Bill Bryson Shows he CAREs (Bill Bryson's African Diary - Bill Bryson)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	Bill Bryson's African Diary - Bill Bryson
Date:	24/10/05 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, poignant and all the profits and royalties go to the charity CARE

Disadvantages: Too short!

Bill Bryson and I are very much alike. OK, he's bearded, and I'm not, he's quite a lot older than I am, considerably richer than I am, and, crucially, male.

Nevertheless, we have one thing in common - we are both Americans who had spent most of their adult life in Britain, and married British people. Bryson has since returned to the States, but still writes regularly in British newspapers and for a British audience.

Recently, he was asked by the charity CARE (www.care.org) (CARE works to alleviate and eradicate poverty) to mosey along to Kenya and write briefly about his what he observed. This he did, and the result is a slim volume - Bill Bryson's African Diary (published in 2002).

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the book, let me tell you the important bit. No - let Bryson tell you the important bit: "...in acquiring this slender volume you didn't actually buy a book. You made a generous donation to a worthy cause and got a free book in return, which isn't quite the same thing. It's much nobler" All profits from the sale of this book, both in the US and the UK go to the charity. All royalties and fees Bryson would have received go to the charity. So it's a book with a cause. Buying this book really will, in some small way, help save the world.

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THE BOOK - Format
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This really IS a short book. Consisting of a grand total of 63 pages, including credits and a statement by CARE, and an additional eight glossy, colour pages of photographs, I read this book in less than an hour. So I read it again - nope, no change - it's still a short book.

At a cover price of £7.99 (only available in hardback), this may seem steep - but remember, all profits and royalties go to the charity - read Bryson's statement again! So that's OK then.

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THE BOOK - Content
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Unsurprisingly, considering the title, the book is in diary format, complete with dates and descriptions. We start, however, with an undated introduction (which is very funny). In it, Bryson explains that his previous knowledge of Africa was mostly gleaned from "the most cherishably terrible movies ever made," the Jungle Jim films of the early 1950s.

Once he is asked by CARE to travel to Kenya, he (as anyone who has read Down Under will recognise) then immediately worries about the myriad ways there are in Africa to die - diseases, bad roads and bad driving, bandits and train crashes - and that's just to start.

Moving on, the diary begins. He starts in Nairobi, visiting one the slums - Kibera, the largest in Kenya. (The slums officially don't exist. Apparently, if the government admitted their existence, they'd have to do something about them, which they are clearly unwilling to do. So they appear on no maps, have no running water or other bits of infrastructure. Why? Because they don't exist.) Another bit of trivia - Kibera, despite being the biggest and possibly the poorest in Kenya, has the best schools.

From Nairobi, it's off to Mombassa by train. And yes, Bryson describes at length the perils of train travel in Kenya. He explains, "Kenya Railways has something of a tradition of killing its passengers. In just the past decade, a little over two hundred people have died...the train has been known as the Lunatic Express. Can't think why." Bryson is a born worrier. Needless to say, Bryson survives his journey on the Lunatic Express.

From Mombassa, Bryson and team fly (in a single engine plane, which scares the bejessus out of Bryson and all but one of his companions) to a CARE refugee camp in Dadaab. Most of the refugees are Somali, and they have no-where to go. Children are growing up there - Somalia is too dangerous to return to, and Kenya can't and won't assimilate the refugees into Kenya (as Kenya has problems of its own).

No-one is starving in the camp. But conditions are tough. Let's take education as an example. There are too few books, and too few desks. But CARE have to be careful - they cannot improve conditions in the camp so much that the refugees have better facilities than their hosts. It's a difficult balancing act.

After Mombassa, it's back to the light aircraft heading to Nairobi. Bryson, at this point, is convinced he will die. It starts to rain, and there are no windscreen wipers. Fear not, he does survive - but this section is very, very funny.

Having not died, the next day, they all head off to Kisumu, which is, Bryson tells me, Kenya's third city. Well, stone me, I'd never heard of it. Anyway, In Kisumu, he visits a programme providing 'microfinance' - small loans to groups of women allowing them to start small businesses. It is very successful. The women sell crafts, 'oddments' (batteries, wallets etc) cloth and more. The women and their families aren't rich, but they are supporting their families. And they are self-sufficient. This is good.

Bryson visits Ogongo Tir, a village where CARE has helped to build a well. 'Helped' here is the operative word. The well belongs not to CARE, but to the villagers, who use and maintain it. Again, self-sufficiency works, much better than handouts. CARE provides long-term solutions, not quick fixes.

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THE BOOK - Matty's view
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Is it funny? Oh yes, in places. Bryson's description of his fear of flying and his companions' fear of flying is laugh-out-loud funny. His ever-present fear of an early and unpleasant death is typical, but no less amusing for that.

Is it touching? Yes. His descriptions of hope (and success) amongst poverty are eloquent, and his sadness at the poverty and inability to wave a magic wand and make everything better is poignant.

Despite the fact that the book is very short and (as usual with Bryson) easy to read, I learnt a fair amount about both Kenya and about CARE. My husband bought me this book for Christmas, and as he's practically an Internet virgin, I can say with confidence that he paid the full cover price. And I really don't mind. I can think of worse ways of spending £7.99 - can't you?

Recommended? Oh yes - both for the text and the cause. OK, it's not one of Bryson's meatiest books, but it is well worth a read. Or maybe even two - after all, it's only short.

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THE END
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Let's give the last word to Bill himself: "...that's what CARE does, you see. It makes lives better, in sixty four countries, thousands of times every day...and best of all, not once in the week did we get rubbed with dung."

Summary: An amusing, yet informative and poignant account of Bryson's time in Kenya with CARE