Book Buzz

MARIATU KAMARA with SUSAN McCLELLAND

The Bite of the Mango is the true story of Mariatu Kamara, a girl born in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone, an impoverished country on the west coast of Africa, was in a horrific civil war while Mariatu was a child. Despite the poverty in her tiny rural village, Mariatu’s first few years are happy ones, filled with friends, games and chores.  Mariatu’s father has two wives, neither of whom seems very pleasant. Mariatu is given to an auntie to raise, which likely would have been a great idea had the village not been attacked by rebels. At the age of 12, Mariatu had her hands amputated by boy-rebel soldiers. She had been previously raped and impregnated by an older man in the village who wanted to marry her.

Despite the extreme pain and suffering Mariatu’s story is one of hope and redemption. She now lives in Toronto where she attends college. She also tours North America as a UNICEF Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

A must read.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Auto/Biography, Canadian, Family, war. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.