ORDER FORM
Order your first-edition copy today! All books purchased here will be signed by the author.
Prices include shipping.
ABOUT RUBY’S WORLD
Searching for purpose after surviving a heart attack and breast cancer, 52-year-old Karen Baldwin sets off alone for South Africa as the first white teacher in a rural Zulu elementary school. Her suitcases bursting with books and art supplies, Karen arrives at the small airport where she is greeted by Principal Phyllis Zondi and Ruby Ndlela of Zinti Junior Primary School. Karen’s hosts seem eager to pursue their dreams of English proficiency and computer literacy for their “learners,” but the Zulus’ desire for westernization soon conflicts with strong tribal traditions. Karen’s goodwill is stretched to the breaking point by encounters with witch doctor supremacy, infant scarification, and female genital mutilation. When Ruby and Phyllis suddenly turn on Karen for reasons she may never fully understand, she is afraid for her life, trapped in a concrete room on a locked compound with no one to turn to for help.
PRAISE for RUBY’S WORLD
Karen Baldwin’s masterful memoir reads like a suspense thriller as this resolute American woman of “a certain age” journeys alone to South Africa to teach Zulu children. There she encounters a stunning resistance to change from those who invited her. Baldwin’s writing is candid, taut and relentless, as waves of cultural tension build to an unforeseen crisis that tests her courage and strength.
– Phaedra Greenwood, Award Winning Journalist
Karen Baldwin, through raw, honest, and vibrant writing, shares her journey to teach children in South Africa. Her good intentions are met by strong traditions and a real Africa—not an illusion or romanticized world—where nothing is wasted and there is little personal space. Baldwin’s journey reveals the similarities in Zulu and American families’ joys, pain, deception and love.
– Dr. Andrea M. Heckman, PhD, Cultural Anthropologist, University of New Mexico
An extraordinary story, beautifully told. Baldwin’s account of her adventure in Africa is honest, moving, frequently funny, sometimes startling, and always compelling. This is a journey of faith, and it carries the reader along every twist and turn in that journey with remarkable clarity and grace.
– Sean Murphy, Author, The Time of New Weather
ABOUT the AUTHOR
In mid-life, Ms. Baldwin turned her back on a successful career in civil engineering to focus on her lifelong desire to serve the needs of women and children. She graduated from the Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and Interfaith Ministry and earned a certificate in Spiritual Psychology from theWest CoastKabbalahSchool. As an independent Interfaith Minister, she once worked as a hospital chaplain with Kaiser Permanente in California. Then, through her dreams she was called to work with children inAfrica. “I didn’t chooseAfrica. Africa chose me,” Karen says.
Today, she lives in the mountains of northern New Mexico with her four-legged companion, Gabriel. She presents workshops nationally on the power of dreams as a compass for life, speaks on navigating the human condition, and maintains a spiritual direction practice.
“Africa was an experience that changed my life,” says Karen. “I hope that every reader comes away from Ruby’s World, as I did, with new self-awareness, and one less judgment.”
Karen can be reached at karen@revkarenbaldwin.com
CLICK HERE to view a 5 minute interview with the author
FOLLOW THIS LINK to purchase Ruby’s World for your Kindle.
A portion of the proceeds from Ruby’s World goes to feed, clothe and educate children in rural KwaZulu-Natal. You can learn more at THE SIMUNYE PROJECT.
