Paperback Book Covers for Biographies

This is a biography of a twenty-one year old law student living in Pretoria, South Africa.

Emotional trauma can have an extremely adverse effect on human behavior. Some people’s emotional wounds have been ignored for so long they have become infected. Bridget was not immune to this. She had lived her life beneath the triggers of the feelings she couldn’t express. She always said she was okay, no matter how her heart beat, no matter how long it took her to catch her breath. 

She was a ticking bomb. She could go from zero to sixty in five seconds flat. She always said she was okay but deep down she knew that the shackles of delayed grief, feelings of rejection and resentment, her father’s absence,  sexual abuse in the hands of her “mentor”, heartbreak and experiences of cyberbullying, didn’t leave her the same person. 

The change had been gradual, but it felt as though it had happened all at once, a tectonic shift, a free fall. 

When she embarked on her healing journey, she realized that once exposed to the light, things hidden in darkness lose their power. She felt the great jaws of fear loosening and in its place was a flicker of forgiveness, of acceptance, of moving on, a flicker of excitement and contentment of what it means to be truly whole. 

Her strength is a constant surprise with all the world still hers to conquer. She is in constant awe of the King who chooses and uses the weak and flawed people, and who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. 

This autobiography describes the life of a strong, intelligent woman, Irene Banda, who was raised in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and became a Canadian citizen after marrying David Beer who was working on a CUSO project in Zambia.  

Irene takes us through her childhood, explaining some cultural features of her people in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Irene’s mother was a nurse who specialized in child birth. After her divorce, she found it necessary to take jobs that required frequent travel, so asked Irene’s grandmother to raise her. After kindergarten, Irene was educated in private schools paid for by her mother and received an excellent education.  Both her mother and grandmother were strong, independent women and they were suitable role models for Irene, who was a brilliant student and a natural leader. 

When she qualified to take nursing training at Harare Hospital in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) she joined 328 student nurses in this prestigious institution and stood up for the Northern ones who were being discriminated against.  After graduating, she worked in a hospital in Ndola where she met David. When David’s project was finished, they returned to Canada where David went to university and Irene worked in hospitals.  Eventually, they were working in different countries and decided to divorce. 

Irene went on to work on many projects as a contract consultant for CARE Canada, the United Nations and many other international organizations. 

Her story describes a very capable leader whose many talents and leadership capabilities have enriched Canada and assisted people in many countries.  

A young lady, daughter of a single mother, living in Letaba, Limpopo Province, South Africa, is coming of age. She misses not having a father in the family and pesters her mother to find out who her father is, where he is, and the dozens of other unanswered questions. Her mother refuses to provide any details. As a teenager, this problem looms large in the daughter's life. 

This universal cry for knowledge about her origin will resonate in every country. The daughter's reaction to not knowing, the mother's worries and the ultimate resolution provide a glimpse of the culture in this area of Africa.