permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

<http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Clay-People-Seasons-Africas/dp/1582345325>
        
Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge (Hardcover)
by William Powers (Author)

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When Powers, fresh out of a Ph.D. program in international relations, arrived in Liberia in 1999, sent 
by an international aid agency "to fight poverty and save the rainforest," he faced a daunting task. The second-poorest 
country in the world, Liberia had just begun to emerge from seven years of civil war and was "environmentally looted, 
violence scarred, and barely governed." Even major cities lacked electricity, running water and postal service; garbage 
lay uncollected in the streets, schoolteachers were barely literate and the economy worked largely on bribes. The 
government of Charles Taylor enriched itself through illicit trade in conflict diamonds, protected timber and weapons, 
while terrorist militias acted at whim. "It's all just so brutal," Powers confided to his girlfriend, almost ready to 
quit after his first year. Yet he stayed on, and this eloquent memoir shows why he found this troubled country so 
difficult to leave. He writes of stunning beaches and rivers, of majestic forests—home to the largest concentration of 
mammals in the world—threatened by rapacious logging companies, and of resilient people who teach him that it is 
possible to live happily with "enough." He sketches scenes of transcendent beauty and grotesque violence, and writes 
with disarming honesty about his struggle to maintain his ideals when the right course of action is far from clear: is 
it ethical to take an African lover, when the relationship will inevitably be based on financial support? Should he buy 
endangered zebra duiker meat from a poor family that desperately needs the money? Does his work do good, or inadvertent 
harm? In the end, he decides, it may not be possible to change the world, but we must continue to act as if we can.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All 
rights reserved.

From Booklist
Powers left behind a caring girlfriend and the comforts of the U.S. to travel to Liberia in 1999 to take the position of 
Catholic Relief Services director at an international aid agency. The state of Liberia was founded in 1822 as a refuge 
for freed slaves from America, but conflicts with local peoples and recent bloody coups greatly destabilized the region 
and have made it one of the more dangerous countries in Africa. Powers hoped to help the Liberian people not by giving 
them handouts (such as the food his agency passed out) but by helping them sustain themselves. Powers certainly did more 
than many of his cynical colleagues have done--he visited many of the neglected villages and started an ambitious guinea 
pig-breeding project. Even as Powers began to become disillusioned with his fellow aid workers and some of the people he 
was trying to help, he persisted in his efforts and his optimism. His memoir is a haunting account of one man's 
determination and the struggles of people living in a deeply troubled country. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Seeking "enough" for all of us, November 14, 2006
Reviewer:       Simply Curious (Middletown, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
In this powerful and compelling account, William Powers helps us all strive toward having "enough". The Liberians have 
too little. They lack food, water, shelter, and security. But too many westerners have too much. The excessive natural 
resources consumed by each westerner are obtained at immense cost to the environment and the people of third and fourth 
world countries. The mahogany of old growth trees clear cut from the Liberian rain forest is sold to Westerners to 
enrich Charles Taylor and finance war on his own people. Engagement rings made with "conflict diamonds" pay to oppress 
many poor Africans. But intervention is difficult as William Powers found out as he worked in Liberia to "reduce poverty 
and dependency while preserving the rain forest". Western ways do not solve fourth world problems; instead they usually 
add to the problems. Simple, elegant, sustainable solutions, integrated into each unique physical and cultural 
environment can make a difference. This book is a fascinating invitation to listen to nature, rather than dominate it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Honest, thoughtful, and inspiring coming-of-age memoir from an aid worker in 
Liberia, October 8, 2005
Reviewer:       David Evans (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
In this memoir, William Powers tells of his two years (1999-2001) working for a major aid organization in Liberia. 
There, his mandate was to promote both environmental conservation and poverty alleviation. While his memoir gives some 
fascinating insights into the NGO world and sketches of life in Liberia (including the unscrupulous dealings of 
multinational timber companies), this is ultimately a story of personal development.

A strength of Powers's story is that he is straightforward. Many memoirs seem intent on justifying the author's intent 
or actions. (An annoying example of that is the still-worthwhile The Economist's Tale, by Peter Griffiths, about 
economic advising in Sierra Leone.) Here, Powers willingly presents aspects of his story that some might consider 
inappropriate or at least in need of justification (such as taking a Liberian girlfriend with no long-term intentions or 
getting involved with environmental activists) and lets the reader judge.

He is also honest about difficult questions he faces. He arrives in Liberia and then leaves Liberia still struggling to 
find the balance between eliminating dependency and showing compassion. And although he struggles, we see genuine growth 
over the course of the two years. Upon arrival, he wrings his hands over Liberian dependency on aid to the point of 
being annoying. (Quite annoying.) But by the end of his stay, he has made serious headway in encouraging 
self-sufficiency (at least in certain communities) by supplementing local knowledge with Western technical insights.

One drawback is that we learn relatively little about the actual work he does. He gives us glimpses here and there, but 
since most of the book is his personal journey, we know only fragments of his experience learning to work with and learn 
from local leaders. He does introduce us to some fascinating colleagues: a wise conservationist and refugee camp worker 
named Gabriel, a jaded long-term aid worker named The Jacket, and a working Liberian single mother who cares about both 
providing for her family and improving her country.

Ultimately, this isn't a book about development, but about Westerners trying to do development. That said, many 
Westerners (myself included) try to do or at least understand development, and for us, Powers's journey is instructive.

For a book on a related theme, read Robert Klitgaard's excellent Tropical Gangsters, in which he recounts his work as an 
economic consultant in Equatorial Guinea. Klitgaard is weathered in his work and thus presents less of a personal 
journey and more of a clear picture of government functioning and both efforts and challenges to improving people's 
lives through official channels. Another enjoyable aid memoir (and this is one is very short), much less in depth than 
Powers' or Klitgaard's (but a wonderful read), is Dear Exile, by Liftin and Montgomery, which recounts Montgomery's 
experience in the Peace Corps in Kenya.

An interesting look into the complicated problems of poverty, corruption, and sustainability in the Third (and Fourth) 
World., April 24, 2007
Reviewer:       T. Henderson "Crunchy Con" (Bear Creek, NC) - See all my 
reviews
(REAL NAME)
William Powers writes a compelling story of idealism and reality in the war-torn country of Liberia, where he lived for 
two years while working for Catholic Relief Services.

What intrigued me the most? How he avoided placing all blame in one corner, but rather shared it amongst all the 
participants. Relief agencies create too much dependence through simple distributions. Governments fuel violence and 
bathe themselves in corruption. Americans and others in First World nations demand goods at rates and levels that siphon 
necessary resources from countries that need them for development. The poor lie, cheat, and steal in order to keep their 
families fed (thus focusing on the short-term and ignoring the long-term.) All in all, a thought-provking, well written 
story with an important moral!


Depressingly predictable, or predictably depressing, if you work in the 
international development field, November 4, 2006
Reviewer:       michael24339 "michael24339" (Washington DC) - See all my 
reviews
Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge by William Powers is one of those international environment and 
development books that makes you wince even if you're not surprised by what you see. Powers (who's doing some work with 
my wife in the Andes now, which is why I read his book) headed off to Liberia just out of his master's degree to work 
for Catholic Relief Services, with the grand goals of improving Liberia's health, education, and economic development 
prospects while stopping deforestation of the country's rainforest. Nice ideas. He arrived at what he thought was the 
end of a civil war. Instead, he arrived at a temporary halt in the fighting that would shortly end. In the meantime he 
found an expatriate NGO community living a high life of SUVs, parties with embassy staff, and jazz and beer in the 
capital city, while in the hinterlands, aid was wasted, corruption was rampant, and the natives were reliant on 
international handouts rather than developing their own infrastructure. He went in as an idealist, writing eagerly back 
to his fiancee in the States and espousing a sort of post-sectarian missionary zeal to help the noble Liberian people. 
He ends up rather soured on the whole experience, even when he does get out into the country, find more responsible 
economic development models (i.e. building capacity in sustainable agriculture) and finding a Liberian girlfriend when 
his engagement falls apart. Moral of the story: International development is a dicey business, and living in a 
developing country is good for introspection and personal growth, but risky for your love life.

Honest and forces you to rethink things..., October 11, 2006
Reviewer:       Michael J. Vuolo "phunkiepooka" (Ridgewood, NY United States) 
- See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This book is a must read for anyone who professes to want to effect a change in the world, specifically when it comes to 
helping people less fortunate than ourselves, home or abroad.

There are conflicting issues of sustainabilty versus compassion, saving economies versus environmental holocaust and 
culture imperialism versus saving lives that don't often get brought up. How do we deal with these seemingly impossible 
concessions? Read it, then make up your own mind.

Powers is also a very stirring writer of narrative, and aside from the larger issues, it's a personal journey that I 
found so easy to internalize and feel as if I were involved personally.

Worth a read , July 24, 2006
Reviewer:       Karen Hashley (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This is non-hero real look into the day to day opperations of foriegn aid work. It presents clear looking to issuse of 
poverty and enviroment and the history of a unstable area. Worth the time if you are interesting in topic or think of 
traveling to do aid work.