King Peggy

Authored by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman, King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village, is a fascinating true story, having nothing to do with homelessness.

There is one young man in Otuam, Ghana, over which King Peggy rules, that sleeps on cots or mats at homes of whoever allows him to stay with them. He could be considered homeless, even though he does not live outdoors. Can not say "no fixed address", because the village does not have house numbers.

The young man is an alcoholic, smokes marijuana at times, is given to disruptive behavior and like his American contemporaries, lets his friends and family down time after time. He borrows money, vowing, in his words, that he is clean and sober, only to use the money for more alcohol. No spoiler here, can not tell you anymore about the young man, because I want everyone to read this inspiring story.

Again, using my own language to describe it, King Peggy fights corruption and the good old boys network after she is enstooled as King. After? I should say as soon as she arrived in Otuam, having arranged a vacation from her Washington, D.C. job where she is still a secretary. Despite spending the bulk of the years since her Kingship in 2008 in the United States, she has done a remarkable job making positive changes in her  village.

She did not do this single-handedly, but she did spend a lot of her own money due to an empty Royal treasury, ruining her perfect credit score in the process.

Some of the help she received and will continue to receive came from a Shiloh Baptist church. Interesting to me, because my born-again Christian sister (RIP) belonged to a Shiloh Baptist church. I only attended her baptism at the church, but used to chauffeur her to and from the church which was in a nearby town. No bus service, no vehicle she was dependent upon others to get her to services, especially on Sundays.

I am almost positive, my daughter Lori's friend Vivian belonged to a Shiloh church in Pennsylvania. I attended several services at that church.

I am almost done with a book review to submit to Yahoo Voices, hoping that the new editors will accept it for publication. I know several of my former AC now YV friends will want to read King Peggy if they have not read it already.