Mike Tidwell was finishing his Peace Corps tour when E. was a brand-new volunteer. They both worked in the fisheries program in what was then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Mike finished his two-year tour and returned to the U.S. to write this book. It's a youthful effort, often sounding as idealistic as Tidwell must have been as a volunteer. For me it was valuable as a rough guide to what E.'s life was like in Zaire.