Book Snaps – A Bend in the Nile by Chris McIvor

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Title: A Bend in the Nile
Author:Chris McIvor
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
ISBN: 9781905207251
Publication date: November 2008

 

A number of very different books have come across my desk recently. One of the most interesting is Chris McIvor’s A Bend in the Nile.

Chris McIvor has worked in many countries in Africa for the past thirty years. He is currently the Programme Development Director for Save the Children in Mozambique. A Bend in the Nile is both his personal memoir and a travelogue that deals with his early years in Africa.

McIvor was born and bred in Scotland. After trying to find meaning in his philosophy studies at university, he gave up and came to Africa instead in the early 1980s. He was a young man, keen for adventure.

The first job he signed up for was as an English teacher in the Sudan. From the first moments of his departure from London on his way to Khartoum he began to realise that nothing would meet his expectations. Flights were delayed, no one came to meet the aspirant teachers at the airport, and when he was finally collected, no one had any idea when school would start or where he would be posted. The only thing that anyone would commit to was “Inshallah”, or “God willing”. Their maxim is that things will work out as and when God decides it is time.

In the midst of a desert, McIvor finds Kartoum, a market town full of camels, dust and a smattering of palm trees. While he waits for school to start, McIvor unwillingly acquires a guide, John: a tall man who has lost brothers and sisters in the war that has ravaged Sudan. With a desire to escape to America, all John wants is to practise his newly acquired English on his newly acquired friend.

In a scene reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia, McIvor discovers that he is not allowed to bring John into The Sudan Club. In fact, the posh Sudan Club is an enclave of expats which recreates Britain in every way possible. An average meal of the day, for example, is fish and chips. McIvor soon becomes aware of the “Us” and “Them” policy preferred by most Brits in relation to the Sudanese. He finds this attitude distasteful to say the least and chooses to spend his day in coffee bars with John rather than with his fellow citizens.

He has to come to terms with the sometimes brutal nature of the people he is now living with, though. On one occasion he even witnesses a mob beating a person to death. 

When the government officials eventually get their act together, McIvor is sent to teach in Dongola, “a small dot (on the map) many miles from Khartoum”. John tells him it’s the hottest place in the desert, but McIvor defends his inadvertent choice by saying he likes the desert and wants to be closer to Egypt.

After a long journey by bus, McIvor arrives in the small village on the banks of the Nile. He shares a house with two Englishmen: Arthur, who wants to write a novel using the Sudan as a backdrop, and John, who is travelling before settling down to work in his father’s business at home. They warn McIvor of the dangers of “going native”, and despise their fellow countrymen who have assimilated themselves with the Sudanese.

When school eventually starts, McIvor finds himself in a classroom full of adolescent girls who are completely accepting of the restrictions placed upon them by their religion. Having been deprived of education of any sort for many centuries, the girls tend to view their time at school as an interlude before they get married. But they are intrigued by their Scottish teacher.

When McIvor adopts the local dress code because of the heat, it takes his English colleagues a while to get used to the new-look McIvor. His school girls are charmed by his choice, however. Once again, this is reminiscent of TE Lawrence’s choice to adopt local dress as a sign of solidarity with the Arabs.

A teachers’ strike – one of many regular ones – soon takes place. McIvor is advised by his colleagues to travel as much as he likes. He is assured that the strike will continue for some months and he’ll be notified in good enough time to get back to his school when the strike is over.

So McIvor takes a snail-slow boat to Ed Debba on his way into the heart of Nubia, the ancient name for the land he finds himself in, and his adventures begin.

McIvor’s journey reveals the way of the desert and the culture of its people to him and, through his descriptions, to his readers. En route, he discovers pyramids more spectacular than the more famous Egyptian pyramids. He embraces Islam wholeheartedly for a while. He even experiences first hand the conflicts that have threatened to destroy the Arab nations along the top of the African continent. When he reaches the end of his journey he discovers that he has only just begun to know this enigmatic land.

This is an extremely absorbing and well-written book. McIvor imbues each page with his humble curiosity about a continent which has since become his home. A Bend in the Nile is more than just a travelogue: it’s a coming of age story of an innocent Scottish boy who embarks on a journey and becomes a sensitive and thoughtful young man.

For more details on obtaining a copy of this book, contact Robert Davidson, Managing Director of Sandstone Press, at bob@sandstonepress.com or visit the Sandstone Press website:   www.sandstonepress.com.

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