The Veterinary Detectives: A Vet in Peru by Roger Windsor
In the second volume of his memoirs Roger tells the story of a pioneering British veterinary aid project, established in conjunction with a local farmers' co-operative, to bring self-financing veterinary services to thousands of dairy, farmers and llama and alpaca keepers in the high Andes in southern Peru. This heart-warming story tells how a team of young Peruvians under Roger's leadership built and delivered a new veterinary service to farmers in an area the size of England against challenging odds. A resurgence of the Shining Path terrorist group threatened the safety of the team and the farmers; terrible inflation of the local currency wreaked havoc with an already tight budget - not to mention constant battles with British and Peruvian bureaucracy. But the book is not just about animal diseases, the challenges of running an aid project, nor how Roger's wife, Maxine flourished as a concert pianist. It is about the country that he came to love: the art, the Andean music, the coast with its huge populations of birds and sea mammals, the glorious scenery, the many ancient civilizations and above all the delightful people fighting to survive through a period of massive economic turmoil and terrorism, yet still managing to smile.