(reviewed by Ann Onymous )
This book takes its title from the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from a distance. To some there appear to be ostriches up at the top but when we look closer, we each see different things.
Who are we? Who do we appear to be? Are we who we are when we are born? Do we end up where we are supposed to be?
Do we see Wambui, a young girl from a village? Or do we see a young woman riding on the train to school? Her father didn’t marry her off, but sent her away. Does she belong at home? Does she belong with the boarders? Should she become a teacher?
Wambui is a math whiz and her teacher Eileen wants her to go on to university, but she chooses to return home. Wambui explains to Eileen that as a proud Kenyan, her responsibility is to help her family. For both people and the animals in the Maasai Mara: the collective will must be subservient over the individual, for the greater purpose of the group.
Wambui’s son and daughter both eventually end up working in the United States. Her son Ray graduates medical school in Kenya, and meets other ‘foreign born’ medical residents across the United States. He and his colleagues are ‘displaced’ in a number of ways and find themselves in various hospital settings. Does he belong in the County Hospital? Or should he be working at University Hospital?
“Do you know what a ‘jobby’ is?” Ray responded to the question with only a puzzled look.
“It’s the Goldstein term for when you get paid to do something that you would otherwise consider doing as a hobby. That’s what you should always aspire to.”
Eileen, born a British citizen, taught in Kenya for forty-two years. After the independence of Kenya she finds herself back in England. Is Eileen Kenyan or British? If a person is born in South Africa, of Dutch descent, are they bound for Holland or are they African?
Where do we feel comfortable? Who are our people? Who are our family?
This story shares the value of family and connections in Kenya and around the globe. Our author illustrates this important power as the characters weave in and out of each other’s lives. We see how meeting the right person or having the right connection, helps us along our journey.
I enjoyed this book very much. My heart aches for Wambui and Eileen, as they become ‘sisters,’ and for Ray as they all travel through their lives. The conclusion brings us full circle: the characters are where they need to be.
Where do you belong? Where do you fit in? You are where you need to be – reading this book!
