Summary Of Monique And The Mango Rains By Kris Holloway

Kris Holloway uniquely describes what kind of life the women in Nampolessa, Mali in her book “Monique and the Mango Rains.” Like many developing countries, the people of Nampolessa experience many challenges such as gender roles and health risks. Kris Holloway explains her integration into the Malian society through cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the opinion one has on the practices and beliefs of a culture from being on the inside of that culture. This essay will be discussing how marital relationships, health, and money play a major part in the lives of the Mali women.

Like many other countries, marriages in Nampolessa are arranged, which in return form complicated relationships. For example, Holloway observed the relationship

Holloway was able to understand the love for one’s children is greater than any other love. and women are held to certain gender roles. The only “jobs” women have, in this culture is to take care of the household duties and to bare children. Even though women are in charge of taking care of their house, the men are viewed as the head of the household. It is common that the men are the solitary providers for their households, so in return, “it was customary for the men to eat first; the women and children ate what was left” (22). These particular gender roles have been a common theme for many countries overtime, even the United States once fell under these beliefs. Another similarity Holloway noticed in some marriages in Nampolessa was domestic violence, specifically one of her

Like many developing countries, many illnesses threatened the people of this community. Many villagers fell victim to diseases such as malaria, fevers, diarrhea, and malnourishment. Most of these illnesses were caused by poor sanitation, the most commonly affected people were mothers and newborn children. Over the duration of her two years in Mali, Holloway became aware that many children frequently feel under illness and there was not much people could do to help these children. One day she came in contact with an infant who had been so severely ill he looked, “skeletal, his eyes bulging from their sockets, he seemed barely alive but for the flush of fever” (30). Holloway was impressed by the work Monique preformed as not only a healthcare provider but a midwife. Once, when Holloway was observing and assisting in a birth she realized Monique, “was responsible for the future of this village” (8). While working with Monique, Holloway learned more about the health aspect of this culture, for example; female genital cutting. At first mention of this Holloway was surprised to learn this was a common tradition among adolescent women. Since this tradition is not ordinarily practiced in the United States, she was eager to learn more about the why this procedure is part of their culture. Because of her interactions with the mothers of this community, Holloway wanted to make a