Monique and the Mango Rains

In 1989, Kris Holloway was a young college grad who wanted to make a difference in the world so she joined the Peace Corps. She relates her experiences there in the memoir she wrote with her husband, John Bidwell, entitled Monique and the Mango Rains : two years with a Midwife in Mali.

(Peace Corps trivia: 70% of Peace Corps volunteers marry other Peace Corps volunteers!)

Holloway's story is exceptional because of the character of Monique Dembele, the midwife. Holloway does a totally believable job recalling her own naivete. At the same time, the central character of this book is never Kris herself, but always Monique and Monique's relationship with Kris, the other villagers and Monique's extended family.

Holloway's book provides a close look into the culture of a small remote village in Mali, and insight into the way ritual and tradition affect how things get done. It describes how arranged marriages, ritual cutting, and a male dominated power structure made life hard for the women who lived there.

But it is Monique herself who is the star. Her photo adorns the cover and she looks at the reader with a wide smile, young, warm, friendly. Monique's hard work saved the lives of hundreds of mothers and newborns; her nagging kept those newborns alive. Her willingness to listen to other's ideas enabled this barely educated woman to make life in her village better for everyone there.

This was an eye opening book. Holloway intends to honor her friend, Monique, by donating the proceeds of this book's sale to the clinic that bears Monique's name.