Floyd Sandford

African Odyssey: the Adventurous Journeys of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa Floyd Sandford

How does a little-traveled idealistic New Yorker adjust to the life of aPeace Corps volunteer in Africa, teaching biology in a culture infusedwith superstition? In this memoir, a former Peace Corps volunteerrecounts the challenges and frustrations of teaching secondary schoolscience in Nigeria from 1964-66, just prior to the tragic Biafran War. Author Sandford describes memorable, often humorous, experiencesliving and working in Nigeria and traveling throughout the country,including unusual dining experiences, an embarrassing church visit, hisfirst haircut by an African barber, and an encounter with a traditionalYoruba healer or juju man. He also relates traveling to National Parks andinteresting locales in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, in EastAfrica, and his adventures there, including meeting Jomo Kenyatta inMombasa, the Hyena Man in Harar, and surviving an elephant stampedein Murchison Falls NP. African Odyssey is a readable and entertaining account of one American'simmersion in a different culture, and of the rewards that come when aperson confronts new challenges and uniquely different situations,assuming the risks of journeying to places much different from those towhich one is accustomed.