Ponds of Kalambayi: A Peace Corps Memoir

Mike Tidwell's book is one of the best Peace Corps memoirs that I have read. It is clear that he is a truly exceptional person with an internal toughness and drive that one can only admire. I worked in West Africa myself as an agricultural volunteer. I wish that I could claim to have been half a successful as he was. His writing is excellent. You will feel as though you are there with him as he goes through the many challenges of working in the most rural area that central Africa has to offer.

It is a touching piece that, despite the distance in time since the events discussed is still relevant in its lessons and emotions. It does a great job of illustrating the lives and behaviors in rural impoverished areas that the vast majority of western readers simply cannot conceive. It's alternately sad and comic, but always poignant and educational.

I have it on good authority from a former Peace Corps volunteer that this book gives a reasonable picture of a Peace Corps experience in a third world country. It was well written, also. This was a good read!

A superb, entertaining, educational, book written by somebody who "gets it." Tidwell sets out with the best of intentions to improve the quality of life in backwater Congo but is thwarted time and again by cultural issues.

Wonderful read!

Great book about helping in practical ways.

All good

It's a very good book. It doesn't get boring.

This is a terrific book and I recommend it especially for anyone from the West who has lived in a less-developed country with a totally different culture. Many of Mike's joys and difficulties of living in a different culture will remind you of your own experiences and make you think more deeply about them.