User:Petersjf/Oasis for Expats

Oasis for Expats
'Oasis for Expats' is a novel by Canadian author John Peters

Published in 2009 by First Choice Books, Victoria, British Columbia, it draws its source from the twenty-five year period Peters spent working as an engineer in Africa and Asia. A keen observer of culture and human behaviour, Peters’ characters – both African and Canadian – are honestly and endearingly related. Peters writes with a wry humour that strips away the pretensions and earnestness of development work to show real people encountering the same conflicts and challenges, albeit in a setting that sometimes turns the outcome on its head!

Peters’ story is told through a variety of characters, chief among them Larry, a Canadian engineer who accepts a job working in Damboni, the fictional West African setting of the novel. The African side of the story comes from Balu, Larry's local engineering counterpart. Herta represents a Canadian wife wanting to help the Africans. Greg, a hydro-geologist, brings the vigour of youth in his unabashed enthusiasm for Africa. Written in the present tense, a seldom used voice in the novel genre, the story has an immediacy that draws the reader into the action in an intimate way.

Plot Overview
Because of the complex number of themes going on, the narration is basically in chronological format so that interrelated themes smoothly parallel each other. The first half of the book deals with the complexity of initializing a large drilling project in a remote foreign country.

Larry is the first to arrive in Africa and spends his initial period meeting the various project players and organizing the housing for his team. The two hydro-geologists arrive next and initiate the training of borehole siting crews and drilling inspection teams. Meanwhile the drilling company mobilizes its equipment and staff. Finally, all personnel are on site and the drilling proceeds after a welcome durbar and a dedication ceremony at the first borehole.

The second half of the book deals more with inter-relationships that develop once the actual project work is underway. Social activities take on importance and interaction with the African community at large begins to happen. Wives and children must cope with servants and home-schooling. All must learn to adjust to the heat, the fierce storms, the dust and strange new insects. Unexpected events keep happening, testing the nerves of the weak and fanning the flames of excitement for the adventuresome. Being isolated, they instinctively become a close social unit. A Club with a swimming pool and tennis court becomes their place to meet - their oasis. Here they can gripe about the heat and dust, the unreliable power supply and problems that plague the water project. It is also a place of refuge when civil unrest within the country threatens them.

Finally, the fruits of their labours become evident - villagers start rejoicing as clean sources of water reach their remote villages.