Heaven and Hell in the Philippines: Journal of a Peace Corps Volunteer

The author served as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in the Philippines from 1985 to 1987 as an agro-forestry specialist. This book is a daily journal describing some of the encounters, experiences, trials and tribulations he went through as he became a part of the culture and daily life of a small farming community in Quirino Province.

This book is a transcription of his entire journal - he made a journal entry every day while he was gone. In fact the journal begins on the day that he left his home in Fairbanks, Alaska and ends when he arrived back home in Fairbanks. Because it's a journal, it is written in the first person, there is an abundance of "I did..." and "we did...".

Every entry is dated and the expenses for each day are also recorded. Parts of it may be extremely boring and even mundane to you, the reader, but everything that is recorded here was significant in the specific day of life for the volunteer as he did his best to accomplish something that would have a lasting impact on the lives of the local people.

The author was older than the average PCV and as such, he had ideas that were a bit different than them, for example, he bought his own water buffalo and set up a large demonstration farm to show the benefits of contour plowing and farming, something which many local people said was impossible for a water buffalo to accomplish. By the time he completed his service, however, every farmer in his small community was doing contour farming, so apparently it was not impossible.

This book is recommended for any person who has a dream of becoming, or has been a PCV. If you're one who wants to serve, this book will show you exactly what you might expect to have happen to you at some point in your service as you go through the stages of culture shock, acculturation, acceptance into your community and more. If you're a returned PCV (RPCV) this book will make you recall some of your own trials and tribulations and probably make you laugh about them.

Note that this book speaks briefly of some gay sexual encounters. There are, however, no long and drawn out descriptions of these encounters, no graphic sex.