RPCV Bio Currently working: Foreign Service Officer, Department of State Position title: (Official duty) Diplomat; (Other) Novelist Quote: "At the time, I thought Peace Corps would provide all that I needed to write a great book: the beginning, the middle, the end. Turns out Peace Corps is only the beginning, but it's a good one." Photo 1: Form three students at Providence Secondary School in Chisitu, Malawi, gather for instruction on performing scenes from Scarlet Song by Senegalese writer Miriama Ba. Getting away from their desks inside stifling concrete blocks perked the students up on long afternoons, and acting out scenes helped them to connect with foreign material. Ba's work, originally in French, was translated into English, already a second or third language for many students in Malawi. It covered West African, Islamic, and European culture and traditions. Of course as a love story, Scarlet Song also has its universal truths.