The books entitled The White Masai and Back from Africa are books that provide insight into the life of a Swiss woman who goes to Kenya and marries a Masai Warrior. In the first book Corinne Hoffmann describes her life in Kenya and in the second book her experiences when she returned to Switzerland. The story of the White Masai has also been made into a film. The book gives a good insight into the way of life of a white woman in Africa and is fascinating to read.
- Details The White Masai
- Description of Corinne’s life
- Data Back from Africa
- Description
- Kilimanjaro
- The White Masai
- Back from Africa
- See you again in Africa
Details The White Masai
- Title: The White Masai
- Author: Corinne Hofmann
- Publisher: Arena
- Publication date: 16-06-2009
- ISBN: 9789089900647
The book has been translated into fifteen languages and made into a film. It is a true story.
Description of Corinne’s life
The book describes how Corinne meets a Masai Warrior during a holiday in Kenya, whom she falls in love with and decides to go through life with him. After a short return to Switzerland, her life begins with the beautiful Masai with the beautiful name Lketinga. It is a tough life that is primitive but mainly accompanied by expressions and customs in a completely different culture. Everything is different. Living conditions, life first with her in-laws and later in a house with walls of dried cow manure, family ties, lifestyle, food from cooking pots and completely different economic circumstances. In the beginning, Corinne adapts very well. However, diseases such as malaria and later hepatitis make life very difficult. She has a daughter named Napirai under particularly difficult circumstances. Her husband Lketinga lives entirely according to the customs of the Masai. It becomes increasingly difficult for Corinne when it appears that her husband is becoming increasingly jealous. She is no longer allowed to go anywhere and her husband even checks the letters she receives. Language also creates problems. To support herself, she starts a souvenir shop in Diana Beach. Ultimately, with great pain in her heart, she says goodbye to Kenya and returns to Switzerland.
Data Back from Africa
- Title: Back from Africa
- Author: Corinne Hofmann
- Publisher: Arena
- Publication date: 2003
- ISBN: 9789069746784
Description
In this book, Corinne Hofmann describes how she left Kenya in 1990 with a German passport for her daughter. Actually, there is a flight where she indicates that she will return after three weeks. However, this is not her intention at all. Corinne and Napirai move in with Corinne’s mother and his boyfriend. She is very emaciated and overtired. First she must obtain a residence permit because she originally has a German passport. This works after three months. Corinne is completely alienated from life in Europe. She had no television in Kenya and the events of the last few years have passed her by. After a short period she starts looking for a job. She finds this quite quickly in the sale of various products.
Over time, she will be able to afford her own housing again. She changes jobs several times. She makes new contacts with friends and starts living a Swiss life. Corinne describes how she has to arrange the divorce from Lketinga and even has to submit photos because the judges do not understand what her life has been like. But she continues to support her husband’s family in Kenya with letters and money. Life has become more difficult in Kenya and there are many tribal fights. After some time, Lketinga remarries a young woman. Contact with her former mother-in-law remains especially important to Corinne. She writes with love about her harsh life in the country she loves. In the beginning she tries to answer people’s questions personally, but when this becomes too much she decides to put her story on paper and her whole life changes. She is asked everywhere to give lectures. She speaks on radio and TV and travels throughout Europe.
Kilimanjaro
Corinne herself is surprised at the success her book has had. The daughter Napirai is developing well in Switzerland and Corinne starts a new relationship. They then move to Lugano in Switzerland where her new relationship starts looking for another job. At the end of the book, Corinne travels to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro with a small group. She is homesick for Africa and wants to experience what it is like to be on African soil again. This will be a mildly disappointing experience.
The White Masai
The book is very easy to read. You feel involved with the main character and especially the culture in which she has ended up makes it fascinating. It teaches you a little more about the Masai and the Samburu tribe. If you have ever visited a Masai village, you can get a glimpse of life among these people. However, there is surprise at the fact that a European woman can maintain this for so long, especially once the baby is born. It is therefore not surprising that over time her marriage breaks down and she returns to Switzerland with her daughter.
Back from Africa
This book starts interestingly and it is especially nice to see how the author is going to fill her life again and, above all, becomes stronger and can stand up for herself better. Her love for the relatives left behind in Kenya also makes an impression. She continues to provide for them financially and corresponds with a younger brother of her ex-husband. After the author published her first book and her life has changed so much, you increasingly get the idea that it is becoming a commercial story. This feeling was reinforced after I heard her in an interview on German television. The care of her daughter is often left to nanny parents and her new relationship must adapt to her wishes. The writer decides where she wants to live and what she wants to do. Ultimately, the trip to Kilimanjaro cannot be placed in the context of the story and that is a shame.
See you again in Africa
Fourteen years after her departure, Corinne returns to the region in Kenya where she lived for a long time. She also meets her former husband and is present on the film set where her first book is being adapted into a film. She also meets her mother-in-law and other family members. Now she can finally explain why she fled the country she loves so much. This completes the circle.