Africa Calling Me Back
By Dorothy Stephens
Africa Calling Me Back tells the story of Dorothy Stephens’s return to Kenya with her husband after a lapse of thirty years. They find that in Nairobi much has changed. Kenya is in flux. Political corruption, poverty, unemployment, and petty crime are rampant. Nevertheless, they are greeted warmly by old friends and rediscover the magnificence of the Kenya landscape. They attend an African style baby shower and a Kikuyu 1st birthday celebration, camp in the Maasai Mara, go on safari to Ngorongoro Crater and LakeBaringo, campaign with their friend Doc Kiano for a seat in Parliament, and spend their 50th wedding anniversary with African friends, eating roasted goat intestines on the slopes of Mount Kenya. A last chapter documents their final visit to Kenya in 1996, after the tragic loss of their daughter Kelly. It is an odyssey tinged with sadness; still, they are heartened to find signs that Kenya may be headed toward a more peaceful and prosperous future. They can only hope it succeeds.