Donald W. Carter

Under the Tree Called Gbendeh: Mature Reflections on the Life of a Missionary Child in Colonial Sierra Leone West Africa Donald W. Carter

Under The Tree Called Gbendeh, is the chronicle of a young boy growing up in Sierra Leone West Africa, in the early third of the twentieth century, a time when much of West Africa was still under British Colonial Rule. It graphically portrays what the life of a white missionary child was like, living deep in the 1930's bush of Sierra Leone. The author has skillfully woven together the conditions found in the present country and the conditions that existed over sixty years ago in a far different time. He writes of his love for his adopted land and whimsically recalls interesting episodes that took place while he lived in Sierra Leone. He paints a canvass not normally viewed by a white man. Under The Tree Called Gbendeh treats the natives of that day in all of their facets, especially the Loko tribe, a time when Britannia ruled. The history, customs, traditions, disease, witchcraft, fauna, flora, geography, resources, government, religion and the Loco people themselves are interwoven into a fascinating mosaic of a land founded as a haven for repatriated slaves that was for so long known as the "White Man's Grave." Sierra Leone is a small country where extremes are the norm, in climate, humidity, volatility, poverty, hunger and disease. It is a land of superstition, danger, envy, greed riches, beauty and graciousness, a culture steeped in the mists of time. Under The Tree Called Gbendeh, will intrigue and enlighten the reader. You will come away with a different appreciation of the good and the bad, the joy and pathos, the beauty and ugliness of this former West African Colony and Protectorate.