Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle

Split into four sections chronicling the years 1965, 1966, 1967 & 1968 Living Poor starts at the most logical place, Thomsen's application. His expertise as a pig farmer made him the perfect match for helping Ecuadorian farmers raise chickens and pigs and grow vegetable gardens. His first assignment, La Union was short lived due to a lung infection that sent him back to the States. His second "tour" landed him in Rio Verde. I have to wonder what the natives of La Union thought of his departure after he took so long to fit in with them. It was no different in Rio Verde. The community, poverty stricken and on the brink of starvation, is suspicious of Thomsen. Every effort he makes to better their environment is met with stonewalling and show more infighting. When he does create relationships with key members of the community everyone else is jealous and tries to sabotage their efforts. While Thomsen is humorous in parts, for the most part his retelling of his experience is bleak and seemingly hopeless. show less

A US farmer volunteers to live and work in a desperately poor village in Ecuador. He utterly avoids sentimentality or rose-colored glasses. The villagers are barely surviving because of utterly unfair policies, and he never lets us forget that, no matter how many amusing anecdotes he tells.

One of the best Peace Corps memoirs that I've read, focusing on his efforts with poor folks on the coast of rural Ecuador - who are difficult to motivate to change things.