Author: Richard Loseby
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143031767
Description
An astonishing adventure in a country few would even contemplate visiting.
Afghanistan-remote, elusive, infamous since September 11, 2001 for most-is a land of wonder, beauty and contrasting strangeness for New Zealand writer Richard Loseby. This is the story of a journey that began in the mind of an eight-year-old boy obsessed with looking for the Afghan and ended with a perilous dash to safety across more than seven hundred kilometers of mountain and desert. Avoiding land mines and bullets, he spent months traveling through Iraq and Iran negotiating a way into Afghanistan. Joining forces with the war-weary Mujahedeen, he found unexpected allies and unforgettable friends.
Although Loseby encountered danger on many occasions, he experienced a strange joy; daily life was full of small acts of kindness and many acts of hostility-ordinary exchanges charged with tension and drama. The result is a rare glimpse of the Afghani people themselves, people of warmth, generosity and humour. But this is not just a travel story, it is a story of tenacity of spirit and of promises made and kept.