In his sequel to Alexandria of Africa, Eric Walters brings exciting new characters to life, with the urban jungle of Los Angeles as their backdrop. It's the ultimate clash of cultures when Nebala, a Maasai warrior, leaves behind Kenya and, with two fellow Maasai, and crosses the world to compete in a marathon in the most famous zip code in the world: Beverly Hills, California. Reunited with their friend Alexandria, now their guide to strange, new surroundings, the trio are confronted with life in fast-paced, extravagant Beverly Hills, and customs and attitudes the Maasai find by turns baffling and amusing. Beverly Hill Maasai is another heartwarming, fast-paced, and thought-provoking novel from one of Canada's most popular young adult writers.
For Alexandria Hyatt having a fabulous life is easy: she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. Being glamorous and rich is simply what she was born to be. When Alexandria is arrested for shoplifting, having to drag herself into court to face a judge just seems like a major inconvenience. But Alexandria has been in trouble before–and this time she can’t find a way to scheme out of the consequences. Before she knows it, she’s on a plane headed to Kenya where she has been ordered to work for an international charity. Over 7,000 miles away from home with no hot water, no cell phone reception, no friends or family, Alexandria is confronted with a land as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. Over the course of her month in Africa, Alexandria will face a reality she could never have imagined, and will have to look inside herself to see if she has what it takes to confront it.
Set in both the wilds and slums of Kenya, a powerful story about a brother and sister's brave journey to find a place to call home. 13-year-old Muchoki and his younger sister, Jata, can barely recognize what's become of their lives. Only weeks ago they lived in a bustling Kenyan village, going to school, playing soccer with friends, and helping at their parents' store. But sudden political violence has killed their father and destroyed their home. Now, Muchoki, Jata, and their ailing mother live in a tent in an overcrowded refugee camp. By day, they try to fend off hunger and boredom. By night, their fears about the future are harder to keep at bay. Driven by both hope and desperation, Muchoki and Jata set off on what seems like an impossible journey: to walk hundreds of kilometers to find their last remaining family.
Fifteen-year-old Josh's life has been turned upside down: his mother has recently died and his father, a minister, has started a job in a new town. And now, Josh and his younger sister, Sarah, have been enlisted to accompany his dad's congregation on a missionary trip to an orphanage in Haiti.
In a world with no power, chaos soon descends. A powerful look at the disintegration of society in the wake of a massive and mysterious outage that has knocked out all modern amenities. Fifteen-year-old Emma has moved house with her ex-Marine mother and younger brother. It's a brand-new condo building, which explains the semi-regular power outages, as workers complete the units around them. So Emma isn't particularly concerned when the latest blackout hits just as they are preparing to leave town on a long weekend camping trip. But then the car won't start, and their cellphones appear dead -- and all the cars outside their building seem to be stalled in a long traffic jam ... In the midst of what appears to be a massive power outage, with their camping gear packed and ready, Emma and her family canoe over to the islands, just offshore, to wait it out. But while they land on an isolated island, with a relatively hidden site, they are far from safe, as people become increasingly desperate to find food and shelter. And as the days pass, and the power remains out, the threat of violence becomes all too real.
Another riveting page-turner from Canada's favourite teen author--and this time, the adventure takes place in outer space. It's 2012 and the world's most renowned astrophysicists, astronomers, and theoretical mathematicians have all died within the same 12-month period. But as these scientists discover, none of them are really dead after all. They have been taken hostage by alien forces. And while their family and friends are mourning their passing, and with the help of a 16-year-old with rare gifts, they face the ultimate struggle of prevailing over evil and returning themselves--and the earth--to safety.
An asteroid has hit the Earth: the end of the world is just beginning. Billy and his companions have been taking refuge in outer space to avert this catastrophe. But what will it take to survive? This dramatic second book in an electrifying duology will have readers at the edges of their seats as they discover that survival above is as difficult as survival below.
In Jesus in Our Wombs, Rebecca J. Lester takes us behind the walls of a Roman Catholic convent in central Mexico to explore the lives, training, and experiences of a group of postulants--young women in the first stage of religious training as nuns. Lester, who conducted eighteen months of fieldwork in the convent, provides a rich ethnography of these young women's journeys as they wrestle with doubts, fears, ambitions, and setbacks in their struggle to follow what they believe to be the will of God. Gracefully written, finely textured, and theoretically rigorous, this book considers how these aspiring nuns learn to experience God by cultivating an altered experience of their own female bodies, a transformation they view as a political stance against modernity. Lester explains that the Postulants work toward what they see as an "authentic" femininity--one that has been eclipsed by the values of modern society. The outcome of this process has political as well as personal consequences. The Sisters learn to understand their very intimate experiences of "the Call"--and their choices in answering it--as politically relevant declarations of self. Readers become intimately acquainted with the personalities, family backgrounds, friendships, and aspirations of the Postulants as Lester relates the practices and experiences of their daily lives. Combining compassionate, engaged ethnography with an incisive and provocative theoretical analysis of embodied selves, Jesus in Our Wombs delivers a profound analysis of what Lester calls the convent's "technology of embodiment" on multiple levels--from the phenomenological to the political.
In tourism, strangers meet face to face. What do Tanzanian Maasai and Western tourists think when they meet? Using a combination of methods that has never been tried in anthropology, or in the field of tourism studies, this work provides novel theoretical insights into the images hosts and guests have of each other, and how their views relate to the interactions they experience. This compelling reflexive study uses video and Q method to contribute to the epistemology of anthropological research in tourism settings, and the construction of a new, more symmetrical anthropology. Dissertation. ***An important contribution to the growing field of the anthropology of tourism, an example of intense and methodical fieldwork, combined with theoretical acumen and deep reflexivity.--Prof. Dr Walter E. A. van Beek (Tilburg U.) (Series: Contributions to African Research / Beitr�¤ge zur Afrikaforschung, Vol. 76) [Subject: African Studies, Tourism Studies, Anthropology, Sociology]
Only the combination of cultural curiosity, passion, fearlessness and a set of Jewish parents breathing fire down her neck could lead a sane human being to buy a one-way ticket to Nairobi and face probable death in an effort to become the world’s first female Maasai warrior. Warrior Princess is the funny and inspirational memoir of Mindy Budgor, a young entrepreneur tired of having a job to have a job, who decides to make changes in her life. While waiting for her Business School applications to go through, she decides to volunteer in Africa, building schools and hospitals in the Maasai Mara. While living and working with the Maasai, Mindy talks to the chief and asks him why there are no women warriors. The chief responds simply and derisively: because women are not strong enough or brave enough. Mindy immediately realizes her calling and thus begins her amazing adventure to become the first female Maasai warrior. As a result of this training and advocacy, the Maasai in Loita, Kenya are leading the charge to change tribal law to allow women to become Maasai warriors. Mindy as a tribe member is ready to return to stand with her fellow warriors against whatever opposition they might face – be it lions, or elephants, or Western influence.
