Africa's Child - Couverture souple

Nhambu, Maria

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0997256109 ISBN 13 : 9780997256109

Editeur : Dancing Twiga Press, 2016

Synopsis

AFRICA’S CHILD

She was left at an orphanage in the mountains of East Africa when she was only a few days old.

Her name was Mary. She had no mother, no father, no tribe, and no last name. She was barely five years old when she decided that if no one else was going to love her, she would love and listen to her inner self. She called that inner self Fat Mary — her hated name at the orphanage.

Raised in the Don Bosco Orphanage high in the Usambara Mountains of colonial Tanganyika, Maria Nhambu grew up in a world of extraordinary beauty and hidden cruelty. The German Catholic nuns who ran Kifungilo gave her shelter, education, and faith, but made her feel she belonged to no one.

As a biracial child she was bullied, beaten, sexually threatened, and told she was a child of sin. She survived typhoid. She survived a suicide attempt. She survived the brutal treatment of the older girls in charge of her.

And through it all, she danced.

Forbidden to dance the African way at the orphanage, she practiced in secret, learning the power of dance from the neighboring tribal villagers, absorbing the healing pulse of rhythm and drums that would one day become the foundation of Aerobics With Soul®, her internationally acclaimed fitness program.

Africa’s Child is a memoir unlike any other.

It is set inside a world that no longer exists, a German orphanage perched in the clouds of colonial East Africa, run by nuns who built it to house the children that no one else claimed.

It is told with honesty that stings and humor that heals, through the eyes of a girl whose fierce intelligence and unshakeable self-belief carry her from the orphanage to middle school to secondary school — and finally, toward a life beyond the remote orphanage in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania.

This is the story of a girl who had nothing and chose to love herself anyway. It is a story the world needs.

Perfect for readers who loved I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

Africa’s Child is Book 1 of the Dancing Soul Trilogy. Continue with America’s Daughter and Drum Beats, Heart Beats.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

From the Foreword by Marian Wright Edelman Africa’s Child is an unforgettable and searingly personal book....In the face of repeated obstacles and injustices, Nhambu continued to analyze the world around her with wit and a sharp sense of humor. Above all, as a very young child she decided one day that even if there was no other person in the world who loved and wanted her, she was going to love and care for herself—and that decision changed the course of her life. Africa’s Child is the story of a mixed-race girl growing up in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, East Africa. Raised in an orphanage with no knowledge of her origins or family, she endured abandonment, hardships, severe illnesses, and bullying. Her experiences as a child and teenager included physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, social stigma, and racial discrimination. Yet Nhambu tells her inspiring story with warmth and humor. Her questioning mind probes the African tribal realities and multi-cultural complexities that impacted her life both at the orphanage and schools run by German nuns as well as at an African high school with American nuns. Nhambu not only survived her childhood but triumphed. Her faith and resilience, along with a belief in learning and her tenacious pursuit of an education, sustained her through many challenges. Dance, especially African tribal dance, became the way she healed and nourished her spirit. Through the love and commitment of an American teacher she met in Africa, Nhambu was able to pursue her dream of education and a new life for herself. The first book in her three-part memoir ends as she is leaving Africa for university studies in America on a full scholarship. Maria Nhambu is the creator of Aerobics With Soul®, a fitness workout based on African dance. Web site: MariaNhambu.com

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Dancing Twiga Press
• Date d'édition: 2016
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0997256109
• ISBN 13: 9780997256109
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 354
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Printed by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg