What inspired you to write your memoir?
During my 3 1/2 years (beyond the usual term) as a health volunteer in the Peace Corps in Honduras, I had a website where I posted monthly “Letters from Honduras” along with photos. My website appeared on Google and a number of readers contacted me and several even visited me, though we’d never met before. After I left Peace Corps service, readers begged me to write a book and, with the monthly letters, I had lots of material. The book and its title are also a tribute to the two towns where I served, El Triunfo, The Triumph, and La Esperanza, The Hope. While most volunteers are in their 20s, I also wanted people over 50, including baby boomers and older, to consider joining Peace Corps or another overseas service, which can be tremendously enriching at any age. Older volunteers also enjoy more respect, bring more skills, and have more emotional staying power than many younger folks for whom they also serve as mentors. A woman 86 is now a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco. I started a support group for over-50 volunteers called OAKS, standing for Older And Knowing Souls. Finally, I joined the Peace Corps after the tragic loss of my older son and a foster son and found it to be a healing experience. While nothing can bring back departed loved ones, readers may also find a change of environment and new challenges helpful in overcoming such a loss. When I returned home to Washington, DC, at age 66, I started a new career as a Spanish interpreter in hospitals and schools, whose flexible schedule allowed me to spend ample time with my mother before her death. At age 74, I’m still working as an interpreter and sometimes translator, as well as a freelance writer.
About your Book:
Joining the Peace Corps had been my dream ever since 1961, when Pres. Kennedy first announced its formation, but I wasn’t able to join then. Losing my son and foster son, while devastating at first, made me aware of life’s fragility and revived my Peace Corps dream. In 2000, when, at age 62, I was chosen to become a health volunteer in Honduras, I was thrilled, because not everyone who applies is accepted. Being assigned to Honduras was a sort of homecoming for me, as I had been there when I was only 3 when my father was working at the Mayan ruins of Copan. A male friend had warned me that it was crazy to join at my age, “You’ll never make it; mark my words, you’ll be home by Christmas at the latest.” But I stayed 3 ½ years for 3 Christmases! Fortunately, I already knew Spanish before going, as it’s harder to learn a new language at a later age. This proved a huge advantage for me in being accepted locally, having influence, and becoming fully immersed in a country that has since become my second home. Our learning exchange was always a two-way street. I helped Honduran mothers prevent and treat such common and sometimes fatal maladies in their children as respiratory infections and diarrhea and also escorted them and their kids to life-changing surgery brigades for clubfoot and harelip/cleft palate repair. In turn, they taught me about herbal medicine, how to make round tortillas (rotating palms in opposite directions), and most of all, about unconditional hospitality. Whenever I arrive at their doorstep unannounced, even now, no matter how humble their circumstances, they still take me in. But not everything was upbeat during my service. I was robbed several times, was almost hit by lightening, and came down with malaria although taking a preventive prophylactic. Despite these challenges, I’ve returned to Honduras annually, 8 times so far, to continue with projects started during Peace Corps, including work with a residential school for the blind. The first of these return trips appears in the book, whose proceeds continue to fund my projects there. The book is a combination of practical and sometimes little known information about Peace Corps (I tell it like it is), an adventure story and travelogue about Honduras, and an inspirational memoir of coping with bereavement. It is illustrated with ample photos throughout.
Author Bio:
Barbara E. Joe, MA, a native of Boston and an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley, is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. From her century-old house on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, she works as a freelance writer, Spanish interpreter, and translator. A volunteer with Amnesty International since 1981, she has served in various leadership positions. She is also a board member of three non-profit organizations working internationally. From 2000-20003, she served as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras and wrote an award-winning memoir, Triumph & Hope: Golden Years in the Peace Corps in Honduras. She has also written articles on numerous other topics. In April 2011, she was featured in Woman’s Day and in August 2011 in Voice of America News. Readers are invited to view her blog, http://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I queried several agents, but they gave me unwanted advice: no photos because publishers don’t want to be bothered, don’t switch between past and present tense, mentioning your son’s and foster son’s deaths is a downer in a Peace Corps book, etc. I decided instead to take full control myself, choosing to go with Amazon and my book is also on Kindle and the Nook. I was able to use the colors of the Honduran flag, blue and white, on the cover with numerous color photos. My book was named “Best Peace Corps Memoir of 2009” by Peace Corps Writers and has won other literary awards. Ed O’Keefe said in The Washington Post, “Barbara’s book is a great read… Buy and read this book, no matter your age.” Other reviewers have made similarly laudatory comments. I’ve been invited to give talks by various service organizations about Peace Corps and my book, as well as by public libraries, including those in Washington, DC, and Manhattan.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
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