One Hand Does Not Catch a Buffalo Read online

  Copyright © 2011 Jane Albritton. All rights reserved.

  First e-book edition: April 2013

  Travelers’ Tales and Solas House are trademarks of Solas House, Inc. 853 Alma Street, Palo Alto, California 94301. www.travelerstales.com

  Cover Design: Chris Richardson

  E-book Production: Howie Severson

  Production Director: Susan Brady

  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

  Series Preface

  Foreword: Thirty Days That Built the Peace Corps

  Introduction

  PART I: ON OUR WAY...AND BACK AGAIN

  Why I Joined the Peace Corps

  Robert Klein

  Ghana

  There at the Beginning

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

  Tanzania

  Learning to Speak

  Tom Weller

  Chad

  First and Last Days

  Bob Powers

  Malawi

  Hena Kisoa Kely and Blue Nail Polish

  Amanda Wonson

  Madagascar

  Coming to Sierra Leone

  Sarah Moffett-Guice

  Sierra Leone

  Shattering and Using Book Learning

  Susan L. Schwartz

  Sierra Leone

  The Adventures Overseas

  Larry W. Harms

  Guinea/Niger

  A Toubac in the Gloaming

  E.T. Stafne

  Senegal

  Family Affair

  Arne Vanderburg

  The World

  Your Parents Visited You in Africa?

  Solveig Nilsen

  Ethiopia

  What I Tell My Students

  William G. Moseley

  Mali

  Slash and Burn

  Kelly McCorkendale

  Madagascar

  Two Years Lasts a Lifetime

  Sally Cytron Gati

  Nigeria

  Sister Stella Seams Serene

  Starley Talbott Anderson

  South Africa

  Late Evening

  Lenore Waters

  Ivory Coast/Côte d'Ivoire

  The Forty-Eight Hour Rule

  Martin R. Ganzglass

  Somalia

  Full Circle

  Delfi Messinger

  Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

  A Promise Kept

  Beth Duff-Brown

  Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

  The Utopia of the Village

  Heather Corinne Cumming

  Africa

  PART II: WHY ARE WE HERE?

  The Engine Catches

  Susanna Lewis

  Mozambique

  Yaka

  Kelly J. Morris

  Togo

  Nous Sommes Ensemble

  Anna Russo

  Cameroon

  The Sweetest Gift

  Jayne Bielecki

  Cape Verde

  The Conference

  Marcy L. Spaulding

  Mali

  Girls’ School

  Marsa Laird

  Somalia

  Testimony

  Stephanie Bane

  Chad

  African Woman

  Dorothea Hertzberg

  Burkina Faso

  My Rice Crop

  Edmund Blair Bolles

  Tanzania

  Gentle Winds of Change

  Donald Holm

  Ethiopia

  La Supermarché

  Jennifer L. Giacomini

  Togo

  Mokhotlong

  Allison Scott Matlack

  Lesotho

  Changing School

  Sandra Echols Sharpe

  Tanzania

  The Season of Omagongo

  Alan Barstow

  Namibia

  Tapping

  Eric Stone

  Kenya

  The Drums of Democracy

  Paul P. Pometto II

  Dahomey/Benin

  PART III: GETTING THROUGH THE DAYS

  Boys & Girls

  Ryan N. Smith

  The Gambia

  I’d Wanted to Go to Africa, But the Peace Corps Sent Me to Sierra Leone

  Bob Hixson Julyan

  Sierra Leone

  Breakfast

  Jed Brody

  Benin

  Daily Life

  Kathleen Moore

  Ethiopia

  Watoto of Tanzania

  Linda Chen See

  Tanzania

  Begging Turned on Its Head

  Karen Hlynsky

  Sierra Leone

  Time

  Patricia Owen

  Senegal

  Learning to Play the Game of Life

  Lawrence Grobel

  Ghana

  A First Real Job

  Joy Marburger

  Sierra Leone

  It’s Condom Day!

  Sera Arcaro

  Namibia

  The Civilized Way

  Bryant Wieneke

  Niger

  Who Controls the Doo-Doo?

  Jay Davidson

  Mauritania

  The Ride Home

  Bina Dugan

  Zimbabwe

  The Little Things

  Stephanie Gottlieb

  Burkina Faso

  There Will Be Mud

  Bruce Kahn

  Malawi

  The Hammam in Rabat

  Shauna Steadman

  Morocco

  Straight Razors in Heaven

  Paul Negley, Jr.

  Morocco

  Big Butts Are Beautiful!

  Janet Grace Riehl

  Botswana

  Monsieur Robert Loves Rats

  Bob Walker

  Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

  Imani

  Daniel Franklin

  Burkina Faso

  PART IV: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

  Hail, Sinner! I Go to Church

  Floyd Sandford

  Nigeria

  A Visit From H.I
.M.

  Carol Beddo

  Ethiopia

  Moon Rocket

  Robert E. Gribbin

  Kenya

  Bury My Shorts at Chamborro Gorge

  Thor Hanson

  Uganda

  Near Death in Africa

  Nancy Biller

  Chad

  Boeuf Madagaskara

  Jacquelyn Z. Brooks

  Madagascar

  The Baobab Tree

  Kara Garbe

  Burkina Faso

  The Sports Bar

  Leita Kaldi Davis

  Senegal

  One Last Party

  Paula Zoromski

  Niger

  The Peace Corps in a War Zone

  Tom Gallagher

  Ethiopia

  Holding the Candle

  Suzanne Meagher Owen

  Tunisia

  A Morning

  Enid S. Abrahami

  Senegal

  A Brother in Need

  Genevieve Murakami

  Senegal

  A Tree Grows in Niamey

  Stephanie Oppenheimer-Streb

  Niger

  Jaarga

  Betsy Polhemus

  Senegal

  For Lack of a Quarter...

  Irene G. Brammertz

  Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo

  Crazy Cat Lady

  Michelle Stoner

  Niger

  Elephant Morning

  Aaron Barlow

  Togo

  At Night the Bushes Whisper

  Jack Meyers

  Somalia

  PART V: SUSTAINABLE PEACE

  Children of the Rains

  Michael Toso

  Niger

  Acknowledgements

  About the Editor

  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 @ 50—the anniversary media project for which this series of books are the centerpiece—arrived 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 isn’t just about grammar. It’s everything that isn’t taught—like 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 moments—when we slip into a private space away from the worlds where we are guests—we 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 where—at first—we 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 Volunteer’s 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 cultures—beautiful and strange—that 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.

  There are two people critical to the success of this project who were never Peace Corps volunteers, but who instantly grasped the significance of the project: Chris Richardson and Susan Brady.

  Chris and his PushIQ team, created a visually lush, technically elegant website that was up and ready to invite contributors to join the project and to herald both the project and the anniversary itself. He took on the creative challenge of designing four distinct covers for the four volumes in this set. His work first invited our contributors and now invites our readers.

  Susan Brady brought it all home. It is one thing to collect, edit, and admire four books’ worth of stories; it is another to get them organized, to the typesetter, the printer, and the team of marketers on time and looking good. Susan’s good sense, extensive publishing experience, and belief in the worthiness of this project sealed the publishing deal with Travelers’ Tales/Solas House.

  Finally, there are the two others, one at each elbow, who kept me upright when the making of books made me weary. My mother—intrepid traveler and keeper of stories—died four months after the project launched, but she has been kind enough to hang around to see me through. My partner, cultural anthropologist Kate Browne, never let me forget that if Americans are ever going to have an honored place in this world, we need to have some clue about how the rest of it works. “So get with it,” they said. “The 50th anniversary happens only once.”

  —Jane Albritton

  Fort Collins, Colorado

  Foreword: Thirty Days That Built the Peace Corps

  by John Coyne

  In 1961 John F. Kennedy took two risky and conflicting initiatives in the Third World. One was to send 500 additional military advisers into South Vietnam. The other was to send 500 young Americans to teach in the schools and work in the fields of eight developing countries. These were Peace Corps Volunteers. By 1963 there would be 7,000 of them in forty-four countries.

  —Garard T. Rice, The Bold Experiment: JFK’s Peace Corps

  Kennedy’s second initiative inspired, and continues to inspire, hope and understanding among Americans and the rest of the world. In a very real sense, the Peace Corps is Kennedy’s most affirmative and enduring legacy that belongs to a particularly American yearning: the search for a new frontier.

  Two key people in
Congress, Henry Reuss (D-Wisconsin) and Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota), both proposed the idea of the Peace Corps in the late 1950s.

  In January of 1960, Reuss introduced the first Peace Corps-type legislation. It sought a study of “the advisability and practicability to the establishment of a Point Four Youth Corps,” which would send young Americans willing to serve their country in public and private technical assistance missions in far-off countries, and at a soldier’s pay.

  The government contract was won by Maurice (Maury) L. Albertson of Colorado State University who with one extraordinary assistant, Pauline Birky-Kreutzer, did the early groundwork for Congress on the whole idea of young Americans going overseas, not to win wars, but help build societies.

  In June of 1960, Hubert Humphrey introduced in the Senate a bill to send “young men to assist the peoples of the underdeveloped areas of the world to combat poverty, disease, illiteracy, and hunger.”

  Also in 1960, several other people were expressing support for such a concept: General James Gavin; Chester Bowles, former governor of Connecticut, and later ambassador to India; William Douglas, associate justice of the Supreme Count; James Reston of The New York Times; Milton Shapp, from Philadelphia; Walt Rostow of MIT; and Senator Jacob Javits of New York, who urged Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon to adopt the idea. Nixon refused. He saw the Peace Corps as just another form of “draft evasion.”

  What Nixon could not have foreseen was that a “day of destiny” waited for the world on October 14, 1960. On the steps of the Student Union at the University of Michigan, in the darkness of the night, the Peace Corps became more than a dream. Ten thousand students waited for presidential candidate Kennedy until 2 a.m., and they chanted his name as he climbed those steps.

  Kennedy launched into an extemporaneous address. He challenged them, asking how many would be prepared to give years of their lives working in Asia, Africa, and Latin America?

  The audience went wild. (I know this, because at the time I was a new graduate student over in Kalamazoo. I was working part-time as a news reporter for WKLZ and had gone to cover the event.)

  Six days before the 1960 election, on November 2nd, Kennedy gave a speech at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. He pointed out that 70 percent of all new Foreign Service officers had no foreign language skills whatsoever; only three of the forty-four Americans in the embassy in Belgrade spoke Yugoslavian; not a single American in New Delhi could speak Indian dialects, and only two of the nine ambassadors in the Middle East spoke Arabic. Kennedy also pointed out that there were only twenty-six black officers in the entire Foreign Service corps, less than 1 percent.

  Kennedy’s confidence in proposing a “peace corps” at the end of his campaign was bolstered by news that students in the Big Ten universities and other colleges throughout Michigan had circulated a petition urging the founding of such an organization. The idea had caught fire in something like spontaneous combustion.