"Development Is Down This Road"
by Abigail C. Aguirre
Won the Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award in 1992.
“Peace Corps writing and remembering doesn’t get much better than this.”
Switching out my old yellow Suzuki for a red Yamaha DT.
You can read it online in: Peace Corps Worldwide or Peace Corps Writers
It was also published in several anthologies and magazines:
- To Touch the World, US Peace Corps, 1995
- The Funniest Job You'll Ever Love, National Council RPCVs Inc, April 1993
- World View Magazine, National Council RPCVs Inc, Fall 1992;
- Slant Magazine, Columbia University Press, Fall 1991 Vol 3.1.
These pictures relate directly to the story:
Eugenie, my wonderful Cameroonian co-worker, and the yellow Suzuki.
"They unknowingly introduce me to the process: lye, blanched palm oil, and three hours of stirring."
"I will say back home: 'And this was the day we made soap!'"
The dreaded swamp.