Poverty and Promise: One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya

Though Brown decided to return to America before finishing her two-year contract in Kenya with U.K.-based international relief organization VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas), she relishes her recent experiences there in this compassionate, affecting memoir. She describes her work for the TICH (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development), the programs they try hard to implement, and the hours she and her colleagues spend in training. Impressed with her natural surroundings, Brown endures overbearing heat and celebrates the country's intrinsic grace (""I see more than dustiness, more than landscapes made hazy by the sun's glare"") while witnessing the harsh living conditions, constant hunger, disease, crime and corruption plaguing its citizens; young men repeatedly try to befriend her, hoping to marry and emigrate to the United States. Though ultimately unnerved and overwhelmed, Brown conveys her story honestly and effectively, upfront about her fear and frustration, as well as the rare occasion for hope. Book proceeds go to support programs in western Kenya.