When Cultures Collide

“When Cultures Collide” is the last of the trilogy about a safari in Africa fifteen years ago. In the first book, “13 Days in Africa,” the five passengers and their guide were kidnapped by bandits and left to die in a remote area of the African savanna. A young Maasai warrior found them and took them to his village. They discover that Kashima, his fourteen-year-old sister, is dying as a result of a botched female circumcision. The intended husband agrees to marry eleven-year-old Namoka in her sister’s place after Namoka, a frightened little girl, has a circumcision without any anesthesia. Both girls are saved by the safari survivors. Jason adopts Kashima and Tom and Sarah adopt Namoka, bringing both native African girls to live in their white world. In “The Elephant Bond,” the second book of this trilogy, the story resumes four years after the rescued survivors and their guide have returned to their homes in England, America, and Africa. The five survivors find their lives are forever interwoven by a bond of loyalty. During the next fifteen years their lives continue to change and intertwine while Ero and Namoka are growing up. In “When Cultures Collide,” Ero is a doctor returning to Africa to provide medical care for the Maasai tribe who saved his life. When Namoka is assigned to be his nurse, their friendship turns to love. However, African culture rejects interracial marriage and shuns children of mixed blood. Ero wants to help the Maasai, but his greatest desire is to be the loving father that he was denied. His aunt and uncle, the only family he has, want him to return to America and be a partner in his uncle’s surgery practice. When forced to decide between loyalty to his family and his love for Namoka, his decision has unexpected results. Namoka is also torn between love for Ero and for her homeland. With one foot in each of the two vastly different black and white worlds, she must figure out where she belongs and if her love for Ero is enough to leave the