Grogan's Epic Walk

 

A review of Crossing the Heart of Africa – An Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith, Harper Collins, NY, 2010

 

Readers, if any, of this blog will recognize that I enjoy books about travel in Africa. This is an interesting one. Author Smith’s gimmick is that he retraces the epic 1898 journey of Ewart Grogan, who walked from Cape to Cairo in order to secure the hand of the woman he loved. Smith too parallels Grogan’s quest, not only the route up the spine of Africa but with reflections on his relationship with the woman he is soon to marry.  I was not smitten with Smith’s romantic musings, but I did enjoy the alternating segments of what Grogan endured (and wrote about) and what Smith encountered. Obviously much had changed, especially in terms of transportation – Grogan walked while Smith used public conveyances – bikes, buses, boats, planes, which were much, much faster.  Smith’s journey is fleshed out by sporadic conversations with Africans that shed light on topics of the day whereas Grogan’s encounters with locals were often threatening, dangerous, and ultimately resolved through violence.

After Grogan succeeded in his quest (Smith stopped short), he did marry his beloved Gertrude (Smith married his love too). The Grogans moved to Kenya where the two became notable personages in the settler community. Grogan was a thorn in the government’s side, but a successful entrepreneur both in business and agriculture.  Among his efforts were vast sisal plantations in the area around Taveta on the Kenyan/Tanzanian border.  There he built an imposing house, dubbed Grogan’s castle, on a barren hilltop.  I was stationed in Mombasa from 1981-84 and visited the abandoned and dilapidating “castle” on several occasions.  It was indeed testimony to a vanished era and a monument to a remarkable man.

A sordid past of racism and paternalism

 

A review of Empires in the Sun by Lawrence James,Pegasus Books, NY, 2017 

This is an interesting history of Africa told from the perspective of the colonial powers. Even though events on the continent are clearly the focus of the record, author James relates how European nations viewed and constructed their empires, and then saw them dissolved.  Much of their considerations for empire were justified by “mission civilsatrice” but the underlying reasons were purely political and economic arising from inter European competition, not just for global standing but also for validation of their respective national cultures. For most of the several hundred years covered by the book Africans were depicted as sub-human, ignorant, pliable, savage, etc. Yet throughout James cites how Africans were progressing in defiance of such stereotyping.  And stereotyping it was. I was intrigued by the accounts of how popular media – newspapers, personal accounts, novels, films, comic books, expositions, etc.- shaped European popular views of backward Africans and how such media supported and endorsed governmental aspirations and policies to subjugate the continent.  It is an astonishing portrait of racism.

The history begins in the fifteenth century and progresses into the independence era. It deals with discovery, partition, colonialism, the awaking of independence consciousness, the impact of two world wars, the cold war, wars of independence and finally the end of apartheid.

I found several small errors of fact, but was dismayed by the cover map which neglects to depict the nation of South Sudan. In 2017, the date of publication, South Sudan had been independent for over five years.

This chronicle is detailed, sometimes too much so. The narrative jumps around from place to place in Africa and from year to year. Certainly, a reader needs already to have a solid background in African history to appreciate such convolutions.  That being said, I found the book readable and provocative because it does indeed elaborate on a long missing perspective on the history of the continent.  

Intrigue and Murder - What is Rwanda up to?

 

A review of Do Not Disturb – The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad by Michela Wrong, Public Affairs, NY, 2021.

 This is a critical expose of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his iron rule of his nation. The departure point for the critique is the 2014 murder of Patrick Karegeya in a Johannesburg Hotel.  Karegeya was a Kagame’s former colleague and chief of external security for Rwanda. But like several other of the regime’s founding fathers, Karegeya ran afoul of strong man Kagame. Patrick was imprisoned, humiliated, and fled into exile where he was executed by agents of the Rwandan regime.

The thrust of the book is to document how it all came to happen. Author Wrong earned investigative journalism stars by interviewing hundreds of Rwandans and Ugandans who were intimately connected to the story. They praised the personality, the ebullience and intelligence of Karegeya and detailed his slowly simmering disenchantment with the Tutsi regime that he helped construct.  Ultimately, Karegeya fell victim to the type of extrajudicial killing that he himself had once supervised. It was an ironic end.

Author Wrong digs deep into various personages involved, especially focusing on current president Paul Kagame. He is portrayed as cunning, vindictive, callous, and aloof. And he was like that from his youth. As president he fed on suspicions and rumors and then ordered actions to demean, imprison or kill his supposed adversaries. It is a troubling portrait of a man with too much unbridled power.

In contrast to Kagame was Fred Rwigyema, the initial leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Army who died during the first days of the invasion in 1990. Fred is portrayed as a uniter, a commander beloved by his troops. A martyr to the Tutsi cause, in speculative retrospect Rwigyema would have been a different type of president.

I found the history of how the various RPA stalwarts grew up in Uganda and how they interacted with each other from an early age to be instructive. Particularly pertinent was their various roles during their adhesion to Museveni’s National Resistance Army and their relationships to Ugandan heavyweights. 

Author Wrong marshals her anti-Kagame denunciation with statements from other once prominent Rwandans who too were chased away by Kagame.  Some like Hutu politician Seth Sendashonga (and presumably Karegeya who organized an exiled political party) were murdered because they posed a legitimate threat.  Others, however, became disenchanted with the direction Kagame was taking the nation, were associated with real dissenters or just ran afoul of Kagame’s intolerance for views other than his own.  The totality of the accusations reveals a policy of carefully choreographed – but often inane - plots designed to kill exiled opponents.   It is a stinging indictment of Kagame and of his ruling style.  

Disclaimer. I was the U.S. Ambassador in Rwanda during the early years of renewed Tutsi rule just after the genocide. I knew Patrick Karegeya, then-Vice President Paul Kagame, and many of those whose stories and comments also appear in the book. I understood at the time that Rwandans could be duplicitous and that they valued an ability to obfuscate, for example regarding Rwanda’s heavy handedness in quashing the northern insurgency or involvement in neighboring Zaire (now Congo). Although during my time strains were evident with regard to Hutu political personages and Tutsi survivors, the core Rwandan Patriotic Army team appeared to be solid. They adhered unwaveringly to the established party line.  The sorts of internal fallings-out that Michela Wrong reports did not reveal themselves until later.

Patrick Karegeya was head of the External Security Service. In that capacity I had dealings with him. He was most helpful on August 7, 1998 the day the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were blown up. We in Kigali feared that we might too be on a terrorist list. In addition to a quick response from the military to safeguard our premises, Patrick assured me that no Al Qaeda operatives were in Rwanda.

 Comment: This book is quite critical of Paul Kagame in both a personal and policy sense. It is accurate, at least in the sense that it sums up the experience of those who fell afoul of the regime and were/are pursued for it. The indictment is overwhelming. As is probably obvious (and footnoted), many comments were made anonymously.  Such information strengthens the argument, but anonymity undermines it at the same time.  I am not sure what the other side of the coin is but would urge readers to reflect that there might be one.

Error:  In the chapter on genocide, Wrong writes that “French, Belgian and American nationals were airlifted to safety…” True most French and Belgians flew out, but the Americans left via an overland convoy to Burundi.

Omission: I am sorry that Author Wrong did not consult my book In the Aftermath of Genocide – The U.S. Role in Rwanda. There are several tidbits in there such as the saga of how Rwigyema’s assignment to the U.S. Command General Staff College was swapped to Kagame or more on how ADFL leader Laurent Kabila came to U.S. attention.  

Final comment: State ordered extrajudicial killings have become all too common, viz in addition to Rwanda, add Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel and unfortunately the United States.  Aside from highlighting the issue, what can be done to halt the practice?

Hemingway in Africa

 

A review of True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway, Scriber, NY, 1999.

Everything you wanted to know about a hunting camp on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1953.  This fictional memoir as it is described is drawn from the journals of Ernest Hemingway. The material was edited down posthumously by his son Patrick, himself a big game hunter in East Africa. The book was published in 1999 long after Hemingway’s death in 1961.  Yet the work harks back accurately to the fifties. It is full of description, dialogue and anecdotes.

There is essentially no plot. The first half of the book revolves around securing a lion for Mary to kill and the second half about preparations for Christmas.  There is ongoing dialogue, way too much of it I thought, between Ernest and Mary and amongst others. But that is how the story, such as it is, progresses.  You learn that Hemingway drank, slept, ruminated, hunted, bickered with Mary and had eyes for a Kamba girl. You learn that he had – for the era – surprisingly positive relationships with his employees. He treated everyone with dignity and evidently enjoyed real friendships with several.  However, he was still the Bwana, the proprietor of the camp and the employer. So, he was apparently loved and respected, but always with a bit of caution. Nonetheless Hemingway sought to ingratiate himself with those around him. He appeared to enjoy the status of being the Bwana without the burden of being a famous writer.

When the journal turns to hunting, it is spot on, obviously based on real encounters and legitimate understanding of the process.  Hemingway’s portrayals of the Kamba and Maasai people indicates astute observation and grasp of their respective cultures.   The material is occasionally humorous in some overblown descriptions of characters or actions but also in the ongoing joke of Hemingway being central to his own fictitious religion

I happened to be reading this book – that I found in searching a library website – when the PBS series on Hemingway was broadcast. In reality, Hemingway did spend months in Kenya in 1953 running the hunting camp he so ably describes.  During this period, his marriage to Mary was in trouble, but there is only a glimmer of that in the book. As part of an effort to salvage it, the two took a small aircraft to see Murchison Falls in Uganda.  The plane crashed there as did their rescue plane upon taking off.  Hemingway suffered brain injuries that would only manifest themselves over time. To recuperate he installed himself in a fishing lodge at Shimoni on the Kenyan coast where he drank copiously for months. Mary left him.

I doubt if True at First Light adds much to Hemingway’s literary reputation. It is in fact what it purports to be - a fictional memoir.  It is kind of interesting, but not gripping. Parts are boring. Only African or Hemingway aficionados will enjoy it.  

A tramp across Africa

 

A review of Walking the Nile by Levison Wood, Grove Atlantic, NY, 2015

 

As the title indicates this book is a travelogue. Intrepid walker Lev Wood undertook to trudge alongside the Nile, as close as paths and roads permitted, from its initial spring in the hills of Rwanda to its delta on the Mediterranean Sea. All told it was a trip of 4800 miles and took eight months. Along the way, Wood met many friendly folks, some unfriendly ones, and a host of suspicious government officials. He was feted, praised, and welcomed in some communities and viewed cautiously or even hostilely in others. All asked, why would anyone, especially a white man, walk such a distance? It was puzzling.  Wood himself had no clear answer, except that was what he was doing. It was his adventure and quest.

Wood was in Rwanda twenty years after the genocide, yet the vestiges of it lingered. He trekked through miserable heat in northern Uganda and lost a companion to heat stroke. He found an ongoing civil war in South Sudan and had to skip a most dangerous section. He crossed the deserts of Sudan and Egypt. In Egypt especially he was frustrated by excessive suspicion and bureaucracy. Finally, he made it to the sea.

All told it was indeed an epic journey and Wood recounts it well – the trials, tribulations, inner worries, interactions with those who accompanied him and with people he met along the way. I know five of the six nations he traversed so I pulled out my maps and vicariously enjoyed the journey.    

Not all who wander are lost

 

A review of The Explorers by Martin Dugard, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2014.

 

Author Dugard uses the conflict between 19^th century searchers for the source of the Nile Richard Burton and John Hanning Specke as the vehicle to delve into the exploits and psyches of explorers writ large. He covers personalities including St. Brennan, Columbus, Cook, Livingstone, Scott, Shackleford, Hillary and Lindbergh.  He is interested not just in what they did and the often-awful trials and hardships they endured, but what made them tic? What made them - self-selected for the most part – devote themselves to exploration?  What motivated them?  To answer these questions, Dugard dipped into both physical and psychological explanations. How did their brains work and function differently from others?  What truly motivated them? He concluded it was not riches or fame, but the completion of the quest itself.  This is aptly demonstrated in the saga of Burton and Specke, two men of decidedly different temperament who yet united in the quest to unravel a great mystery of their age – the source of the Nile. Dugard keeps the Specke/Burton theme ongoing throughout the book even as he illustrates characteristics exemplified by them in other notable explorers.

I thought the book wandered around too much. It is not chronological. Additionally, I thought Dugard over-analyzed the psyches and motivations of people long dead on flimsy evidence.  That being said, I enjoyed the various thumbnail sketches of famous explorers, where they went, what they endured and what they accomplished.     

 

Military Prowess - German Resilience in East Africa

 

A review of African Kaiser – General Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa, 1914-1918 by Robert Gaudi, Caliber, NY, 2017.

This is a fascinating account of the life and war of  Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the German commander in East Africa who fought and strategically retreated, effectively stymieing Allied forces hundreds of times larger for years. The only undefeated German commander in the war, von Lettow-Vorbeck surrendered his troops in (then) northern Rhodesia days after the armistice was signed in Europe.  A genuine military genius and heroic leader, von Lottow-Vorbeck, while personable in a social context, could be cold, calculating, and ruthless in pursuit of military objectives.

Scion of a Prussian aristocratic family, like many of his forbearers Paul was destined to be a soldier.  His route into the German military establishment in the 1880s was typical, but he yearned for action. He gained overseas experience in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He also saw service in German South West Africa in the early 1900s combatting Herero and Hottentot uprisings. Author Gaudi details these formative experiences which gave von Lettow-Vorbeck insight into foreign cultures and methods of combat. These insights helped him frame the tactics he would use against superior forces during WWI.

Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck became military commander in German East Africa in 1914. As the world tumbled towards war, he prepared for conflict.  His approach stood in stark contrast to Heinrick Schnee, Germany’s Governor of the colony who advocated neutrality.  Although on the same side, the two would continue to differ throughout the war. Lettow-Vorbeck’s plan was to engage British forces, to draw them into conflict, to compel Britain to deploy massive numbers of troops and resources to engage him. He doubted if he could win a campaign. However, his calculus was to the extent that Allied resources were tied up in East Africa they would not be available for the war in Europe.  This premise proved to be correct.

Initially von Lettow-Vorbeck had a small force of less than three thousand Germans and about ten thousand African troops.  His use of black troops was derided by racist British adversaries, but he knew they were loyal to him and could fight.  Of course, this number dwindled enormously over the course of the war. Ultimately, British Empire forces engaged in the chase numbered over three hundred thousand, plus naval assets deployed to control the Indian Ocean.

The history of the war which author Gaudi recounts in detail tells of several major confrontations such as the British attacks on Tanga and Taveta. Beyond that he personalizes the conflict and key people involved, especially von Lettow-Vorbeck.  Gaudi draws on official documents, diaries, and memoirs from both sides of the conflict to elucidate not just on tactics, but also emotions, pains and reflections.  The violence of war was horrible for all involved. Even so, it was the hardship of the bush that was most debilitating to both sides. Diseases of all types, especially malaria, killed thousands. Lack of food, ammunition and equipment especially plagued the isolated Germans.  At one point during the war the high command in Berlin authorized a zeppelin, flying from Europe, to resupply the beleaguered forces but it never arrived.  Similarly, Gaudi tells the saga of the British search and destroy effort aimed at the German battleship Konigsberg which took refuge in the Rufiji River delta.  After the ship was sunk, Germans put her big guns on carriages and used them effectively in succeeding years.

In summary, African Kaiser, is a definitive biography of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and a superb history of World War One in Africa.  I pulled out my maps of East Africa, tracked the action and thoroughly enjoyed the read. 

 

 

 

 

   

     

Farce or Lark? - Roosevelt's African Safari

 

A review of Hunting for Teddy Roosevelt by James Ross, Regal House Publishing, 2020.

 

     This is an interestingly odd book. It is fiction intertwined with bits of real history. The basic premise comes from Theodore Roosevelt’s African safari which he undertook in 1909 after finishing his second term as president.  Roosevelt took the trip to escape from the pressures of politics and to reflect upon his decision not to seek a third term. All this comes out in the book. The fictional plot revolves around efforts to assassinate the ex-president and his uncanny ability to escape.  The depiction of Roosevelt is believable, but other characters are not as well drawn.

     In reality on this safari Roosevelt did indeed slaughter thousands of animals purportedly at the request of the Smithsonian Institute which wanted specimens for its collection. Roosevelt’s actual recollections of hunting encounters are used to lead into various chapters.  His son Elliot accompanies him (true) and they do have an odd (fictional) encounter with Paul von Lettow (a real German military officer who commanded the German army in East Africa during World War I). Other characters – journalist Maggie Ryan, various safari personnel, the assassin, etc. are all fictional.

     Although the story did move along satisfactorily, I became captivated by the errors, dissidences and leaps of credibility that abound in the book. Some misrepresentations can be attributed to the various characters, but most are the responsibility of the author.  The book is fiction, of course, and the author is entitled to rearrange geography and cultures as desired or necessary for the story, but I found that such shortcomings substantially distracted from the gist of the tale. For example:

Outlining the intended itinerary from the African highlands, to the Serengeti, to Mt. Kilimanjaro and then Lake Victoria, zig zags Kenya’s geography.

Tuaregs are described as slavers in Sudan.  In reality they live in the central Sahara, two thousand miles west.

Roosevelt rode on the “railroad linking Nairobi to Lake Albert.”  The rail line did pass through Nairobi, but it linked Mombasa to Lake Victoria.

The Swahili word “pembe” was employed at least six times to refer to local alcoholic beverages. “Pembe” means horn or antlers. The correct word is “pombe.”

TR is credited with staying on a sisal farm in the Aberdares.  That area is much too cold and wet for sisal.

“Faru” is used instead of “Kifaru” for rhino. Africans would have used the correct term.

There are several references to the Congo Free State owned by King Leopold of Belgium. At the time of Roosevelt’s safari, the Congo had been taken over by the Belgian government as a colony.

A lion hunt is described as “simba kuwinda” i.e. lion to hunt, correct would be “kuwinda simba” to hunt lion (object not subject).

Author Ross puts the Samburu people from northern Kenya in Kamba country (just outside Nairobi). Also, it is proposed to resettle them from there to Muranga so to free arable land for white settlers.  That is all wrong, the arid Athi Plains where the Samburu ostensibly lived were unsuitable for farming whereas Muranga is prime agricultural territory. The fact that Muranga, even then, was well populated by Kikuyu people is ignored. Later the author places the Kamba in Tanganyika. Why not just deal with the people who really lived there – the Kamba and Maasai people of the Athi/Amboseli area and the Chaga in Tanganyika

On several occasions the author refers to “mimosa” trees and “fire” ants. There were no mimosa trees in Africa at the time. Fire ants is an American, not an African term.

Author Ross describes the bandits encountered in Sudan over and over as Fulani. The Fulani people are pastoralists who live in the Sahael region of Africa south of the Sahara, thousands of miles west of the Sudan.  Sudan has many indigenous groups that engaged in banditry and slavery, why import foreigners?

At one point it is proposed to cross Lake Tanganyika from Kigoma (in German East Africa) to Kalemie, Congo.  The town of Albertville, Congo was not renamed Kalemie until 1971. This is a grievous error for a former Peace Corps Volunteer in the Congo.

Equally puzzling was a reference to the battleship Maine being sunk in the Philippines. Surely Teddy Roosevelt knew it was sunk in Cuba.

The fact that atrocities were inflicted on natives of the Belgian Congo, including severing of hands when rubber collection quotas were not met, is a true theme reflected in the novel. However, at one-point starving and mutilated victims of such horrors are described as Tutsi and their persecutors Hutu.  In actuality, Rwanda/Burundi, home of the Tutsi and Hutu, in 1909 were under the suzerainty of Germany, not Belgium. They were not victims of rubber exploitation.  I thought this bit to be a gratuitous reference to genocide which would not occur for another eighty years.   

Finally, our intrepid heroes defied geography throughout the tome covering, by foot or horseback, hundreds or even thousands of miles in days. On their trek through northern Uganda into the Sudan, they pass just north of “Victoria Falls.”   They might have been near Murchinson Falls, but Vic Falls were then and still are 2000 miles to the south.

     As noted above I enjoyed this novel as much as for the discrepancies as for the tale.  However, for those not disturbed by the errors, it is a pleasant extrapolation of Roosevelt’s safari.

 

 

  

From the Foreign Service Journal - In Their own Write

 From the Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

The Last Rhino by Robert Gribbin

      Reformed hunter Philippe returns to Africa to help manage Garamba National park and bolster conservation efforts. Replete with wildlife and big game, the park is a natural paradise, but is not without threats.   Beyond wildlife, Philippe must contend with many of the violent actors that inhabit the park. including aggressive poachers, regional soldiers and the vicious Lord's Resistance Army. Briefings from locals and United Nations peacekeepers make it clear that he has his work cut out for him. 

     Among his priories is protecting the rare white rhinoceros, which has been hunted almost to extinction. After Philippe visits a small community sheltering some of the last white rhinos in Africa, he ponders how he can best protect this endangered species. If word gets out that this small community of Wayamba is protecting white rhinos, all sorts of actors my swoop in, from international conservationists to regional governments, and from sightseers to - perhaps worst of all - poachers.

     When Philippe receives reports that poachers are killing off elephants and penetrating into the grounds of the park, he must arm himself to defend against the worst, and seek out more firepower to ensure the threat is stopped for good. 

Ambassador (ret.) Robert Gribbin spent many years in East an Central Africa, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer and then as a Foreign Service Officer. He is the author of In the Aftermath of Genocide - The U.S. Role in Rwanda.  (2005) 

An Intelligent Book about Africa

 This review is copied from Barnes and Noble's website. Author unknown.

The Last Rhino

This book has a bit of a mystery in it and a lot of adventure. It is well written and an engaging read. What struck me most, however, was that it is about the real Africa. Judging from the “About the Author” page it makes sense that this would be a story about the authentic Africa told with intelligence and knowledge. Robert Gribbin has spent much of his life in Africa and this came shining through.

The book helps you to see, feel and understand Africa. (At times the descriptions make you feel as if you can also hear and smell it as well.) It describes some of the true ravages of the Lord’s Resistance movement and the complexities of environmentalism on this continent. The characters are well drawn, there are strong women and sensitive men and also conniving politicians. It captures the dialogues and motives of real people one would meet in Africa today. There are people wanting to give back to society and others intent on destroying the wildlife in it.
Make no mistake that this is a novel. It is a compelling read for the plot alone, but the reader feels as if they are learning things about Africa and about life as they are enjoying the story. If I were teaching a course on Africa I would assign this as a very enjoyable text for my students. One that is also accurate and enlightening.

This book exceeded my expectations on three levels: it is an intelligent look at conservationism as it works in Africa today; it is a realistic, accurate view of contemporary Africa; and it is an engaging well-written novel with bits of wisdom throughout. An excellent read.

Life and Death in the Sahara

 

A review of Sahara Unveiled – A Journey Across the Desert by William Langewiesche, Pantheon Books, NY, 1996.

 

I found this interesting book in the library, a branch that I don’t normally visit. It appealed to me because I drove across the Sahara in 1970.  Twenty years later during Langewiesche’s trip the physical challenge of the terrain remained immutable. Roads were terrible to non-existent. There was scant vegetation, mostly thousands of miles of a moonscape of rock and sand. The nights were clear and chilly. However, other things, i.e. bureaucracy, corruption, politics, danger, hostility, the size of settlements, the nature of trade, had changed for the worse in the time between our respective journeys.

Langewiesche starts his chronicle in Algiers, noting several times on his southward jaunt, that he had been there before. However, he never explained how or why he had travelled the desert before. In any case, prior knowledge allowed him to connect or reconnect with friends or acquaintances from earlier times. Through them he painted a realistic portrait of life in the oases of the Sahara.  Life was hardscrabble. Heat overwhelming.  Women were cloistered.  Male dominated Islamic society prevalent. The economy in shambles. Yet, the outside world, especially dreams of it, filtered in. In the central Sahara, Tuareg nomads strove to continue their traditional lifestyle, but trucks were replacing camels and modern weapons permitted banditry and rebellion to reach new heights.  Berber Arabs, Tuaregs and black Africans from the south were united by Islam, but tensions of eons old clashing cultures prevailed.

The author described the horrors – and gave numerous examples - of individuals being lost, abandoned, and dying of thirst.  Such afflictions were visited upon the desert dwellers through miscalculations. More than one of the author’s acquaintances lost relatives to the desert.  At least Saharans knew the risks, but outside visitors – trans Saharan tourists - often died because of ignorance. 

Langewiesche digressed to describe the desert’s devolution from green well-watered grasslands tens of thousands of years ago to today’s aridness which is still increasing. He also related the impact of 19^th and 20^th century French colonialism on the region, especially as it generated lingering hatred of France on the part of Algerians.  The author detailed how French romanticism of the “noble savage” Tuareg people precluded them from achieving a more balanced role in contemporary Saharan nations. Langewiesche’s discussion of the causes of Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s was excellent but even more useful in explaining conflict in the region during the years since.    

In sum, Sahara Unveiled is a fascinating and still valid portrait of a little-known corner of the world. Langewiesche told it as it was, warts and all. He certainly became part of the story but remained objective to the end. This book is an entertaining adventure story in and of itself. However, it is also an extremely useful read for anyone concerned with ongoing conflicts in the Sahara in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Libya.

Journey through the heart of darkness

 

A review of Crossing the Congo by Mike Martin, Chloe Baker and Charlie Hatch-Barnwell, Hurst and Company, London, 2016.

First, a disclaimer; I drove across the northern half of the Congo in 1970. Roads were bad. We got stuck, had breakdowns, had to scrounge for spares, got arrested suspected of being mercenaries, got sick, got badgered by erstwhile officials. However, we found the people curious, friendly, and generally willing to help. Our trip some 43 years before team Mike, Chloe and Charlie’s undertaking was a walk in the park in comparison. Theirs was horrendous.

The saga told in this book began in London, followed by a long meander through West Africa.  Instead of retracing their route homeward, Mike and Chloe decided to circle down through the Congo and back up north to South Sudan, a journey of 2500 miles. They enlisted a friend, Charlie whose wonderful photographs fill the book and provide visual proof of their trials.  The three canvassed Kinshasa for permits, permissions, and advice. They also endeavored to put their old short wheelbase Land Rover into good enough shape for the trip. (We also drove a similar vehicle in 1970, but ours was in much better condition.) The Congo three barely get a passing grade for vehicle astuteness. Yes, they finally got through, but mostly on luck, not vehicle prowess.  However, whenever they broke down, which was almost daily, they jury rigged a part or just duck taped it back together until a better repair could be made.

Roads were the worst physical problem. They headed first to Kananga, southeast of Kinshasa but the road was destroyed and rutted by huge mining trucks and impassable for regular vehicles.  Then, they tackled the south/north route from Kananga straight to Kisangani 800 miles across the heart of the Congo basin rainforest, a route which had not been traversed by a vehicle in a decade. Because of war and neglect, the road essentially had retreated into jungle - bridges had given way, ferries non-existent, trees fallen across the path. Often the land rover had to be dug or dragged out of mud holes.  The team reinforced stream crossings and even built a raft to cross a river.  The physical effort was enormous and took a toll.

Worse, however, than an unreliable vehicle and abominable roads were the suspicions, harassments and negative attitudes from Congolese, especially those in authority.  Everyone assumed that three foreigners were chickens ripe for plucking.  There were interminable checks of papers and intentions.  No official could believe the three just wanted to drive through.  Congolese society was so corrupt for so long that there was sheer disbelief that the three were not on some nefarious mission. At one point a “big man” had trees felled across the road to impede their progress.  Even Congolese Catholic priests tried to price gouge them. Similarly, the crowds of people the three drew would pilfer as soon as a back was turned.  Occasionally, however, an individual or two would be genuinely helpful, but that was the welcome exception rather than the rule.

This book is beautifully written – mostly by Mike – and lavishly illustrated by Charlie’s photos.  It provides the detail of the difficulties alluded to above. It is indeed a sad commentary that the Congo has regressed so much both in terms of physical infrastructure and human kindness and courtesy in the past fifty years. Indeed, the Congo today is a sad, neglected, desperate place.  Big kudos to the three for their journey through the heart of darkness.

Chuckles and Anguish in Libya

 

A review of 101 Arabian Tales - How We All Preserved in Peace Corps Libya by Randolph W. Hobler.

  In 1968 several dozen naïve American Peace Corps Volunteers confronted 12th century Libyan culture.  This collection of anecdotes from the first volunteers to go to Libya in the late 1960s recounts encounters with huge cockroaches, rabid dogs, male dominated society, cloistered women, primitive sanitation, Islamic strictures, bureaucracies (both theirs and ours) even as they taught  English to fifth graders and learned Arabic from peers.  The idealism and the optimism of the young Americans is infectious as they are alternately bewildered or enchanted by their Libyan hosts. They ate camel burgers, dodged the draft, fell in love, travelled extensively and taught their classes, but above all they made a difference. Their lives were irreducibly changed, and so perhaps were their students and friends. But it quickly came to an end with the coup d’etat that brought Gaddafi to power.  This collective memoir based on diaries and recollections aptly captures the era, the challenges, the despair and the accomplishments of Peace Corps Volunteers sent to bring enlightenment to a most backward corner of the world.  

 This is a very unusual Peace Corps memoir in that it is not one person’s story. Although author Randy Hobler does tell his saga, he makes a point to add and cite observations, anecdotes and recollections of dozens of his peers. The sum then is much greater than its parts. The book is indeed a compendium of all that was experienced by the first two groups of Peace Corps Volunteers to go to Libya.  Assigned to isolated village schools - the women to urban schools - their task was to teach fifth graders English. Along the way they needed to build Arabic language proficiency, which they began in training so as to function in their various communities. They had a tough time, especially the women who were compelled to operate in a society that disdained females.  But for all experience overcame ignorance, flexibly conquered stodginess, brashness and innovation won out.  Hey, they were twenty-one so open to the newness - to them - of a structured, inflexible archaic religious dominated culture.  

The book takes a chronological approach to their experience. First was training in either Utah for the single men or Arizona for the women and married couples.  Mostly training was ineffective. Arabic lessons were meager, TEFL training poor, and cross culture education lean.  The prospect of “de-selection”, meaning you got sent home on specious psychological criteria tainted the whole process. However, the trainees bonded and such bonds would be needed in Libya.

In Libya the now sworn in volunteers dispersed to various posts, some in cities of Tripoli, Bengazi or Derna, but most to isolated villages in the interior and a few to oases far south in the Sahara desert. Aside from enthusiasm, the PCVs were poorly prepared for what they encountered.  No one spoke English and their Arabic was rudimentary.  Students were incorrigible.  Housing was abominable, often a small room shared with Libyan colleagues. Water and food were well below standards. Intestinal or insect generated disease was common.  Above all was the challenge of integrating themselves into their communities.  Folks were uniformly hospitable, but circumstances were bizarre.  PCVs had to learn how to cope in order not to offend.

The book digresses in the summer of 1969 to detail lots of regional and European travel , but then picks up again and closes with the problems arising from Gaddafi’s take over and the resulting expulsion of Americans.  It was hard to leave, but all finally made it out safely.

Finally, after naming so many volunteers during the course of the memoir and relating their individual memories, the book closes with an epilogue of what many ultimately did in life after Libya.

I have read dozens of Peace Corps memoirs and always find the impact of service on the individual writer to be profound.  However, this memoir contains not just the memories and observations of one volunteer but of dozens. It is therefore that much more authoritative. It does encapsulate a time and a country experience - one that was not likely replicated anywhere else.  It is truly an opus of cross cultural blunders and inspired rectifications.   The author’s breezy whimsical style is readable and the book is full of relevant photos. This is a good read. Former volunteers from anywhere will appreciate and nod affirmatively at many of the recitations. Other readers will enjoy the saga - we came, we immersed, we persevered.