Everything you do in our culture,
you are preparing for the next stage.
Everything you do in life
is preparing you for the next challenge.

From a green and beautiful village on the side of a small hill in Kenya comes this firsthand account of a boy's journey to manhood. Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton is a Maasai tribesman brought up in the nomadic way of life. The only child in his family to go to school, Lemasolai is torn between the traditional ways of his family and the western ways taught by his teachers. In his struggle to balance two cultures, he learns to apply lessons learned in each of his worlds to the problems of the other.

Lekuton's memories of his childhood paint a vivid picture of this life between worlds. He escapes the village pinching man and faces down the school bully. He survives drought by licking the sweat from the noses of cows and avoids poachers with guns on his long trek home for school vacation. He celebrates his tribal initiation by circumcision and plays soccer for the President of Kenya. He faces his first lion and leaves hoe for college in America.

Personal, moving, and often funny, this modern memoir is a close look at a traditional culture and a satisfying tale of a young man's journey of discovery.

From the dust jacket