Travels in Africa

Laurel Smith tells us about a looking-only souk tour, probably in Melilla. All morning long we had looked into shop after dark little shop.  Merchandise spilled out onto the narrow North African streets.  Brass tables, copper pots, inlaid trays and camel saddles tumbled together fighting for space with fruit stands and native breads.  The charm […]

Ambassador Richard Matheron tells us about an amazing exploit early in his Foreign Service career. I was a young political officer in the American embassy in Yaounde when the territories that became Cameroon were sorting themselves out.  Here’s the backstory on that: The name, but not the spellng, dates back to the 15th century Portuguese […]

Pamela Hussey, who detailed for TIA readers her charmed life as the almost decorator of the office of the Mayor of Nairobi, went for broke when she learned her tour in Kenya was coming to an end. Read on… When I knew I was going to leave Kenya after 4 years, I wrote a number […]

Betsy Kain had special knowledge and special talents.  They came to the attention of human rights activists working in Rwanda.  She takes the story from there. When Rebecca Tinsley, a British journalist and her husband Henry, both human rights activists, told me that they not only wanted but expected me to go to Rwanda to work […]

Terry Honikman grew up in South Africa, the son of a mayor of Cape Town.  After finishing his undergraduate work at University of Cape Town, he went to Stanford.  There he got both a PhD and a green card.  When he applied for a secret clearance, to do defense work in America, he foresaw a […]

Bob Baker, who had an extensive, world-girdling career with USIS, recently told us about hobnobbing with Ugandan tribal royalty in his first overseas post.  After Uganda, Bob went to Mali where he undertook a variety of projects.  He tells about two of them here: taking an American basketball coach to Timbuktu and getting a photo […]

Jinny Webber earned her doctorate in religious studies from UCSB while she was teaching English, particularly World Literature and Shakespeare, at Santa Barbara City College.  Now retired, Jinny recently wrote The Secret Player, a novel about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and becomes an actor with Shakespeare’s company.   Go to www.jinnywebber.com to read her blog, “Sex and Gender in Elizabethan England.”  […]

Jinny Webber earned her doctorate in religious studies from UCSB while she was teaching English, particularly World Literature and Shakespeare, at Santa Barbara City College.  Now retired, Jinny recently wrote The Secret Player, a novel about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and becomes an actor with Shakespeare’s company.   Go to www.jinnywebber.com to read her blog, “Sex and Gender in Elizabethan England.”  […]

Jinny Webber earned her doctorate in religious studies from UCSB while she was teaching English, particularly World Literature and Shakespeare, at Santa Barbara City College.  Now retired, Jinny recently wrote The Secret Player, a novel about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and becomes an actor with Shakespeare’s company.   Go to www.jinnywebber.com to read her blog, “Sex and Gender in Elizabethan England.” […]

Paul Polakoff began his overseas career at the American Embassy in Paris.  Sent to the newly independent Congo in the early ’60s, he became a USIS officer and we served together in Buakvu on the Congo’s eastern frontier.  Paul was stationed in several other African posts and worked for African-American relations even after he left […]