The ElDorado Affair: A true story of pioneers in rural Guyana, South America

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Guyanese born Edwin Joseph married English history teacher Jane in 1991. The unsuspecting newlyweds’ attempt to build a life in Edwin’s little known South American country entangled them in a dangerous web of deceit, narcotics trafficking, murder and espionage. Their small business development project metamorphosed into an educational charity in an eighteen-year battle which they nearly did not survive.
Edwin, a retired British soldier and ex-international decathlete, met Jane in 1984, while they were both participating in a musical production of War of the Worlds at her Milton Keynes comprehensive school. Edwin’s plan to repatriate and help his birth country came to fruition when he flew out to Dubai to marry Jane, who by then was teaching in a school there. Years of planning and their combined life savings went into their subsequent move to Guyana, but none of it was enough to prepare them for what they would face.
Jane’s compelling narrative transports the reader into the heart of the peasant community and political turmoil of Guyana in the 1990s as her evocative descriptions of the natural environment and often humorous local characters bring them alive. Her brutally honest and self-critical account takes us through the culture shock and mental anguish the couple experienced as they wrestled to implement their passionate convictions. She leaves us with an overwhelming sense of loss, tempered by her lingering love of the landscape, the charm of this society and the youngsters they both educated.
This is a unique true story. All the events mentioned in this book actually happened to the author but some of the names have been changed to protect the identity of the people concerned.