The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service

by Gary R. Lindberg

Overview

"The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service" is a memoir about author Gary Lindberg's experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ivory Coast, Africa in the 1960's. This powerful book offers a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the early days of the program. This one-of-a-kind memoir presents how he decided to apply for the opportunity, how he trained, his project, the daily life activities, and the friends he made while he was there. He also shares highlights from the travels he took when on vacation breaks, such as his experience on a safari and his visit to the legendary city of Timbuktu. Get ready for first-hand insight into a truly extraordinary experience! This memoir combines historical elements with personal vignettes as Gary Lindberg elaborates on his many adventures – such as having a broken radiator in the middle of nowhere and how he and his companions got help. In addition, he offers an interesting view of village life and work during a special project he worked on in a village called Déahouépleu. Accompanying the text are photos that illustrate his work, life, and travels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781667812731
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	01/12/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	204
File size:	32 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gary Lindberg's parents moved just before his seventh birthday to Santa Maria, California. There he grew up and attended grade school up through high school. Gary is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in U. S. History. Then he volunteered to join the Peace Corps for two and a half years during which he taught primary school students and teachers various techniques in a school gardens program in the Ivory Coast which is located in West Africa between Liberia and Ghana. He became fluent in French during that time. After his Peace Corps service, Gary toured Europe and primarily visited Italy, Germany (including East Berlin then under Communist control), France, England, and the Netherlands. Since he was drafted, Gary volunteered for the Navy in which he served for four years. Next, he went to San Francisco State University where he earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in Management and Personnel. After that, Gary began his 43-year career as a Human Resources professional for a number of major companies including National Gypsum, Celotex, McCormick (spices), Del Monte, Quebecor Printing, and Micro Lithography, Inc. Gary retired in November 2019 to pursue personal interests.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Training at UCLA 7

Chapter 3 Welcome to the Ivory Coast 11

Chapter 4 Learning to Grow Vegetables 25

Chapter 5 The School Gardens Program 37

Chapter 6 Life in the Ivory Coast 55

Chapter 7 Travel in West Africa 69

Chapter 8 Adventures in East Africa 89

Chapter 9 A Look Back at East Africa 107

Chapter 10 Return to West Africa 115

Chapter 11 Déahouépleu 125

Chapter 12 The Final Chapter 159

Afterword 171

List of Photos 183

Significant People in the Book 187

Editorial Reviews

06/06/2022

Lindberg recounts his heartening West African adventures in the Peace Corps of the 1960s in this memoir that illuminates the service experiences of American volunteers in the Ivory Coast, running health and agricultural education programs and working to build schools and gardens, while also offering insights into the place, people, culture, and era. Powered by Kennedy-esque optimism, Lindberg—known as “Monsieur Gary” in the Ivory Coast—taught and led residents of the Gagnoa region in the cultivation of jardins scolaires, or “school gardens,” a trial project created to encourage the eating of vegetables. Lindberg’s efforts emphasized local favorites tomatoes, okra, and eggplant.

Drawing on diary entries and his own copious photos, Lindberg’s account provides a clear account of Peace Corps life and efforts, circa 1966, from training to teaching to implementation of ambitious plans, with upbeat acknowledgements of the challenges he faced (such as getting families to maintain their planche gardens) and cultural differences he encountered. (Ivorians, he notes, “thought Americans chewed gum all the time, carried guns everywhere, wore blue jeans, spoke in local dialects instead of English, and threw away cars instead of repairing them.”) Lindberg writes with warmth and empathy for the villagers he worked with, never condescending and always taking efforts to understand their perspectives.

Readers eager to understand the nuts-and-bolts specifics of early Peace Corps missions, and how volunteers adapted their aims and practices for specific populations, will find this a valuable contribution to the public record. Also memorable: Lindberg’s account of one colleague’s desire to protest the Vietnam War during a West African visit from Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Lindberg writes more to inform than with a storyteller’s sense of drama, though photos both illustrate the text and demonstrate a good eye for the arresting image, and for many readers what’s most engaging here will be Lindberg’s quick prose portraits of the people he meets.

Takeaway: This striking memoir offers a clear view of Peace Corps life and efforts in the Ivory Coast of the mid-60s.

Great for fans of: Peter Hessler’s River Town, Sarah Erdman’s Nine Hills to Nambonkaha.

Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Illustrations: A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews