Travel to Africa

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village

Format: Paperback
Author: Sarah Erdman
ReleaseDate: 01 August, 2004
Publisher: Picador
Rating:

A Culture of Service
She served as a health care worker, primarily trying to teach the village women about prenatal health and infant care. "Nine Hills of Nambonkaha" is a wonderful first-person account of a young Peace Corps worker's experiences in Ivory Coast in 2000 and 2001. AIDS became an issue while she was there. Erdman shows maturity beyond her years in her efforts to relate with people of all ages and stations in a little village as remote from her private school upbringing as could be imagined. With patience and respect she teaches invaluable lessons about prenatal and infant care, family planning and disease prevention.

Both her efforts to work with the local people within their culture and her writing skills are inspiring, hopefully enough so to cause other young people to serve the world and themselves in similar fashion.

Interesting but a little slow
I thought it was a good read, but was a little slow. I spent two years in Africa with the Peace Corps and really looked forward to reading this book. I suspect that readers who have not lived in Africa may find it more entertaining that I did as much of the joy of reading this book is in the discovery of village culture. .

6 stars for this engaging trip to a challenging place for us armchair travelers
Sarah Erdman's account of how she works out her unique role as an outsider with a mission to improve family health in a tradition-bound, closely-knit rural village is one of the best of its kind. Honest, earnest, compelling, extremely well-written narrative of two years serving the Peace Corps in a remote village of Ivory Coast-- I emerged from this reading with a knowledge and respect for the people of the village, as well as for the sincerity and objectivity of the author.

Also recommended: Peter Hessler's RIVER TOWN and Mike Tidwell's THE PONDS OF KALAMBAYI. .

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Africa travel books.

	The Village of Waiting
	Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle