Travel Memoir to write home about: Two big thumbs up for Julian Smith’s ‘Crossing the Heart of Africa’

June 26th, 2011 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

I first picked up Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith not so much for the author’s recent route across a continent in the footsteps of some old explorer, but more for Smith’s journey from the guidebook shelves to the more exclusive “Travel Literature” shelf, that holy mish-mash of memoir, adventure-logue, and other curious bits of travel-related nonfiction.

As a writer who spends way too much of his time fact-checking hotel prices and bus departure times for my four guidebook titles — while my own book-length narrative percolates on the back burner — I sympathize with Smith’s journey from guidebook jockey to storyteller. I understand why, after penning successful Moon guides to Ecuador and the US southwest, he gave it all up to try his hand at a narrative tale. In Crossing the Heart of Africa, he succeeds brilliantly. (more…)

Malian-Americana Folk Music Mash-Up: Adam Klein Returns to Mali with a guitar and a cameraman

November 7th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

[The following article appears in the Fall 2010 print issue of Worldview, the magazine of the National Peace Corps Association (I love getting to write about my friends)]

by Joshua Berman

Adam Klein, a singer-songwriter from Georgia, stood on a flat rooftop in northern Guatemala. His lean, tall figure, bushy hair, and pregnant guitar cast a silhouette against the Milky Way. He sang and played and searched for words. I sat at Adam’s feet with pen and paper, trying to help as he composed a ballad about don Fernando, the ancient foreman on the bridge project where we were working that week.

“O Fernando … on a fateful morning/ there was a heavy sun/ in the peaceful sleepy town/ Without a warning, they rounded up everyone/ and they cut all the people down….”

Adam and I were in Rabinal, (more…)

Go Black Stars! Ghana goes bananas! Tranquilo Traveler digs up World Cup 2006 posts

June 13th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

As Ghana celebrates its first win in the 2010 World Cup, I thought I’d take a look back. Exactly four years ago, my wife and I were living in Accra, a crusty capital on the coast of West Africa, where we were volunteering with Planned Parenthood. The country was deep in World Cup fever for the national team, the Black Stars, which had advanced farther in the tournament than any other African team had ever done in history. Sutay and I watched soccer on TV every day, all over the country, at work, at home, in restaurants, and once during our travels in the rural north, we watched World Cup football under the stars in the chief’s compound.

Here are a few images and stories from that experience:

VIDEO of Ghana youth going nuts over a goal

Accra: sight-free, soccer-insane city by the seaGame On! Ghana vs. USA today…

Jubilation! Ghana 2 - USA 1! Everybody’s Dancin’…

Back from the Bush: Two Weeks in Northeast Ghana

Africa Trek—Couple’s 8,700-mile Walking Honeymoon across Africa now Available in the U.S.

September 29th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Alexandre and Sonia Poussin took a three-year honeymoon to walk from the Cape of Good Hope to the Sea of Galilee. Originally published in 2004 in France, the Poussins’ story has become somewhat of a European phenomenon and is now available in the U.S.

“Most people,” says Alexandre, “approach Africa with fear, a lot of organization, and little time. We had faith, confidence, and no prejudice on one side; no organization, tour operator, or back-up team of any kind on the other; and no time limit.” One of the extraordinary goals of the trip was to meet people—normal, everyday Africans, “to better understand them, and understand the issues of their lives…. Our approach was anything but sophisticated: one footstep after another, for almost ever…. And let it be. Let adventure be.”

This is sure to be a phenomenal read and a close-up of introduction to the amazing individuals the Poussins met. I’m hoping it will inspire my own extended-honeymoon storytelling.

The result is a stunning collection of Africa Trek books, as well documentary DVDs which have been featured as a mini-series on the Travel Channel and are coming to a PBS station near you.
[LINK]: Official Africa Trek home page — the video is amazing.

Daniela Petrova on the Pitfalls of Volunteering Abroad

August 29th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

In her recent article for World Hum, “A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe,” writer Daniela Petrova “looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?” She hits on the main conundrum that faces short-term international volunteers—the actual effectiveness of such programs. Having been on a dozen such trips, mostly with American Jewish World Service, I’m well aware of this issue. A group might spend nearly $30,000 to visit a village and help build a school that costs $2,000 for a local non-governmental organization whose entire annual budget might be less than $20,000. What’s the point? (more…)

Ghana girls dorm is finished!

April 11th, 2008 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

Last October, I posted a plea from Peace Corps Volunteer Carl Allen in Northern Ghana, who was raising funds to build a girls’ dorm at a business school in the village of Nakpanduri. We had met Carl two years ago while visiting the palace of his village’s chief, David Kansuk Laari. Today, I am happy to pass along the news from Nakpanduri that the girls’ dormitory has been completed and a new generation of rural Ghanaian young women will now be able to attend the Nakpanduri Business Secondary School. Eighty girls from surrounding villages can come stay in the accommodations and get an education. This is huge. It is widely accepted that one of the quickest ways to bring an entire community out of poverty is to educate its girls and women, so a hearty congratulations to the students, teachers, Chief, and to Carl.

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Help girls go to school in Northern Ghana

October 27th, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Last year, Tay and I met Peace Corps Volunteer Carl “Ka” Allen in Northern Ghana, in the village of Nakpanduri where Carl was living and where Tay and I were guests of Chief David Kansuk Laari. It was a classic encounter in the Chief’s “palace,” where we watched World Cup soccer and drank beer under a starry African sky. Well, Carl is still in Ghana and he — and the girls of Nakpanduri — need your help. For a number of reasons, educating the world’s girls is probably the single most effective way to improve the quality of life and eradicate poverty, so this project will have far-reaching and long-lasting outcomes. Donate Now! or learn more from Carl himself–> (more…)

Ghana Black Stars Goal against the USA sparks mass happiness

September 16th, 2007 | By Joshua | No Comments »

This is video of Ghanaians watching the 2006 World Cup. I was in Accra and every single goal the Black Stars scored throughout the tournament was celebrated like this — drums, parades, song, dance. I watched the big game against the USA with the Young & Wise Youth Group at Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana.

“Don’t cry, Obruni!” they all shouted at me, wrapping me in Black Star flags and saying over and over, “We scored you!” And there was much jubilation in the streets.

Domodah in the Afternoon

October 20th, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Nothin’ like a rich, cayenne-warmin’ bowl of groundnut stew when one is writing a story about The Gambia. There are as many ways to cook domodah (as the Mandinka call their national dish, or maffe in Wolof), as there are villages in West Africa. I like to mix and match from these recipes, but you might as well go straight for this winner.
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The Gambia from Space

October 13th, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Just stumbled across this great NASA image of The Gambia River, or as Kunta Kinte remembered it, the “Kamby Bolongo.” Here’s the Wiki page where I found it. The thin black line is the country’s political border separating it from Senegal, and it actually extends quite a bit farther east. Tay’s village of Sara Kunda is on the north bank, toward the right of this image.
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