The women gathered that morning at the solitary thatched hut in the desert were painted in silhouette against the low sun which still glowed orange over the arid terrain. Most carried small children concealed under loose white shawls, to protect them against the heat and the dust that would rise in intensity with
each advancing hour. Many had trekked several hours in
darkness from their scattered settlements across the silent,
barren landscape in the simple hope of ensuring their children might receive basic medical care. There they waited, their brown faces and hands brought into sharp contrast by the brightness of their white cotton garments upon which the first breaking light reflected its brilliance. They were the nomadic people of the plains which swept from the highlands towards the Sudanese border....
The earthquake came without warning that Saturday morning.
It struck the mountains of northern Pakistan at 8.52am on
October 8, 2005, during the holy month of Ramadan.
Villages were shaken from their footings, spilling into the
yawning valleys below, or were buried by landslide as entire slopes dislodged and slipped from the mountainside.
In less than 30 seconds the fragile infrastructure of Pakistan's north-western Himalayan communities had been destroyed.
What followed was an extroardinary story of courage,
compassion and political intrigue as the national, and
international aid community mobilised in a desperate race
against time to save the millions of people affected by the devastating disaster...
A further edition of
The Humanitarian has now been printed, which includes a new foreword
"Andy Goss, as an experienced humanitarian worker and writer, gives the reader a striking and intimate account of the post-war scenario in a troubled corner of north-east Africa. This fascinating story highlights the call to personal action and how tangible change can be achieved in the most isolated and insecure communities in which humanitarian workers operate, sometimes at great personal risk – and gives a voice to the vulnerable and the disempowered, who so often go unheard."
Nic Street, International aid worker
"For most people, mercifully, natural disasters are things that happen on the telly, to other people. The Humanitarian takes
you 'there' - to a place where ordinary people are left to fathom the unfathomable.
"Goss's intimate interweaving of fact and
fiction around the 2005 Kashmir earthquake disaster takes readers to places they will never forget and, God-willing, they
will never have to go."
Peter Foster, Financial Times
Cold Coffee in Asmara and The Humanitarian powerful contemporary novels by Andrew Goss
When traumatised aid worker John Cousins arrives in north-east Africa he hopes to find a sense of peace among a gentle people rebuilding their lives following a bitter and prolonged war.
In Eritrea he begins to forget his own emotional pain and lay to rest the ghosts of his previous mission in Pakistan. Will the work with fellow aid worker and nurse Hannah Johnson help heal the scars of his own grief? And what is the secret of her own past?
Across the desert plains bordering the Sudan to the stifling humidity of the Red Sea coastline, the rocky highland uplands of the mountains to the minefields of the Ethiopian border regions, both aid workers begin a remarkable journey of self-discovery among a people struggling to survive against the weight of poverty and disease. It is here that they begin to discover a new meaning in life.
Cold Coffee in Asmara is an uplifting story of loss and redemption in a remote part of the world where Arab, African and European influences collide. Though it spotlights challenging humanitarian issues it is essentially a story of hope.
The novel is the second in the author’s trilogy focusing on the trials and triumphs of those less fortunate in under-reported corners of the globe, who live their lives in the face of overwhelming odds, and where the lines between life and death are often finely drawn.
Andrew Goss is a writer, journalist and humanitarian reporter.
His work has led him to travel extensively and for several years
he lived in Pakistan, where he supported the aid and
development sector.
He is a passionate advocate of education for the world’s
poorest, and specifically girls and young women.
Andrew, originally from Leicester, in the heart of England, now lives in the north-west Highlands with his partner Claire, a nurse and former aid worker.
His dream is that one day the poorest across the Global South are freed from poverty through
greater equality of opportunity and fairer distribution of wealth – and that finally we learn to live as one. He hopes one day to return to Pakistan.
A sweeping story of secrets, love and loss set in the north-west Highlands of Scotland
WHEN former overseas aid worker John Cousins relocates to the Scottish Highlands he hopes to forget the troubles of the world and enjoy the rugged natural beauty of its north-west Atlantic coastline.
Yet here among the peace and remoteness of the timeless landscape it seems as if all the threads, all the loose ends of his life are drawn towards a single point to
contemplate.
In the shadow of the mountains that cradle the deep, dark waters of Loch Ewe the ghosts from his past surface, where finally he seeks to lay them to rest - and make sense of his life. But he discovers the loch echoes with secrets of its own from a dramatic wartime past related by the elderly lady he befriends; secrets which still reverberate across the small communities along its shores…
