A hilarious and wrenching memoir from a peace Corps volunteer in Zaire.
As a Peace Corp volunteer, Mr. Tidwell spent two years in the grasslands of south central Zaire trying to teach the benefits of fish farming in some of the poorest villages on the continent. His task was not easy. One villager was convinced that fish would stock the ponds naturally, since they come to earth in raindrops. Others suspected that the ponds were just another way for whites to exploit black labor. When he finally made headway, the fish farmers gave away nearly half their harvest to relatives, and Tidwell learned one of many powerful lessons: tradition takes precedence over profits. While the tragic poverty and disease faced by the villagers was daunting, Tidwell found that their adherence to heritage and their celebration of tiny triumphs and daily satisfactions revealed a life richer than he had ever known.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
AFRICA This is an amazing book about Africa. For one who has never been there it shows the other half, the half that you don't hear in the news, the part that we all know exists but never hear of it. Love, life, death, courage, tradition. It is a two year long journey dealing with adaptation to a different culture, teaching how to raise fish in the middle of Africa.
I got this book as a gift from my sister and have thanked her for it, because didn't just provide with a time for entertainment but it taught... more info
Great Book As a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in francophone Africa (Gabon - 89-91), Mike Tidwell captures the experience better than any other Peace Corps writer I've read. Contrast this book with the Village of Waiting (George Packer) and you'll see what I mean. He also is a master story teller and offers a lot for anyone interested in Africa.
Great Memoir for Any Westerner Going to Live in Africa! Mike Tidwell's memoir of his two years of Peace Corp work teaching villagers to build fish ponds is about so much more than that. He writes so honestly about what he learned from working closely with his African neighbors and how he came to understand their generosity from an African perspective as opposed to his American perspective. He has so many adventures with the men the Kalambayi region that each chapter taught me something new. Mike shares his doubts about himself and those he works with. He... more info
Surprisingly Good After deciding that I wanted to apply to the Peace Corps, I began doing online and literary research on the experience as a whole. I bought this book, totally uninterested in how a Caucasion man in Africa would learn to adapt to the local culture and thus be successful at showing the (willing) villagers how to raise "fish farms." Needless to say, this book never has a dull moment, which is a major shock for me. Although he doesn't talk much about the Peace Corps (if at all), he does constantly touch on the... more info
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