Picture Gallery
Inspiration for My Novels
Gambela
These pictures, of the area and experience which are the inspiration for my Global Village Mysteries, are a mixture of old and new. The black-and-whites are old, taken by Steven Schewe, a Peace Corps friend.
The ones of color were taken by me on my iPhone during my recent revisit to Gambela, with care to violate neither individual privacy nor state prohibitions. They include my hotel in Gambela, walks around the town, and trips to surrounding areas like Itang and Abobo.
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Isolated village (Photo Stephen Schewe)
Deborah hitching ride on UNHCR tractor (photo Steven Schewe).
Nuer harpoon fishing (photo E P Corfield).
Young man in canoe on Baro (photo Steven Schewe).
Kid at Baro (photo Steven Schewe).
Family at Baro River (photo Steven Schewe).
Baro before the Bridge (photo Steven Schewe).
Nancy Schewe with gawkers (photo Steven Schewe).
Kids visiting our Gambela compound (photo Steven Schewe).
Women in Gambela Market, one wearing skirt made in my sewing class! (photo Steven Schewe).
Woman balancing bag (photo Steven Schewe).
Our Gambela compound with Fratalini’s never-starting truck (photo Steven Schewe).
Man at market with water pipe (photo Steven Schewe).
Launching canoe in Baro (photo Steven Schewe).
Highlander in Gambela market (photo Steven Schewe).
Highland woman (photo Steven Schewe).
Gambela woman, not Nilotic (photo Steven Schewe).
The Bridge wasn’t even a glimmer in anyone’s eye when Hannah was young. (photo skyscrapercity.com)
Deborah on Baro embankment (photo Steven Schewe).
Compound downriver (photo Steven Schewe).
Anuak Presbyterian minister Moses Kuac (photo Steven Schewe).
Debby's sketch of Martino Dar, Nuer refugee from Sudan.
Land Cruiser in Baro River (photo Steven Schewe).
Woman balancing water can (photo Steven Schewe).
Iskay, Anuak guide to Itang.
Old Main Street in Gambela, old compound.
Rover approaching Nilotic village (photo Steven Schewe).
Itang kids.
Itang cattle.
Old Main Street, another old compound.
Old Main Street, this building was probably once Alekko’s store.
Old Main Street, new compound & storefront.
Old Main Street, new police station on right.
Old Main Street, looking along old warehouse on right, past Eth Airlines office in old house, then new police station.
Old Main Street, old coffee warehouse at very end of surviving section.
My cottage’s AC with lizards.
Forest near Abobo before clearance.
Forest near Abobo after clearance.
Soldiers hitch ride with us to Abobo.
Agribusiness farm.
Old road near Abobo.
New dam near Abobo.
Changed river below new dam near Abobo.
Yidne & friend at lake behind dam near Abobo.
Mikki, descendent of highlander resettlement & tuk-tuk owner.
Albania
Welcome to my gallery of photos from Albania, where, troubled by photos of Albanian refugees, I went to gather material for a book (see Spinning Wool). I hope it captures for you something of the intractable landscape, indomitable people, and weight of history in this country where deep roots of human nature are exposed like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree.
The mountains beckon at Bajram Curri
The heroine of Spinning Wool fled over this bridge at midnight.
Author visiting family with land mine victim Hysni Hoti in border town of Zulfaj.
Visiting farm in border town of Dobrunë. Korab Mula, on the right, lost an arm to a land mine.
Idyllic Dobrunë in Albania, with Kosovo border just over top of hills
The heroine of Spinning Wool would have hiked this road above Lake Fierzës at night after crossing the bridge from Kukës. Mt Pashtrik is the backdrop.
Kukës refugee camp site, where heroine of Spinning Wool might have worked.
Kukës refugee camp site, where heroine of Spinning Wool might have worked.
Izet Ademaj of Alb-Aid opening gate to Kukës refugee camp site where Spinning Wool's heroine could have worked.
Entering Rrogam.
Author enjoying celebratory dinner at Hotel Amerika with Jonuz Kola of VMA (now Alb-Aid) and his wife Violeta and sons Visar and Armand.
Author, Deborah Rice in Albania.
Bar of Hotel Amerika with statuette of Liberty.
Author with Theth host grandmother by kulla.
Houses in Theth.
Deborah in doorway of Shkoder fortress.
Hiking above Theth.
Kulla near Theth.
Houses near Theth.
Houses near Theth.
The traditional mountain village of Theth in its valley.
Houses in Theth.
Hiking above Theth.
Hiking above Theth.
The mountains behind Bajram Curri, beckoning the heroine of Spinning Wool in to seek her relatives.
Notch in mountains on outskirts of Kukës.
Author with Theth host family.
Author at waterfall in Theth.
Author's bedroom window in Theth—lucky author!
Shkodër from Rozafat Castle.
Pejë in Kosovo, showing extensive rebuilding only six years after the destruction of the expulsion.
Balkan countries and capitals map
Skanderbeg's statue in Tiranë with Deborah's friends Vildan Plepi and Antonia Young.
