BOOK LAUNCH - MY STORY: KILIMANJARO TO LONDON: REFLECTIONS AND LESSONS OF LIVING IN TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS

Some forty years ago, a young newlywed woman found herself making difficult decisions: support her husband’s ambitions or complete her own architectural studies. She chose both. This was Dr. Aida Uforo Kisanga, the author of this interesting life story.

 She left Kilimanjaro, Tanzania for London, the UK to join her Ph.D. student husband, not merely as a spouse but also determined to carve an academic niche. She only looked back to stay true to her Chagga-Tanzanian roots. How did she do it? The answer is in her book: “MY STORY: KILIMANJARO TO LONDON – Reflections and Lessons of Living in Two Different Worlds”. 

It is a story of her experiences refreshingly affirming the adage, “where there’s a will there’s a way”.Aida’s book starts with a description of her early life in Tanzania. She also describes her National Service stint arguing, love it or hate it, there was a lot to learn. She writes passionately about her architectural studies in Tanzania and how she met her husband, married him and followed him to the UK. Turning to life in London, she writes that it was, at first, a challenge. 

The two of them had to subsist on a paltry stipend at Nansen Village. Meanwhile, Aida struggled to find scholarships and it was a long road to earn her Masters and Ph.D. degrees. In between, she recalls the family miseries they endured – the gruesome death of her sister and later, the sad passing of her father. Undaunted, she explains, life had to go on. 

Aida writes about their decision to have children and settle in the UK. They now have two adult sons, a barrister and a medical doctor. She travels with the reader the world over – to international conferences accompanying her husband, as well as to and from Tanzania with family. Extraordinarily poignant is her heroic climb with her son up Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Also figuring in the book is the return of her husband to Tanzania for work, where he heads the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group. She explains that the role brought them full cycle and was a fitting way to give something back to their beloved homeland. Seeing the world is truly the best education one can get.