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The Ponds of Kalambayi: An African Sojourn
As a Peace Corp volunteer, Mike Tidwell spent two years in the grasslands of south central Zaire trying to teach the benefits of fish farming in some of the poorest villages on the continent. His task was not easy. One villager was convinced that fish would stock the ponds naturally, since they come to earth in raindrops. Others suspected that the ponds were just another way for whites to exploit black labor. When he finally made headway, the fish farmers gave away nearly half their harvest to relatives, and Tidwell learned one of many powerful lessons: tradition takes precedence over profits. While the tragic poverty and disease faced by the villagers was daunting, Tidwell found that their adherence to heritage and their celebration of tiny triumphs and daily satisfactions revealed a life richer than he had ever known.
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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493 people want to read
About the author
Mike Tidwell
16 books38 followersMike Tidwell is founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. He is also an author and filmmaker who predicted in vivid detail the Katrina hurricane disaster in his 2003 book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast. His newest book, focusing on Katrina and global warming, is titled The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities. Tidwell’s most recent documentary film, We Are All Smith Islanders, vividly depicts the dangers of global warming Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.
Tidwell has been featured in numerous media outlets including NBC's Meet the Press, NPR, the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is also the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Earthbeat," which features ground-breaking global warming news and interviews live from the nation's capital.
In 2003, Tidwell received the Audubon Naturalist Society's prestigious "Conservation Award." Two years later he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. On Earth Day 2010 -- the 40th anniversary of Earth Day -- the Montgomery County Council named Tidwell one of the County's top 40 environmental leaders over the past 40 years. A long-time resident of Maryland, Tidwell lives in Takoma Park with his eleven-year-old son Sasha.
Tidwell has been featured in numerous media outlets including NBC's Meet the Press, NPR, the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is also the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Earthbeat," which features ground-breaking global warming news and interviews live from the nation's capital.
In 2003, Tidwell received the Audubon Naturalist Society's prestigious "Conservation Award." Two years later he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. On Earth Day 2010 -- the 40th anniversary of Earth Day -- the Montgomery County Council named Tidwell one of the County's top 40 environmental leaders over the past 40 years. A long-time resident of Maryland, Tidwell lives in Takoma Park with his eleven-year-old son Sasha.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
January 18, 2016
My impression of Peace Corps memoirs, before reading this book, was not good. This seems to be recognized as one of the better ones, and as an engaging, perceptive memoir with a strong writing style, it certainly exceeded my expectations.
Tidwell spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1980s, living in a remote region of what was then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where he taught fish farming to villagers. It begins with a chapter on his fairly bizarre training, but other than that it’s all about living and working in Kalambayi rather than about the life of Mike Tidwell (though he is probably an interesting person outside of this experience. Fun fact: this is the same Mike Tidwell who, years later, founded CCAN). Kalambayi, of course, turns out to be an extremely difficult place to work. The people are desperately poor; poor nutrition, poor health, poor education, and a cultural hostility to family planning, not to mention government corruption, all contribute to and result from this vicious cycle.
Tidwell is observant and insightful, and his two years’ immersion provide fascinating material, but what really makes this book work is his respect for the people he encounters. He finds aspects of the culture frustrating, but comes to understand why that society works the way it does, neither condemning it as backward nor romanticizing the simpler lifestyle. He sees the men he works with as individuals rather than stereotypes, without preconceived notions of Africans getting in the way. He’s also honest about his own weaknesses and avoids making too much of himself.
Tidwell does reveal a blind spot; he does not, apparently, interact with any women while in Kalambayi (other than one mentally ill beggar who harasses him into feeding her), nor give any reason why that would be so, especially in a society where virtually everything happens outdoors. It seems odd, to say the least, that an otherwise keen observer of people and places could travel from 1980’s America to a traditional society barely out of the Stone Age, and have nothing to say about gender roles.
Other than the potential for cliché portrayals or pat answers to the world’s problems – neither of which is present here – my initial skepticism about Peace Corps memoirs derived mostly from the fact that not everyone with interesting experiences can write. Fortunately, Tidwell can: the writing flows naturally, the transitions are smooth and the pacing appropriate; Tidwell keeps the focus on the interesting aspects of his experience, the people he meets and the world they inhabit. I found it compelling reading and read the book fairly quickly.
I would recommend this memoir as a strong example of travel writing: it paints a vivid picture of Kalambayi and its people, as well as the challenges of working in international development. And it gave me new respect for anyone who volunteers to join the Peace Corps; it is clearly grueling, soul-draining work, so kudos to Tidwell and everyone else who decides to take that on.
Tidwell spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1980s, living in a remote region of what was then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where he taught fish farming to villagers. It begins with a chapter on his fairly bizarre training, but other than that it’s all about living and working in Kalambayi rather than about the life of Mike Tidwell (though he is probably an interesting person outside of this experience. Fun fact: this is the same Mike Tidwell who, years later, founded CCAN). Kalambayi, of course, turns out to be an extremely difficult place to work. The people are desperately poor; poor nutrition, poor health, poor education, and a cultural hostility to family planning, not to mention government corruption, all contribute to and result from this vicious cycle.
Tidwell is observant and insightful, and his two years’ immersion provide fascinating material, but what really makes this book work is his respect for the people he encounters. He finds aspects of the culture frustrating, but comes to understand why that society works the way it does, neither condemning it as backward nor romanticizing the simpler lifestyle. He sees the men he works with as individuals rather than stereotypes, without preconceived notions of Africans getting in the way. He’s also honest about his own weaknesses and avoids making too much of himself.
Tidwell does reveal a blind spot; he does not, apparently, interact with any women while in Kalambayi (other than one mentally ill beggar who harasses him into feeding her), nor give any reason why that would be so, especially in a society where virtually everything happens outdoors. It seems odd, to say the least, that an otherwise keen observer of people and places could travel from 1980’s America to a traditional society barely out of the Stone Age, and have nothing to say about gender roles.
Other than the potential for cliché portrayals or pat answers to the world’s problems – neither of which is present here – my initial skepticism about Peace Corps memoirs derived mostly from the fact that not everyone with interesting experiences can write. Fortunately, Tidwell can: the writing flows naturally, the transitions are smooth and the pacing appropriate; Tidwell keeps the focus on the interesting aspects of his experience, the people he meets and the world they inhabit. I found it compelling reading and read the book fairly quickly.
I would recommend this memoir as a strong example of travel writing: it paints a vivid picture of Kalambayi and its people, as well as the challenges of working in international development. And it gave me new respect for anyone who volunteers to join the Peace Corps; it is clearly grueling, soul-draining work, so kudos to Tidwell and everyone else who decides to take that on.
April 14, 2007
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
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
February 25, 2012
A wonderfully written, and brutally honest account of a Peace Corps experience. In many ways similar to my own experience, and I appreciate how MT deals with the frustrations we all felt in rural Africa.
May 27, 2018
I love traveling and travel writing, and I've read a number of books in this genre. This is a particularly good one for reasons I will go into below.
I flirted with the idea of joining the Peace Corps during my college years in the 1980s, but I never did. This book and _The Village of Waiting_ by George Packer (see my review here) gave me a good sense of what a stint in the Peace Corps could have been like for me, which was exactly what I had hoped to get out of the books.
The first chapter, where the training is described, was the least interesting chapter for me, and I saw this sentiment echoed in other reviews. However, I'm glad Tidwell included it because it was interesting to compare his experience in Norman, Oklahoma in 1984 to the military boot camp experience I underwent at nearby Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri right around that same time. (Certain aspects of his training, ie. the mind games, sound very much like what I went through during Army basic training.)
The description of the village in Kalambayi where Tidwell took up residence after his training and of the people living there and of the surrounding landscape was detailed and colorful, and it gave me a real sense of what it might be like to visit.
I particularly enjoyed hearing about his experience of learning the Tshiluba language. Mastering a foreign language takes time, and you undergo many epiphanies along the way. He described these experiences well, and he peppered his prose with occasional examples of interesting phrases in the language, which provided additional flavor throughout the book.
I also enjoyed vicariously experiencing his travels from one village to another via motorcycle, including river crossings, the occasional collision with downed palm trees and other surprise impediments and his encounters with people along the way.
Tidwell ably describes the paradox of a beautiful rural paradise beset with poverty and disease. It’s frustrating to consider that many of the diseases which shorten the lives of hundreds each year could easily be defeated if the powers that be cared enough to use their ill begotten wealth to combat it. But his descriptions of wide open fields of tall grass waving in the breeze and of the moon glimpsed through the wet branches of a mango tree in the evening and of the traditional dances of villagers during a celebration are enchanting.
Similarly, the sudden onset of a furious downpour can at times be comforting but, at others, maddening. Particularly when you live under a tin roof in a cotton storage warehouse as this author did.
Tidwell's purpose in living in Africa was to teach anyone who was interested how to build a fish pond and raise tilapia. This was seen as a way to improve nutrition in the area while offering those who were interested a means of earning extra income in an environment where there is never enough money. But it turns out that it wasn't easy to convince people to trust him. Their experience with outsiders had always been bad. The Arabs had come to enslave them, the Belgians had come to force them to grow cotton for them, and the national government was run by thugs who never failed to collect taxes yet provided virtually no public services in return for those taxes. So, naturally, many assumed that Tidwell would be taking the lion's share of any profits while they did all the real work. But, over time, he was able to convince a large number of people to become fish farmers.
The book ends with Tidwell preparing to leave Kalambayi and return home. He struggles to decide whether he'd be willing to extend his stay for one additional year and eventually decides not to. Some of his new friends don't understand his decision to leave and feel betrayed by it. Many of them have no concept of the continents and can’t conceive of a place as far away as Europe or America.
I served a two-year mission for my church in Germany in the early 1980s, and I enjoyed the experience of living in Germany and learning and speaking German. However, I envy Tidwell his stay in a country so vastly different from anything we experience in the West. I also envy the opportunity he had to be a free agent and to operate independently in his engagements with the local people. As a missionary, I had to work closely with a partner, and they moved us from town to town every few months so that we rarely got as close to people as Tidwell obviously did in his experience.
I flirted with the idea of joining the Peace Corps during my college years in the 1980s, but I never did. This book and _The Village of Waiting_ by George Packer (see my review here) gave me a good sense of what a stint in the Peace Corps could have been like for me, which was exactly what I had hoped to get out of the books.
The first chapter, where the training is described, was the least interesting chapter for me, and I saw this sentiment echoed in other reviews. However, I'm glad Tidwell included it because it was interesting to compare his experience in Norman, Oklahoma in 1984 to the military boot camp experience I underwent at nearby Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri right around that same time. (Certain aspects of his training, ie. the mind games, sound very much like what I went through during Army basic training.)
The description of the village in Kalambayi where Tidwell took up residence after his training and of the people living there and of the surrounding landscape was detailed and colorful, and it gave me a real sense of what it might be like to visit.
I particularly enjoyed hearing about his experience of learning the Tshiluba language. Mastering a foreign language takes time, and you undergo many epiphanies along the way. He described these experiences well, and he peppered his prose with occasional examples of interesting phrases in the language, which provided additional flavor throughout the book.
I also enjoyed vicariously experiencing his travels from one village to another via motorcycle, including river crossings, the occasional collision with downed palm trees and other surprise impediments and his encounters with people along the way.
Tidwell ably describes the paradox of a beautiful rural paradise beset with poverty and disease. It’s frustrating to consider that many of the diseases which shorten the lives of hundreds each year could easily be defeated if the powers that be cared enough to use their ill begotten wealth to combat it. But his descriptions of wide open fields of tall grass waving in the breeze and of the moon glimpsed through the wet branches of a mango tree in the evening and of the traditional dances of villagers during a celebration are enchanting.
Similarly, the sudden onset of a furious downpour can at times be comforting but, at others, maddening. Particularly when you live under a tin roof in a cotton storage warehouse as this author did.
Tidwell's purpose in living in Africa was to teach anyone who was interested how to build a fish pond and raise tilapia. This was seen as a way to improve nutrition in the area while offering those who were interested a means of earning extra income in an environment where there is never enough money. But it turns out that it wasn't easy to convince people to trust him. Their experience with outsiders had always been bad. The Arabs had come to enslave them, the Belgians had come to force them to grow cotton for them, and the national government was run by thugs who never failed to collect taxes yet provided virtually no public services in return for those taxes. So, naturally, many assumed that Tidwell would be taking the lion's share of any profits while they did all the real work. But, over time, he was able to convince a large number of people to become fish farmers.
The book ends with Tidwell preparing to leave Kalambayi and return home. He struggles to decide whether he'd be willing to extend his stay for one additional year and eventually decides not to. Some of his new friends don't understand his decision to leave and feel betrayed by it. Many of them have no concept of the continents and can’t conceive of a place as far away as Europe or America.
I served a two-year mission for my church in Germany in the early 1980s, and I enjoyed the experience of living in Germany and learning and speaking German. However, I envy Tidwell his stay in a country so vastly different from anything we experience in the West. I also envy the opportunity he had to be a free agent and to operate independently in his engagements with the local people. As a missionary, I had to work closely with a partner, and they moved us from town to town every few months so that we rarely got as close to people as Tidwell obviously did in his experience.
June 16, 2012
This is the fourth book of my Kenya trip.
I really loved this one. I wasn't sure what to expect. I enjoy Peace Corps memoirs, but many of them are not great. Jun loves Peace Corps memoirs, so I usually end up reading them after her. She happens to own this one.
This happens to be the best Peace Corps memoir I have read yet. I loved the insights, the stories, the characters, and everything about it. I found myself wishing the author would write an update, because I really want to know what has happened to the characters since 1988 when he first published. I think I will have to do some research on this!
Highly recommend this, especially if you like Peace Corps memoirs. But even if you don't, and are just interested in rural Zairian life in the 1980s, it's still great.
I really loved this one. I wasn't sure what to expect. I enjoy Peace Corps memoirs, but many of them are not great. Jun loves Peace Corps memoirs, so I usually end up reading them after her. She happens to own this one.
This happens to be the best Peace Corps memoir I have read yet. I loved the insights, the stories, the characters, and everything about it. I found myself wishing the author would write an update, because I really want to know what has happened to the characters since 1988 when he first published. I think I will have to do some research on this!
Highly recommend this, especially if you like Peace Corps memoirs. But even if you don't, and are just interested in rural Zairian life in the 1980s, it's still great.
July 11, 2011
The Ponds of Kalambayi was the required reading book for the class of 2011 when I entered American University. It's a fairly straightforward account of one man's Peace Corps service in what used to be Zaire. The book can get a little pedantic, but I appreciate his honesty. Rather than glossing over the challenges of his 2-year experience, Tidwell confesses his struggles with depression and alcoholism during his tenture. Fun fact: Tidwell has since founded the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and was on an FBI watch list for suspected eco-terrorism for some time.
April 24, 2016
This was the first peace corp memoir I've ever read, and it makes me want to read more. I had to read it for school, but boy am I glad I took this class so I could be forced to read this book. It was wonderfully truthful and eye opening. Having an interest in someday joining the Peace corp myself, this book was able to touch on the things that could go wrong rather than painting a motivational romanticized picture of the world.
March 27, 2016
I had to read this book for a class otherwise I might have never stumbled upon it. The professor assured us when he assigned this book for our term paper that all of his students really enjoy it. I was skeptical, but he was right it's an amazing book. It almost hurts to finish it because you feel like you've shared the experiences.
If you don't know what to read next do yourself a favor and read this book.
If you don't know what to read next do yourself a favor and read this book.
August 16, 2017
Mike Tidwell reflects on his time with the Peace Corp in the Democratic Republic of Congo back in the late 1980s. His story is rich, and his prose is enjoyable, and his openness about his own challenges was refreshing. However, the author can be a bit preachy at times, and this really distracts from the story.
December 15, 2017
Mike Tidwell spent two years in Democratic Republic of Congo in the mid-1980’s with Peace Corps working in the Kalambayi region teaching the villagers how to be fish farmers. Creating ponds and raising tilapia not only had financial benefits but nutritional benefits as well. He was able to see some progress and good from his time of service. But he is also open with the ways he struggled and why he chose not to stay for a third year as asked.
My struggle with this was largely with the names - so similar that it was hard to keep individual personalities separate. All of the Peace Corps memoirs I've read have indicated good and bad experiences in the experience. Some chronicle it better than others and this is one of the better ones as he takes ownership of his responsibility in it.
My struggle with this was largely with the names - so similar that it was hard to keep individual personalities separate. All of the Peace Corps memoirs I've read have indicated good and bad experiences in the experience. Some chronicle it better than others and this is one of the better ones as he takes ownership of his responsibility in it.
November 4, 2019
I don't know how I got on to this book...Amazon recommendation based on all the memoirs I've been reading this year. I'm glad I read it. I read it on my Kindle. I wonder if there is a map in the print edition. There might be, actually, in the Kindle edition but if so it wasn't something I could toggle around with. I kept having to Google Map his location. Anyway, it's a fascinating story of how the author helped to teach people of Zaire skills to become more self sufficient. All about ways he helped to bring about change and progress and how the experience influenced and changed him. Set in the '70's.
May 8, 2023
I think this book is best looked at as a guide to what not to do. Tidwell did a great job recognizing his privilege and places where his American, capitalistic mindset held him back. He found many places where he needed to learn and grow, and then shared them in this book. In this way, it is a good resource. You can tell right away that it’s a bit outdated, particularly in the way it sometimes leans into exoticism or other African stereotypes. However, despite these shortcomings, it does a good job challenging some of those stereotypes as well.
March 8, 2023
This is an awesome story.
Tidwell has created a beautiful, thoughtful glimpse into his Peace Corps service, full of hard earned truths. He is incredibly honest about his selfishness, vulnerable about his dreams and sickness, and intelligent about his shortcomings- and an extraordinarily tasteful writer. In this book, we ride along with him as he truly endures horrifying things, true hardship, but is also keen, strategic, and real in how he befriends the village and operates within.
Tidwell has created a beautiful, thoughtful glimpse into his Peace Corps service, full of hard earned truths. He is incredibly honest about his selfishness, vulnerable about his dreams and sickness, and intelligent about his shortcomings- and an extraordinarily tasteful writer. In this book, we ride along with him as he truly endures horrifying things, true hardship, but is also keen, strategic, and real in how he befriends the village and operates within.
May 31, 2022
An excellent memoir of one man's Peace Corps experience. His description of the site, the people, the fish arms, medical help, alcohol use and abuse. i admire Peace Corps workers for what they set out to do often in very primitive conditions with medical help so far away.
June 19, 2024
started this book out of curiosity for both the peace corps and the congo. brutally honest, beautiful, and devastating- i’m gonna miss reading this book. i do wish i could see more of the women in the village, as well as religion.
April 22, 2020
Helped understanding of structural and cultural factors that adversely affect Africa’s growth
November 27, 2020
Great story.
May 9, 2022
A confused author mischaracterizes a confused culture.
January 30, 2023
Sweet and funny- if a bit self-aggrandizing. A revealing look at the realities of Peace Corps life.
July 15, 2020
This was my favorite book of 2020 so far, and perhaps for all of 2020. I loved this so much I didn't want it to end - deeply fascinating.
March 23, 2022
Interesting perspective showing his personal growth over the time spent in Zaire in 1990s in the Peace Corps.
October 28, 2011
Around the World in 80 Books - Country #3 Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Zaire)
With my goal this year of reading another 80 books set in 80 different countries (contining from last year) - I am at the stage where I am getting into the harder countries to find and read. So finding various peace corps memoirs set in these countries is an easy and interesting way to hit some of them. Tidwell's Ponds of Kalambayi is no exception. Recalling his experinences as a peace corps volunteer in Zaire, he recounts his experiences establishing the fish farming program. It brings new meaning to the saying, give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
Through-out the book, I was struck by how lucky all of us who live in the US are - even those who are the poorest of the poor - because compared to the people of Kalambayi, they are still rich. These are the people who may only have 10 cents in their pocket at any given time; people who rinse their mouths with gasoline for a tooth ache because there is no established medical care and yet, the people who are willing to give about half of their fish harvest (20-30lbs) to their extended family and neighbours because that is what they do.
Overall an interesting read and I see that Tidwell has written some non-memoirs, so I might check those out in the future.
With my goal this year of reading another 80 books set in 80 different countries (contining from last year) - I am at the stage where I am getting into the harder countries to find and read. So finding various peace corps memoirs set in these countries is an easy and interesting way to hit some of them. Tidwell's Ponds of Kalambayi is no exception. Recalling his experinences as a peace corps volunteer in Zaire, he recounts his experiences establishing the fish farming program. It brings new meaning to the saying, give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
Through-out the book, I was struck by how lucky all of us who live in the US are - even those who are the poorest of the poor - because compared to the people of Kalambayi, they are still rich. These are the people who may only have 10 cents in their pocket at any given time; people who rinse their mouths with gasoline for a tooth ache because there is no established medical care and yet, the people who are willing to give about half of their fish harvest (20-30lbs) to their extended family and neighbours because that is what they do.
Overall an interesting read and I see that Tidwell has written some non-memoirs, so I might check those out in the future.
October 23, 2015
This was a book I almost gave up on after the first two chapters, but I am so glad that I didn't. Tidwell's writing significantly improves after he finishes relating his Peace Corps training experiences and makes the trip to Zaire.
What makes this book special is the attention to detail. Unlike so many travel writers, Tidwell actually made an effort to get to know his neighbors, learn their language, and understand all aspects of their culture and points of view, instead of constantly writing them off as "backward". He visits the cities and the diamond mines, fights a Belgian cotton company, and attends a fire-walking ceremony. When he doesn't understand a custom or a decision he seeks out the history behind it, sometimes going out of his way to do so. I found this refreshing. Gradually he begins to respect the Kalambayans and they begin to respect and befriend him.
By the time I reached the last page, I was sad to see this book end. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that a book about teaching farmers in Africa about fish culture would be interesting, but The Ponds of Kalambayi was anything but boring. This is one Peace Corps memoir that I would highly recommend. 4.5 stars.
What makes this book special is the attention to detail. Unlike so many travel writers, Tidwell actually made an effort to get to know his neighbors, learn their language, and understand all aspects of their culture and points of view, instead of constantly writing them off as "backward". He visits the cities and the diamond mines, fights a Belgian cotton company, and attends a fire-walking ceremony. When he doesn't understand a custom or a decision he seeks out the history behind it, sometimes going out of his way to do so. I found this refreshing. Gradually he begins to respect the Kalambayans and they begin to respect and befriend him.
By the time I reached the last page, I was sad to see this book end. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that a book about teaching farmers in Africa about fish culture would be interesting, but The Ponds of Kalambayi was anything but boring. This is one Peace Corps memoir that I would highly recommend. 4.5 stars.
July 10, 2011
I love travelling, but I generally dislike travelogues.
But, this was a great travel/living abroad book. I read this while in the application process for Peace Corps. And it was the second Peace Corps travelogue I read. The problem I generally find with travel books is that the author sensationalizes how weird/wrong other cultures are and just generally plays up the whole stranger in a strange land thing that I find to be generally tiring. However, I really didn't find that to be an overbearing feature of this book, which I liked. There was personal growth for the author before and during his life in Africa. He learned about himself, and he learned about his culture. But, also unlike most travel writers, he had his own faults which he publicly acknowledged. Which I give big props to. He admitted to doing things wrong, and in the end admitted to pretty much becoming an alcoholic! So, good job making your book human and portraying yourself in a human way too.
But, this was a great travel/living abroad book. I read this while in the application process for Peace Corps. And it was the second Peace Corps travelogue I read. The problem I generally find with travel books is that the author sensationalizes how weird/wrong other cultures are and just generally plays up the whole stranger in a strange land thing that I find to be generally tiring. However, I really didn't find that to be an overbearing feature of this book, which I liked. There was personal growth for the author before and during his life in Africa. He learned about himself, and he learned about his culture. But, also unlike most travel writers, he had his own faults which he publicly acknowledged. Which I give big props to. He admitted to doing things wrong, and in the end admitted to pretty much becoming an alcoholic! So, good job making your book human and portraying yourself in a human way too.
June 10, 2010
A friend (and RPCV!) gave me this book before I left for Namibia, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to reading it. In short, this is the memoirs of a volunteer tasked with teaching fish farming in the mid-80s in what was then Zaire. It's a beautifully written book, and a fascinating description of what service was like several decades ago in a more "exotic" assignment than I'm experiencing now. Most of all, it really brought home how universal some experiences of service are - the irritations training, anxiety around integration, the richness of everyday life and also the frustrations of the environment around you. I really recommend this to everyone else here - I've passed it on to the girls in Mariental for now, but let me know if you want me to send it your way! Ratings aren't working for me, but this is 5 stars.
May 11, 2013
I've read Mike Tidwell before and like what I read. This book, probably his first, is no exception. Although written in a simple way the story he tells of his time in the Peace Corp posted in Kalambayi, Zaire is extremely moving. He is easy to relate to as he tells of his hopes, struggles, friendships, successes, failures and sorrows. I have seen this in Peace Corp stories before, the terrible struggle it is to be in a land of extreme poverty and corruption and suffering, to connect deeply with the people, and to know that you are going home and for them that is home. Mike does a lot of good but it is a miniscule drop in an enormous world of suffering. He is affected, physically and emotionally, very deeply affected. For a person like me, just living a middle class life in America, the Peace Corp volunteers are heroes. Mike Tidwell is high on my persons to be admired list.
April 18, 2015
The last time I read this, I was just beginning an adventure in Kenya. At the time, I had already applied to Peace Corps and, having checked the "send me anywhere" box on my application, I had little clue where I might end up.
So, now living my own PC experience in a land not at all far from this memoir's setting, it was with exceptional gusto that I devoured this book again.
In many ways, I still find myself floundering in my inexperience as a PCV, but for the next twenty months, this may just be my personal Bible to service.
***
Absolutely beautiful. "Clearly this resistance was bound to fail me. I had no desire to 'go native,' to become like a typical villager in every way. But to have any meaningful experience here, to leave with true friends and true insights, I had to let go of some strong habits. I had to rip something out in order to add something new."
So, now living my own PC experience in a land not at all far from this memoir's setting, it was with exceptional gusto that I devoured this book again.
In many ways, I still find myself floundering in my inexperience as a PCV, but for the next twenty months, this may just be my personal Bible to service.
***
Absolutely beautiful. "Clearly this resistance was bound to fail me. I had no desire to 'go native,' to become like a typical villager in every way. But to have any meaningful experience here, to leave with true friends and true insights, I had to let go of some strong habits. I had to rip something out in order to add something new."
November 16, 2014
This is my second-favorite book on the Peace Corps. Disclaimer: I actively avoid PC books that seem too good to be true. I want books that show the author making mistakes and losing sometimes, along with the victories no matter how small.
Mike does a good job revealing his less-than perfect self and experience. The only place that jarred a bit was in his assessment of his trainer. She seemed unnecessarily sadistic and he didn't state this.
Hmm. Now that I think of it, this review is less than perfect. He also declared that the world would be a better place if we all (including world leaders) contemplated near fish ponds, which struck me as a bit over the top and sentimental.
But for the rest of the book- hey, I recommend it if you are interested in social justice and other cultures. Thumbs up, Mike!
Mike does a good job revealing his less-than perfect self and experience. The only place that jarred a bit was in his assessment of his trainer. She seemed unnecessarily sadistic and he didn't state this.
Hmm. Now that I think of it, this review is less than perfect. He also declared that the world would be a better place if we all (including world leaders) contemplated near fish ponds, which struck me as a bit over the top and sentimental.
But for the rest of the book- hey, I recommend it if you are interested in social justice and other cultures. Thumbs up, Mike!
July 10, 2007
The story of Michel Tidwell's time with the Peace Corps in Zaire as a fish culture extension agent. Tidwell recounts the ups and downs of living in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and working with people. A good read to better understand what is required of Peace Corps volunteers. The most interesting part are Tidwell's reflections upon life and beliefs in Zaire and the reason he decided to come home instead of extending for another year.
January 18, 2011
It's been many years since I read this, but I was thinking about it today. Culture has a way of locking us into one way of thinking. Getting out of our own culture and into another's allows us to realize there are other perspectives. Always, when I venture out in that way, I find my emotions deepen, my understanding increases, and I feel I possess a greater richness of the world, though I may not have the words to describe the change inside me. I think I need to reread this. :)
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