Monique and the Mango Rains

Last week Granville hosted a series of talks by author Kris Holloway, who spoke about her recent book, Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali. A Granville native, Kris spent two years in Mali as a Peace Corps volunteer living and working in a small rural village in southern Mali. The book is about her experience there, and particularly centers around her friendship with Monique (the village’s midwife) that spanned a decade, and was cut short by her death, ironically, during childbirth.

Kristen and I heard Kris speak last Thursday night. She read passages to the audience about her time in Mali that were virtually identical to what we experienced as volunteers in Niger, another landlocked, Sahelian country. I think the book would be appealing to a wide audience - returned Peace Corps volunteers or not. The book is getting great reviews, and from every purchase 3 dollars will be donated to Clinque Monique, a rural health center in Mali that was created in Monique’s memory.

Kristen shares a personal connection to Kris: when Kristen was in high school, Kris, her husband John, and Monique came to talk to her French class. Their visit intrigued Kristen and was the inspiration for her to join the Peace Corps after college graduation. Kristen might never have gone to Niger (and met me) if the Peace Corps bug had not been planted by Kris, John, and Monique many years ago.

You can read more about the book, and about the author at her website: http://www.moniquemangorains.com/