Charles Herrick

Breath of Kenya: Medicine, Mystery and Women in Rural Kenya Charles Herrick

Publisher Marketing: A greatly expanded version of his original work, Breath of Kenya, Medicine, Mystery and Women in Rural Africa delightfully and dramatically relives the experience of a lone white adventurer on his first missionary journey to a primitive and remote African village. Charles Herrick lives among the mud huts and strange customs of Kenya in a manner not unlike the Africa of centuries gone by. He comes across a creeping health malady that is killing scores of villagers. Though not a doctor, he determines to resolve it. Written in an engaging style that takes you from intrigue to abhorrence, empathy to anger, the quirky humor often makes you laugh out loud while offering a balance to the tragic occurrences captured so poignantly and personally. In this version there is a significantly greater focus on the women of rural Kenya captures the eerie taboos and rituals as well as the daunting daily lives of village women. Some of it is shocking. Some of it is maddening. Most of it you have never heard of before. You will come to admire the strength of the women of Kenya. This book touches the heart, the mind and the funny bone. It is one of those books that pulls you in, holds onto you and makes you see things a little differently for a at least a brief period of time - but most likely forever. Contributor Bio:  Herrick, Charles Charles Herrick is a Seattle native. He married Kristy while in college and he feels that was the best decision of his life. They have three great kids, Lexie, Mason and Walker, along with llamas, two chickens and a bulldog named Bullard, who is very dull and dependent. Charles is a writer and relief worker, serving alone in the most challenging settings in the underdeveloped world. He has been to the mud huts of Kenya, the slums of Bombay, and other places rarely mentioned in Conde Nast. In Africa he resolved an epidemic. In India he treated lepers and untouchables for all kinds of health ailment. Later in the high mountains of Southern India, he taught a woman to walk again who had been crippled since the age of 5 and who had not walked in 33 years. With a Bachelor of Science degree in pre-medical studies and fresh out of the University of Washington, Charles "temporarily" entered the business world. There, with his hand perpetually on the doorknob, he spent the first couple of decades where he was highly successful, eventually becoming the CEO of one of Seattle's largest technology firms. Of the 5000 people in Seattle who have worked for him at one time or another, approximately 80% love him; 15% could take him or leave him; and 5% will run him over in a crosswalk if they see him. This is an admirable distribution and one we should all strive for - especially if you look both ways before crossing the street. He is the author of Breath of Kenya, which details the time he spent in a primitive village in the deep interior of East Africa.