Out of Africa: a teacher’s tale of good versus evil

Ibarajo Road is the debut teen novel by English author Harry Allen. Set in West Africa, it follows the journey of a rich kid named Charlie, whose life is transformed by a violent incident he witnesses.

Allen now teaches in Singapore, but grew up in Nigeria, and he recalls that vigilantism was a part of life there at the time. “I remember seeing a man being savagely beaten by a large crowd. They had hung a sign around his neck saying he was an armed robber; I will always be glad I didn’t see how it ended.”

Allen agrees that there is a strong moral core at the heart of Ibarajo Road, which plays out as a battle between good and evil. “Working in an international school I see young people doing wonderful things to contribute to their own and others’ societies,” he says. “Of course, there are governments and individuals who do enormous harm and they are almost always driven by a want for power, money or what they believe to be divine command. But I have a strong faith in the human spirit, a belief that there is more good than evil in the world — or at least, that we have the capacity to make that true.”