Aaron Barlow - One Hand Does Not Catch a Buffalo. 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories, Volume 1: Africa

Copyright 2011 Jane Albritton. All rights reserved.

First e-book edition: April 2013

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

One hand does not catch a buffalo : 50 years of amazing Peace Corps stories : volume one, Africa / edited by Aaron Barlow ; series editor, Jane Albritton. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60952-000-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-60952-047-2 (ebook)

1. Peace Corps (U.S.)--Anecdotes. 2. Volunteers--Africa--Anecdotes. 3. Volunteers--Developing countries--Anecdotes. I. Barlow, Aaron, 1951- II. Albritton, Jane.

HC60.5.O54 2011

361.6--dc22

2010054339

First Edition

Printed in the United States

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To all who served in Africa

and to all of those in Africa who welcomed them,

worked with them, and taught them.

Table of Contents

Robert Klein

Ghana

Tom Katus, George Johnson, Alex Veech, and L. Gilbert Griffis

Tanzania

Tom Weller

Chad

Bob Powers

Malawi

Amanda Wonson

Madagascar

Sarah Moffett-Guice

Sierra Leone

Susan L. Schwartz

Sierra Leone

Larry W. Harms

Guinea/Niger

E.T. Stafne

Senegal

Arne Vanderburg

The World

Solveig Nilsen

Ethiopia

William G. Moseley

Mali

Kelly McCorkendale

Madagascar

Sally Cytron Gati

Nigeria

Starley Talbott Anderson

South Africa

Lenore Waters

Ivory Coast/Cte d'Ivoire

Martin R. Ganzglass

Somalia

Delfi Messinger

Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

Beth Duff-Brown

Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

Heather Corinne Cumming

Africa

Susanna Lewis

Mozambique

Kelly J. Morris

Togo

Anna Russo

Cameroon

Jayne Bielecki

Cape Verde

Marcy L. Spaulding

Mali

Marsa Laird

Somalia

Stephanie Bane

Chad

Dorothea Hertzberg

Burkina Faso

Edmund Blair Bolles

Tanzania

Donald Holm

Ethiopia

Jennifer L. Giacomini

Togo

Allison Scott Matlack

Lesotho

Sandra Echols Sharpe

Tanzania

Alan Barstow

Namibia

Eric Stone

Kenya

Paul P. Pometto II

Dahomey/Benin

Ryan N. Smith

The Gambia

Bob Hixson Julyan

Sierra Leone

Jed Brody

Benin

Kathleen Moore

Ethiopia

Linda Chen See

Tanzania

Karen Hlynsky

Sierra Leone

Patricia Owen

Senegal

Lawrence Grobel

Ghana

Joy Marburger

Sierra Leone

Sera Arcaro

Namibia

Bryant Wieneke

Niger

Jay Davidson

Mauritania

Bina Dugan

Zimbabwe

Stephanie Gottlieb

Burkina Faso

Bruce Kahn

Malawi

Shauna Steadman

Morocco

Paul Negley, Jr.

Morocco

Janet Grace Riehl

Botswana

Bob Walker

Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

Daniel Franklin

Burkina Faso

Floyd Sandford

Nigeria

Carol Beddo

Ethiopia

Robert E. Gribbin

Kenya

Thor Hanson

Uganda

Nancy Biller

Chad

Jacquelyn Z. Brooks

Madagascar

Kara Garbe

Burkina Faso

Leita Kaldi Davis

Senegal

Paula Zoromski

Niger

Tom Gallagher

Ethiopia

Suzanne Meagher Owen

Tunisia

Enid S. Abrahami

Senegal

Genevieve Murakami

Senegal

Stephanie Oppenheimer-Streb

Niger

Betsy Polhemus

Senegal

Irene G. Brammertz

Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

Michelle Stoner

Niger

Aaron Barlow

Togo

Jack Meyers

Somalia

Michael Toso

Niger

Series Preface

There are some baby ideas that seem to fly in by stork, without incubation between conception and birth. These magical bundles smile and say: Want me? And well before the head can weigh the merits of taking in the unsummoned arrival, the heart leaps forward and answers, Yes!

The idea for Peace Corps @ 50the anniversary media project for which this series of books are the centerpiecearrived on my mental doorstep in just this way in 2007. Four books of stories, divided by regions of the world, written by the Peace Corps Volunteers who have lived and worked there. There was time to solicit the stories, launch the website, and locate editors for each book. By 2011, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps, the books would be released.

The website had no sooner gone live when the stories started rolling in. And now, after four years and with a publisher able to see the promise and value of this project, here we are, ready to share more than 200 stories of our encounters with people and places far from home.

In the beginning, I had no idea what to expect from a call for stories. Now, at the other end of this journey, I have read every story, and I know what makes our big collection such a fitting tribute to the Peace Corps experience.

Peace Corps Volunteers write. We write a lot. Most of us need to, because writing is the only chance we have to say things in our native language. Functioning every day in another language takes work, and it isnt just about grammar. Its everything that isnt taughtlike when to say what depending on the context, like the intricate system of body language, and like knowing how to shift your tone depending on the company you are in. These struggles and linguistic mishaps can be frustrating and often provoke laughter, even if people are forgiving and appreciate the effort. It takes a long time to earn a sense of belonging.

And so in our quiet momentswhen we slip into a private space away from the worlds where we are guestswe write. And in these moments where we treat ourselves to our own language, thoughts flow freely. We once wrote only journals and letters; today we also text, email, and blog.

Writing helps us work through the frustrations of everyday living in cultures whereat firstwe do not know the rules or understand the values. In our own language we write out our loneliness, our fury, our joy, and our revelations. Every volunteer who has ever served writes as a personal exercise in coming to terms with an awakening ignorance. And then we write our way through it, making our new worlds part of ourselves in our own language, in our own words.

The stories in these books are the best contribution we can make to the permanent record of Peace Corps on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. And because a Volunteers attempt to explain the experience has always contained the hope that folks at home will get it, these stories are also a gift to anyone eager and curious to learn what we learned about living in places that always exceeded what we imagined them to be.

It has been an honor to receive and read these stories. Taken together, they provide a kaleidoscopic view of world culturesbeautiful and strangethat shift and rattle when held up to the light.

I would like to acknowledge personally the more than 200 Return Volunteers who contributed to these four volumes. Without their voices, this project could not have been possible. Additionally, editors Pat and Bernie Alter, Aaron Barlow, and Jay Chen have been tireless in shepherding their stories through the publishing process and in helping me make my way through some vexing terrain along the way. Special thanks to John Coyne whose introduction sets the stage for each volume. Thanks also to Dennis Cordell for his early work on the project.