The Unheard pages 63-130

summary:
In the memoir the unheard by Josh Swiller, josh tries to get the well project started. The whole point of the peace corps sending him to that village was to develop well systems in Zambia. There he was supposed to help the villagers learn to fend for themselves instead of waiting for the rare volunteer. Josh set up a number of meetings to talk about how the villagers will build the wells but many of them were vacant.A lot of people who didn't go didn't have time and alot of them couldn't read the posters the meeting information was on. josh tried to start quick but time was going quicker. Though he soon found a village that looked promising, the village of kaseke, where there was a man, Jefferson, who knew how to speak English. The first meeting he set up had many villagers but when josh came he felt that there was a problem, and there was. the headman's mother died so they ask to have the meeting next Monday. At the second meeting it was also full but, that time there too was a problem. this time the headman's other mother, also known as aunt, died. The next meeting was scheduled for the next day. At the third meeting there was nobody there. as josh tries hard to complete his task he encounters many conflicts that deter him form moving forward. Later on at a peace corps meeting josh and the other Peace corp volunteer, who did less then him, were told that they were not expected to finish the task during there task. They were told that because they were the first peace corps volunteers there and that it would be almost impossible to complete their projects.
Besides the lack of audience in the well meeting, the political figures were also great discourages. all the politicians were drunks and apathetic. The latest chief of the village of Mununga was chosen randomly, before he became the chief he was a shovel operator, it was like jury duty if you were called to serve you had no choice. The new chief's first rule was the same as the last chief's rule, who was a school teacher. His first rule was "one bottle out of every batch of banana wine brewed in Mununga be tithed to him" the rule that cause the last chief to drink himself to death was being reestablished. Things such as these made Josh's project tougher to do. With everyone wanting more josh can give, he was slowed from his goal.

quote:
"I watched the students talk to each other in the cafeteria. Some threw signs like rapper, quick, harsh motions that had a bop and and an edge"(Swiller 99).

reaction:
My reaction towards Josh's writing is that because he grew up death he was probably used to hearing very specific descriptions, turning him into a very literate writer that uses devices such as similes.