Through the Eyes of My Children

Through the Eyes of My Children is a delightful read for any young adult readers, from middle school on up, interested in true life adventures about young people. This is the story of a family that becomes Peace Corps Volunteers and most important it is told in the voices of the children. Daniel the oldest sees it as a grand adventure, Nancy sees the many ways we are the same but different, Peter has lots of fun–but finds it just plain too hot, and Matthew at three years is along for the ride holding up under affectionate cheek pinches. It is these four children who tell about living in a third world country as volunteers. The friends they make, the adventures they have, and how they adjust to another culture. They tell of the things they had to cope with, the things they had to learn to live with, and do without. What was it like to eat dog meat? What was it like not to have good water to drink? What was it like to be the different one? But most important while learning about all the differences, they learned about all the ways as a people we are all the same. The experience of learning about, living within, and identifying with another culture would help prepare them to become citizens of the world. During the 1970’s the U.S. Peace Corps began taking families as volunteers. Taking families lasted for only a brief period in the ‘70’s, and has been pretty much lost in Peace Corps’ history. During that brief period Frances and Paul eagerly made the decision to sign up for the program as a way of serving their country oversea for two years. They were among the first families to join. They went to the Philippines for two years with their four children to share their expertise in agriculture and education while keeping up with their four energetic, enthusiastic youngsters.