John Ashford

Dusty Land John Ashford

IT WAS WITH GREAT RELIEF that John Ashford realized he was going to do something new in his life. In his mid-fifties and happily married to his second wife, Gen, John wanted to feel as passionate about work and life as he had felt when he started teaching thirty years earlier. With some convincing, and a short stint volunteering with him in a refugee camp in Thailand, Gen agreed to be John's fellow adventurer, join the Peace Corps, and serve in Botswana in southern Africa. Once in Botswana, John began taking notes about his "new" life with an inkling that he would publish a book about his experiences. He kept a journal of conversations, cultural differences, people and their idiosyncrasies, and what it was like being a middle-aged Westerner in Africa. Once their two years in the Peace Corps ended, John's notes didn't yet make a collection of stories, but after taking several classes on creative writing the notes began to sparkle in his mind. Most importantly, he realized he was able to enjoy his transformative experience a second time by putting it in writing. DUSTY LAND is a collection of John's stories that highlight what he and Gen experienced as Volunteer teachers in Botswana in the early 1990s. Although these stories took place in the '90s, they have a timelessness that sheds light onto our current times and the struggle to better understand our fellow human beings in spite of our varied backgrounds and beliefs.