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Hannah is getting ready to embark on the journey of her lifetime with her mother to visit Uncle Brian, who works in rural Kenya. The decision to go causes a rift between her parents, with her father’s realism seeing the trip as a massive diversion while her mother hopes to be able to help effect real change. Upon arriving in Kenya, Hannah is forced to endure tremendous culture shock, dealing with unpaved or nonexistent roads, sporadic availability of running water, and living conditions that she has never had to experience before. However, Uncle Brian is trying to change all that, working diligently to find ways to provide access to roads, water, electricity, and the Internet for the people living in these far-flung places. A horrible accident leaves Hannah at a crossroads of following her uncle’s beliefs that the world can be improved or retreating home in the face of adversity.
While this book takes a look at the real-world conditions of impoverished portions of Africa, it does so in a very humane and respectful way. Hannah’s unpreparedness at dealing with the lack of basic necessities is handled carefully and privately and is always counter-balanced by the everyday joy and sense of community exhibited by the locals. Despite being a fictional account, the author based this story on her own life experiences, and the back of the book includes photographs of her journeys as well as different ways that readers can get involved in helping to improve standards of living everywhere. Tailored for young adult or teenage readers, this story carries the optimism of youth and can be an eye-opening read in a way that urges the reader to get concerned, get active, and work towards a better future.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review