A Woman's Odyssey Into Africa Tracks Across a Life

Here is the intriguing story of one woman’s mid-life flight from her stultified, middle-class, psychologically crippling, and unfulfilled existence into a world of high adventure, danger, hardship, and endurance, which ultimately leads her to autonomy and recognition. In her new book, A Woman’s Odyssey Into Africa, Hanny Lightfoot-Klein chronicles three year-long solo backpacking treks through remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa. In the process, she discovers the mainsprings of strength within herself as she follows her own drummer, finding the courage to face the darkest and most secret convolutions of her own mind. She weaves the story of her journey through the men, women, and children she meets, and the dangers and adventures she faces as a lone woman traveler--part and parcel of the path she has chosen to take.She infuses readers at any stage of life, especially women, with the courage to do what their individual drummer dictates, as she did, to find fulfillment in life. Lightfoot-Klein assures readers in her book: “Even a life of quiet desperation is not beyond redemption. Change starts with a reassessment of the distortions in self image one has been programmed to accept. It starts with an inner rebellion, a realization that something has been amiss and a desire to set it right, if only to leave a better heritage for one’s children. And then, most important of all, it begins with a single, wild, breathless moment, where one picks up an unaccustomed load and steps off into the unknown . . . ” Her message is truly for everyone.

Contents Letter from Kadugli  First Steps  The Flight from Egypt  Garden A Sudanese Proverb: When Allah Created Sudan, Allah Laughed Costi The Barbaric Practice Sex Education Personal Demons Charade at Wad Cherrifay Small Sins Lightfoot El Shadida The Faces of My Beloved Your Death is Always with You Port Sudan Haute Cuisine Stephanie’s Song Requiem for a Goliath Heron Karen Blixen Never Returned to Africa Krystallnacht Revisited

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, MA, is an independent researcher underthe auspices of the American Foundation for Gender and GenitalMedicine and Science. Ms. Lightfoot-Klein studied female genitalcircumcision during three year-long treks through Sudan, Kenya,and Egypt; she lived with families of all social levels and geographicareas and interviewed over 400 people in all walks of life inregard to psychological, sociological, historical, sexological, medical,religious, and legal aspects of female circumcision. An avidwriter, Ms. Lightfoot-Klein has published many articles in theJournal o f Obstetric Gynecology and Neo-Natal Nursing, MedicalAspects o f Human Sexuality, Journal o f Psychology and HumanSexuality, Journal o f Sex Research and several British and Germanpublications as well. She is a member of the Association of Womenin Psychology, Society for Sex Therapy and Research, NationalWomen’s Studies Association, and the Society for the ScientificStudy of Sex. Her first book, Prisoners o f Ritual, was also recentlypublished by The Haworth Press, Inc.