For those mesmerized by Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers," here is a tale of romance and adventure in an exotic land, Somalia. A Peace Corps volunteer finds riches and terror beyond her wildest dreams.
The author found golden earrings and a million memories when she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia. Listen to the stars dancing over Somalia and hear tales of warriors and camel herders, songs at the wells and melodies in every footstep.
Moira, a young Peace Corps Volunteer, stretched her senses to soak in every story, every song that was around her. Her missteps tossed a beautiful young woman into a whipping circle, and denied her students the futures they had worked so hard to obtain.
Moira’s successes were few. Even her search for a lesbian lover in the labyrinth that was Mogadishu seemed hopeless.
Moira was shaken to her very core when she stumbled on The Ritual, female circumcision, carried out in a hidden hut in the bush country, the Ritual that rips all feelings of sexual pleasure from between a young girl’s legs.
Through it all the Somali Goddess Arawello spreads her protective arms, reaching through wars and famines to reach her people. Once Arawello brought Peace by turning men into eunuchs, and may do so again.
This is a journey of a young woman ready to meet the challenges of the world on her own terms, one who faces the terrors of bush country alongside the embrace of a lover in unlikely places. Moira faces challenges she never knew existed, and a love that envelopes her like an unfolding bird of paradise.
Through the turmoil and ecstasy, Moira's love for the Somali people deepens as she reluctantly realizes there is nothing -- nothing -- she can do to change their world to avert disaster. On the contrary, it is Somalia that changes her. She will never be the same again.
PRAISE FROM EARLY REVIEWERS!
“What I love most is the way you brought Islam into this. There is such a stigma against Islam in the West, I think the delicate and peaceful way (Islam = peace) that this was deliberately added to the text is very captivating, and alluring. I LOVE it!
“I am horrified just reading about it ("The Ritual"). Horrified because your description is so vivid….This has evoked such deep emotion in me; I am so proud of you for putting pen to paper so eloquently and doing this Ritual justice in all of its darkness.
“I feel so connected to you on so many levels for your sharing this with me, and for wanting me to read it. Your emotions feel like mine; I feel a Oneness with you in this, I have never felt this with ANYONE before, because so few people have been there and can understand.” Heather C. Cumming, Executive Director and Founder, SSAAP Simwatachela Sustainable Agricultural and Arts Program, providing an extensive network of human relief programs throughout East Africa
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“It is a captivating read and shows a unique perspective. Nicely done!” Barb Dickinson, We Moonager,We Moon Date Book: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn, the premier date book for earth conscious women throughout the world
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“I read through several chapters this morning and am anxious to read the rest later. Your experience, of course, was very different [from mine], but is fascinating. Your writing is very descriptive and informative.” Mary Gehman, a Mennonite teacher in Somalia for 23 years, and author of ABDI AND THE ELEPHANTS.
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“Powerful, painful finale!” MaryBeth
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“Boring? Never! It is a window into a world I do not know. Well written, evocative, stirring.” Madrone
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
Baidoa, Somalia – The Last Night
March 22, 1969
The grand Goddesses played a fiery game of jacks, each tossing an apron full of iridescent jacks, bluewhiteyelloworange jacks, across the pathway of the sky. The Milky Way sometimes glowed so brightly that I could read by its light, mesmerized by the miracle dancing overhead. Tonight the stars skipped between the clouds.
So what was I doing kneeling there in a muddy puddle, the rain obliterating any trace of the tears that tumbled down my face?
“Damn it, stop it!” I shouted to no one. I wanted to taste the salt. I wanted someone to know these tears.
I was so weary of that Howdy Doody smile that all the Peace Corps volunteers wore. I couldn't remember the last time I saw a genuine grin, or heard a giggle. “Did the world still giggle?” I wondered.
So there I was, my last night in Baidoa, my gut twisted in a tourniquet, crying in a mud puddle.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. All the brochures showed angelic young Americans with laughing children at their feet. The Somali children I knew didn't laugh. Maybe they were too hungry to laugh.
I couldn't laugh either.
They took her away. Shiamsa. Shiamsa, the dedicated, courageous, beautiful young woman who saved my life one starry night. I saw the welts on her shins as they dragged her off. Only her eyes told me good bye.
And Jani is gone too, several months now. She flew out of Djibouti before I could reach her – the interminable rains had washed out the roads, and I couldn't even get out of Baidoa. No roads… No phones… No running water… No electricity… Girls sold for a few stinking camels… Malaria killing over half of all newborns, and most of the rest dying from dysentery… Every single young girl routinely mutilated with a clitorectomy.
“Vile spirits, or whoever you are, what in the name of all the spirits above am I doing here?” My fingernails dug into my palms, crimson spots mingling in the mud.
I rocked back and forth, hoping one of the angels would wrap her arms around me. My fists had been pounding the mud puddle, splashing filth five feet around.
Only a dark silence answered.
Professional Reviews
A Thrilling Peace Corps Adventure
*****THE MYSTICAL LAND OF MYRRH by MaryAnn Shank is a most welcome addition to literature on living in harmony with diversity in this fractured world. Moriah yearns to do a good job as a United State Peace Corp volunteer teacher in Somalia in 1969. She stumbles often in dealing with an alien culture, but she soon questions her own values and learns to love and admire the Somali people. Many parts of the novel are thrilling, shocking -- and touching too. I especially remember Moriah joining Somali women at a water hole as they sang and washed clothes together. This novel affords new insights into a very different culture, a culture that has been nearly wiped off the map. I have forgotten most of the books I've read, but this one goes with me as I walk in the woods; it is simply captivating. It is highly readable, and I recommend it highly. (from Patty, a 5-star review)
Somali Culture Through the Eyes of a Peace Corps Volunteer
****A Peace Corps Volunteer, Moira, finds herself assigned to Somalia from 1967-1969. Thinking she would "see the world", she instead experiences a rude awakening. Author MaryAnn Shank provides a montage of memories about Somalians struggling to survive through the lens of an American outsider not equipped to offer solutions.
Truthfully semi-autobiographical, MaryAnn Shank powerfully talks of her hidden lesbianism in a strict Moslem country, and of the tribal ritual of clitorectomies and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which the Founder and Executive Director of Simwatachela Sustainable Agricultural and Arts Program (SSAAP) has observed in West Africa, and has realized is an entrenched tribal custom difficult to eradicate.
Before I wrote this review, I thumbed through the book to fact check, and found myself wanting to read it again. It's the layers of knowledge and experiences that seep through the brain like ocean waves. I just know MaryAnn needs to continue with writing poetry because of her acute cognitive ability with connotation and denotation. (Gail Cumming)
Weaving Myth and Story
****In The Mystical Land of Myrhh, MaryAnn Shank takes us on an incredible journey, and like all journeys, the reality is so much more powerful than any fantasy we might have held. Like the roads she travels, the stories can be jarring, yet at the same time, beautiful and revelatory. The author weaves myth and story together to describe the beautiful, strong women of Somalia, a gift for any reader.
Exploring the impact of literary icon Flannery O'Connor's noted legacy on the cultural realities of modern-day America, the world, and a certain author.
Exploring the impact of literary icon Flannery O'Connor's noted legacy on the cultural realities of modern-day America, the world, and a certain author.
Exploring the impact of literary icon Flannery O'Connor's noted legacy on the cultural realities of modern-day America, the world, and a certain author.
