About the Novel:
This simple memoir is the extraordinary story of a poor nomadic boy in Kenya who literally travels across the world but never abandons home. Lekuton grew up in Kenya's poorest tribe, herding cows and playing in trees and hyena holes before he entered a missionary boarding school and went to college in the U.S. Now he teaches in Virginia, but he has never lost his Maasai roots, and he returns home to help his people several months a year. Looking back without romanticism or self-pity, he remembers how it was: the joy and excitement, the constant hunger and moving, and the traditions, including the circumcision ceremony that made him a man. The Cinderella theme begins in Kenya where he's the shabby kid accepted at a fancy Nairobi high school. Later he travels to his college interview in a cattle truck with the cows. What gives this short, readable book its power is Lekuton's authoritative, intimate view of now and then.
-- Hazel Rochman
-- Hazel Rochman
About the Author:
Joseph Lekuton was born in a cow-dung hut to a tribe of Maasai nomads in rural Kenya. In 2003 he graduated with a master's degree in educational policy from Harvard University. His exceptional journey between those two moments and beyond has allowed him to embrace—and bridge—both cultures. Lekuton hopes the future will hold more opportunities for him to play a leadership role in Kenya. Equally comfortable in a Maasai red robe or a business suit, his passion for opening minds may open new doors for the villages he still calls home.
Why Teach Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna
While reading Facing the Lion, I fell absolutely and irrevocably in love with the Maasai people, whom I have never seen. People who see beauty in everything and take care of one another are absolutely as beautiful and inspiring as anyone. So often students live their entire educational lives in their own county, or their own state. Facing the Lion provides a cost free way to travel to Kenya and Tanzania and "see" through the eyes of the author just how other people live, learn, and enjoy life.