Books

“Laughter in the Shadows – stories of courage of 11 Zambian women”.

“Mum, you’re not like the rest of your family,” her children say.

Naomie replies,“That’s because I have a fighting spirit.”

Zambian women often face extraordinary challenges that women in the Western world can hardly imagine: crippling poverty, exposure to HIV, barriers to education, insufficient healthcare services, scarce resources for their children’s needs, family betrayals, and even threats of witchcraft. Yet in spite of the obstacles, many of them persevere and succeed in creating better lives for themselves and their children. Naomie and the ten other women portrayed in this book know the secret to overcoming hardships is to work hard, to challenge expectations, to be strong, to be true to themselves, and to laugh, even when times are hard. Their stories are, in many ways, universal–the stories of women overcoming hardships for the sake of their families–yet they are as specific and as unique as each of the women featured in this book.

“Laughter in the Shadows” is now available in print both from Switzerland and  Canada and as e-book on Amazon.  Please leave a comment if you would like  a print copy! I will see that it gets to you. Price: Cdn$20, CHF20, EU20, plus applicable shipping. You can also email me at: mariannastamm@gmail.com

 

 

“Greetings from Zambia – letters home from an overseas volunteer” (travel memoir) is sold out. Watch for an e-book version to appear in the next months!

bookcover, “Greetings from Zambia”

‘Why are we here? What does real help look like? Why are people hungry in such a fertile country?’ “Greetings from Zambia!” is a compilation of the newsletters sent home to friends and family over six years of short term volunteer work in Zambia.  It is a journey not just to Zambia, but into ourselves. The letters show our joys, our frustrations; our questions to the culture around us and to our own. They tell the stories of the people we meet – the small scale farmer with her hoe, the large commercial farmer, the missionary, the businessman, black and white – the men and women that make up everyday Zambia.