Shade of the Boabab Tree

By Fatmatta Rawdatu Kanu

Shade of the Baobab Tree is Fatmatta's fourth book. It covers her return with her husband to Sierra Leone, Sheka's career in Politics, the coup that ended his political career and jeopardized his health. Fatmatta's own career flourished working as a volunteer in radio and television and as a paid professional for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF Sierra Leone) and the Library of Congress. She was also a city councillor for the Municipality of Freetown. Finally the book chronicles the family's last desperate flight from a country they loved and served with Sheka very ill on his way to hospital in Germany.

The first, Through the Calabash, told her childhood and coming of age story. She was among the first Temne Muslim girls to attend school and college and became a teacher. She then married, set up a home and started a family. Her second, Taste of the Kola Nut describes her journey to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to join her husband, Sheka Kanu, who was a graduate student at the University of Alberta. They lived in Edmonton for five years. Fatmatta worked in the University Library and Provincial Laboratory, while Sheka obtained his masters and doctorate degrees and they had their next three children. Her third volume, Rock Behind the Waterfall, covers Sheka's diplomatic career in Europe. Fatmatta became wife of the ambassador. While nurturing six children and fostering two others, she delivered two more children, she obtained her BA from the University of Maryland and MA in International Relations from Boston University.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0C1J3J611
• ISBN13: 9798387760105
• Release Date: March 2023
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"