Speak Swahili, Dammit! - Tapa blanda

This popular and well-reviewed book has now been revised with the assistance of several enthusiastic readers, former and current expatriates and Kenyan and Tanzanian friends.The captivating story recounts the humour and tragedy of the author's life as a young boy growing up in what was then colonial Tanganyika and Kenya, and the newly independent countries which emerged. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Africa before and after the Winds of Change swept across the continent to alter the lives of so many lucky enough to experience those times. Like many who were born and lived in Africa, the author's life was not the easy one people think colonial expatriates enjoyed, and he relates so vividly his own tragic experiences with hardship, danger and death. Many perils abounded from wild animals, venomous snakes and deadly tropical illnesses. Notwithstanding the ever-present black shadow of death and danger, was the natural instinct of kids to have fun, and the escapades and pleasure the author and his contemporaries created for themselves is related by Penhaligon with rib-aching humour. Show More Show Less

James Penhaligon was born in Africa and grew up on a remote gold mine in Tanganyika, later to emerege as Tanzania. He attended boarding school in Tanzania and Kenya. He studied medicine in South Africa and practised as a family physician before specialising as a psychiatrist in the UK. He is married and has three grown up children. He lives with his wife in Cornwall.