Charlotte Metcalf, Walking Away: A Film Maker's African Journal

Walking Away: A Film Maker's African Journal is a series of disturbing but compelling stories (they really are - I couldn't help but lose a night's sleep reading) chronicling Charlotte Metcalf's 20 year's of documentary film making in Africa. During this time she reported on the legacy of barbarous traditions and political genocide, plus some of the most acute current threats to health and human rights: cholera, AIDS, female circumcision, the plight of albinos, the Red Terror, polygamy, abduction and rape. The book's title captures Metcalf's helplessness: having completed her assignment she leaves behind the people who have touched her profoundly with their stories of stoic suffering and attempts to make a change in the face of adversary. Inevitably the short time frame for the book means that there are few stories of conclusive success, but you are imbued with hope that something may be achieved in the long run. Because the stories are about Metcalf meeting and working with strong characters; the book only lacks in not providing photographs of these amazing people and the places where they live, rather than relying on us to imagine them from her keen descriptions. Vital reading for anyone interested in Africa, aid work and human rights issues; there are not many non-fiction books that can be described as page turners, however this is one of the very special few.