Ashmead’s outlook in life has made him form an interest in the developing world – in its history, politics, poverty, and injustice. He has used the techniques of creative non-fiction in his book, Don’t Give Up On Us - A Rwandan Experience, based on a visit to Rwanda, to address these issues and more. Copies can be obtained by e-mailing  - ashmeadaali@yahoo.ca.

Don’t Give Up On Us

In today’s “small” world, where people discuss poverty and international development issues at their dinner tables, Canadians need to have a clearer understanding of these matters. This book, using Rwanda as its backdrop, presents a simple and unmuddled understanding of complex issues that afflict the poor African. Although many books have been written on poverty, they are of a serious nature, with page after page of information that is sometimes difficult for the ordinary reader to understand, to follow, and to remember. Don’t Give Up On Us reads like a story, in language for anyone to grasp without much effort, but in a serious tone. The reader is introduced to: brief geography and history; education; youth; unemployment; small enterprise; trade; health and sanitation; African brain drain and diaspora; the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and their development programs; Africa’s crippling debt; etc. Yet the book still reads like a novel.

“Ashmead Ali has used his time in Rwanda to masterly examine and address important issues that affect poor and rich countries of the world. Written in plain and concise language, he has dealt with issues of poverty and underdevelopment in an unusual manner by weaving them into his story. His book offers interesting slivers of history, geography, culture, and everyday way of life. His glimpses of the causes of poverty and what have to be done to direct sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty are spot-on.”

Lama Mugabo
Executive Director, Building Bridges with Rwanda. Kigali, Rwanda,; Vancouver, Canada

 “Ashmead Ali has written a very detailed account of his attempts to set up a business in the African nation of Rwanda in the years following the country’s devastating genocide. Although Ali arrives with the wide eyes of a novice to Africa, he writes vividly of the poverty and the problems with aid, trade, education and development he encounters, providing a refreshing and hopeful look at a very old topic – how best to “help” Africa – with a kind of clarity that will help readers understand why one of the world’s most promising continents languishes far behind developed nations.”

Karen Palmer
Former Africa-based Freelance Reporter