The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service

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On March 8, Publisher BookBaby officially released my new book The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service. It is a memoir about my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ivory Coast in the 1960s. The Ivory Coast is located in West Africa between Liberia and Ghana. I offer a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the early days of the program when I accepted the challenge by Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver, the brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, when he came to our college campus to challenge young Americans to serve in different programs in various countries around the world.

This one-of-a-kind memoir presents how I decided to apply for the opportunity, how a group of us trained, my in-country project, my daily life activities, and the friends I made while I was there. Since we were allotted a certain amount of time for vacations, I share highlights from the travels I took in both West and East Africa when on vacation. These travels included going all around Nigeria including the mud city of Kano, my experience on safari in Kenya and Tanzania, and even my visit to the legendary city of Timbuktu in Mali (West Africa). I strive to offer first-hand insight into a truly extraordinary experience.

This memoir combines historical elements with my personal stories as I elaborate on my adventures such as having a broken radiator in the middle of nowhere in East Africa and how my companions and I managed to get help and survive in the middle of the wild animal country. In addition, I offer an interesting view of village life and work during a special project when I worked in a village called Déahouépleu. To better enjoy reading the book, I provide the reader with some of the many photos that illustrate my work, life, and travels. In addition, I have provided additional photos on this website, most of which are new and different photos from those that are in the book.

To change the subject, I have been very busy lately doing some radio and television appearances, most of which have been arranged by my friend Pastor Kevin Strawder of GMAP1.org, a “Live” Streaming Gospel Radio and Television Broadcast Network. He asked me to do a live program in which I discussed each chapter of my first book God’s Existence: Truth or Fiction? The Answer Revealed. He got so excited that he enlisted five Gospel radio stations and five television networks to carry my program. Those included Daily Gospel Network, MMGCTV, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Atlanta “Live”, Tiki Live, and comcast cable. I am very grateful for the opportunity that he afforded me. He even prepared a book trailer for my new book, The Vegetable Grows. In the live interviews that I have done, they asked me about both books. That helps to spread the word.

Now my focus is to promote my books. Later, I may want to write some more, but that needs to wait. If anyone reads either book, I would be very grateful if they wrote what they liked about the book at the place where they bought the book. The more people know about the books, the more they will learn about Africa or about God, depending on which book they choose.

Published by garylindberg85

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the author’s parents moved just before his seventh birthday to Santa Maria, California. There he grew up and attended grade schools up through high school. The author is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in U. S. History. Then he volunteered to join the Peace Corps for two and a half years during which he taught primary school students and teachers various techniques in a trial school gardens program in the Ivory Coast which is located in West Africa between Liberia and Ghana. He became fluent in French during that time. After his Peace Corps service, he toured Europe and primarily visited Italy, Germany (including East Berlin then under Communist control), France, England, and the Netherlands. Since he was drafted, he volunteered for the Navy in which he served for four years. Next, he went to San Francisco State University where he earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in Management and Personnel. After that he began his 43-year career as a Human Resources professional for a number of major companies including National Gypsum, Celotex, McCormick (spices), Del Monte, Quebecor Printing, and Micro Lithography, Inc. He retired in November, 2019 to pursue personal endeavors.

Published