UNREAL

A debut memoir recalls a writer’s decades of non-governmental organization work in the far reaches of the world’s developing countries.

In 1972, a serendipitous invitation from a college coach set the stage for McDonald’s professional future. For six weeks during that summer break, the 20-year-old author led a team of college students that traveled to the recently established Central African Republic to lend a hand at the “jungle station,” a large compound in Bangassou. “A few weeks in Africa changed me,” he writes, “as it shook me out of my cultural blinders.” It also taught him that he thrived on adrenaline. The story of his return to Africa the following summer provides one of the most vivid, hair-raising anecdotes of his extraordinary life. As he and his companions were asleep in a tent, McDonald was awakened by the sound of panting: “A few seconds later I heard it again, except this time with a deep, low growl, the kind of sound only a lion can produce.” He was separated from the prowling beast by only the canvas of the tent. He returned to the United States to complete his undergraduate education, received his master’s degree, and earned a doctorate specializing in “international planning, policy analysis, and development economics.” Along the way, he met and married his soul mate, Rebecca, an American who was raised in Bangladesh, where her parents established a hospital in the jungle. In 1985, with two toddlers in tow, the McDonalds accepted their first NGO assignment and were stationed in Bangladesh. It is not often that a memoir about work can be described as a page-turner, but the author has produced a rare, captivating narrative potpourri of professional accomplishments, discourses on sensitivity to cultural diversity, and unique, often dangerous personal experiences. He also makes a convincing case for his philosophical approach: to establish postgraduate opportunities locally and partner with talented locals who have the emotional commitment for leading new enterprises to financial sustainability. One caution: Readers with serious snake phobias may have to fast-forward a couple of pages here and there.

Loaded with lesser-known multicultural tidbits, this account of a family’s adventures proves engaging, gritty, and buoyant.