The Ringtone and the Drum

Posted on 26 June 2017 by Mark Weston

Laced with danger, packed with novel insights and told with a humane voice, The Ringtone and the Drum relates the fascinating tale of Mark Weston s travels in West Africa His journey through Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso touches a dizzying array of subjects, including the consequences of civil war, mounting religious strife and the challenges of globalisation Along the way, the stories of those he meets offer a deeply personal perspective on the lives of some of the least privileged individuals on earth. Read The Ringtone and the Drum – kino-fada.fr I was quite interested to learn of their firsthand experiences traveling through these little reported on areas However, I did end up skimming through parts of the book which werealong the lines of political theory, fortu...Mark Weston s The Ringtone and the Drum is muchthan your usual travel account For one, who would want to travel to the three of the poorest countries in West Africa unless they had to An experienced policy analyst and researcher of international affairs and develeopment processes, Weston wanted to experience up close and personal what it would be like to spend six months among the locals, living as closely as possible to the way they have to live few amenities, such as water, electric Mark Weston s The Ringtone and the Drum is muchthan your usual travel account For on...West Africa 101Traveler s advisories or not, there is no way I will ever travel through West Africa My idea of a breathtaking travel adventure is to negotiate the Madrid airport without a cell phone or facility with the Spanish language Lucky for me then that Mark Weston and his amazing, indefatigable wife Ebrun has done it for me.Mr Weston makes sense of West Africa He sheds light on that which seems dark and overwhelming in its complexity and foreignness He s eyes on the ground in plac West Africa 101Traveler s advisories or not, there is no way I will ever travel through West Africa My idea of a breathtaking travel adventure is to negotiate the Madrid airport without a cell phone or facility with the Spanish language Lucky for me then that Mark We...I won this on Goodreads Giveaways This was quite a gem Mr Weston writes candidly about his travels in West Africa, and not from a tourist viewpoint of what animals you ll see and the swankiest hotels, but an up close and personal account of what life is like for the people living in these nations These are arguably the poorest nations in the world Guinea Bissau doesn t even have a power company, relying solely on generators for the little bits of power they have , and this book paints a pict I won this on Goodreads Giveaways This was quite a gem Mr Weston writes candidly about his travels in West Africa, and not from a tourist viewpoint of what animals you ll see and the swankiest hotels, but an up close and person...Africa is maligned in the media, almost exclusively written about using racial clich s is prone to terrible stereotypes about Africans No continent or people are so appallingly categorised into absurdist generalisations This book is different The Ringtone and the Drum is part travelogue, part history of West Africa At the end of his travels Weston suffered a minor breakdown, overcome by the poverty around him and his ...This author writes with knowledge and sympathy about a part of the world that is largely unknown and widely feared He spends enough time in all three countries Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso to get to know some of the people and write about everyday life for the inhabitants A great read if you want to learnabout the really poor countries of West Africa I had hoped for an analysis of how foreign aid could be improved given the author s background , but that wasn t inclu This author ...I learnt so much from this book about the current situation of ordinary people in some of the poorest countries in West Africa It s hard to categorise as it is part travel writing and partly socio economic commentary It is de...Informative read about a less traveled region At first, I was a little annoyed at the Mother Africa rhetoric However I found that Weston s approach to the subject was just amazing and well balanced His experience in international development as well as a sensitivity to the complexity of these ...Great insight into 3 countries we know so little about Much that resonates all over Africa Author was refreshingly candid.Absolutely fabulous book Interesting, informative, not too dry, but a great overview of west African culture, history an d politics Couldnt put it down as good as Ryzard Kapucinski.

English
26 June 2017

Mark Weston