Resources

(Page updated 2023)

After reading In Search of Pink Flamingos and Never the Same Again you may find interest in a selection of resources that pertain to Africa, Tonga, Liberia, women’s issues, or health care.

Books

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, by Joshua Hammer, 2016.
A true story of how the treasured manuscripts of Timbuktu were rescued and saved from destruction by terrorist and extremist groups.

Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, by Leymah Gbowee 2011.
The true story of how one woman organized the women in Liberia to forge peace for their war-torn nation.

You Never Try, You Never Know: Six Years in Liberia, by Ruth Jacobson, 2011.
Ruth and her husband’s lives and adventures in Liberia in the 1970s are chronicled in her weekly letters back home.

Take Time, Yah: Tales from Liberia, by Ruth Jacobson, 2012.
Anecdotes and stories of Ruth’s life in Liberia in the 1970s.

The House at Sugar Beach, by Helene Cooper, 2008.
A memoir and an examination of the violent times in Liberia in the 1980s by a young girl born in Liberia who escaped to America after the coup d’état.

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World’s Most Precious Stones, by Greg Campbell, 2004.
Diamonds discovered in 1930s in Sierra Leone, West Africa, have funded the most savage rebel campaigns and wars in recent decades, similar to the tale in Liberia.

The Last King of Scotland, by Giles Foden, 1998.
A novel depicting a vivid journey to the turbulent heart of Uganda in the 1970s under the rule of Idi Amin.

The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, 1963.
Anecdotes, interviews and insights by the author inspire and awaken women and men to the fundamental issues of personal engagement and equality.

Out of Africa, by Karen Blixen, 1937.
A memoir of a young Danish woman’s life in Kenya in the early 1900s when Kenya was a British colony.

Fever!: The Hunt for a New Killer Virus” by John G. Fuller (Reader’s Digest Press, 1974)
A deadly unidentified virus reported from remote Liberian missionary hospital, two American nurses stricken and died within 10 days. There is a chapter in the book where Dr. Merten’s role is described regarding in identifying Lassa Fever and the treatment and care of Esther Bacon who contracted and who tragically died of Lassa Fever in April 1972. See the book below written about her.

Outlaw for God: The Story of Esther Bacon by J. Barney Dibble, M.D. (The Christopher Publishing House, 1974)
This book traces the life of Esther’s 41 years working in Zorzor District at Curran Hospital and with Dr. Mertens from 1963-72. This amazing story of a Registered Nurse and her incredible impact improving the health and saving hundreds of lives in the country of Liberia. She died of Lassa Fever in 1972.

The Handbook for HEALTH PERSONNEL in Liberia. Edited by Dr. Mertens
This 392 page handbook project was supported by USAID and RBHS (Rebuilding Basic Health Services in Liberia Project). Today the handbook in PDF online is used by healthcare workers throughout Liberia and is used at schools or nursing and nurse midwifery in Liberia.

Movies and Videos

A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps, 2019
This remarkable documentary, narrated by Annette Bening, A Towering Task tells the pioneering story of the Peace Corps and takes viewers on a journey of what it means to be a global citizen. This award-winning film was produced/directed by Alana DeJoseph, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, 1992-94.

Africa’s Great Civilizations, a six-part PBS Documentary series, narrated by Henry Louis Gates, Jr, 2017.
Two hundred thousand years of history, from the origins, on the African continent, of art, writing and civilization itself, through the millennia in which Africa and Africans shaped not only their own rich civilizations, but also the wider world.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a Documentary featuring Leymah Gbowee, YouTube Movies, 2008.
The civil wars in Liberia in the 1990s galvanized a coalition of Christian and Muslim women to rise up and pressure, through nonviolent tactics, the government to pursue peace talks.

Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, 2006.
The story of civil war raging in neighboring Sierra Leone, West Africa and how the diamond trade powered the war and affected the people, similar to the tale in Liberia.

The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, 2006.
A historical drama based on the notorious dictator, Idi Amin of Uganda.

Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, 1985.
An American epic romantic drama film based on the memoir Out of Africa.

The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, 1952.
A British-American adventure film about a gin-swilling riverboat captain who is persuaded by a straight-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship on a river in Africa.

Organizations

Friends of Liberia (FOL), http://fol.org/
Established by returned Peace Corps Volunteers in 1985, FOL is a non-governmental, non-profit organization seeking to positively affect Liberia and Liberians through education, social, health, economic and humanitarian programs. Their vision is to assist Liberia in its quest to be a peaceful and just country in which every Liberian has opportunities for quality education and employment, and access to adequate health care.

Friends of Tonga (FOT), https://www.friendsoftonga.org/cpages/home
FOT was founded in 2018 by a group of returned Peace Corps Volunteers in response to the devastating effects of Cyclone Gita. This charitable organization supports educational and developmental opportunities in the Kingdom of Tonga; raises awareness about issues affecting Tongan society; and connects all people who have a vested interest in the welfare of the Kingdom.

Nursing, https://nurse.org
A national website that lists nursing organizations nationwide, scholarships, nursing education, career guides, jobs and more.