Posted by in Never the Same Again, Pink Flamingos Thanks to Dale Gilles (a returned Liberian Peace Corps volunteer and staff member) who keeps his pulse on Liberia, forwarded this article written about Liberia’s former President. I want to share it with my followers. Published May 2023 (verbiage taken from the Forbes article), read the entire article here. However, I have highlighted President Sirleaf’s…Read more »
Posted by in Never the Same Again, Pink Flamingos (Click on any of the highlighted links for these blogs) This message goes to all those in the “service industry.” I’m speaking of people like teachers, nurses, NGO workers, Peace Corps volunteers, and others: people who want to make a difference. I have often wondered if I made a difference or influenced others because of…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos In 1971, my first year as a 20 year-old Peace Corps volunteer in Zorgowee, Liberia, my role was to teach health education to mothers regarding antenatal and well-baby care. In the 70s, infant mortality in the first two weeks of life and maternal mortality was 40%, respectively. This meant that 4 in 10 mothers and…Read more »
Posted by in Never the Same Again, Pink Flamingos WARNING: This blog may be longer than most and more difficult to read, but for those who want to understand what happened in Nimba County and to the Liberians in my village of Zorgowee including the surrounding areas in 1990, I give you the courage to read on. Do you ever make assumptions from what…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos Those of you who have read my memoir, In Search of Pink Flamingos, may recall Clara as my house girl in Zorgowee, Liberia. Her real name is Sarah. (I have permission to use her name.) Sarah was older than I thought when I was in Liberia. Though she hadn’t finished grade school, she was about…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos The Covid epidemic put a damper on many of the class reunions over the past two years. This June I returned to Nebraska for a special gathering of my rural one-room grade school students. I write about this iconic school in my memoir. In Search of Pink Flamingos. However it was demolished due to school…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos When I arrived in Nebraska in early June, I was returning primarily for my 53rd high school reunion – delayed 3 years because of the pandemic, and a reunion of students from my one-room school house. Both of which I wrote about in my memoir, In Search of Pink Flamingos. But along with reuniting with…Read more »
Posted by in Never the Same Again, Pink Flamingos An epilogue is a writing at the end of a piece of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work. When I published my memoir, entitled In Search of Pink Flamingos, the epilogue reflected upon my Peace Corps experience and gathered historical information about Liberia that told a narrative summary of what happened there…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos Have you ever met someone and said, “I want to be like that person some day?” When I was twenty, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia in 1971, I met such a woman, Ruth Jacobson. Here she is in 1940 graduating with her 3-year diploma of nursing from Tacoma General in WA State.…Read more »
Posted by in Pink Flamingos Once a year, my local bookstore, Village Books provides a writing challenge. This year I was to write something relating to the theme Interconnectedness. Yes, it’s a mouthful. But in the end, we and everything on this planet from the solar system right down to the food chain is connected. I knew immediately what I…Read more »
Susan E. Greisen 