Supper with the President (African Memoir Series) - Softcover

Mathie, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906852103 ISBN 13: 9781906852108

Publisher: Mosaique Press, 2011

Synopsis

West Africa in the 1970s was a volatile mélange of old and new; of aspiration, corruption, power and influence. In its midst, Ian Mathie laboured in his role as a water engineer to help improve the lives of ordinary people. His work brought him in touch with presidents, kings, emperors, chiefs and a succession of extraordinary characters. Circumstances contrived to place him at dinners with four heads of state whose rule had immense impact, positive and negative, on their countries and on West and Central Africa: Mobutu of Zaire, Traoré of Mali, Senghor of Senegal and Eyadema of Togo. In Supper with the President, he recalls those events and the insights they gave him, interweaving those experiences with true stories of other extraordinary brushes with sorcery, slavery, wildlife conservation, desert travel and a jail-break that could only happen in Africa.

About this title

About the Author

Ian Mathie spent his childhood and early school years in Africa. After a short service commission in the RAF, he returned to the continent as a rural development officer working for the British government and a number of other agencies. His work in water resources and related projects during the 1970s brought him into close contact with the African people, their cultures and varied tribal customs, many of which are now all but lost. These experiences, recorded in his notebooks, were the inspiration for a series of African memoirs, of which Supper with the President is the third volume. Ian continued to visit Africa until health considerations curtailed his travelling. He now lives in south Warwickshire with his wife and dog.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mosaique Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906852103
• ISBN 13: 9781906852108
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252