Set in central Angola during the final stages of the country's thirty-year civil war, "No One Can Stop the Rain" is the true story of two ordinary Medecins Sans Frontieres field worker – a surgeon and his wife, leaving behind their comfortable lives in mid-career. In doing so they are confronted by both the best and worst aspects of humanity.

 

Based on correspondence and diary entries, the book chronicles the couple's journey to Kuito, deep in the heart of Angola. The remnants of this provincial capital had the unenviable reputation of being one of the world's most heavily landmined cities. The events witnessed by Moorhouse and Cheng as they worked alongside civilians – victims of landmines, the malnourished and the displaced – provide a unique insight into life in this vast humanitarian citadel. Through the couple's eyes, the reader not only experiences something of the expected, the trauma of war, but also gains a rich insight into the less expected, the ordinary life of both local residents and field workers.