Kris Holloway's Peace Corps friendship with Monique Dembele in Mali

Monique and the Mango Rains

Answer to Question ONE: What makes rare connections possible?

The fact that Kris Holloway had joined the Peace Corps and was willing to give up two years of her life to leave Ohio and travel to troubled Africa for an assignment that would be challenging speaks volumes about her as a person. Had she stayed in Ohio and hired on to a more traditional post-graduate job, she most likely never would have been in touch with a woman Like Monique. Meantime, Monique Dembele would never have met Holloway or even heard about the Peace Corps if Holloway hadn't come into the village. The question to be answered is, "What makes these kinds of relationships possible?"

The short answer is that when you join the Peace Corps, you have opportunities not only for travel but you have opportunities to interact with cultures that are as distant from the American culture as Africa is from Ohio. The more thoughtful answer is that these kinds of relationships between people of vastly different cultures and stations in life are extremely rare. In her Introduction, Holloway explains that the "…lives of women in Mali…are not easy" (p. 3). Women in Mali get married young and give birth to six or seven children, "one of the highest fertility rates in sub-Saharan Africa" while ironically Mali is a place where "the risk of death during childbirth and pregnancy is among the top ten highest in the world" (p. 3). So Holloway volunteered for this assignment, worked side-by-side with Monique, the midwife in a small village, as an assistant and a loyal friend, and it led to an unexpected long-term friendship based on Holloway's altruism and courage. The rewards for Holloway -- beyond the actual value of the experience of working in a foreign country where people desperately need help -- have paid off handsomely for Holloway in the publication and popularity of her book. That shows that her karma was very positive: giving altruistically and willingly has brought an unexpected return in many ways.

Answer to Question THREE: Can we learn from Monique?

Culture has everything to do with how a person approaches childbirth. In the U.S. A woman has prenatal care and when her due date is near she has healthcare professionals keeping track of everything about her condition. And if the husband and wife grow frustrated with the delay in the birth, they opt for cesarean and the doctor just goes in and gets the recalcitrant baby. On pages 88-89 Holloway makes a point about the difference between Mali culture and American culture when it comes to childbirth. "I was astounded at the rate of Cesarean sections (around one quarter of all births) in such a healthy, rich country (could they all really be necessary?). Here is Kris Holloway in a pitiful little building with pregnant women lined up to see Monique, and she reflects on the fact that in the U.S. "the medical establishment" had taken "control" over the birthing process.

Quite dramatically different was the culture in Mali, where giving birth was "a family and community event" albeit birthing lacked "almost all modern medical interventions." What we can learn from Monique is how most of the world -- certainly the developing world in particular -- treats childbirth (with more of a sense of community good will than in the U.S.). And yet a mother like Bintou died after giving birth because she bled to death. "During the pushing, some women tore horribly and then had to get stitched up" (p. 88). The good news is that Monique was a capable midwife and could do the stitching. The bad news is that the morality rate for mothers giving birth is very high in Mali. I would rather give birth in a modern, clean hospital environment -- or in my home if a competent midwife cared me for. I would never wish to give birth in a place with filthy water, limited toilet facilities, and disease all around me. It just seems that would be bringing my child into the world in a risky setting.

Answer to Question FOUR: What affect Kris had on Monique.

I believe that Kris Holloway had a dramatically positive affect on Monique. One can read between the lines and be certain that not only was Kris a huge source of physical and emotion support, she became like a member of Monique's little family. Monique had to put up with some horrific situations, and Kris was there for her every step of the way. And of course these conditions were not new to Monique, she nonetheless had to put up with some terrible working conditions. How sad for Monique to deliver baby after baby for a woman like Oumou, who on page 91 had lost yet another child. "I cannot have more children, Fatumata, please," said Oumou. "I lose them. I had nine. Now I am left with five and this one," she said, pointing to her belly. "Too many have died, and yet my husband, Daouda, he wants to have more." How sad that the husband can't be respectful of his wife's desire to avoid further childbirth -- but that is part of the culture and Holloway made the necessary adjustments, which certainly helped Monique.

There in Africa, Kris Holloway was learning that death is part of the package when you help a midwife in a very rural and remote area of abject poverty. Holloway's life would never be the same having seen malnourished women giving birth to children they can scarcely afford to feed. With very little information available about contraception and men being ignorant about what damage they were doing to their wives, it had to have a dramatic (and negative) impact on a bright, eager, open-minded person like Holloway. With everything else in the local environment being problematic (shabby, unclean, well-meaning and yet wholly incomplete) -- and in the birthing room the equipment was rudimentary, bare bones or less -- now in the rainy season terrible storms brew up and on page 90, Holloway reports that "the damage was extensive" from the violent rain and winds.

Answer to Question FIVE: The importance of weather in the book.

During the long very hot dry season the villagers have to dip deep down into dirty wells and fetch water that is filthy. The only precipitation that falls in the dry season is light rains that arrive in February and March. They are called Mango rains because, as Holloway writes, "They come when the earth is dry and the heavy rains sill far away to make the mangoes sweet." Those mango rains are a metaphor for the few tiny and sweet blessings that survive in a country that is not sweet at all, but rather bitter, especially to a person from the United States. One of those sweet blessings is Monique, because she does so much for the community -- and is indeed one of the few positive things that happens to these downtrodden people.

The heat is oppressive and because of that heat Holloway had to endure "an overpowering stench" in the birthing room. Walking into that room on a day that was probably over 100 degrees Holloway (p. 6) said the building "was like an oven, baking all the secretions [from pregnant and post-partum women] into a rank casserole" (p. 6). Holloway said she felt like she was "drowning in the smell of flesh, body fluids, and leftover food" -- all made more aromatically spicy by the torrid head in the dry season.

The fierce storms that arrive in rainy season have a huge impact on the village and on the story that Holloway is telling. In many countries, the rainy season would be a blessing after a long, hot dry spell. But the rains that arrive in Mali as the rainy season started are terrifying. "I was startled out of my thoughts by a clap of thunder that rattled the roof," Holloway writes (p. 91). "The noise was deafening, as if herds of miniature beasts were crisscrossing at breakneck speed along the roof." The rain was so fierce that it was "threatening to break through the bricks" (p. 92). "What a trade," Holloway writes on page 92. "Life giving rains came at the expense of devastating erosion." Topsoil that was badly needed for crops was "washed away by the very thing needed to make it flourish."

Answer to Question SIX: "Every act of development necessarily involves an act of destruction."

I don't agree entirely with that passage. Sometimes in order to create a better facility the old one must come down. But there are situations where you start from scratch and build where nothing has been there before -- hence, there is no destruction just constructive building. And there are situations like the birthing house that needed a new roof but that didn't mean tearing the entire building down and starting over.

Do Americans and other foreigners have the right to intrude in another culture? It depends on the meaning of "intrude." Clearly in the past Americans have pushed their way into other cultures trying to help -- and failing. Certainly the occupation of Iraq by U.S. troops was an intrusion that was totally unjustified. Especially in hindsight, given that there were no "weapons of mass destruction" to be found, one of the justifications given at the time of the invasion of Iraq.

But American Peace Corps members come to countries with permission, and they are trained to be gracious guests and learn ahead of time what their role is to be. If Peace Corps members tried to force the Western culture on the people they were supposed to help, that would be very wrong. But in the case of Kris Holloway, the help the Peace Corps provided was not only totally appropriate, it was sorely needed.

Answer to Question SEVEN: Values.

Yes there are certain values that transcend borders and cultures. The universal values that come to mind include health, safety, and the sanctity of life itself. Every person in every country around the planet wants to be free of illness and from the misery of serious disabilities. Good health depends of course on the availability of food, clean safe drinking water, and medicine. When Holloway went to Mali, it was her duty to help in any way she could to make villagers healthier -- and it turned out she played an important part in a midwife's livelihood. Monique and Kris Holloway both offered healthcare services, especially maternal healthcare to the female members of the village.

Holloway and Monique shared the value of preserving life. As women, they identified with the women in the village from that perspective; but they also shared a powerful empathy for women who were malnourished and otherwise struggling.

Some human rights are inalienable; indeed, according to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (in 1948), all nations in the UN should "Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." Dignity in this context means that all humans have a right to enough food, safe water, shelter and freedom (peace). We all know that not everyone enjoys those rights but that should be the goal -- and the Peace Corps volunteers are certainly doing their part.

Answer to Question EIGHT: How can North Americans help the developing world? Individuals are making contributions in many ways to help Africans by donating to various international organizations. But the U.S. could do much more, if the will was there. By providing the resources to African nations that will accept foreign help -- resources like agricultural aid, healthcare resources, wheat, rice, and other staples -- the U.S. could make a dent in the most depressed areas. Already there are many organizations like www.nothingbutnets.net that are providing needed materials; in this case, nets to keep mosquitoes out of African homes and hence to prevent more people from contracting malaria. For most people in the U.S. And other well-off Western societies a good way to help is to find a public charity that is truly making a difference in Africa, and give a regular monthly sum to that foundation or nonprofit. Small gifts from millions of people, even tens of thousands, can make a big difference.

Answer to Question NINE: Am I hopeful about Africa based on reading about the amazing work of Monique? I am hopeful that there are more people like Monique, and I am hopeful that more people like Kris Holloway are able and willing to dive into a terribly dangerous and poverty-ridden society and do what they can to help. But what is very scary are the wars in some countries like Sudan, Darfur, the Congo, and elsewhere; and we're not just talking about war, we're talking about genocide where hundreds of thousands of innocent people are driven from their homes into refugee camps and slaughtered in mindless explosions of violence. It does seem overwhelming and Monique's unique humanity notwithstanding, the situation is grim in Africa. Worse yet, so many resources in the U.S. And elsewhere go into funding weapons and other war materials. It's a vicious cycle and there seems to be no end to it.