Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway, John Bidwell

From the Publisher

Monique and the Mango Rains is the compelling story of a rare friendship between a young Peace Corps volunteer and a midwife who became a legend. Monique Dembele saved lives and dispensed hope in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter. This book tells of her unquenchable passion to better the lives of women and children in the face of poverty, unhappy marriages, and endless backbreaking work. Monique's buoyant humor and willingness to defy tradition were uniquely hers. In the course of this deeply personal narrative, as readers immerse themselves in the rhythms of West African village life, they come to know Monique as friend, mother, and inspired woman.

Library Journal

In her first book, Holloway blends a vivid description of her Peace Corps experiences in the West African nation of Mali from 1989 to 1991, with a warm tribute to her colleague, dear friend, and host there, Monique Dembele. Reading Holloway's book is akin to enjoying the slide show presented by a returned Peace Corps volunteer while sampling the local cuisine. Holloway succeeds at simultaneously conjuring up her day-to-day life in an impoverished African village and aptly describing the unrelenting work and life of the devoted midwife there, a woman, like the author, then in her early twenties. The difficult plight of women in Mali is made apparent throughout. While Holloway's story is a personal one (she met her future husband during her Peace Corps stint), the rhythm of life and death in Mali itself shines through all the pages. Holloway uses amusing anecdotes and heartbreaking recollections to transport the reader. Recommended for public and academic libraries, especially those where there is an interest in African or women's studies. Mary Grace Flaherty, Sidney Memorial P.L., NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A respectful, unsentimental portrait of a village in Mali, and a moving story of a warm friendship between an American Peace Corps volunteer fresh out of college and a young Malian health worker. Holloway spent two years, from 1989 to 1991, working alongside Monique Dembele in the tiny village of Nampossela, where Monique served as midwife. The author is immediately plunged into the birthing business by her capable new friend, whose medical resources are severely limited but whose personal assets are quite extraordinary. Trapped in an unhappy arranged marriage, Monique, who has her own household to run and has her own baby strapped to her back, works long, hard hours to bring other women's babies safely into the world, to teach mothers how to feed and care for their offspring, and at the same time to minister to the general health needs of the whole village. Holloway does all she can to help, working at Monique's side, weighing babies, teaching women how to make rehydration formula, striving to bring birth control to the village women and arranging for Monique, rather than her feckless husband, to collect her monthly paycheck. She seems to slip easily into village life, joining in their celebrations, sharing their food and drink, living in a tin-roofed hut without electricity or running water. At the end of the two years, she and her fiance, another Peace Corps volunteer, return home, having arranged for Monique to visit them in the U.S. the following year. (In one of the funnier moments here, inexperienced traveler Monique agrees to fly only after learning that she will be able sit inside the plane and not cling to the outside.) Holloway does not disguise the realities of life in a poorrural African village, and yet she is never condescending. Her admiration, respect and love for Monique come across as genuine, as does her grief at Monique's death. A poignant and powerful book. (16 b&w photos, not seen)

What People Are Saying

I was moved and inspired by Monique. The friendship between the author, a young Peace Corps volunteer, and the Malian midwife is one of the great gifts of the book and proof of the power of women's relationships to recreate the world. --Anita Diamant, author of the international bestseller The Red Tent

Details from Seller

• ISBN: 1577664353
• Publisher: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Pub. Date: July 2006
• Condition:

Comments from the Seller: 20 July, 2006 Paperback VERY GOOD -Great Buy! -May be slightly hurt and may have remainder mark-100% Satisfaction Guarantee.