Benin – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review | AFRICA OPENED MY HEART by Julia Dreyer Wang (Benin)

Oct 05 2024

Africa Opened My Heart: A Memoir Julia Dreyer Wang (Benin 2012-14) Native Book Publishing August 2024 341 pages $19.99 (paperback), $3o.00 (Hardcover), $4.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Karen Chaffraix Waller (Senegal, Agroforestry, 2012- 14) . . . In Africa Opened My Heart Julie Wang takes the reader on a journey into deepest Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. But unlike most of us who engage in this two-year mission, she fell in love with a native and put down roots on the continent. She built a family and a house and a thriving foundation that continues to change lives. She is now in her 70’s, white, monied, and brave. Wang’s story is woven with insights and confessions. She tells us why she went and why she stays, all the while illuminating the malevolency of the world’s black/white divide with its inherent contradictions and evils. She illustrates the discernable difference between . . .

AFRICA OPENED MY HEART by Julie Wang (Benin)

Aug 27 2024

a new book— Africa Opened My Heart Julia Dreyer Wang (Benin 2012-14) Native Book Publishing August 2024 341 pages $19.99 (paperback), $3o.00 (Hardcover), $4.99 (Kindle) Africa Opened My Heart is a moving testament to having the courage to set out on new adventures later in life. After her husband died in 2009, Julie Wang, then 62, was encouraged to do so by reading about Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian, another older Peace Corps Volunteer. Julie was assigned to Benin, West Africa, a country she had barely heard of, but where she soon found herself falling in love with the Beninese people, who showed her how to survive and thrive in this sometimes-challenging country. As someone who had founded two businesses in the U.S., teaching entrepreneurial skills to Beninese young and old proved a pleasure. She thought she was doing well until confronted by a group of seamstresses who could . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | May — June 2024

Jul 01 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and maybe VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. PLEASE, PLEASE join in our Third Goal effort and volunteer to review a book or books!!! When Coronavirus Unmapped The Peace Corps Journey by Jeffrey W. Aubuchon (Morocco 2007-08) & Peace Corps Response Nepal 92252 Press 142 pages $2.99 (Kindle).$7.00 (Paperback) This book . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | January — February 2024

Mar 01 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and/or to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

Review | A BOUQUET OF DAYS by Fran Palmeri (Benin)

Feb 25 2024

A Bouquet of Days: Rambles through the Natural Beauties of Florida by Fran Palmeri (Benin 1967–68) Blurb 200 pages January 2024 $32.87 (paperback) Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96), • • • Fran Palmeri and her husband Bob, who was with the USIA, were assigned to Dahomey (now Benin) in 1967/68, and helped set up the Peace Corps program there. She is a member of the RPCV Gulf Coast Florida group. An award-winning writer/photographer, Fran has been exploring natural Florida for fifty years. A Bouquet of Days is divided into four chapters, one for each season. Fran guides us through the manifestations of Florida’s seasonal changes as they affect the weather, plants, animals, insects, birds, trees and whatever else lives on this tiny tongue of the planet. She also tells you through her expressive words and color-splashed photographs how the changes affect her. “Sometimes when winter overstays its welcome a . . .