Tag Archives: Africa

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

So Many Africas: Six Years in a Zambian Village – Jill Kandel

In 1981, Jill Kandel traveled to the remote Zambian village of Kalabo. She was a bride of six weeks, married to a blue-eyed boy from the Netherlands.

Amidst international crises and famine, she gave birth to two children, bridged a cultural divide with her Dutch husband, and was devastated by a car accident that took the life of a twelve-year-old Zambian child.

She stayed six years. After returning home, Kandel struggled to find her voice and herself. This is the story of how she found her way home.

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

Elephant Dance – Tammie Matson

It’s the middle of the night in the Namibian desert when zoologist Tammie Matson wakes with a start to find two elephants standing beside her tiny tent. She makes a promise: “If you just let me survive tonight I will give up Africa. I’ll give it all up. Just don’t let them stand on me.”

It’s not a promise she will easily keep. At 29, Tammie has spent nearly half her life in Africa, her first love, working as a conservationist. But as her 30s approach, Tammie is conscious of not having ticked those boxes: no house, no kids and no husband. Broke and with her visa running out, it seems like Africa may just force her to give it up after all. On returning to Australia, Tammie lands a job at the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Sydney. There she meets Andy, a charismatic Brit, and Africa suddenly has a rival. But she’s not ready to give up on the elephants yet…

From the magic of Bushmanland, to the banks of Chobe River in Botswana, to the civil strife of Assam, India, Elephant Dance takes us to the heart of a conservationist’s fight to find a way for elephants to live peacefully in a world with too many people, too few resources and the increasing threat of climate change.

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

The Egyptian Years – Elizabeth Harris

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 28720766._SY475_.jpg

In 1892, the newly married and vivacious Genevieve Montsorrel disappeared into the Egyptian desert. Only her parasol was ever found — the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, and assumed death, were never explained.

A century later, Willa Jamieson comes into the possession of a trunk of Genevieve’s possessions. Hidden in a secret compartment she finds Genevieve’s diary…which holds the key to her secret life and her sadistic husband, her strength and her ability to survive everything life threw at her.

As she’s drawn further and further into the diary, Willa realises that it might just hold the answers to what really happened to Genevieve Montsorrel…

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

Powder Necklace – Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 6949725.jpg

To protect her daughter from the fast life and bad influences of London, her mother sent her to school in rural Ghana. The move was for the girl’s own good, in her mother’s mind, but for the daughter, the reality of being the new girl, the foreigner-among-your-own-people, was even worse than the idea.

During her time at school, she would learn that Ghana was much more complicated than her fellow ex-pats had ever told her, including how much a London-raised child takes something like water for granted. In Ghana, water “became a symbol of who had and who didn’t, who believed in God and who didn’t. If you didn’t have water to bathe, you were poor because no one had sent you some.”

After six years in Ghana, her mother summons her home to London to meet the new man in her mother’s life—and his daughter. The reunion is bittersweet and short-lived as her parents decide it’s time that she get to know her father. So once again, she’s sent off, this time to live with her father, his new wife, and their young children in New York—but not before a family trip to Disney World.

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

Baking Cakes in Kigali – Gaile Parkin

6088236

In Kigali, Angel runs a bustling business: baking cakes for all occasions—cakes filled with vibrant colour, buttery richness, and, most of all, a sense of hope only Angel can deliver.…

A CIA agent’s wife seeks the perfect holiday cake but walks away with something far sweeter…a former boy-soldier orders an engagement cake, then, between sips of tea, shares an enthralling story…weary human rights workers…lovesick limo drivers.

Amid this cacophony of native tongues, love affairs, and confessions, Angel’s kitchen is an oasis where people tell their secrets, where hope abounds and help awaits.

In this unlikely place, in the heart of Rwanda, unexpected things are beginning to happen: A most unusual wedding is planned…a heartbreaking mystery—involving Angel’s own family—unravels…and extraordinary connections are being made among the men and women who have tasted Angel’s beautiful cakes…as a chain of events unfolds that will change Angel’s life—and the lives of those around her—in the most astonishing ways.