Jambo Mama

Just finished reading this wonderful book this week-end! It's about a middle-aged woman with a dream to throw herself into "once-in-lifetime" adventure and fulfill a long time fantasy.....to live in Africa. I found her descriptions of Kenya and the other places she visited via Safari, to be informative and insightful yet at the same frightening and exciting. She describes her day-to-day life struggling to live out her dream. There are the cultural differences, language barriers, dangers, and the ever present lonliness but when she looks out at the vast beauty that is Africa, it is all worth it. She embraces each challenge with dogged determination to prove to herself that she can overcome the sometimes seeming insurmountable obstacles. I've never been to Africa and don't know if I'll ever get there in view of the dangers surrounding travel outside this country, but I was able to live vicariously through this magical memoir and dream.

I thorougly enjoyed reading this book! Melinda is a wonderful and entertaining writer whose description of her life in Kenya was written with complete honesty and candor. I am afraid vanity would not have allowed me to be quite so honest. Her detailed accounts of her trials and triumphs kept me turning the pages. Since I have visited Kenya several times, and especially the Masai Mara Game Reserve, I felt as if I were right there with her. She wrote with compassion towards the people she knew and loved there, and best of all, she wrote with a sharp wit and an incredible sense of humor. I found myself laughing out loud often. It wasn't an easy thing she did, moving to Africa by herself for an extended period of time, for Africa and New York are as different as night and day. Melinda did, however, what so many others only think of doing...she followed her dream. For the reader who wants to learn more about modern Kenya, this book is for you. For the reader who wants a fun, interesting, informative, romantic, and heartfelt book to read, then don't miss this one. I highly recommend "Jambo Mama."

Overwhelmed by the circumstances surrounding her mother's passing, Melinda Atwood needed to find a new inner center. Uncertain of where to search, but driven to as distant a place as possible, she chose Kenya, where she planned to spend one year hiding out and, hopefully, healing. She ended up staying there for six years, living by her wits, struggling with loneliness, isolation, financial adversity, a disastrous love affair, and single parenthood -- all the while recreating her life. In the process, she discovered within herself a core of strength and resourcefulness she hadn't known was there. Highly recommended reading for those who appreciate engaging biographies of interesting people caught up in usual circumstances and fascinating life events, Jambo, Mama: Memories Of Africa is her candid account of her journey, and an inspiring story of determination, hope, and courage told with honesty and humor.

It was in search of information about Africa I first stumbled across the pages of a travel agency. Available on their pages was Jambo Mama. For free. Why not, I thought, and downloaded the piece. After I had read the three first chapters, I had to find out if the story was true or fiction, but the travel agency didn't provide much information about either author or the book itself. What was provided, though, was ms. Atwoods e-mail adress. Contacting her personally, I asked about the story's validity. She could confirm that all was taken from her own first-hand experiences of the country, people and culture of Kenya. Wow! Talk about a major adventure... Her story is the story about a girl who, upon returning from a vacation in Kenya, finds that the easy, urban life of America is not satisfactory. A yearning for the warm African nights and all that goes with it builds to an irresistable urge to move for a longer period of time. She thinks things over, and decides to pack up her entire life and leave. She rents a house in suburban Nairobi and begins a life almost from scratch. It is the story of a girl who experienced African life up close. Some of the challenges she faces include surviving rough safari's (not designed for the average tourist), running a small-scale business (the African way) and maintaining a social life. As any good story, it also includes some good romance...Melinda Atwood writes with an easy language that is full of life. Even though you won't find the most profound metaphors in her all over elegant sentences, you start imagining yourself in her situation after a couple of paragraphs. Her book gives a great description of the many moods of that which lies under the African sun. You can even expect to pick up a couple of phrases in Swahili. I can recommend Jambo Mama to everyone who wants to know more about Africa, and especially Kenya, but also to anyone who enjoy a good story. If you, after reading this review and others, find the book unworthy your time and money: pole sana! (don`t understand? read the book)Reviewed by Stian Rein Andresen and Øystein Tøsse Larsen

I have found the first information about Kiswahili in Melinda's book. I am from Turkey and I always wanted to travel to Africa, and so i found Melinda's book in the net and her story triggered my wish out to travel to Kenya and start to learn Kiswahili. I love her book and will always read it, after watching the old film "African Queen" yesterday eveing on TV, I had the strong urge to read some chapters of Jambo Mama. It strangely soothed my soul which longs to be in Africa again. As I am having a baby soon, I cannot travel to Africa for the next two years, so i will keep Melinda's story next to my favourite chair and looking forward the long cold winter nights. I can absolutely recommend to buy this book, if you want to travel to Kenya or Africa or if you prefer travelling in your mind with Melinda to this wonderful country. with love from Turkey Asiye