Dust of the Danakil

Drought is a natural disaster; starvation is a man-made tragedy. Preventing the former can go a long way to alleviating the latter, but not without the political will, as Ian Mathie makes clear in this gripping memoir of the 1974 humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. Dust of the Danakil is a true story of an ill-conceived project run by the author in the violent, drought-stricken Danakil region of Ethiopia. Sent by UK government pen-pushers to harness seasonal flood water and turn the notoriously aggressive Afar herdsmen into farmers, he discovered a hostile environment - in more ways than one - that almost cost him his life. Intrigue, ingenuity, coercion and corruption make Dust of the Danakil an unforgettable story of despair, hope and disappointment which provokes an indictment of the relief and aid industries.