The Reading Group Reads
The Ponds of Kalambayi By Mike Tidwell
UNFORTUNATELY this turned out to be a bit of a non-starter. I couldn't get
a copy before I went to Kenya so I borrowed the book from Barbara who had
recommended it. I took it with me to read over Christmas, returning on the day
of the meeting to find that nobody else had been able to get a copy either so
Barbara and I were the only people who had actually read it! But you can't
keep a good group down! The issues raised in the book, once brought to their
attention, were fully examined.
The book is an account of the two years spent by a young American Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, encouraging impoverished villagers to improve both their diet and their economic situation by creating ponds and stocking them with the local fish, tilapia. The ponds had to be dug by the men themselves as proof of their commitment to the scheme, no small task with the limited tools available. When completed, the ponds are stocked with 500 'fingerlings', and then fed and nurtured for five months until the fish were big enough to be harvested. We're taken through the initial frustrations that he experiences and the gradual growth of working relationships with the inhabitants of a number of villages in the area. He catalogues his friendships and frustrations with great candour, without trying to embellish his own ego. The biggest problem he encounters is the difference between his values (and those of the first world from which he comes), and those of the third world society in which he finds himself. It's this issue which causes the most heartsearching. And who is to say which are the more primitive?
An interesting read, which probes the values of the reader.
Next month's book is "The Egg and I" by Betty McDonald and it is at The Old School House in Burwell, 8pn, 7 Feb. Do join us if you can.