The Village of Waiting

Posted on 10 December 2018 by George Packer

Now restored to print with a new Foreword by Philip Gourevitch and an Afterword by the author, this book is a frank, moving, and vivid account of contemporary life in West Africa Stationed as a Peace Corps instructor in the village of Lavi the name means wait a little in tiny and underdeveloped Togo, Packer reveals his own schooling at the hands of an unforgettable array of townspeople peasants, chiefs, charlatans, children, market women, cripples, crazies, and those who, having lost or given up much of their traditional identity and fastened their hopes on development, find themselves trapped between the familiar repetitions of rural life and the chafing monotony of waiting for change. Read The Village of Waiting by George Packer – kino-fada.fr 3.5 starsI ve read enough Peace Corps memoirs now to recommend different books in this sub subgenre for different needs This is the book to read if you re looking for a critique of post colonial African governments It s not the first book I would choose for insights into third world poverty that would be The Ponds of Kalambayi And it s definitely not the book ...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here This was an incredible Peace Corps memoir from a volunteer s time spent in the small town of Lavi in Southern Togo in the early 1980 s I read it in advance of visiting a friend working for the Peace Corps in a village very close to there I couldn t think of a better way to prepare myself for this experience Packer was honest, eloquent, full of anecdotes, and not preachy I walked away with a broad sense of the happiness amidst poverty, the daily struggle to live, and even the latent oppressi This was an incredible Peace Corps memoir from a volunteer s time spent in the small town of Lavi in Southern Togo in the early 1980 s I read it in advance of visiting a friend working for ...This book sat on my to read list for almost a decade before I finally prioritized it on my library hold list, and committed to reading it Packer is a great writer who made me think all the way through the book I have repeatedly described this book as thoughtful At times, that made for some dense prose not a quick read, for sure But it was reflective, history minded, and thoughtful without being didactic He doesn t wash his Peace Corps experience in sepia tones, or give in to easy chara This book sat on my to read list for almost a decade before I finally prioritized it on my library hold list, and committed to reading it Packer is a great writer who made me think all the way through the book I have repeatedly described this book as thoughtful At times, that made for some dense prose not a quick read, for sure But it was reflective, history minded, and thoughtful without being didactic He doesn t wash his Peace Corps experience in sepia tones, or give in to easy characterizations of himself or the other people he meets He tries to show the tightrope walk of development work, of colonization history and its repercussions, of economic colonialism, or misguided altruism, fatalism, and self centered youth Best of all, he shows a realistic picture of himself that is neither self mocking nor self aggrandizing.I was a Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa, removed from Packer s experience by 15 years andthan 2000 miles Though the colonial and atrocity history ...A few quotes stood out to me I began to grasp something essential about school here The school , with its imported, sterile remnants of colonial education, its anger and humiliations, its bureaucracy and its whips, was a place where everyone was bound to fail, where failure was built in Africans dressed up as dumb blacks imitating whites were made to see their own inadequacy It has served the old need of the European colonized to feel his superiority and importance it served the need of th A few quotes stood out to me I began to grasp something essential about school here The school , with its imported, sterile remnants of colonial education, its anger and humiliations, its bureaucracy and its whips, was a place where everyone was bound to fail, where failure was built in Africans dressed up as dumb blacks imitating whites were made to see their own inadequacy It has served the old need of the European colonized to feel his superiority and importance it ...Packer s a gifted writer, and this book was of special interest to me since he must be about the same age as me and unlike me joined Peace Corps right after college The era is different, and so is the place West Africa Togo, vs my Horn of Africa Expecting the many differences, I was struck by the similarities I got a bit bogged down in the middle of the book, as the viscosity of his description sometimes seemed to interfere with the narrative The author started to come off as a littl Packer s a gifted writer, and this book was of special interest to me since he must be about the same age as me and unlike me joined Peace Corps right after college The era is different, and so is the place West Africa Togo, vs my Horn of Africa Expecting the many differences, I was struck by the similarities I got a bit bogged down in the middle of the book, as th...The Village of Waiting is George Packer s Memoir of his Peace Corps stint in Togo from 1982 1984, though he didn t complete the two year commitment, in fact he went on vacation and didn t go back Having said that, this book is worth reading, and I think it is well written Packer taught English in the village Lavie school, and lived among the villagers I think Packer had trouble understand the Africans, although I think he tried I also think that he thought his time in Togo was a waste, a The Village of Waiting is George Packer s Memoir of his Peace Corps stint in Togo from 1982 1984, though he didn t complete the two year commitment, in fact he went on vacation and didn t go back Having said that, this book is worth reading, and I think it is well written Packer taught English in the village Lavie school, and lived among the villagers I think Packer had trouble understand the Africans, although I think he tried I also think that he t...This is an excellent Peace Corps memoir Packer is a gifted writer his observations and critiques of education, race, poverty, colonialism, development, and politics in Togo were vivid The ending took me by surprise One blind spot, however, was gender he did not adequately explore the exploitation and abuse of women in Togo, which was unfortunate given the domestic abuse he heard next door and his patronage of a prostitute Still, it was a very helpful book for a Westerner to read about We This is an excell...I ve got to say, prior to going to Togo myself I would have rated this book only a 1 or a 2 Having spent time there myself, and having run up against a lot of the same barriers Packer did 20 years earlier, I haveof an appreciation for h... The Village of Waiting is a memoir of George Packer s two years in the Peace Corps in a small village in the West African country of Togo The book is also a personal view of the impact and lack of impact on a small village in a small country Posted to teach English in the local school, Packer comes to question his role in a place where running water is neededthan language lessons He looks what affect development has on the people in his book, mostly his neighbors his landlady and The Village of Waiting is a memoir of George Packer s two years in the Peace Corps in a s...It was difficult to know what Europe would have to do before Africa would finally say, Enough, you have gone too far, now get out A century of promise and exploitation, the treaties and forced labor of early colonialism, the long, slow submergence that led to independence, the new promise of development and the new whites who came to help, the disillusionment of event the best intentioned, continued dominan...

English
10 December 2018

George Packer