A Bite of the Mango

I first heard of this book through my Ancient civilizations teacher who, in grade 12, teaches World Issues. It was just after Christmas vacation, I think, when he mentioned it and said that we should read it. He's a real humanitarian-type guy; not a mean bone in his body, so I knew there had to be some truth to his recommendation. Unfortunately, with exams coming and all the other books that I was reading at the time, I didn't find the time to read it until recently.

Luckily for me Mariatu Kamara, the author of this memoir, was a refugee who became a representative first for first Free the Children then for UNICEF. Sure it might not have been lucky for her at the time but because of her experiences she was able to come to Canada, Durham region to be exact, and is now able to help so many people. Probably because of her close proximity to my school, she was able to come and speak to us about her experiences and the importance of the good education we take for granted.

I don`t want to spoil the story, so I`ll give you a brief summary.

Mariatu was around 12 years old and living in the small village of Sierra Leone when the civil war of 1991 started. It was the rebels who cut off her hands, starting her journey to a new life, but of course, she has a few trials along the way. It truly is a story of hope, family, life and survival.

Like I mentioned briefly earlier, our school had the great pleasure and privilege of hearing her speak and getting advice when it comes to life and determination. She`s such a humble, sweet, caring person; I`m sure you`ll get at least that much from her memoir. This is definitely a book you should pick up. It`s just $12 CDN and a very quick read. It`s 212 pages and if you have an afternoon, you`ll be able yo read it in one sitting. But it`s not the quantity, it`s the lessons learned between the covers that`s important.