I picked up a copy of
this book during the Peace Corps 50th anniversary celebrations in
Washington. It was one of the first compilations of Peace Corps stories and
remains among the best. You can hopefully find a copy at your local library if
not it is available from online stores.
This is a collection of
thirteen pieces, mostly fiction, but all clearly based on real third-world
interactions. Written by former volunteers, collectively the stories truly
reflect the Peace Corps experience. Each story in its own way makes a statement
or reveals a truth about life in other cultures. Some are poignant, others
funny or even sarcastic, but all are heartfelt.
The collection opens
with a story by Kathleen Coskran (Kenyan note: Kathy was the spouse of Chuck
Coskran, PC staff in the late 60s). Facing
Mount Kenya tugs at the heartstrings in describing an American/Kenyan
marriage and differing perceptions of life set in sharp contrast as a family
tragedy unfolds. In another Kenyan story, My
First Lion Hunt, about cavorting with Masaai, Tom Heidlebaugh, describes
how the joke, ultimately, was on him.
In Neighbors, Maria Thomas (who sadly died in the air crash that also
killed Mickey Leland in Ethiopia in 1989) describes an effort to engage her
Tanzanian community in a cooperative project only to have it run afoul of entrenched
attitudes. In Ancient Shells, Eileen
Drew puts forth the predicament of single female teachers in Africa confronted
by issues of trying to teach “thinking” as opposed to rote in the context of a
school and culture that holds a starkly different view of women.
In Ilunga’s Harvest, Mike Tidwell (one of the best writers of this
talented bunch whose book, The Ponds of
Kalambayi, is not to be missed) talks about a lesson he learned about
sharing and mutual reliance while a volunteer in Zaire. Gary and the Pigs is a humorous piece by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith that
reveals a truism that American PCVs, in order to impress, occasionally own up
to more skills than they really possess.
In Foday, William McCauley describes how doing a good deed in Sierra
Leone—returning a body to its home village for burial—turned into something of
a nightmare. The concluding piece, Ramon,
by Moritz Thomsen recounts a rough Peace Corps beginning that culminates with
one small success in chicken breeding that over the years morphed into an
enduring friendship, but one fraught with real-life issues.
There is more in this
useful compendium. All RPCVs will enjoy the tales. Put it on your bookshelf, so
when someone asks, “What was the Peace Corps like?,” you can loan them this
book.
