Africa
From Morocco to Kenya, from Mauritania to South Africa, Peace Corps Volunteers tell their stories from the field, accompanied by lesson plans that enhance their classroom value.
- The Big Fire
- There's a boy sitting nervously on my front porch. He's wearing a tattered blue soccer jersey with an Italian crest, shorts of a different blue that is too light to match and too dark to complement, and sandals made of old car tires.
- Brand New Muti
- Queen Nthuli begins the ritual of calling her ancestors by burning dried herbs in an earthenware pot beside her. She breathes in the smoke from the herbs to take the spirits of the ancestors into her body, where she can communicate with them.
- Cross-Cultural Dialogue
- I entered the school doors brimming with ideas, innovative teaching methods, and the desire to have an effect.
- Day-to-Day Life in a Small African Village
- My name is Richard Lupinsky and I'm a biology teacher and a school health educator in a small village in Tanzania. There are about 7,000 people in my village.
- Ilunga's Harvest
- "My wife has left me, and I've got to harvest my pond," Chief Ilunga said. It was two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and he was breathing hard.
- The Meaning of Time
- Upon arriving in my village, I needed to learn the greetings in the indigenous language, Malinke.
- Music in the Fields
- Mali, in West Africa, one of the world's poorest countries, has riches that remain a secret to many people of the Western world.
- Nomadic Life
- I'd like to trade with her / my typewriter keys / for the way she navigates the desert, / reads the coordinates of sand.
- On Sunday There Might Be Americans
- He walked to the door and pressed his eye against the crack in the straw. There above the rim of the compound wall he could see a sliver of blue. It was Sunday morning.
- One Step at a Time
- We each have our own idea of what's right and what's wrong. We each judge for ourselves whether something is good or bad, fun or boring, worthwhile or pointless.
- The Senegalese Miracle
- I was one of 60 new Peace Corps trainees who landed at Dakar-Yoff Airport at midnight, excited and tired.
- Sharing in Africa
- People in villages across Kalambayi were trying to kill me. They were feeding me too much.
- Soneka's Village
- I would like to tell you about my special friend Soneka and his people in Tanzania. Soneka is 10 and a member of the Maasai tribe.
- A South African Storm
- It's a Saturday afternoon in January in South Africa. When I begin the 45-minute walk to the shops for groceries, I can hear thunder cracking in the distance up the mountain in Mageobaskloof.
- The Talking Goat
- The chief and the village elders listened carefully as Tugba told them of his talking goat, and his seven years in the jungle. When Tugba finished, the chief deliberated with the elders for a few moments. Then, he stood up to deliver his verdict.
- This Is Tanzania
- Karibu! Hamjambo marafiki yangu? That means, "Welcome! How are you doing, my friends?" in Kiswahili.
- Three Lessons
- September. Sunset. The town of Safi, Morocco. I was washing dishes in my sink.
- Water in Africa
- The narratives from Water in Africa characterize the interconnectedness of water in the daily lives of African people and the Volunteers who serve in their countries.
- Where Life Is Too Short
- The strangest thing about my adopted home community in South Africa is the number of establishments selling tombstones in town.
- Working With Environmental Issues
- I have parasites. They live in my stomach. I can feel gurgling after I eat or when I lie down to rest.