Too many people go to countries trying to do good things and they wind up causing trouble. John's goal was to make people self-sufficient. He shows how someone can make social change and not upend the apple cart. He was an excellent Peace Corps volunteer.
Dr. Brian Polkinghorn, Center for Conflict
Resolution, Salisbury University
It was 1975, Zaire had just started its long descent into economic decline when John Jochum arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer. He spent three years in the central African country helping local farmers build fish farms. He also saw first-hand how a politically predatory country takes a toll on its citizens.
Jochum regularly wrote letters home, describing his experiences and sending along photos. His mother saved everything, tucking them away safely in a bedroom drawer. When she died recently, Jochum found the letters and realized he had quite a record of his experiences as a young man twenty-nine years ago.
Mary Bargion, The Daily Times,
Salisbury, Maryland
Letters from Zaire is a fascinating account of John Jochum s experience with the Peace Corps. It is both entertaining and educational, as it depicts a cultural, learning, and teaching experience, as well as a captivating account of one young man s season of personal growth. It offers a remarkably insightful recount of the political atmosphere in Zaire and its relations with other countries. At the same time, through imaginative writing and striking photographs, the reader is carried through a personal journey right alongside John as he meets the impoverished family units of the region, teaches a trade, interacts with them in social gatherings, travels the dusty roads of small towns on barely reliable transportation, adopts a desperately unhealthy stray dog, and floats down a lazy river on inner tubes with a handful of friends.
Karen Scott, Media Specialist,
Wicomico Senior High School
Dr. Brian Polkinghorn, Center for Conflict
Resolution, Salisbury University
It was 1975, Zaire had just started its long descent into economic decline when John Jochum arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer. He spent three years in the central African country helping local farmers build fish farms. He also saw first-hand how a politically predatory country takes a toll on its citizens.
Jochum regularly wrote letters home, describing his experiences and sending along photos. His mother saved everything, tucking them away safely in a bedroom drawer. When she died recently, Jochum found the letters and realized he had quite a record of his experiences as a young man twenty-nine years ago.
Mary Bargion, The Daily Times,
Salisbury, Maryland
Letters from Zaire is a fascinating account of John Jochum s experience with the Peace Corps. It is both entertaining and educational, as it depicts a cultural, learning, and teaching experience, as well as a captivating account of one young man s season of personal growth. It offers a remarkably insightful recount of the political atmosphere in Zaire and its relations with other countries. At the same time, through imaginative writing and striking photographs, the reader is carried through a personal journey right alongside John as he meets the impoverished family units of the region, teaches a trade, interacts with them in social gatherings, travels the dusty roads of small towns on barely reliable transportation, adopts a desperately unhealthy stray dog, and floats down a lazy river on inner tubes with a handful of friends.
Karen Scott, Media Specialist,
Wicomico Senior High School
