TALES OF AN IKUT SWAMI is a collection of my experiences with women in the Developing World. Each country was a new adventure and a new challenge and being an Ikut Swami gave me the freedom to try whatever opportunities came my way. Some of the stories are based on people that I knew for more than a year, and others lasted weeks, months, and in one case, an afternoon. But each was recorded in a notebook or journal, which preserved details I definitely would have forgotten by now. One is a portion of an article I wrote for the early Ms. Magazine, but all the rest are recorded treasured memories. It would be great if these stories trigger a walk down Memory Lane for all that read the book, thinking about amazing women they have met. And it lets us know that someway, big or small, we can all make a difference. - Cristina Kessler
About the Author: Cristina Kessler grew up in Los Altos, CA. Ever since the age of 10, she knew that she wanted to be a writer, and since the age of 12 she also knew that she would be a traveler, when she read a complete encyclopedia set called Lands and Peoples. This has led her to visit 104 countries, with the bonus of learning 7 languages along the way. Cristina met her husband, Joe, as a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in 1973. They were volunteers for 5 years in Honduras, Kenya and the Seychelles. Upon finishing Peace Corps they took a 3 1/2 year trip that got them from the Seychelles, down the Nile for 1000 miles, 7 months crewing on a 55' trimaran in the Caribbean, then overland from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego and back. They spent 5 months on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos, tagging turtles for the Darwin Research Station, and went to Antarctica for 3 1/2 weeks with the Chilean navy. From 1981 to 2001 Joe worked for CARE and they lived in Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Honduras, Mexico, Niger, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia and Mali. Between Niger and Mozambique in 1990 they took a seven-month trip to the South Pacific. In 2001 they moved from the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert to the Caribbean Sea on St. John, USVI. Her philosophy in life is "Any trip, Anywhere, Anytime!" She visits Africa at least once a year, and sometimes twice. Cristina began writing for children in 1981, when she sold her first manuscript to "Highlights for Children." Since that time she has written for magazines in Asia, Africa, America and Europe. She has also worked for various international organizations, doing the writing, photography and lay-out design for fund-raising materials. Cristina's books and Young Adult novels include: ONE NIGHT, ALL THE KING'S ANIMALS, KONTE CHAMELEON, FINE, FINE, FINE!, NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT, MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER'S GOURD, JUBELA, OUR SECRET, SIRI AANG, THE BEST BEEKEEPER OF LALIBELA, TROUBLE IN TIMBUKTU, and HOPE IS HERE! With her books for kids she has a personal writing agenda, which is to get the good news out about Africa. Cristina has traveled down Memory Lane and wrote TALES OF AN IKUT SWAMI, a collection of her experiences with women in the Developing World. Each country was a new adventure and a new challenge and being an Ikut Swami gave her the freedom to try whatever opportunities came her way. Cristina and her husband, Joe, currently reside on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.