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Common Book Project
2008 Common
Book Project
About the Author
 Erdman
spent two years as a Peace Corps worker in the small town of Nambonkaha, Ivory
Coast, at the end of the last decade. Erdman, who acted as a health-care worker
and instructor, is surprised to find herself called upon to help women in labor,
surrounded by curious children who want to learn to read, and honored with gifts
from the chief. She also faces the challenge of trying to meld medical knowledge
with traditional sorcery, as the village denizens believe most illness and
misfortune is caused by witchcraft rather than infection. This is particular
dangerous in regards to AIDS, which arrives in the village in the form of a
young widow and her son. With the help of several of the town's residents,
including Sidibe, the only nurse in the town, Erdman begins teaching classes and
sets up a baby-weighing station in the market. With graceful, thoughtful prose,
Erdman ponders the problems the village faces and describes in vivid detail the
many people she met there. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
For
more information about Sarah Erdman please visit the following websites:
Interviews with Erdman:
www.rolfpotts.com/writers/erdman.php
http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2003/0309/309talkerd.html
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