Bott Memorial Home, an orphanage founded by Canadian missionary Dr. G.E. Bott in the early 1950s.

The International Christian University in Tokyo, although associated officially with The United Church of Canada and the United Church of Christ in Japan (Kyodan), does not maintain a relationship based on financial support; all costs are borne by the university. In the wake of a vicious war, ICU was founded in 1949 with the intention of educating new citizens for a new Japan and a new world, and was supported by North American churches including The United Church of Canada. ICU has evolved into a prestigious private university in Japan, with exchange programs with more than 50 well-known institutions of higher learning around the world. Its mission today, as in the beginning, is to provide an internationally oriented liberal arts education founded on the basic Christian principle of love and respect for one’s neighbour, known and unknown, near and far, around the world.

• Read David and Zenora's Letters from Overseas