Digging Deeper is based on my experiences in north-eastern Angola in 1998-99. We worked beside a project that was attacked by UNITA who shot some of the white managers and used others to carry their booty. The whole contract was a nightmare, especially since it was six months long with no break. The only relief as the odd Sunday football or rugby game on the solitary television, and clandestine fishing trips (forbidden for security purposes).
Sam Harris has taken the job, as I did, out of desperation for money. Like Sam, I was supposed to be based in the Capital, Luanda, but I found myself sent out to the provinces, near the UNITA base. Why didn’t I leave? Because they thought they could force me out. It became a battle of wills. I did six months, and, bonuses included, it paid for me to do an MBA. For me, it was worth it. I know it was crazy, but being a woman in that industry was always a compromise between swallowing casual sexism and the odd physical assault, and doing the job I trained for.
Luanda Seafront Oil rig in Luanda Bay My house Laundry Ladies Cassava plantation Tiger Fish Edison and Pibe
Digging Deeper is on Pre-Order for 31st of August. First reviews are in. Here is one I am particularly proud of:
‘Your writing (especially in Digging Deeper) HAS REACHED MY HEART, MY SOUL, AND ALL THE REST OF ME. (My spirit guides capitalized that and I agree).
Especially adorable are Pibe and Edison Jr. and the way Sam feels about them, and the way they feel about her. The Beatles were right: All You Need Is Love.
Digging Deeper is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious times a million!! It could be (and I think it should be) made into a movie.’