Mango Elephants in the Sun: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin

by Susana Herrera

When the Peace Corps sends Susana Herrera to teach English in Northern Cameroon, she yearns to embrace her adopted village and its people, to drink deep from the spirit of Mother Africa—and to forget a bitter childhood and painful past. To the villagers, however, she's a rich American tourist, a nasara (white person) who has never known pain or want. They stare at her in silence. The children giggle and run away. At first her only confidant is a miraculously communicative lizard.

Susana fights back with every ounce of heart and humor she possesses, and slowly begins to make a difference. She ventures out to the village well and learns to carry water on her head. In a classroom crowded to suffocation she finds a way to discipline her students without resorting to the beatings they are used to. She makes ice cream in the scorching heat, and learns how to plant millet and kill chickens. She laughs with the villagers, cries with them, works and prays with them, heals and is helped by them.

Village life is hard but magical. Poverty is rampant—yet people sing and share what little they have. The termites that chew up her bed like morning cereal are fried and eaten in their turn ("bite-sized and crunchy like Doritos"). Nobody knows what tomorrow may bring, but even the morning greetings impart a purer sense of being in the moment. Gradually, Susana and the village become part of each other. They will never be the same again.

Genres: Africa, Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel, Cameroon, Biography, Autobiography

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5***

Subtitle: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin

Reeling from the breakup of her marriage, Herrera decided to sign up for the Peace Corps and an assignment teaching English in a remote village in Cameroon. This is a memoir of the time she spent in that African village.

I was interested and engaged in the experiences Herrera related, but somewhat appalled by how she lacked even basic understanding of the differences in culture before she arrived at her assignment. She seems to have no clue that she’d have to kill her own chicken if she wanted to cook one, or little idea of how to protect her meager furnishings from the ravages of hungry termites. Some scenes were touching or humorous. Many hit me upside the head with the change in perspective.

For example, Herrera relates how the women decide to teach her to prepare lunch. They must start at 7:00a.m. to prepare the noon meal, because first they have to catch the chicken. They they must go to the fields and dig up the peanuts, go into the forest to cut wood for the fire, and meticulously clean the rice of sticks and stones. When she comments that she doesn’t know how to do these things because “our rice comes already clean in a bag from the store,” the women respond: “Your country is rich if you can pay for someone to clean your rice for you.”

Later she is trying to explain that not all Americans are rich, and tells the women about the homeless in America. Her audience is taken aback. “I think your country shouldn’t kill chickens for people until the homeless have a home.”

She learns that teaching a young woman to ride a bicycle has resulted in censure by her family, and Herrera apologizes for the trouble this has caused. “Miss,” Lydie interrupts, “the price is nothing. Do you think he can take away what you have put inside me?”

There is some poetry that Herrera has written included in the text. These poems are in the voice of a lizard that frequents her home and serve as a sort of internal dialogue as she comes to grip with the trauma she is running from back home and begins to realize her calling as a teacher.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note: This is a review I wrote for the volunteer newsletter while serving in the Peace Corps.

Mango Elephants in the Sun, How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin, is a great book to read if you want to feel normal and generally good about yourself as a PCV. This is because, as far as I can ascertain, the author is an ass. In her book Susana Herrera writes about her experience as a PCV in the Cameroon and provides you with many opportunities to say, “What the hell was she thinking?” or, “Jesus, at least I’m not that stupid.” It is hard for me to decide if I should recommend that you read this book or if I should find a place for it to ensure that it is never read again. I think I’ll go with recommending the book. The beauty of this book is it is great for feeling smug. If it is possible to get a smugness high, I got one from this book. It is certainly worth acknowledging that every PCV has a different experience, especially when serving in different countries, but I really don’t care. It was too enjoyable for me to read passage after passage and exclaim (often out loud to Jo), “I would have never done that!” I also took great pleasure in announcing to Jo (who read it first) whenever I decided the author was exaggerating or just flat out lying.
While I could fill these pages with examples from the book that would at once bewilder, astonish, annoy, and amuse you, I’ll limit it to my favorite one. In chapter 44 she decides to go to a fellow PCV’s site, 20 miles away, but at noon she still can’t find a ride. Then she decides she can take her one-speed bike the whole way, in what she describes as 110 degree heat. Good thinking Suzie. Before she leaves, she ties up her puppy as well as a chicken someone had given her and arranges for them to be watered. But then…the dog starts barking at the chicken!!! Whoa! “This isn’t going to work,” she says, “I’ll have to take them both.” She then ties the chicken upside down by its feet to the handle bars and puts the dog in a box on the back of the bike. All set! A couple hours in the withering heat later, she starts seeing a lizard. Every time she blinks he disappears and then reappears with the next blink. Her take: “I’ve got to get off this malaria prophylaxis I’m on…Hallucinations are scary. I’d rather take my chances with malaria.” Gee Suze, don’t you think it could be possible that your vision or perception might be a little altered by riding your one-speed bike for 20 miles in 110 degree noonday heat? No? Yeah, me neither. This is all topped off perfectly in chapter 58, when she actually gets malaria. She supposedly nearly dies, and then has the gall/naivety/density to say, and I swear I’m not making this up, “I had no idea when I stopped taking the malaria prophylaxis that it could possibly be deadly”.
If you liked this bit of idiocy, you will love Mango Elephants in the Sun. But you don’t have to take my word for it! Look on for it on the ‘H’ shelf.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. It was beautiful and inspiring. It was written by a woman who was in the peace corps in the early 90s in Cameroon. I definitely think of it as more of a woman-empowering book. I received it on Tuesday and finished it by Sunday morning (just in time for the book club meeting that I was hosting!!) A pretty easy read and I would recommend it to pretty much everyone.

[Ross Connelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a crappy book written by a stupid Peace Corps Volunteer. I lived just down the road from this girl's village. Luckily we weren't in the Peace Corps at the same time because if we had been I would have had to interact with her.

[Ceelee · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the tasks I chose on the GR Seasonal Reading Challenge's Summer 2017 Challenge was a task to read a memoir of a person who was a volunteer for a humanitarian organization. I was a little unsure about this since I am not familiar with the subject and wouldn't know what a "good " memoir might be. I decided that since the task creator was a former Peace Corps volunteer I would read about someone in I the Peace Corps. I looked at a suggested list and was intrigued by the title MANGO ELEPHANTS IN THE SUN: HOW LIVING IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE LET ME BE IN MY SKIN. by Susanna Herrera. I liked the title and the bright colors on the cover. Inside I found a book that is full of warmth, laughter, heartache, frustration and love. All kinds of love like little children who found such joy in being spun around and tickled, women who gave of themselves to help the young volunteer . coping with life in the unfamiliar culture. students who were eager to learn anal young men who wanted to be her sons in order to protect her, , even romantic love from the local doctor who snag "Stand By Me" and "You're In My Soul" to the king of Cameroon who presented her with a goat's head as an engagement gift. She made friends among the villagers and became one of them experiencing herself the culture of the village life like eating locusts and termites (better to eat them before they gobbled up your stick bed) There were friends as well like Peace Corps volunteers especially Amy who served the same two years she from 1992-94. . Of course she missed home and her mom and brought some U S culture into their lives. They thought she a bit odd to go out running in the mornings or and riding her bike through town but loved her chocolate and pizza. (Chinese food not so much) I loved her "The Lizard Speaks" poems. There was real sadness when some of the villagers died for various reasons and real fear when war broke out. I totally became immersed in this story and loved it! It made me wonder what happened to some of the people she knew there and wish she had done a follow up. I could feel all her emotions and she made her journey in Africa and I learned that despite the different cultures deep down we are all the same as humans we have hopes and dreams, we love our children and our friends, we want that special someone to be there to love us and protect us and to have those we love around us when we are ill and/or dying. I cried when she left and if it affected me that much I am sure it affected Susanna a million times over. I admire her courage of taking on that responsibility and I also learned that I am OK in my skin and will own myself. "I am my own best thing". Greta book that everyone should read and if you can't serve as Susanna did you can get a glimpse into another culture that is like another world but in fundamental ways not so different at all and I know I will NEVER complain of the summer heat in North Texas when it is over 100 degrees here but be thankful I can escape it under central air conditioning while in African villages it can be 125 degrees INSIDE their homes and there is no relief.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really hard to write a book about being a volunteer in the Peace Corps. It's hard to write about any significant experience like that, let alone one that is intense, isolated and misunderstood, plus so uniquely individual.

During training as a volunteer, I remember thinking each day is going to be hard in different ways, but then when sent alone to my village, I quickly learned that each hour — and sometimes each minute — is hard in different ways. As the two years of service progressed, I integrated, became a member of a society, joined and led groups, made lifelong friends, learned and participated in the local humor (unexpectedly one of the more challenging yet rewarding aspects of integration), and ultimately, I was able to go through a day and not think about the difficulty. Being in my village was natural and comfortable. Getting to that point is the crux of any Peace Corps journey. It's unforgettable, beautiful, and H-A-R-D.

Conveying the inner and outer turmoil of Peace Corps as well as the little wins and significant frustrations are made all the more difficult with the cultural, linguistic, religious, and political chasms between two worlds — in Herrera's case, it's life in the U.S. vs life in a small, super isolated Muslim village named Guidiguis in northern Cameroon. I read this book because I was posted in northern Cameroon around the same time she was and I, too, taught in a remote high school. Her village had a paved road going through it, mine was dirt (a bit of Peace Corps hardship one-upmanship!).

Herrera is a passable writer. She brings you into her new world for two years. Yet if you were not in the Peace Corps and/or had never been to Cameroon, I'm not sure you'd appreciate or understand its complexities.

Where things fall flat a bit: The poems don't work and frankly are not needed. The similes are weird ("...the soap spread over me like icing on a piping hot cinnamon roll."). The metaphors are strained ("My skin has become the cocoon and my soul a caterpillar. I am metamorphosing; my entire molecular structure is melting down....I'm stuck with this goo form I have become.") She occasionally didn't translate Fulfuldé dialogue into English, assuming the context was enough. But I did love hearing the language in my mind again; I can visualize the gestures that went with each word.

I'd imagine some readers would think "Mango Elephants" is a very touchy-feely, women finds herself woo-woo book. Readers may not realize that while Peace Corps is about helping others, it's also about helping yourself. You get to know yourself really well when challenged every second and you don't have a crux or excuse or next door American friend to fall back on. And back in the 90's in small villages, there was no landline or cell phone, no internet, no reliable mail service, no fax, no nothing. There was you and you alone. You become super resilient. You found yourself.

Kudos to Herrera for tackling this challenge and writing about this time in her life. Guidiguis is better because of her. She is better because of Guidiguis.

[John Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book, finding it captured my interest and kept it throughout. It's a first person account of a young woman's 2 year tour as a Peace Corps worker in a remote area of northern Cameroon teaching English to children. Written with emotional intimacy and intensity, you see her start with uncertainty and fears, but develop life changing loves and friendships along the way, during some very turbulent times in Cameroon.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book about life in Cameroon.

[Francesca French · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to abandon this book. Dreadfully self indulgent florid writing, which becomes very irritating to me and totally detracts from the book. On lky the 2nd book in my life that I have thrown out.

[sarah rogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

wasn’t what i was expecting but had a lot of bittersweet moments i could relate to during my peace corps service

[Karen Munze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author's style puts the reader in Africa right with her. You won't know what happens for each thread of her story until it actually happens, so it feels like you are "live" as things are happening.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was the one of MANY peace corps memoirs i suffered through (reading material choices were limited to our paltry communal bookshelves in the volunteer lounge of the swaziland peace corps office).
anyway, i used to write a monthly literature review box or our volunteer newsletter, and one month i ranted about this genre. below are my thoughts:

Dissecting the Peace Corps Memoir
One of my least favorite genres of nonfiction is hands-down the “peace corps memoir.” I attribute it to both the fact that I am a volunteer myself, and thus more critical of the actual content. And then probably due to the sheer volume that I read, I’m picky about writing, appreciating only good prose. More often then not, I feel like returned volunteers have good stories to tell and get book contracts for these stories without actually possessing the literary training or raw talent to pull them off. Even the most talented editors couldn’t fix these calamities.
Just to prove that it doesn’t matter how bad of a writer you are, as long as your granddaddy is famous you can get a book deal, Jason Carter’s Power Lines is an embarrassment to his Duke education. Stylistically, his sentences and paragraphs fall flat, lacking cohesion. And grammatically, he leaves the reader reaching for her copy of Strunk & White. The award for most frustrating goes to Susana Herrera whose Mango Elephants in the Sun made me want to jab blunt objects into my eye sockets as I waded through nonsensical odes to lizards and out of place poems. I couldn’t tell if she wanted the reader to feel sorry for her or be envious. I suppose in the end it didn’t matter because I felt neither. I found Sarah Erdman’s Nine Hills to Nambonkaha, one of the newest in the genre, to be nauseatingly pretentious and self-congratulatory. From a literary standpoint, the lack of coherent theme or message was disappointing. As I’ve mentioned in a previous entry, Geneva Sander’s The Gringo Brought His Mother is ridiculously absurd. It’s a memoir written by a volunteer’s mother after a month-long trip to visit her son. The mother is completely nutty and paints a pathetic portrait of her son; then again whose mother actually writes a peace corps memoir ?!?! Moritz Thomsen’s Living Poor was mind-numbingly boring and topped only by Peter Hessler’s River Town. Hessler’s was so dull that even Kelly (training director) couldn’t finish it. And in the “who cares” category is Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery’s Dear Exile, a collection of letters the two friends wrote back and forth during Montgomery’s service (Liftin was stateside). The reader is treated to a nearly constant string of Montgomery’s complaints to her friend about rural village life in Kenya. It’s very hard to muster up sympathy for her bouts of diarrhea when I (and all the other volunteers in Swaziland) still heroically troop to the pit latrine through thick and thin.
It’s not, however, a complete waste of a genre. Two gems sparkle in the rough including Mike Tidwell’s The Ponds of Kalambayi. Tidwell does not shy away from his own shortcomings and writes candidly of his own vices and addictions. His clear and concise prose paints a vivid and enthralling picture of the fisheries program in Zaire.
And then there is George Parker’s The Village of Waiting. The first memoir to take a critical look at post-colonial class, race, and culture issues that surround the Peace Corps experience. Not only is Parker’s writing heads above the best (he’s a Pushcart Prize winning writer whose work has appeared in Harper’s, Dissent, and The New York Times), he’s also brutally honest about his work as white western volunteer living in an African village, acknowledging the inherent problems and paradoxes....less...more
...less...more

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've decided to give up on this book, and from what I have read, I will give it a star and a half. I'm getting very frustrated with it because she seems to be making the same dumb mistakes with a lot of things which I'll expand on below:

1. While I'm not expecting great writing for Peace Corps Lit, however, this one is really bottom of the barrel. I've been spoiled with reading Micheal Myer and Peter Hessler whom both did Peace Corps, but managed to incorporate much more to their personal journey than Herrera did in their writing and their personal narrative was far less in your face.

2. Being abroad is a very personal journey for many, and is certainly not for the faint of heart. It's difficult and certainly brings it's extreme joys and pitfalls. However, there's a line of what I want to read about and what I don't when I'm reading about your personal experience. She was really all over the place in what she choose to include with a variety of different things: letters, poems (which were poorly written and angsty), and short narrative chapters. She chose a writing style in which she chooses to write as if her audience for her book is her best friend. While I certainly kept my own journal of writing while abroad, there is a lot of my own personal thoughts and developmental process and streamlining writing that I would never subjugate any reader but myself too. I felt in many of her little chapters and letters that she chose to include that she never turned this filter off, and while I don't know her, there were certainly some stories that I cared not to read.

3. After spending almost three years abroad myself, I can understand the personal journey and frustrations of being abroad. That being said, I can chaulk up to some stupid repetitive mistakes, but certainly some of her mistakes are signs that she really had no business being in the Peace Corps, in Africa or even abroad for that matter. Who in their right mind goes off Malaria pills while in a high Malaria zone, and then be surprised when she contracts it and nearly dies from it?

4. As I aforementioned, she chose to enter the Peace Corps after being abused as a child (and her psychiatrist had pretty much claimed that she had significant work to do) and what seemed like a pretty emotional divorce. These are big red flags, and while I can appreciate others wanting to use time abroad as a personal self discovery, the Peace Corps is by no means a good way to do it. The whole point of the Peace Corps is to place you in areas of high needs, and often in places where you have to do your own personal and professional development, with very little support, and often in places without many people in your widespread area with similar backgrounds (being from a western, developed country). As a direct result she spiraled down in many ways, that can happen to the best of us, but she certainly was in not in reasonable emotional state to do the Peace Corps, so I found what little bit I did read to be significantly more whiney, which brings me back to point number 2.

5. All of these being said, I find it hard to believe that she was able to publish this book. I guess it's the same sort of question I'd raise with the 50 Shades of Grey series mostly due to the overall poor writing skills, and lack of knowledge of the audience, and the whole all over the place presentation of a whole grey picture. There were so many red flags with this book and I only made it half way through, I could only find myself getting more and more irked by her writing.

It's disappointing, because it's been several weeks since I've really had much of a book that hasn't waned my interest after mid way through. I wouldn't recommend this book to most. I didn't think that I'd really have this many issues with a book, but there's a first time for everything I guess...

[Jeannie Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Peace Corp Adventure in Africa

Navajo Indian woman Susana Herrera decides to put her violent childhood and abusive marriage behind by joining the American Peace Corp. Signing on for a two year stint in Cameroon Africa to teach young children, she has no idea just what she has gotten herself into.

Arriving on the West Coast of Africa where temperatures get well over 125 degrees and where the land is as dry as the Sahara, Susana’s first struggle is to gain respect and trust from the local villagers of Guidiguis. Peace Corp volunteers are not to interfere with local politics, government rules and regulationsm and are not encouraged to attempt trying to change, or improve the lifestyle of the native people. They are to mingle, commune with, and live the life as the locals do, not allowing themselves too many outside luxuries or comforts in order to achieve acceptance and gain an accurate picture of a realistic life in their foreign surroundings.

This is a hilarious, yet poignant heartwarming memoir that both humbles and inspires Susana. The reader will laugh out loud as she learns to balance water buckets on her head, eat fried locusts, twist the neck of her dinner time chicken, run for her life as snakes invade the outhouse, and when ravenous termites literally chomp away at her bed leaving her lying one morning, mattress on the ground. You will also cry with her as she witnesses death and disease and the frustration of the villagers who live and breathe to suffer through extreme poverty. Slowly inching her way into the hearts of the local women who teach her to cook local delicacies, she stands up to the men who are used to ordering their wives about, and gains the unconditional love of a classroom full of precious children so eager to learn English. Their goal is to learn enough to someday free themselves from their plight of living in a barren land devoid of enough food and water to keep their families alive.

Susana’s tale is so full of love and hope as she becomes one with the Cameroon people. Falling in love with the local Doctor, adopting two teenage sons that teach her the African way and protect her from harm when local uprisings threaten their village, teaching the kids to cook pizza and making home-made banana splits that melt in minutes, are scenes that will have readers enchanted with her story. You too will be smitten with these people who although have nothing, are so rich in the art of loving, giving, and who welcome Susana with open arms.

The author is a very talented writer, the story is beautifully written with lavish descriptive prose. The real treat here is the interjected fun poems that are told through the eyes of a lizard as he watches Susana’s adventures through love and loss and her incredible stamina to recreate her own identity, as well as bring laughter and learning to the people of Africa. This is probably one of the best travel narratives I’m come across yet, I really loved Susana’s story!

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly? I read this one mostly because there were mangoes and elephants in the title -- although, alas, not actually in the book.

Herrera taught English in Cameroon when she was in the Peace Corps; she went, she says, both because she knew she wanted to teach and because she wanted a better life than the one she was leaving at home. ('And you came here?' asks more than one person.) She struggles with feeling isolated and out of place, with wondering what the point of teaching these students English is, with social norms foreign to her. (I did relate to the out-of-place feeling -- many of the Peace Corps memoirs I've read don't cover that, but I know that if I had done the Peace Corps I would have been absolutely miserable at first, miserable and lonely, no matter how badly I wanted to be there.) She adjusts, though, and builds relationships -- including a romantic relationship -- and has successes, and makes decisions good and bad. Maybe she finds what she's looking for.

But I'm not sure that she does, and that has less to do with her journey (physical and emotional) itself than it does with the writing. Herrera touches on some serious, complex topics from her past -- abuse, a failed (and young) marriage, general unhappiness with her life in the States -- but gives only the barest details; I'm not sure whether she wanted to keep her focus on Cameroon or simply didn't want to write about those things, but it left me wanting something more. I also wanted more out of the relationships she eventually develops in Cameroon; in that sense the book seemed to...jump from her initial isolation straight to tearful hugs and goodbyes, without much detail on who these people were inside.

Herrera also skims over some really interesting questions within Cameroon that I wish she'd given more attention to. She's Hispanic and Native American, for one; in the U.S. she's used to being not white -- and not privileged -- but in Cameroon she is, for all intents and purposes, white. And wealthy. She doesn't seem to understand this, protesting that no, she's not rich, she's here on a volunteer basis...ignoring the facts that her volunteer stipend is on par with what many of the people around her are making (and she's single, without a family to support) and she has money in the bank at home, even if it's not much by American standards and even if she's not accessing it in Cameroon. Just...so much potential for discussion of class and race and identity and (relative) socioeconomic status; not much of that potential is realised.

So -- some parts that resonated, but on the whole, it was on the lower end of the PC memoirs I've read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always had a fascination with Africa and a desire to go there. In reality though, I wouldn't last a second. All it would take is seeing one of the large dangerous snakes to make my heart stop beating.
I'm certain I would not have been able to endure the experience that Susana did with her tour of duty in Africa with the Peace Corps. I was oblivious of the extreme social degradation of women and girls. Thinking that if a woman rides a bike she is then perceived as untrustworthy and not worthy of marriage. Marriage....certainly I cannot envision not opening my mouth to the extreme selfishness of the men. It's bad enough they have several wives, but then sit around and do truly nothing but belittle the women and watch them do chores the entire day. Yeah, sounds fun.
The sad part was the children. They're taught by the Peace Corps how to speak English and told of exotic places such as America and Paris and cultural differences however in reality where will they ever use this knowledge? They're certainly not going to get a scholarship for picking millet that they're known for producing in this particular village. Very sad to think about.
It was a very moving story and really makes you step back and appreciate ice, hot showers, a bed, and the safety of your home (not being trampled by elephants).
I loved Susana's style of writing. I loved how she captured the essence of the village women taking her in as one of them. How admired she was by those women and all the children adored her. It would have broken my heart to have said goodbye.
It was a great read and I'm sure you would agree.

[Jesse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Third book of three Peace Corps memoirs I read that were recommended by a friend who did Peace Corps, and while I was applying for Peace Corps and actually after I received my Peace Corps nomination.

This one was probably my least favorite. Maybe it was it's women studies aspect of a woman finding her inner strength and outer strength to move beyond a life history of abuse and terrible relationships. But I found her voice to be kind of grating, hypocritical, and whiny. And I think had her recruiter read this book, then gone back in time and decided if she's be a good candidate for PC, she might not have nominated her. Because the author seemed to become unhinged as the book progressed and she spent her time in the Cameroonian desert, which granted would be extremely difficult.

But, the part that got me the worst and made me not really care for the author was when two neighbor children came to ask for candy and she only had two pieces left, and that it was, "the hardest sacrifice of her life" TWO PIECE OF CANDY TO TWO KIDS WHO LIVE IN POVERTY AND WOULD PROBABLY NEVER HAVE THOSE KINDS OF THINGS AGAIN AFTER THE VOLUNTEER LEFT - THE HARDEST SACRIFICE OF HER LIFE?! REALLY!? It just really struck a wrong chord with me.

I think that she is a valid voice for a Peace Corps experience, but it wasn't my favorite Peace Corps book,and it wasn't my favorite book in general.

[Chris Beal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot praise this book too highly. It is one of the best books of any kind I have read, and the best memoir. What is good about it? First of all, it's incredibly poetic. The very first page captured me, first with a poem and then prose that was just as poetic. And the rest of the book is just as beautifully written.

This book is heartfelt. A young woman goes to Africa in the Peace Corps and has unbelievable adventures as her soul heals from abuse in her childhood. And yet, while the inner journey is important, the outer journey is no less so. I never dreamed that the Peace Corps just sent people out and let them flounder, but that is apparently the case. The types of things Herrera had to deal with – on her own – are unbelievable. Yet she heroically perseveres. Only a person with an extremely flexible personality could make it through. Meanwhile, she learns lessons about the universality of human beings and about survival on the most basic level.

Even if you don't read memoirs, read this one!

I wish I knew what happened to this author. According to the book jacket, she taught at a school in Watsonville, California at the time the book was published (1999),. A few years ago she wrote a book in Spanish. I can't find anything else about her. I'd love to know what she is doing now and what she has made of her considerable gifts as a writer.

[coffeedog]

Author Susana Herrera goes to Africa thinking herself oppressed in America, due to her Hispanic heritage, etc., but by contrast, sounds like a typical valley-girl-bimbo-whiner once she gets to her Peace Corps village. Her story is mostly about HER coping with her own emotions and physical lack of niceties like shampoo, and not about sharing insights into the lives of the local people and the problems the Peace Corps is trying to help them solve. [return][return]She comes across as selfish and self-absorbed, trying to explain to the locals in Cameroon that she also comes from an oppressed background. Overall, she doesn't keep her private life private, never tries to objectify her observations, and as a result seems very unprofessional. [return][return]If you want to read about a rather spoiled woman who "finds herself" in Africa and becomes a teacher when she returns to California, go ahead and read this book.

[Coralie]

Susana is in her late twenties when she joins the Peace Corps and becomes an English teacher in Cameroon, Africa. Many volunteers who are posted to Cameroon don't finish their assignment, it is a tough place, especially for women. Susana is recovering from a difficult divorce and an abusive childhood. She is determined not to give up on the African village, even though it isn't easy. Her female students are abused, as are the women in her village. She sees death and sickness all around her, and gets sick herself. Civil War erupts, causing an already dangerous situation to become worse. But Susanna hangs on, learning to concentrate on what it really important. By making it until the end of her assignment, she learns how strong she really is.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was in Cameroon with the Peace Corps from 1992-94. Her assignment was teaching English in the northern village of Guidiguis. While the book mentions some of her teaching experiences – cramped classrooms with over 100 students under a tin roof in 100+ degree heat – it’s more about her own experiences and being comfortable with her identity. The subtitle: How Life in an African Village let me be in my Skin comes from the greeting. As she explains, the phrase translates “are you in your skin” or “is your soul in your body”. She mentions a bit about an abusive background so I see a bit of a double meaning here. On the one hand, it speaks to the local village but on the other hand, it speaks to the healing that happened in her life during those years.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book about a young female Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon in 1992-1994. It took me a few pages to get into her writing style but once I did I was hooked. This experience she had and the way she told it, made it feel very down to earth and real. Her experience was both an awakening of herself and a true insight into her feelings for the people and area she comes to know and love. She has to deal with many misconceptions of her as a white woman and an American. The differences between what she wants to teach the people and what some of them think is not appropriate to be taught. This is a story rich in friendships and lessons learned.

[Dana Berglund · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was difficult to rate. It is way too naive, sentimental, swoon-over-Mother Africa and talk-to-the-lizards in its style for me to love it. (And this is coming from a serious Africa fan.) The book did redeem itself, however, as Suzanne became more aware of her limitations and naivete. Chapter 33 (Dear Mom, June 1993)'s discussion of American wealth, privilege and poverty, however, sold me on the whole book. That chapter (and a few other later chapters) appealed to my own Peace Corps heart.

[Eliza]

This book was recommended by a friend who knows the author. If I ever go to Africa, I'd like to re-try this book. The language used was more poetic and flowery than I really enjoy, and hearing her discomfort at first of being in that situation made me remember bad, self-conscious travel experiences as well. Not fun. I suppose the ending probably has the author becoming comfortable with the situation, but I didn't have the motivation to get that far. I hope to revisit this book someday though.

[Alicia Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a Peace Corps volunteer's time in Cameroon, as she learns to live in her skin.

Initially, I was unimpressed with the author's writing style until I realized she's not trying to be a phenomenal writer, but is only expressing her story. And a phenomenal, inspiring, empowering story it is. She writes of teaching, love, friendship, politics, and the many cultural differences she encounters daily. Throughout each chapter, the reader can sense her growing wisdom and insight about herself and the world around her.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. As a teacher, I respect the way that she bears her strugggle in an open and honest matter. Her balance of prose and narrative lead the reader to examine her evolution from a scared, timid person to a strong, confident human being. Teachers who feel the spiritual struggle of the beginning years should read this.

[$.05 · Rating 3 out of 5]

About a peace corps volunteer in Cameroon. Interesting, but the language was a bit too flowery and feel good for me. She talks a lot about being in her skin and whatnot, rather hear about the social unrest and politics of the area than about how much you miss chocolate and your mom, thank you very much.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea I would like this book so much.

Herrera heads to Cameroon, West Africa, for a stint in the Peace Corps. She's in search of escape, escape from her troubled marriage and recent divorce, escape from her troubled childhood. Instead of escape, however, she finds deliverance, deliverance from the very people she came to save.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book for free and it set my mind in motion about a young woman's experience in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer.... sort of set the stage for my eventual international volunteer experience in southern India. I later reread the book and could relate to many of her emotional and psychological rollercoasters.

[Antoinette Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the best examples that having a deeply felt experience doesn't mean that you can tell a good story about it.