A SONG OF AFRICA: and the Roots of Boko HaramThrill and LearnFortune seeking engineer, Paul Jeffries, out to make millions on a state of the art telecommunications project in Nigeria reluctantly agrees to reach out to the idealistic American ambassador's daughter who has fled into the besieged rebel enclave of Biafra to help refugees there in the mid 1960's. The journey will take them both to the darkest and most dangerous corner of one of Africa's bloodiest civil wars. It will test the limits of their commitment to the people of Africa and to the discovery of their commitment to each other.+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + To understand how the terrorist group Boko Haram has risen in Nigeria in recent years, one must be familiar with the history of that troubled nation, home to every fourth person on the African Continent. "A Song of Africa" provides the background for the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria.For example, it is intriguing how in an article in the Wall Street Journal, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's mini bio of Abubakar Shekau, leader of the terrorist group Boko Haram, resembles the strategy of Uthman dan Fodio who led the first Jihad in Nigeria at the beginning of the nineteenth century.At that time the Hausa-Fulani states were controlled by pagan rulers. The minority of devout Moslems in the north suffered under this leadership which they considered both politically oppressive and morally decadent.In the early 1800's an itinerate devout Islamic scholar, Uthman dan Fodio, through his door to door, village to village, proselytizing and his religious zeal began to unify a suffering minority that grew to the point that Uthman declared himself the Amin al-Muminin, the commander of the faithful. He proclaimed a jihad that spread the "new" religion throughout the north uniting the Hausa states in a secular and religious structure that is the dominate political force in the country today.Shekau is using the same strategy only now the jihad is aimed at Christians and those who support modernization through education. Schools have become the prime target for Abubakar Shekau, for example, the recent atrocity of Boko Haram kidnapping 300 school girls."Boko Haram" in Hausa means "Western education is forbidden!" ################################"If I know a song of Africa, - I thought - of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the poughs in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Would the air over the plain quiver with a colour that I had on, or the children invent a new game in which my name was, or the full moon cast a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or would the eagles of Ngong look out for me?"Isak Dinneson"Out of Africa""This country is filled with foreign spies." His eyes on the American, the officer took a small black book from his shirt pocket. "What is your name?" he demanded."A SONG OF AFRICA vividly portrays three distinct personalities playing out their private battles of conscience, pride and passion within the context of an elemental fight for power. Their reactions to the events around them are exquisitely rendered and reveal strenghts and qualities they never knew they possessed. For each Nigeria is a revelation. For each Nigeria is a spiritual journey.Ronald Brian Wheatley depicts his setting as forcefully as his characters, from the idyllic plateau region Paul (Jeffries) calls home to the perilous mangrove infested tributaries in the South.Through these characters and others, a traumatic episode of recent history is clarified and presented in all its poignancy and drama." Ashley Books.Selected as Best Historical Fiction book published in 2011 by Books and Authors.
About the Author: "Set in Nigeria in 1966 during the Biafran War, this vivid description of three Americans playing out their battles of conscience, pride and passion draws on the author's experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in that country." Publishers Weekly, January 2012 Ronald Wheatley served in Northern Nigeria as a Peace Corps Volunteer teacher. The author was born in East L.A., raised in southern California, escaped to Seattle where he learned to love the rain, and now lives with his wife, Ethel, and "Frankie" an eight year old tailless cat in Scituate (by the Sea) Massachusetts. His play "The Trial of Phillis Wheatley" was produced at Bridgewater State College in 2003.