Vincent Sperando

Beneath The Smoke That Thunders Vincent Sperando

Chikankata is a Salvation Army mission in the middle of the barren Zambian bush. While the mission's volunteers enjoy some basic comforts provided by the Army's reservoir and utilities, life for the villages in the surrounding regions is harsh and beyond imagination. It's a life where children go without education and basic medical care, where women live at the mercy of men and where men perpetrate violent acts against each other. At the heart of this story is Dr. Nicky Carter, a woman who has clawed her way out of a Pittsburg ghetto to become a physician and volunteer her services to the army. She becomes horrified by what she sees, by the brutality of Africa's poverty, and is too distressed to notice the natural beauties of the country. Writing with a relentless and lyrical rhythm that brings home the realities of life in the Zambian bush, the author conveys this world with a precision that could only come from someone with first hand experience and insight.