From Publishers Weekly
A Peace Corps worker sent to the Sakel to establish a fish-farming project, the author lived with a family in a tiny Sengalese village near the Mauretania border. We share her initial feelings of dislocation as she contends not only with a primitive lifestyle, lack of creature comforts, and the overt sexism of the Moslem men she supervises, but also with her burgeoning relationships with the women in the little compound who become as much her family as her relatives in America. In a guileless narrative filled with affection and anger, Lowerre tells of the ill health and bureaucratic failings that beset her; she acknowledges the Pulaar people's love and good humor, and offers an unprettified closeup of daily life in an African village.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-- An emotionally intense, readable book for mature readers. The neem tree provided Lowerre with shade and sanctuary during her stay in Senegal as a Peace Corps volunteer. Both her friends and rivals come alive in this graphic account of her struggle to work and survive in the harsh climate amidst extreme poverty and disease. What comes across throughout is Lowerre's devotion to the Senegalese people; she kept working despite serious health problems of her own. Each chapter discusses a single event and keeps the pace flowing. This is similar to Mike Tidwell's Ponds of Kalambayi (Lyons & Burford, 1990). He, however, explains the work of the organization more fully while Lowerre helps readers know the people better. There is no glossary of the non-English terms.
-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
