Article December 1, 2003 Issue

A lesson in GIVING

By Dorothea Hertzberg

The New York Times

Obo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

IT WAS AN UNFORGIVINGLY HOT DAY, and I was leaving the village where I lived in northeastern Burkina Faso, which meant an 11-mile bike ride to the nearest paved road. It was April, and I was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in this small, landlocked country in West Africa. I set off on my Trek 800 mountain bike, dreaming of the distant town where I could eat the pizza I had been craving for a month, when I hit a bump in the road. When I landed, my pedals spun around wildly with no resistance. I pedaled furiously, but like a guinea pig in a wheel, I was going nowhere.

I stood there in disbelief. What was I going to do? I still had seven miles to bike, 115 degrees of heat beating down on me, and only half a bottle of water left. "Great," I muttered in exasperation, and started pushing my bike down the deserted cow path.