Living in Kenya during its last tumultuous days as a British colony had a transformative effect. During those two years, I was fortunate to know the emerging young leaders of Kenya’s independence movement and the fascinating women from all walks of life and cultures who became my friends.

I traveled to Murchison Falls in Uganda when it was still “elephant country,” before the elephants were poached out of existence, and drove among the vast herds in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanganyika at a time when it was biblical in its undisturbed remoteness and peace.

With my three young children, I drove three hundred miles from Nairobi to the Kenya coast through desolate bush country inhabited by big game. The trip had a profound and lasting impact on my life. I discovered a hidden core of strength deep in my security-loving soul and a determination to move ahead into the future in new directions. This was Kenya’s gift to me.