Trials Elsewhere
Stories of life and Development in West Africa
From the back cover
In Trials Elsewhere, R. Matthias vividly describes his experiences as a 21st century traveller who does what many young university educated Westerners only say they want to do: travel the world and do some good. Moving from Canada to Washington D.C. to take on the inner city, Matthias then finds himself invited to apply his skills and idealism in The Republic of the Gambia. Working first for a human rights NGO and then for a Gambian owned Internet service provider, he begins to question his conceptions of how the world works -- is the Western way of doing things viable in other parts of the world? Is the Western way of work even a good idea? Is there any real value in idealism as Westerners understand it? As he ponders these questions Matthias is cursed at a wedding, survives a coup d'état, avoids the state's secret police, wanders for a year stateless without a passport or way home, and is sentenced by a tribal court. Matthias's experience in West Africa increasingly becomes an unpredictable adventure.
Book Recommendation of Trials Elsewhere by best-selling author Amy Reade!
"Steve Jobs once said, “The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” The author of today’s book recommendation is one of those people."
Why a pen name?
Good question. A better question might be: why give it up? I guess the first question has a few reasons, most couched in the insecurity surrounding my first book. My writing ability, whether people would be upset with my take on events.
As to the second question. It’s a lot easier to maintain one online presence than two, and since being online is a de facto aspect of my job, I’ve decided to revert to my own name.