“Pure of Heart”
Read RPCV Susan Greisen’s memoire, In Search of Pink Flamingos. Susan grew up a
Nebraska farm girl, delivering pigs, plucking and gutting chickens, driving
tractors. She was valedictorian of her high school class. Of 16. Her parents
assumed she’d become a farmer’s wife, just like her mother. Susan had other
ideas. She dreamed of Africa, and how she could help the people there. She
went to practical nursing school for a year to prepare herself to serve, and
applied to Peace Corps, much against her parents’ vociferous wishes. Young —
she was only 19 —and naive, in May, 1971, she arrived in the Liberian village of
Zorgowee as a health volunteer. Her book recounts the successes, failures,
loneliness, frustration, sadness, joy, exhaustion — the litany of feelings that many
— probably most — volunteers feel working and living alone without the
resources necessary to do a job fully. She had pluck, creativity and commitment
to Gowee and its people, who became family and gave her the unconditional love
that she sought but never received from her parents. She was inspired by many
volunteers, no one more than Ruth Jacobson and Ruth’s husband Harold. The
Jacobsons touched the lives of everyone they met in Liberia, and encouraged
Susan to become a registered nurse. It took some time, including a year’s stint
with Peace Corps in Tonga, and years in school in the Bay area, but she did it. If
you love Peace Corps and Liberia, read Susan’s book. You’ll love her tale, and
Susan too.
Review by Sean Sullivan, FOL Member
Village Books is pleased to include Susan Greisen as part of our Virtual Lit Live Event series!
In Search of Pink Flamingos is a story of a young woman who defies her parents’ demands to become a farmer’s wife. At age nineteen, with a suitcase full of farm-smarts and a license to be a practical nurse, Susan joins the Peace Corps in Africa. She meets multiple challenges in her remote Liberian village and falls short of her unrealistic goals. An interracial romance further aggravates her parents who eventually disown her. When Susan finds the pink flamingos, she discovers what she had been searching for all along. Her journey is one of passion, strength and finding forgiveness and unconditional love.
Susan E. Greisen, raised on a remote farm in Nebraska, searched for adventure and a broader understanding of life. Her work as a nurse took her to remote parts of the world with the Peace Corps and CARE. She has journeyed to over forty countries on six continents and is a Whatcom published poet and author. Susan’s travel photographs have been published online by the BBC News.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT WILL GO LIVE AT 4PM PST, 7PM EST.
Can’t make it to the event? No problem! You can pre-pay and receive a signed, personalized copy of the book you want. We ship!
