Kelly Morris

The Bight of Benin Kelly Morris

In the fourteen short stories in this book, the author, Kelly J. Morris, draws upon his fifty-year association with Africa to open a window into the countries bordering the Bight of Benin. A long indentation into the coastline of the Gulf of Guinea, the waters of the Bight of Benin have a strong undertow. The region was the source of so many of the enslaved Africans carried off to the Americas that it was called "The Slave Coast." In these stories set in Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, we meet the Water Witch, a skinny French brother who claims he can find water with his divining rod; bank employees and African-American immigrants enduring Ghana's hard times; an extension agent demoted to janitor; subsistence farmers struggling in the money economy; civil servants with secure jobs but with enormous family responsibilities; an apprentice truck driver with ambitions for a better life; small business owners trying to make a living and stay in business; women and girls carving out new roles while trying to maintain respect for their culture; devout practitioners of traditional religions, Christianity, and Islam; true believers and charlatans; and many more.