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piqer for: Global finds
Ciku Kimeria is a Kenyan author "Of goats and poisoned oranges" - (https://www.amazon.com/goats-poisoned-oranges-Ciku-Kimeria-ebook/dp/B00HBBWPI6), development consultant, adventurer and travel blogger (www.thekenyanexplorer.com). She writes both fiction and non-fiction focusing on African stories that need telling. She has worked on diverse pieces for various international and local publications including Quartz, Ozy, The East African etc. She has travelled to 45 countries – 16 of them in Africa. 153 countries to go and 63 territories!
"Of goats and poisoned oranges" has been extremely well received in Kenya and beyond. It tells the story of a Kenyan middle aged power couple and their complicated marriage. The novel explores issues of greed, revenge, betrayal and murder. It runs from the 1960s to 2013. It has been described as “Wicked, funny, poignant, wacky, human, a big ball of fun and danger”, “A unique and captivating book”, “Fun and intriguing”, “Impossible to put down once you start reading.”
She recently moved to Dakar, Senegal from Kenya to work on her second novel. She also works at as the Africa Communication Manager at a leading global strategy consulting firm.
She holds a B.S. in Management Science from MIT with minors in Urban Planning and International development studies.
How 80,000–120,000 Ancient Manuscripts From Timbuktu Were Saved From Jihadist Destruction
After the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, hundreds of Malian Tuaregs who had been serving in his armies returned home, disgruntled and carrying all the weapons they could. They came back to Northern Mali — a region that had a long history of being a refuge for bandits, revolutionaries and smugglers. They joined forces with a local military group that had long been agitating for autonomy and was a close ally of al-Qaida.
In 2012 as jihadist troops occupied the ancient city of Timbuktu, threatening to destroy it, its people and the hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts, one of the town's librarians started up a covert operation to smuggle out the ancient manuscripts to Bamako. The amazing works from the golden age of Timbuktu, the 15th to 16th century, were scattered all over Timbuktu, with majority of them in the possession of families that had guarded them for hundreds of years.
Together with these families and with funding from international NGOs interested in saving the manuscripts, Abdel Kader Haidara, the librarian from Timbuktu, embarked on a journey to save these ancient manuscripts from the jihadists' fire. Manuscripts were transported on the backs of camels, in trucks and on buses driving through rebel-controlled territory, on rickety pirogues (dugout canoes) on rivers and lakes. This mission was undertaken at great personal risk for Haidara, the manuscript-owning families and all those who helped along the way.
The dedication and bravery of Haidara and all those who worked and supported his mission has gone a long way in protecting some of the continent's treasures.
The article is uplifting in the way it follows this journey to save the manuscripts despite all the risks involved.
great piq! people who save the cultural heritage from destruction are the true heroes of mankind.