April 5, 2003 - eNovel: Ivory Coast RPCV William L Kirtley writes book on the meaning of AIDS in ordinary African communities

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2003: April 2003 Peace Corps Headlines: April 5, 2003 - eNovel: Ivory Coast RPCV William L Kirtley writes book on the meaning of AIDS in ordinary African communities

By Admin1 (admin) on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 10:09 am: Edit Post

Ivory Coast RPCV William L Kirtley writes book on the meaning of AIDS in ordinary African communities





Read and comment on this review of a book by Ivory Coast RPCV William L Kirtley on the meaning of AIDS in ordinary African
communities at:


All My Friends Are Dead by William L Kirtley*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



All My Friends Are Dead by William L Kirtley

All My Friends are Dead is the true tale of an African society on the brink of crisis.

The Ivory Coast has recently been in the news on a near-daily basis, although the causes of the current chaos are not of recent origin.

Rather, they have their foundation in the gradual destruction of traditional African norms, the slowly changing mindset of Ivorians, the havoc that is being wreaked by AIDS, steady economic decline, and a longstanding desire for radical political change in the Ivory Coast.

This gripping narrative, based on our diaries during the two years we served as Peace Corps Volunteers in the Ivory Coast, illustrates the fascinating struggles of ordinary Ivorians at the turn of the century, providing a much-needed glimpse into a nation that is only now receiving the attention it deserves.

Our book describes the joys of everyday life in the Ivory Coast, the dreams of ordinary Ivorians, the fascinating culture and traditions of the Ivory Coast, and the paradoxes of an Africa that is trying to modernize while remaining true to its heritage.

It also personalizes the plight of ordinary Africans, making their hopes and fears understandable to those of us whose only view of Africa has been provided by fragmentary news reports and television documentaries.

Among the many books published on sub-Saharan Africa, to this point none has focused on the story of the regular lives of Africans in a society on the brink of chaos.

Moreover, few works have served to illustrate the paradoxes of modern sub-Saharan Africa in such a readable fashion.


Great Book!

It made me laugh and cry, often at the same time. Sub-saharan Africa countries face many challenges, but I never knew how many! It is also interesting to learn about the Ivory Coast, which sounds like the new Rwanda.
— Emmanuel Launay
Wonderful enovel

The first enovel I have read, and it was quite a good read, if a very sad tale of the plight of ordinary Africans in the modern age.
— Eileen Lagathu
Great read

This account of two peace corps volunteers’ experiences in Ivory Coast is fantastic because it describes the horror and frustration of the AIDS epidemic in Africa with personal accounts that get beyond the numbing statistics we read in the news every day. Once I started reading "All My Friends are Dead”I couldn’t stop--despite (or because of) its frightening content and the fact that its style lacked the rhetorical flourish so common in personal accounts like these.
— anonymous


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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ivory Coast; AIDS

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