Read This Book!

 

My African Anthology (available on Amazon) is a compendium of anecdotes, articles and stories that mirror years of living and working in Africa.  Beginning in the sixties with my first sojourn on the continent, the items both factual and fictional paint a compelling portrait of the Africa I knew.  From the Peace Corps Kenya era are snippets of Luo tribal consternation regarding America’s moon landing, competing in the Safari road rally, trouble with noisy bees, and a shape shifting terror.  From Bokassa’s Central African Republic - stories of a man lost in the forest, the president’s mistress, a search for gold, plus an eye-witness account of the lavish coronation. A later return to that beleaguered nation, recounts ambassadorial maneuvering to foster a fair election.

A travelogue entry traces road trips across Africa – Kenya to England in 1970 via the Congo and the Sahara – mud, broken ferries, pygmies, breakdowns, suspicion of being mercenaries, the desert, Tuaregs, land mines, etc. Then in 1991, Uganda to South Africa with family in tow through a changing political landscape to the new South Africa.

Kenya returns with vignettes from Mombasa – employing a witch doctor to cleanse a septic system, prostitutes protecting their turf, plus a mystery about a missing trove of rubies.   The scene shifts to Uganda in a novella entitled The Shriveled Hands, which is a tale of witchcraft, trafficking in girls, superstition about albinos and the impact of AIDS, plus a dash of terrorism.  Other stories in the collection include Gacaca justice for genocidaires in Rwanda, escaping Ebola in Sierra Leone, trouble in a refugee camp in Chad and a hunt for mythical beasts in the jungles of the Congo.

Serious articles include the gift of a watermelon in Djibouti, an analysis of AFRICOM, the U.S. military command for Africa, its successes and failures, and an update of the situation in Rwanda, twenty-five years after the genocide. 

In sum, this anthology focuses on different facets of life in Africa and pulls together a colorful portrait of a turbulent continent as seen by an astute outside observer.

One reader said, “Now, I understand Africa better.” Another, “I thought the trafficking story was great.” A third, “I’ve recommended Grogan’s Trove to friends.”

Robert Gribbin has lived, worked and traveled in Africa for the last sixty years. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, and later a diplomat rising to be ambassador to the Central African Republic and to Rwanda. Subsequently he served as chargé d’affaires in six more nations. He is the author of a memoir In the Aftermath of Genocide – The U.S. Role in Rwanda and five novels. He reviews books about Africa on his blog www.rwandakenya.blogspot.com.

A British Vet in Africa

 

A review of And Miles to Go Before I Sleep – A British Vet in Africa  by Hugh Cran, Merlin Unwin Books, Ludlow, UK, 2007

This is an intriguing memoir by a British veterinarian who practiced in Kenya in the 60s and 70s. Think -  All Creatures Great and Small set in Africa.  Author Cran moved to Nakuru in central Kenya in 1964 where he was employed as a poorly paid vet in a private practice. After several years he inherited the practice.   He dealt about half and half with big farm animals – cows and horses – and small critters, largely dogs. Most every intervention generated a story – cows had trouble calving, horses were susceptible to tropical aliments, dogs were bitten by snakes and on and on. Cran also treated wild animals from time to time, zebras, antelope and even a couple of lions.  The bulk of the memoir relates the trials and tribulations of such a life in often amusing  - sometimes excruciating  - detail. I learned a lot about cow entrails.

However, the value of the book lies in the authors vivid descriptions of Kenya’s inhabitants - the still ensconced, often quirky, European farmers contrasted with traditional tribal cattlemen, plus the new group of more modern Kenyans who were then taking possession of formerly owned European farms and ranches.  Such new owners included President Jomo Kenyatta. Cran noted the passing of a European way of life as the million-acre settlement scheme and other buyouts occurred. As a veterinarian he was called upon to certify the health of cattle when such buyouts occurred. His reporting of attitudes about land transfers add depth to understanding of what went on.  In addition to frankly depicting his European and African clients, Cran did not hesitate to caricature Asian owners of fierce watchdogs.  Apparently, Cran dealt with no normal people. He did, however, find the eccentricities and personalities of his clients to be either endearing or maddening - and was quick to say so.

Part of each encounter reported in the book involved travel from Nakuru town to outlying farms and ranches, some more than a hundred miles away.  Almost always this entailed driving over terrible roads and tracks that were dusty, rocky, potholed or, during the rainy seasons, seas of mud.  Since I was nearby in rural Kenya during part of Cran’s tenure, I sympathize with the frustrations and the breakdowns that such driving created.  But I also enjoyed Cran’s sense of adventure in his travels and his appreciation of the spectacular scenery and vistas that the Great Rift Valley displays.

Finally, in a digression about mountain climbing, Cran recounted his assent of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1967. He and cronies went up the Marangu route from Tanzania. That is the exact same route I used in climbing Killy two years later. Cran’s description of the climb was perfect.  Sometime later Cran joined an expedition into the Ruwenzori mountains in Uganda.  His team made it into the central peaks and climbed several of them, including Mt Stanley, the highest.  I too once participated in a Ruwenzori expedition to climb Mt. Stanley.  Our routes were the same and the huts and features and fauna Cran described from his sojourn were exactly those I found in 1990. 

This book is a bit heavy on veterinary matters, but it was written by a vet. The Kenya setting is what makes it shine. Folks who know Kenya, especially during the time covered will find this interesting.

 

 

Death and Despair in the Congo

 

A review of All Things Must Fight to Live – Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo by Bryan Mealer, Bloomsbury, NY 2007.

    Journalist Mealer spent several years off and on in the Congo in the early 2000s. He went as a freelancer to cover the tribal wars in Ituri Province in the east. Extreme violence erupted there as ethnic tensions inflamed by the 1994 genocide in Rwanda spilled over into Congo.  Long simmering ethnic hatred, herders versus farmers, access to gold and coltan, interference by both Uganda and Rwanda, flared into ugly massacres and attacks.   Everything was compounded by the lack of central government authority, functioning institutions and especially the pervading corruption that characterized the Congo. Warlords and tribal leaders armed thousands of youths and turned them into savage killers and cannibals.  It was a horrific scene that a UN Peacekeeping presence barely affected.  

    So, the first third of this book is an ever-expanding recitation of gruesome atrocities that occurred in Ituri at that time. Mealer waded right in. He interviewed victims, leaders and reported on the crisis. His on-site reporting is compelling witness to the conflict and tragedy inflicted upon the people. However, the violence was in a far corner of the world, and nobody seemed to care. 

    After Ituri Mealer pitched up in Kinshasa from which he detailed the sad situation of the capital city in the months leading up to the 2005 presidential elections. Kinshasa was corrupt, venal, poverty stricken, and violent. Expatriate journalists banded together drank, laughed, bemoaned the situation, and defied the danger.

    The latter parts of the book are two travelogues. First upriver from Kinshasa on one of the last functioning riverboats. Mealer tells of the chaos of life on board – breakdowns and repairs, thousands of passengers, the daily carnival of life, the tropical heat and bugs, and mostly the exasperation, yet acceptance by the citizenry of the near total collapse of transportation infrastructure.  Mealer concludes this segment by biking the last 200 miles through the equatorial jungle. How crazy can you get?

    The final travelogue involved catching a barely functioning train from Lubumbashi in the south and taking it across the vast nation to Kalemie on Lake Tanganyika. The rail line is a remnant of a colonial era transportation network that bound the country together, but which has been neglected and in disrepair since independence. The author cataloged the journey, the people and problems – breakdowns, delays, derailments, etc. that he encountered along the way.

    Mealer paints a vivid portrait of the Congo, its peoples and its problems.  He found that most folks just accepted fate. They were worn out by life, tragedy, war, corruption, a collapsed economy, incompetent government, and left with little incentive, or ability, to change their circumstances. They just tried to survive.