Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge

Liberia: Land of Beauty & Pain

My wife and I visited Liberia while our son was working there. We might have been the only 'tourists' in the war- and corruption-devestated West African nation! Bill showed us much of the country, from the teeming market places of Monrovia to the lush forests and dusty towns far from the capitol. It was sad to see the poverty: delapidated housing, little food, no postal service, no electricity (other than private generators), no piped water, no sanitation system. At the same time, the scores of people we met were warm and filled with hope. This was despite the fact that they had recently undergone the trauma of a protracted and bloodly civil war and now lived under the tyranical heel of President Charles Taylor. While idealistic, Bill was also realistic. Although he saw many of his development projects fail, he adapted, tried new things, got the people involved in rebuilding their own society. Despite the overwhelming odds, he never lost hope. Blue Clay People is a look at the role of foreign aid work in Liberia, and one assumes its insights are applicable to other countries as well. Most of all, the book is the engaging memoir of a young American's two years in Africa.

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No text was provided for this review.