Ritchie's War

Looks at a young man, straight out of school, who fought in the East African campaign in 1916. It outlines the depiction of the equatorial environment and the health challenging conditions under which the war was fought. Is a gripping story of war, intrigue, romance, humour and spiritual awakening. The year is 1916, and, at age 19 Ritchie is launched into a world conflict that he doesn’t fully comprehend. It is a time when the opposing sides in World War 1 are European countries that have drawn on their colonies to assist in their continental dispute. Ritchie volunteers for service in East Africa, and, although excited by the prospects of a great adventure, soon begins to feel like a pawn in a game of chess that is being manipulated by external forces to their own advantage. The intolerable conditions of the East African campaign, where more soldiers died of dysentery and malaria than of battle wounds, revives memories of his traumatic experience as a 5-year old when he and his Irish-born mother were incarcerated in an Anglo Boer War British concentration camp. It was to be the strong bond between mother and son, along with her indomitable spirit that kept him alive in an environment of insurmountable human suffering, disease and hunger. But it was a bond that was to be sorely tested and ultimately broken by circumstances which come back to haunt him as he retreats inwards after a near-death experience during the war in German East Africa. On his return from the war, he sets out to discover the truth about his mother that leads him into a dangerous encounter with kidnappers and criminals, and a liaison with a woman who was indirectly responsible for his mother’s downfall and demise.