I'm over "there" today...

Today, I'm over guest blogging at Carolyn Abiad's Serendipity, for her new series on International Romance.

Join me there, where I share how living in Africa and France with my French husband has affected my (writing) life.  There's also a link at the bottom of my article to photos of me in Africa.

The naive girl in this photo is me in 1994, just before I jumped on a plane for what was supposed to be a two-year stint in the Peace Corps.  I didn't make it home for almost nine years!  (Notice my army duffel bags?  I heard everybody would pack their stuff in these types of bags, so I painted happy flowers on mine.  It was a good call.  About 35 out of 45 of us that went over together had army duffel bags.  I never had to search in airports through mountains of drab olive to find my bags!)

See you over at Carolyn's!

                                    

Pics of Me in Africa ~ And a Great Cause

Candace Ganger at the Misadventures of Candyland is raising money today for Joy2theWorld.  (Joy2theWorld empowers business women (and their children) in Ghana, Africa by providing micro loans they can invest in their business.)  To reach her goal, she needs just one dollar from each of her followers, although bigger donations are certainly welcome!

If you don't follow Candace, please visit her blog today and join.  She's talented, funny, gorgeous, and I've never ever read one of her blog posts that I didn't thoroughly enjoy.  And while you're there, show your support for her fundraising efforts.  It's amazing what just one dollar can do in the Third World.  I know.  I've been there.

I thought, since Candace is raising money for Ghanan women and children, that I would share a couple of my Peace Corps pictures with you.  For those who don't know, I was a volunteer in the Central African Republic from 1994 to 1996.  The following pictures are just to give you a glimpse into where I lived, and in another post (that will take more preparation time than I have today :D) I'll show you photos from my project there.

Can you find me?  This was near the end of our intensive 3-month in-country training.  See the only guy in a green shirt?  I'm two rows back from him, standing behind the girl with a dark baseball cap on.

The front of my little mud brick house.

Inside, my desk where I worked on my project and my art.

Me, cooking in my kitchen. I brought all those spices from home, btw.

With my friend Chantal and her little girl.  Chantal was a business woman who sold cafe au lait and fresh beignets at a makeshift stand on the side of the road leading to the hospital.  She is the kind of entrepreneurial woman who would benefit from fundraisers like Candace is supporting.

And finally, here's me at the airport in Syracuse, NY, leaving on my life's greatest adventure.  I'd been advised numerous times to use old Army duffel bags to pack my stuff in, but I wondered how I'd tell my bags from everyone else's.  There were 45 other people leaving with me.  So, I painted happy flowers on my bags.  Locating them in a sea of olive green was never a problem!

Take it from me, for the cost of two Starbuck's specialty coffees, you can help an African business woman advance in her endeavors.  Let's put our dollars together and make a real difference in the world.

~Click HERE to go to the Misadventures in Candyland~