Monique And The Mango Rains: Kris Holloway

Daniel Ascano
Dr. Tara F. Deubel
Cultural Anthropology 2410
6 June 2018
Monique Short Essay
Monique and the Mango Rains is a true story about a companionship between Kris Holloway, who is the author of the story, and a midwife in the village of Nampossela, Mali whose name was Monique Dembele. Holloway made it to Mali as she was in the Peace Corps and had been assigned to Mali for two years and was trained to “give health demonstrations, repair wells, build fuel-conserving stoves, plant trees, and protect the shoots from the ever-hungry mouths of goats” (Page 11). It is here that Holloway meets Dembele to try and help make the health care for the women in the area become better. Monique had been apprenticed for two years to train to become a

Some responsibilities that these women are required to undergo is to clean up around the house and make sure life at home is as orderly as possible. One way of which the women are forced into this role is in the fact that they are put into arranged marriages very early in life. Monique very much does not like this way of life because of the difficulties that arise because of this like the way that communication can be difficult between two people who barely know each other. Monique perfectly exemplifies this in her marriage as its shown that she is more educated than her husband and speaks an entirely different language. Speaking a different language would make communication almost impossible as if one cannot understand what one is saying then it would be difficult to be happy in a marriage. Once Holloway got closer with Monique, Kris discovers just how unhappy she is in her marriage and the extent that she would go to become happy like having an affair with the man she would have married. Monique was a woman who helped the mothers throughout the entirety of their pregnancy in the birthing house and clinic that the village had. Monique would teach these women the process of cleaning water, and basic hygienic processes like washing their hands

This is because each and every culture has been shaped by something and what might be normal in one culture, might be alien in another. What people must do however is understand that these differences are there and accept them and not judge anyone based on what their ways and beliefs are. Kris managed to come about this conclusion as even though she completely disagreed with the custom of mutilating one’s genitalia as it is morally wrong based on western culture. To these people however, it is just another way of life. It shows in the way that Monique reacted when she learned that Kris had not been through what they call ‘koloboli’, “I have never met a woman like you, who has not gone through koloboli. I thought every woman had it” (Page 114). Kris believed that these people who participate in domestic violence, rape, or physical violence were in the wrong and that everybody should be healthy and equal. She realized however that she could not do anything as she would be intruding on these people’s societies and it was down to these people to fix these problems. Monique was one such person who understood the problems and attempted to fix things in her society as she lived