The American writer Norman Rush (1933) worked during the years 1978-1983 in Botswana as a Peace Corps volunteer. His stay in this southern African country in Botswana is the foundation for six stories in this collection. Each story centers around white people who work in this country and who try in one way or the other to saty afloat in a different culture.

We meet the Dutch volunteer Bruns who works as a jack-of-all-trades for a convent. He refuses to bend for the power of a number of white families in the village.

We meet two couples who make a long journey and talk during their carjourney about having contacts with local people. They get into a conflict when they meet thirsty people along the roadside: shoudl they help them or not? 

We meet an American who tries to find a solution fort the barking dogs of his neighbour, who keep him awake during the night. The search for a solution brings him to a sangoma or is he?

We meet a boy who has been sent away from school and who ends up as a househelp at several white families. In this way he has a peep into different cultures.

I enjoyed these well written stories.

Norman Rush – Whites – Amsterdam 1987 – 159 pages