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Josh
Swiller's memoir, The Unheard, tells the story of his
two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mununga, a dusty Zambian
village home to tribal factions and a host of refugees from
neighboring Zaire. Deaf since childhood, Josh was raised by
devoted parents who trained him to speak and lip-read with
the assistance of hearing aids. Raised to fit into the hearing
world, he attended Yale but encountered feelings of isolation
and frustration toward heavily-accented professors who spoke
into chalkboards. In graduate school at Gallaudet University,
he attempted to immerse himself in a new Deaf community but
discovered that he was just as isolated in a world that spoke
exclusively American Sign Language. So Josh went to Africa
to find "a place past deafness."
After
a ten-week training course, Josh was off to inspire a sense
of community ownership in Mununga, with a charter to organize
the villagers to build their first community infrastructure:
wells to provide fresh water to the disease-ridden community.
The villagers, led by politicians whose primary concern was
getting their rake of the banana wine production, were perplexed
that the white man didn't have the money and power to give
them a well. Politicians had deep-seated tribal affairs to
sort out and were suspicious of Josh's motives in offering
"help" to the community without bringing along cash and resources.
Josh writes of the plight of the Africans with a voice of
introspection and humor. His teaching experience required
navigating "an educational system based, apparently, on the
principles of unlimited recess." By keeping the tone light,
Josh conveys profound insights with nary a trace of pity for
himself or the economically ravaged country.
For his
part, Josh was able to speak Bemba, the tribal language, better
than any of his fellow volunteers. Bemba was just another
series of verbal sounds Josh had to perform without hearing.
In the village and even the larger city centers of Africa,
background noise was low, so Josh was able to distinguish
sounds more easily. He also noted that people tended to speak
to him slowly and directly, further aiding his comprehension.
Josh
formed warm friendships with his cook, houseboy, and fellow
health clinic worker Jere. In many ways, The Unheard
is the story of Josh's friendship with this steadfast and
wise chess player. Jere was Josh's constant ally throughout
his struggles fighting for resources, adhering to tribal customs,
and maneuvering against a ferocious tribal leader out to destroy
Josh for his own purposes. Josh learned to adapt his style
to reach the Africans in any way possible. In one of his more
successful moves, he fosters cultural exchange by passing
out a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition to his male
students.
The zenith
of Josh's experience in Africa was the construction of a local
clinic for which Josh put his own Peace Corps career on the
line. He self-funded the effort via outside grants in quasi-violation
of bureaucratic red tape. Throughout his time in Mununga,
Josh wrestled with his inability to effect lasting change
against a tidal wave of cultural differences. He finally acquiesced
to the urgings of his friend Jere to make one small, practical
contribution to the village by building a clinic. Josh's arch
nemesis, the tribal leader Boniface, manipulated both the
Peace Corps volunteer and the villagers throughout the process,
misappropriating project supplies and resources, and finally
sabotaging the project in a climactic lynch mob of violence.
For Josh, the after effects were devastating. He was forced
to suppress his personal outrage and again adhere to the advice
of his friend Jere, who continually encouraged Josh to adapt
to the local system. Josh learned that subtly outwitting Boniface
at his own game was much more effective than pursing any official
means of justice.
Josh
Swiller did indeed find a place past deafness in the lakeside
village of Mununga, Zambia. He was a Peace Corps volunteer
in a war-torn, disease-ravaged region in which being light-skinned
and American was strange enough that no one bothered to alienate
him based on deafness. In his memoir, he casts a critical
eye at the Peace Corps process as well as his own conduct
in Africa. Josh recognizes that he had naïve goals when he
first arrived; learning how to work within the system was
an arduous process. He balances his criticism of the local
government corruption and his frustration at the lack of industrial
progress with his genuine awe and appreciation for the beauty
and friendship he found in Mununga. The Unheard is
at once a comedy of errors, a coming-of-age story, and a touching
tribute to a strange piece of paradise.
(April,
2008)
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