Sorcery is a fact of life in many African societies; the supernatural is taken for granted. When Ian Mathie came across an elderly couple, sick and abandoned in an inhospitable part of West Africa, he ignored the warning signs of witchcraft and frightening encounters with an apparition to coax them back to health. Thus began a remarkable association with one small and remote village whose subsistence living Ian was able to help boost with the unlikely intervention of a Paris parfumier, a Voodoo devil, assorted helpers – and a native soap industry. Along the way, he was initiated by a village sorcerer and adopted by a family whose water supply he cleaned up.
Ian Mathie experienced much, during his years in Africa as a water resources specialist, that challenges Western perceptions. 'Sorcerers and Orange Peel' – the fifth book in the African Heritage series – is an eventful journey through the haze where science meets superstition. “To some it may seem fanciful, even impossible,” Ian writes, “but having lived through it, I assure you it is all true.”
