Fishing in the Sky: The Education of Namory Keita

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting American Gives His Perspective on Mali
Review: I was in Don Lawder's Peace Corps group and got to know him only superficially during our 3-months of training. Reading this book 21 years later, I now realize what a complex person he was. This is a great book if you are considering Peace Corps service. No two people have the same experience, so don't expect your two years to be just like his, but this will help you appreciate that you will be sent there to interact with people, not necessarily change them. Like Don, you will be changed much more than they.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting American Gives His Perspective on Mali
Review: Lawder writes beautifully of his life as an older Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. Rather than present himself as the savior of these impoverished people, he shows how he is, in a sense, saved. Adopted by a Malian family, he makes a life for himself with them, becoming a de facto grandfather. He portrays the Malians as an intelligent, warm, hard-working people living under difficult circumstances, and it's interesting to "meet" them through this absorbing book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written; offers new perspective
Review: Lawder writes beautifully of his life as an older Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. Rather than present himself as the savior of these impoverished people, he shows how he is, in a sense, saved. Adopted by a Malian family, he makes a life for himself with them, becoming a de facto grandfather. He portrays the Malians as an intelligent, warm, hard-working people living under difficult circumstances, and it's interesting to "meet" them through this absorbing book.