Customer Reviews

Triumph & Hope: Golden Years With The Peace Corps in Honduras

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This is a remarkable story of an older woman's Peace Corps volunteerism in the country of Honduras. Her story describes the experiences she encountered throughout her three years there, the culture, the people, the poverty and devastation she encountered, and her successes that made a difference to those she tried to help. The book contains detailed descriptions of her daily life in her Honduran Peace Corps service and some photographs as well. This is a fitting story for those interested in a frank, descriptive diary of a woman wanting to resolve some of the health care issues facing a small nation in Central America. The story is especially inspiring for those of an older generation of people who wish to join the Peace Corps and contribute their service.
Barbara Joe makes periodic return visits to Honduras, and one is invited to sign onto her blog, and post comments and questions at http://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com.

Barbara E. Joe writes with agility and wit. This book is required reading for all those persons who skillfully persuade themselves that it is better to put off things until tomorrow. Barbara Joe's book reminds us that life doesn't wait until tomorrow and that unforeseen circumstances sometimes compel us to follow our dreams. I am reminded of a chapter in Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness - "Zest" or enthusiasm...you don't write books like Triumph and Hope without a full tank of zest. But in Barbara Joe's case this life-affirming quality is borne out of desolation and despair, and for that reason all the more uplifting.

As a former Volunteer in Colombia 1964-66 and Country Director in Argentina and Uruguay 1993-95,I find Barbara Joe's book a gift for all past and future Volunteers and Staff! The new Peace Corps Director when appointed should be given a copy to read and keep with her or him! Especially if they have never been a Peace Corps Volunteer! From my experience, Barbara Joe's beautiful story of her three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras is not about her age, but the commitment she has always had...to reach out to others. She goes to Honduras at age 62 knowing that her friends back in the U.S. think she will be home by Christmas...but her children believe in her. I am extremely impressed with her use of the black and white photos throughout her book, you feel that you are right there with her and her host country family. Some Volunteers and Staff spend their tour counting the days until they get to go home, while others really get involved in their communities, and like Barbara these are the Volunteers who adopt or are adopted by their new country, to become their "patria chica" or adopted homeland. Volunteers will often refer to their country of service as their new adopted homeland, and find something in themselves that they did not know existed...the special feeling that causes them to love and respect their new community. As Barbara says, "I now feel part Honduran!"
Having trained Peace Corps personnel, I feel Barbara Joe's book is a "how to" for future Volunteers and Staff, this must be made mandatory reading...pay attention Peace Corps, and not a bad way for family and friends to learn what it means to be with the Peace Corps. If you are even thinking about the experience that will change your life, check out Triumph and Hope by Barbara Joe...I couldn't put it down once I opened to the first page.
Bob Arias
Salem, Oregon

Think you don't know a hero? Meet Barbara E Joe, who joined the Peace Corps at age 62. Leaving her home in D.C., she spent two terms in Honduras, living in deprivation while teaching, interceding, mentoring, and dealing with the health problems of those in need, with empathy and in Spanish. Though she became known as "Doctora Barbara," she dispensed only aspirin while soliciting and distributing clothing, books, shoes and eyeglasses from home. She was creative in handling "critters," extremes of weather, the "chicken bus", and whatever she was dealt. At 70, she is preparing for her fourth return trip to be helping out with a general medical brigade in a village near La Esperanza with the same group mentioned under "Las Hortensias" in the epilogue. She will also be following up on young ortho patients she took for surgery two years ago. She is an excellent descriptive writer and includes many photos.

Barbara Joe served in the Peace Corps in El Triunfo and La Esperanza, Honduras, hence the book's title. Triumph & Hope is an unvarnished account of the challenges the two communities presented to their residents and, by extension, to one very well prepared, dedicated, and resourceful PC volunteer whose hope to "make a difference" surely deserves to be described as a triumph.
Although one of the author's aims in writing the book was to inspire qualified people in late middle age to maximize their lifetime contribution to humanity by volunteering for Peace Corps service, this path will not be for everyone. A great understatement in the annals of truth in advertising is the author's prefatory caution: "no sugar-coating." Nevertheless, this account of Barbara Joe's journey will entertain and enlighten armchair travelers, happy to leave life-threatening incidents and primitive tropical environments to others. In rural regions that must be called backward, horrifying details of poverty and the tragic results of ignorance are matched by the joy of countless Hondurans to whom the author routinely brought help and comfort. Barbara Joe's acts of compassionate competence were at first a source of amazement to the beneficiaries. As time went on, however, the reader gathers that the 60something volunteer was on her way to becoming a legend.
Among the good features of this book is raw material not to be found elsewhere: the author's unedited photographs of people described in the chapters, and her candid digressions into non-Peace Corps aspects of the region, Nicaragua in particular, and immigration policy, informed by decades of human rights work.

When Barbara Joe tells you, as her treasure trove of a book opens, that "the essential qualifications for surviving the Peace Corps experience are flexibility, imagination, initiative and commitment," take her very seriously. Being with her in Honduras, the poorest country in the hemisphere -- and you are there, because her writing is so vivid, so completely engaging -- you'll get Montezuma's Revenge several times no matter how careful you are, be stung by a scorpion, be robbed repeatedly, find yourself often unable to eat your tortilla at a table thick with flies from dishes rinsed in cold water with no soap, sometimes find yourself surrounded with the stench of God-knows-what-all, find yourself caught in a dangerous tormenta (you've not been in a thunderstorm until you've been in a tropical thunderstorm) and have lightning strike so close it leaves you with a tingling scalp and significant hearing loss, and, if you're anything like me, you'll be screaming at the earliest pages, "My Gawd, woman, get the heck outta there, NOW!" But this is because she's written this book with the excitement of a secret, personal daily diary you've stumbled unto, know you really shouldn't read but couldn't put down if you tried. The second thing I like most about TRIUMPH & HOPE though is the fact that it has literally everything: history, geography, politics, medical knowledge, religion, humor as well as tragedy and honest-to-God stories about the real people she lives with and tries to help that sound as dramatic as any fiction, plus a lot of interesting Spanish slang. Joe spent her early years in Colombia where her father worked for the Organization of American States, so she's fluent in the language. You'll see here a 62-year-old woman (now 71)who has lived a rich life of service as a human rights advocate, a writer and editor, a wife and mother with a rainbow brood of adopted children, who after the death of her own son, as well as the death of a beloved foster son from Cuba, decides to put all her energy to good use doing what she always longed to do, practice all her skills and knowledge as an occupational therapist and a Peace Corps Volunteer. She stays three and a half years, and she's returning to Honduras in February 2010 with a medical brigade. Reading this book is a true adventure, an excellent read from a very talented writer.

Barbara Joe does a great job of describing in wonderful detail the challenges (and rewards) of living with the people in her book TRIUMPH & HOPE: GOLDEN YEARS WITH THE PEACE CORPS IN HONDURAS. I think that the Peace Corps trainers for new volunteers and the country directors would all be well advised to recommend this book to those about to serve as volunteers, not only in Latin America, but anywhere in the world. The essential elements of an effective volunteer: determination, resourcefulness, cross-cultural appreciation and resilience in the face of unforeseen obstacles are all well illustrated in Joe's book in this unique insight into the real life of a Peace Corps Volunteer. By writing it not as a twentysomething but rather as a sixtysomething only adds to it's appeal. Thanks, Barbara, for your courageous personal portrayal and insight into your remarkable experience.
Patrick F. Gallagher

As a former Peace Corps volunteer in neighboring El Salvador (1970-72)and recent member of a medical brigade with Shoulder to Shoulder [...] in Honduras I thoroughly enjoyed Joe's book. It conjured up both old and not-so-old memories. What I had forgotten between Peace Corps service in the 1970's and medical brigade work in 2009 is the sheer difficulty of getting ANYTHING done given the lack of infrastructure and the pervasiveness of graft/corruption/politics. Joe's accomplishments are enormous in that context, and I doubt a reader who has not experienced a developing culture first-hand will fail to fully appreciate that fact. Although she frequently mentions such barriers, my only criticism of this book is that Joe's narrative fails to bring home the enormity of the challenges a volunteer faces in negotiating the cultural and political landscape to perform with the high degree of effectiveness that Joe achieved.

That quibble aside, her book presents an unvarnished, straight forward, and unsentimental account of Peace Corps service with its characteristic bipolar swings. Triumph and Hope is written in a clear expository style. It will have great appeal to those who have lived in developing cultures. It is an invaluable resource to anyone considering Peace Corps or other service in a developing country. Kudos to Barbara Joe for a must enjoyable read!

Barbara Joe's book "Triumph & Hope" is a must read for anyone who has ever lived or is thought about living in an undeveloped counrty. It is an extremely senistive, well written book. The tale of her years in Honduras covers the ups and downs, the joy and frustration and the dreams and achievements of goals reached and those beyond reach. For me, who entered Peace Corp in mid-life it brought back many memories even though our experiences and locations were total different. I found the book delightful and charming and have given it to numerous people as a gift.

I just finished this book and thought it was excellent. I am a former Peace Corps volunteer (El Salvador '96-'98) and simply wanted to say that I thought the book really gives the reader a view from the inside, a real life perspective of the hardships, challenges, and joy of living in Central America. I can relate to so many of the stories and personalities in the book. It's amazing how the book brought back intense emotions and memories for me. I admire the author's dedication and commitment to the people of Latin America, as well as her courage to welcome so many adventures. The book was simply a great, inspiring reminder of the many ways we can all contribute to the global society.