Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse

By Edward Hoagland

This is not the Africa of Isak Dinesen, nor the Africa of Joy Adamson. This is the Africa of civil wars and tribal massacres, where the Lord’s Resistance Army recruits child-soldiers after forcing them to kill their parents and eat their hearts. The aid workers who voluntarily subject themselves to life here are a breed of their own.

Meet Hickey, an American school teacher in his late thirties, an American school teacher who burns his bridges with the school board and goes to Africa as an aid worker. Working for an agency in Nairobi, one of his jobs is to drive food and medical supplies to Southern Sudan to an aid station run by Ruth, a middle-aged woman, who acts as nurse, doctor, hospice worker, feeder of starving children, and witness. Ruth is gruff but efficient, and Hickey, who is usually drawn to youth and beauty, is struck by her devotion. Returning to Nairobi, he can’t forget what he has seen.

When the violence and chaos in the region increase to a fever pitch and aid workers are being slaughtered or evacuated, Hickey is asked to save Ruth overland by Jeep. What happens to them and the children that have joined their journey is the searing climax of this novel. Hoagland paints an unflinching portrait of a living hell at its worst, and yet amid that suffering there is hope in the form of humility, sacrifice, and life-affirming friendship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing
• Release date: Jun 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611459340

Reviews for Children Are Diamonds

[ozzer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Disasters can swallow you up in Africa, and yet, the disasters too, get swallowed up, which may be why we rolling stones roll there.” Hickey, the narrator, sums up much of his motivation and behavior in the novel with this revealing statement. Hoagland depicts Africa as a beautiful, but dangerous and corrupt place. Hickey is a complicated, but likeable character filled with contradictions. He smuggles diamonds and gold, but tries to save children from disease, war and starvation. “The joke, if you can call it that, among us expatriates is that if you feel a hand grope for your wallet, the second thing to do is to try and save the life of the pickpocket.” He is a womanizer. “Her color is different from mine but that distinction has vanished. I carry condoms of course, but with an African woman, just thinking of the odds can distract and unman you, even if you theoretically have protection.” But risks everything to save Ruth Parker, a committed medical missionary, working for an NGO called Protestants Against Famine, who is trapped when the civil war breaks out in Sudan. Hickey stays at a place he calls the Arabs in Nairobi, just across the street from the Stanley Hotel. He bribes people at the Stanley to let him use their rooftop pool and café. He also has a strongbox there. He works at any job–some quite risky– to make money, like transporting supplies, guiding tourists, etc. He carries a lot of money on him in money belts. The Africans are depicted in a balanced way. Some are corrupt, many are disease-ridden (especially with AIDS) and most are poor and uneducated. Hickey is empathic, and tries to help when he can, but often is faced with the reality of how big the problems are. He meets Ruth while delivering supplies to her hospital and quickly sees in her a level of commitment to the people that he relates to and may aspire to emulate. “Joy is what is partly needed, especially at first, and joy, I think, is like photosynthesis for plants, an evidence of God.”Hoagland writes with long complex sentences dripping with sarcasm. Often there are abrupt shifts from things that are actually happening to memories and backstory. This can be quite confusing, and often required me to reread passages.The CIA is a mysterious dark presence in the novel but Hoagland does not explore this to any great extent, except to lampoon a couple of supposed agents–Herbert and Craig–a couple of guys who reminded me of the intelligence officer in the TV version of MASH. The Russians, Arabs and Israelis also don’t escape unscathed.The chaos starts slowly, but builds to a climax at the end of the novel that is riveting. While he is away, Hickey finds out that Ruth has been raped and left abandoned and naked to get back to her compound. He rationalizes that “Wartime rape is motivated by unexpended adrenaline and sadism, not because there are any ‘dolls’ around.” A friend, Ed, who is a pilot, dies in a crash while trying to transport one of Ruth’s workers. Father Leo, an Irish priest brings a little boy to the compound and Ruth develops an affection for him. A young man, Bol arrives at the compound, seeking escape to the West. He is multilingual and acts as a teacher for group of refugee children. Otim, a 10 year old soldier, who has escaped the army also arrives at the compound. The whole thing seems chaotic enough, but gets much worse when the civil war breaks out. Attlee, Ruth’s long-time assistant and friend is killed by rebels who attempt to search for someone during the night. Hickey takes a number of children to Nairobi with him, especially 2 girls with eye problems, and Otim, but not before developing an intimate relationship with Ruth.The latter half of the novel deals with Hickey’s return to rescue Ruth, but incidentally also many children. This is so harrowing that I can’t describe it without spoiling it. This excellent novel is part noir and part thriller, depicting the complexities of Africa as it existed then, especially how the innocents were brutalized by the conflicts that involved tribal difference and manipulation by world powers. The evil was overwhelming.