Peter Godwin was a bit of an oddity in the African village where he grew up. Though a British citizen, Peter and his family had moved to Rhodesia when he was just a child. His mother, a missionary doctor, was assigned to start a vaccination program. Under her supervision thousands of people were inoculated against tuberculosis, smallpox, and other diseases. For some diseases, a shot was needed, but for others the vaccination was much more pleasant. It only involved putting a small dose of medicine on a sugar cube and feeding the cube to the patient. Little Peter was often enlisted to carry the tray of sugar cubes and to inspect children's mouths to make sure they had fully swallowed the cube.

In the 1970s, civil war in Rhodesia forced the Godwin family to return to England, where a nowgro…