The Other Side of the World

The Other Side of the World: Vision and Reality embraces and celebrates the experiences of idealistic, young Peace Corps volunteers as they confronted the ancient and enigmatic civilization of India four decades ago. Prompted by memories and emotions tapped during a gathering on the 40-year reunion of their return to the States, members of India 44 A&B provide reflections that are honest, compelling, insightful, riotous, humbling, and yet redemptive. These reflections give expression to feelings long repressed and, at the same time, uncover the mysterious ways in which their service in remote India transformed and redirected the trajectory of their lives. Their stories provide a humorous and deeply moving description of village life, where imperfect language skills and limited technical capabilities interacted with good intentions and stubborn dedication to produce embarrassment on the one hand, and the occasional minor miracle on the other. This is not a feel-good testimony to the Peace Corps on its golden anniversary. Rather, it is a sobering depiction of the lives of volunteers living in one of the Peace Corps' most demanding site countries, where frustrations and challenges were found in abundance. Yet at the end of the day, these stories generally attest to the wisdom of the Peace Corps concept, which affirms the powers of volunteerism and the giving of self. For many, it was the first time these volunteers had articulated their feelings since leaving India. Mary Jo Clark, Thomas Corbett, Michael Simonds and Haywood Turrentine compiled the book. Respectively, the authors reside in San Diego, California, Madison, Wisconsin, the greater Hartford area, and Birmingham, Alabama. http://sbpra.com/HaywoodTurrentine