A book about Africa that isn't depressing! Truly, I did not think that such a thing existed, and I'm very glad that it does. ( )

Interesting story of an Ohioan just out of college joins the Peace Corp and spends two years stationed in a remote village in Mali. She has a wonderful sincere open personality and you feel as if having spent time in Mali. There is a love interest, marriage, death and a mystery. For better and worse she experienced a traditional rural village before plastic, electricity and "progress" took over. The midwifery is brutal work, Mali has some of the highest death rates from birth (mother and child), and some of the highest birth rates in the world. ( )

This is a well-written, engaging narrative of a Peace Corps workers time with a midwife in Mali. The ending is particularly moving. It is hard to say how much differently it would have affected me if I hadn't spent time with Peace Corps workers in a similarly third world country and in similarly "depraved" (by developed countries standards) rural communities. No electricity. No running water. No safe drinking water other than bottled. Squat toilets if any at all. And yet these communities have their Moniques, strong, intelligent, resourceful, persistent individuals who would be pillars of the community if they had been born in America, but would only be "welfare scum" if they tried to move to America. ( )

http://animoto.com/play/QXjrvkVzMi7tF3CpWODqLg ( )

Mali.

The author, a Peace Corps volunteer in a village in Mali, recounts her experience with an emphasis on her friendship with Monique, the local midwife. The narrative is not as interior as some travel/work memoirs; the trade-off is that Holloway is able to focus on descriptions of the village, her work with Monique, and interpersonal relationships. Holloway is warm but not sentimental; she recounts her conversations with Monique about female genital mutilation as well as Monique's forbidden love for a childhood friend. The realities of hunger, disease, and war are all present, as well as the dilemmas faced by aid workers from more affluent and powerful nations. This is a memoir I hope to teach with in the future. ( )