The book review:
Seeing Through Africa. Arthur Dobrin, Cross-Cultural Communications, Merrick, New York, 2004.

Arthur and his wife Lyn were PCVs in Kisii in 1965–67 engaged with agricultural cooperatives in community development work. This rather unconventional and very candid memoir, however, does not focus exclusively on Peace Corps service nor does it flow chronologically. Rather it jerks spasmodically forward and backward adding a piece of information or a thought, as it seems relevant to the topic being addressed. This format takes some getting use to, but once a reader is immersed a bit in Dobrin’s life story—and it really is a life story, not just a Kenyan story—the seams begin to fade away.

Nonetheless, a true unifying theme is Kenya—Kisii to be precise. Peace Corps service was indeed an eye opener for Dobrin. For an urban New Yorker of blue-collar Jewish heritage and politically leftist, rural Kenya was another world. There he struggled with issues of race, culture, language, personal relationships and expectations—their expectations of him and his expectations of them. He recounts some wonderful Peace Corps stories such as during one educational play about cooperatives when the entire audience of farmers rushed out of the school building chasing the actors at intermission, thinking that the dramatic conflict posed on the stage was to be resolved by fisticuffs outside. Arthur writes of the difficulty of making friends, the oddness of being white in a sea of black, and the joys of small victories, be they running water at home or a basketball court for the town. Unlike most PCVs, the Dobrins had a baby while volunteers. That event rendered them “normal” in the eyes of Kisiians and aided their inclusion into local life.

The Dobrins were so taken by Kisii that they returned ten years later for a six-months sabbatical with two children (one a multiracial adoptee). Thereafter, they continued to lead tours to Kenya focused on social work. This enabled regular visits to Kisii and the maintenance of contacts there, including the marriage of their son to the daughter of Goan friends.

Professionally, Dobrin became a leader in the ethical humanist movement (i.e., a non-religious, but religious-like institution for atheists and agnostics). In that capacity he performed marriages, funerals, martial counseling and other services. He was a social activist as well and ultimately a professor of humanities at Hofstra University. In this memoir Dobrin walks backwards, forwards, and sideways in describing his youth and family in Brooklyn, his stint in the army, his pride in his multiracial family, especially children and grandchildren, experiences from humanism, travel and, of course, Kenya. Interspersed throughout are poems, written along his life’s journey, that illuminate the specific story just told. Above all, relationships matter to Dobrin and he writes well about them.

Unflinchingly honest, Seeing Through Africa, is a telling story of how a Peace Corps stint shaped one family’s life. Perhaps more than most of us, Dobrin got folded into Kenya and it into him. Even so, all RPCVs will identify with his observations and will have shared similar interactions with host country nationals. Dobrin’s book is good on its own merits, and will certainly get you thinking about your Peace Corps days and what influence that experience had on your life.