Kevin and Genia Allen-Schmid have been to Tanzania and back — and they’re going back.

The Flathead High School teachers will return this year to the East African country and teach on a two-year contract at St. Constantine’s International School in Arusha. Kevin will teach sixth- through 12th-grade music and Genia will teach ninth- through 12th-grade history.

The couple taught in Moshi, Tanzania, from 1985 to 1989. Both have taught abroad for many years — Kevin for 10 years and Genia for seven.

Kevin’s first overseas job in 1981 was teaching music in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1983, he packed his bags and headed for Dusseldorf, Germany, at the same school where Genia began her teaching career in 1984.

The couple is drawn to multicultural immersion. For Kevin, it was a matter of his upbringing. As a first- and second-grader he lived in Tanzania. In junior high he was a foreign exchange student in Japan.

“I always knew I wanted to live overseas and teaching seemed to be the right kind of job,” he said.

Genia’s experiences traveling abroad didn’t begin until college when she went on a trip to Europe. Her notion to travel was sparked by a fourth-grade classmate who returned to the U.S. after living in Kenya for two years.

“She had an accent and she just had these incredible stories,” Genia recalled. “I remember inviting her over to my house and drilling her, ‘what did you eat; what was it like; what was your most exciting experience; did you see lions; say a word in Swahili.’ I think my family raised me to be curious. We always had National Geographic magazines lying around the house.”

By 1991, the Allen-Schmids set down roots in Kalispell when Kevin accepted a teaching position at Flathead High School. Genia began working at the school in 1993. They said they wanted to raise their two children close to family, who lived in Idaho and Oregon, and pursue master’s degrees.

The itch to travel set in by 1998 and the young family journeyed to the Canary Islands in Spain, returning home in 2000. Last fall they began applying for positions abroad.

“I’m really drawn to teaching in a multicultural atmosphere where there are people that speak different languages and have different ethnic backgrounds, so teaching at an international school is exactly what that is. It’s exciting to live in another culture,” Genia said.

Finding schools with openings for both history and music teachers is always tough, Kevin said, but that didn’t mean they weren’t selective. On this venture, Genia said it was important to maintain the lifestyle they have had in Montana — uncrowded, surrounded by nature and teaching at schools with high academic standards.

The Allen-Schmids have enjoyed their years at Flathead. Kevin has taught there for 20 years and Genia for 18.

“For me it’s the commitment to quality education, the support from the administration and colleagues for top-notch teaching,” Genia said. “I’m going to miss the curriculum we’ve developed in our social studies department.”

Kevin said one great achievement at Flathead has been the relationship with students in making music.

 “[We’re] always striving to find the depth — the beauty — from the music and to be able to keep plumbing the depths to the level [that’s] personally satisfying,” Kevin said.

In addition to teaching in the classroom, Genia worked with students as an International Baccalaureate community service coordinator.

“Working with kids outside of the school day and outside of the classroom — that has been truly thrilling,” Genia said.

Kevin said he hopes to promote peace through teaching.

“We had the same goal here — to bridge gaps in understanding of people in the world,” Kevin said. He and Genia helped create a peace garden at Flathead. “There [in Tanzania] our students will be Muslims and Hindus and Christians. At that particular school we’ll have the chance to work with people that will have to stop wars. Tanzania is stable, but neighboring countries have tribal warfare and sectarian violence. To be able to use our classroom to develop bonds between people who are very different, we would like to be part of that.”

One of Genia’s hopes is to organize a program in Tanzania where Flathead International Baccalaureate students could travel to the country and complete service projects.

One thing is for certain; Kalispell will remain home to the Allen-Schmids.

“We plan to come back in the summers,” Kevin said. “We already have some friends and family booked for visits.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.