Book Club

Last night we met to discuss "The Camel Bookmobile." The story is fictional but based on reality (see video below.) The book itself was good but not great. The author wrote on a middle school to high school level (a great book for a teacher to have her students read) and didn't flesh out her characters well enough, but the story was definitely interesting and initiated much conversation about how we seem to like to impose our western ideals on other cultures for "their own good." I know several friends who have gone to countries in Africa and Central America to do "good" deeds only to find that their services were not needed, not understood, and not helpful. We decided that if someone wants to be helpful it needs to be based on the recipient's needs (not what we think they need) and within the their cultural boundaries. That being said, we (all of us book lovers) agreed that bringing books to any one is a good thing!!