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Pitched head-first into a culture alien to anything he had experienced before, Desmond uncovered much more than expected; a snake pit of corruption, extortion, murder and evil that threatened to devour him with primal forces beyond comprehension. Tasked with Desmond's safety, the author diverted attention from his own rural development work to extract his reluctant house-guest from danger and immerse him in the rich culture of African village life while he recovered. His engagement with the villagers, including a team of masons, an argumentative butcher, an ingenious blacksmith and a witch-doctor who looked into his soul and ministered to his afflictions, gave Desmond a very different view of Africa and new respect for its people by the time he finally left. Rural development work in the 1970s forms the backdrop to Ian Mathie's gripping narrative. MAN IN A MUD HUT opens a window on a changing world where age-old customs and practices coexist with new methods and technology, where Land Rovers share roads with donkey carts, where the sound of Beethoven symphonies echoes across the parched bush landscape and appeasement of the spirits is an everyday necessity. MAN IN A MUD HUT is as engaging as it is eye-opening, a juxtaposition of the bizarre and the unusual with the essential humanity of people whatever their colour, language or background.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49591821009169,"sku":"GOR005197630","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52142803878161,"sku":"NLS9781906852092","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/190685209X.jpg?v=1751092262"},{"product_id":"supper-with-the-president-book-ian-mathie-9781906852108","title":"Supper with the President","description":"West Africa in the 1970s was a volatile melange 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, Traore 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.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49595572322577,"sku":"GOR013440180","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49617800986897,"sku":"GOR005952466","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51321218990353,"sku":"GOR005676031","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52617513173265,"sku":"NLS9781906852108","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1906852103.jpg?v=1751379706"},{"product_id":"dust-of-the-danakil-book-ian-mathie-9781906852139","title":"Dust of the Danakil","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49601840873745,"sku":"GOR006974499","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51321218760977,"sku":"GOR006923119","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52434931286289,"sku":"NLS9781906852139","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1906852138.jpg?v=1751379707"},{"product_id":"sorcerers-and-orange-peel-book-ian-mathie-9781906852276","title":"Sorcerers and Orange Peel","description":"Sorcery is a fact of life in many African societies; the supernatural is taken for granted. 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He had an amazing memory and was able to recall the smallest details, even from his early childhood. His life was packed with unusual experiences and adventures in distant places with strange people, wild animals, danger and fun.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe had an extraordinary start in life by today's standards. Born in Edinburgh, the second son of a Scottish Army officer, he began a lifelong affair with Africa when his father was posted to Lusaka in Northern Rhodesia in 1951 to serve with the Northern Rhodesia Regiment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the scrub beyond the barracks to the wilds of the Kafue Game Reserve, the African bush became his playground. Its peoples were a source of infinite fascination. His playmates were the children of his father's troops and from nearby villages. They attended the same mission school a few miles outside the town, played African games and absorbed African culture from within. The family made many excursions into the bush, including one memorable visit to Shiwa N'gandu, the exotic home of Stewart 'Chipembele' Gore-Browne.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen his father's regiment was sent to Malaya to fight in the jungle, the family went too. Living in Penang, Ian attended a Chinese school in the mornings and spent afternoons playing mah-jongg with the local women, hiding his winnings in a cracked teapot under the wall of the local snake temple for safe-keeping.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBritish boarding schools and Ian did not in general get along; his free spirit and independent nature singled him out for special treatment from both his fellow students and school masters. Flying out to Africa during the holidays was a brief respite. In his later school years, he put his bush knowledge to use in the English countryside and found outlets for his energy in sports and army cadets.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIan was hooked on flying from an early age, and joined the RAF as a pilot as soon as he could. However, defence cuts left him stuck on the ground with no prospect of further flying. It was a blessing in disguise. No sooner had he resigned his commission than he was sent back to Africa by the UK government as a rural development officer, specialising in water resources and related projects, a job that allowed him to roam the continent.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49616320528657,"sku":"GOR013057569","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52595266257169,"sku":"NLS9781906852474","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1906852472.jpg?v=1750900095"},{"product_id":"bride-price-book-ian-mathie-9781906852085","title":"Bride Price","description":"Working and living in the forests of Zaire during the reign of President Mobuto Sese Seko in the 1970s, Ian Mathie found himself the foster father of an orphaned girl. 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Set in the brooding vastness of the tropical rain forest, it provides intimate insights into the lives of a little-known people and their complex relationship with their environment, the spirits and the outside world.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49630985257233,"sku":"GOR004013194","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51056308715793,"sku":"NIN9781906852085","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52356528308497,"sku":"NLS9781906852085","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1906852081.jpg?v=1750931407"},{"product_id":"bride-price-african-memoir-series-rare-book-ian-mathie-1671442170tmb","title":"Bride Price (African Memoir Series)","description":"2011. No Edition Remarks. 239 pages. Signed by the author. Paperback book with pictorial cover. 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Woven into the tale is the story of a Chinese scientist who breaks all the rules and somehow survives as he pursues his love of the saxophone and democracy and somehow becomes part of a US Air Force jazz band performing at a festival in the UK. Chinese Take-out is a gripping narrative told with the skill of a master storyteller.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52424587968785,"sku":"NLS9781906852313","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52756138361105,"sku":"NIN9781906852313","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781906852313.jpg?v=1759152415"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-ian-mathie.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}