Daren
Published in 1975, the author, Mary Cole, describes her time spent travelling, primarily in Kenya, including settling for a period teaching at a rural school. Mary Cole is a young Irish school teacher, as as far as I can tell this book covers her travels in Kenya, which may or may not be preceded and followed by more travel (Mary Cole may be a little to common a name for GR to be helpful in tracking down what other books she might have written).
As well as Mary, there are series of fellow travellers who move on and the occasional recurring character, but primarily it is about the Kenyan people she meets, spends time amongst and who help her on her way, or with her settling in to her teaching.
Divided into four sections, the first explains the expedition to Lake Rudolph, organised by Mary and a collection of other expat travellers. It was against the recommendation of all the locals, and was subject to some quite extreme weather. This was an adventurous start to the story.
The second section was a various of travels through Kenya, the third when she settles down to
teach at a school in rural Kenya. In the final section Mary travels with David, an expat from earlier in the book, through Uganda to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). It was an interesting time to be in Uganda, which was in its phase of military dictatorship under Idi Amin - the author mentions only briefly that there was relative calm, while Amin had just commenced the expelling of approx 80,000 inhabitants of South Asian decent, it was prior to the turmoil that was to come, ending in the declaration of war with Tanzania.
Throughout the book Cole describes well the travel, the people she meets, the places she visits. These descriptions provide depth to the conversations and interactions she shares. She balanced well the long and tiresome delays to travel without imposing the same drudgery on the reader. Occasionally the timeline of the travel is difficult to track - as with much of the travel in Africa, the journey determines its own pace, and she might be waylaid by days or weeks, and therefore I am not sure if some of her adventures took place over weeks or months, how long she settled to teach for (assume a school year, but not sure), but this is not a diary presentation of her time, so it is a minor quibble.
The author is generally very positive about her experience in Kenya, she appears to make friends easily, and be able to interact in a positive way. The people in almost all cases are hospitable, generous and friendly. She was unfortunate to have been involved in a unpleasant attack by two men on a deserted beach which could have been very bad, but her fighting back and managing to escape was testament to her physical ability evident on some of her other travel experiences.
The photography was inadequate - only a few poor quality photos in black & white, of fairly generic scenes, none of the author. There is a page with a couple of barely adequate maps, which could have been significantly improved, but again adequate and typical of the time.
4 stars
Published in 1975, the author, Mary Cole, describes her time spent travelling, primarily in Kenya, including settling for a period teaching at a rural school. Mary Cole is a young Irish school teacher, as as far as I can tell this book covers her travels in Kenya, which may or may not be preceded and followed by more travel (Mary Cole may be a little to common a name for GR to be helpful in tracking down what other books she might have written).
As well as Mary, there are series of fellow travellers who move on and the occasional recurring character, but primarily it is about the Kenyan people she meets, spends time amongst and who help her on her way, or with her settling in to her teaching.
Divided into four sections, the first explains the expedition to Lake Rudolph, organised by Mary and a collection of other expat travellers. It was against the recommendation of all the locals, and was subject to some quite extreme weather. This was an adventurous start to the story.
The second section was a various of travels through Kenya, the third when she settles down to
teach at a school in rural Kenya. In the final section Mary travels with David, an expat from earlier in the book, through Uganda to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). It was an interesting time to be in Uganda, which was in its phase of military dictatorship under Idi Amin - the author mentions only briefly that there was relative calm, while Amin had just commenced the expelling of approx 80,000 inhabitants of South Asian decent, it was prior to the turmoil that was to come, ending in the declaration of war with Tanzania.
Throughout the book Cole describes well the travel, the people she meets, the places she visits. These descriptions provide depth to the conversations and interactions she shares. She balanced well the long and tiresome delays to travel without imposing the same drudgery on the reader. Occasionally the timeline of the travel is difficult to track - as with much of the travel in Africa, the journey determines its own pace, and she might be waylaid by days or weeks, and therefore I am not sure if some of her adventures took place over weeks or months, how long she settled to teach for (assume a school year, but not sure), but this is not a diary presentation of her time, so it is a minor quibble.
The author is generally very positive about her experience in Kenya, she appears to make friends easily, and be able to interact in a positive way. The people in almost all cases are hospitable, generous and friendly. She was unfortunate to have been involved in a unpleasant attack by two men on a deserted beach which could have been very bad, but her fighting back and managing to escape was testament to her physical ability evident on some of her other travel experiences.
The photography was inadequate - only a few poor quality photos in black & white, of fairly generic scenes, none of the author. There is a page with a couple of barely adequate maps, which could have been significantly improved, but again adequate and typical of the time.
4 stars
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