Iguanas On My Roof

I’m old now, but when I was young, I took five children around the globe. My husband’s job in the Foreign Service was to follow war and disaster around the world. My job was to follow him.

We lived in Manila, Philippines, war-torn Lagos, Nigeria, Washington DC., and what was left of Managua, Nicaragua after the massive earthquake in 1972.  We took side-trips to Thailand, India, and Italy. There were trips to Costa Rica and Panama and –not knowing what we were in for –pulled a fourteen-foot travel trailer behind our station wagon from Washington D.C. to Nicaragua.

If you are thinking of living overseas or are already living the challenge, there are lots of tips in the funny, sad, and scary stories.  If you are just curious, you can relive our eight years from a safe distance in my book Iguanas on my Roof.  (link to Amazon, etc.)

• My Spanish caused the cook to serve sandwiches of lettuce, tomatoes, and roast beef nestled in gooey peanut butter and jelly at my spur-of-the-moment lunch for the government Ministers.

• Our school bus was an Embassy station wagon with a driver, a guard, and a loaded M2 carbine rifle.

• The kitchen stove on our vacation was a circle of ricks on the beach.

• Managua was over six-hundred square blocks of rubble, ashes, and barbed wire when we arrived.

In 1968, my husband, Al, joined USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) and was assigned to Saigon. Because people were shooting at each other in Viet Nam, I found myself raising five kids alone in a Philippine Island safe-haven with no phone, no car, a houseful of servants, caribou on every road, and the need to carry my own toilet paper.  Al joined us eighteen months later.

On the other hand, I had help with the housework and laundry, did very little cooking, and didn’t pull a single weed. With a family of seven, I loved it. Even though there were a few “inconveniences” like iguanas on the roof, I had found a home in the Foreign Service.

I’ll be sharing my stories and tips.  If you would like to be notified when a new one is posted, please send me an email to  iguanasonmyroof@gmail.com or make a comment on any post, page, or article, or fill out the form below to be added to the mailing list.