Auma's Long Run

An incredible read. A book that I bought, recommend, and share.In 1980's Kenya, 13-year-old Auma wants answers: Why is her father not returning to his job in the city? What is causing this mysterious illness that people in the village call Slim? Why is her mother silent and withdrawn after taking Auma's father to the doctor? The one place where Auma can get answers is school, a place where the teachers are strict (students get hit with a cane in the back of the legs if they are late, "no excuses" is the rule), but at least they give the students accurate information about the transmission and inevitable course of AIDS. Auma faces the daily struggle of keeping her siblings in school and alive after the suffering and deaths of first her father and then her mother. Auma and her mother have their most difficult, honest, and courageous conversation near the end of her mother's life.The author, Eucabeth A. Odhiambo, draws from her own experiences and her work with children affected by AIDS in Kenya. She calls these children heroes, and children like Auma have the fortitude and courage to survive and to keep their siblings alive as well. My hope is that Odhiambo continues writing Auma's story and that we find out if she fulfills her dream to become a doctor dedicated to helping her people fight AIDS.Odhiambo's writing is genuine, clear, even. We get a clear sense of the struggles that children and women face in a society that gives them few options, but the story is uplifting. Auma relies on her best friend, her grandmother, and other women in the community to prevail in getting an education and a track scholarship.Worth every penny.

My daughter has to do a book report every 9 weeks in school. They get to choose the books they would like to read. She asked me for my help on picking a book out, she didn’t want to check one out at the library. I did some research and came across this diamond. She loved it, she didn’t need to complete it until May, but she’s already finished it. She said when she was reading it, she could see such a mind movie, it was like watching it on a big screen. The author did a wonderful job painting the picture. She’s donating it to her school, so more people can read about Amua.

An absolutely amazing read. Heart wrenching and heartwarming at the same time. A book that allows the reader to hope with the protagonist. For readers looking for a book to inspire, dispel myths, tackle taboos and social norms, this is the one. The book is recommended for ages 8-12, but its subject matter felt like one an older child would appreciate and understand more (tweens/teens). Adults as well would benefit a great deal.

Set in a 1980s Kenyan Luo village during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Auma’s Long Run is a piercingly honest account of the struggles, pain, hardships, deaths, famine, and challenges faced by a determined young girl and her community with grace and fortitude. Debut author Eucabeth A. Odhiambo, who grew up in a Luo village, beautifully brings out the complicated ways thirteen year old Auma, her family, and neighbors cope with the scourge. Lack of resources, traditional practices, personalities, and more make this a riveting and complex read. While this is not a story that wallows in misery — Auma is too determined to ever give up — there are still many loses; in one case after the death of a friend’s parents, lack of food causes her little sister to die of malnutrition. How to get to the clinic to see a doctor, whether to consult with a traditional healer, where to get money for school fees and school uniforms, frightening cure mis-beliefs (one causing a man to threaten Auma sexually), and more swirl around this tale. Auma desperately wants to go to secondary school, to become a doctor, to then learn more about this disease and help find a cure. But her obstacles are daunting. Odhiambo relates Auma’s story in clear and direct prose, as practical and realistic as her protagonist. Her descriptions of Auma’s life are vivid and authentic, her scenes raw and real. While there is indeed sorrow and sadness, there is also humor and joy. Highly recommend this one.

When we think of AIDS in Africa, the word ‘hope’ is not one that often comes to mind. It’s more like ‘absolute desolation.’ And I think the media portrayal of “the third world” has taken so much humanity out of how we look at it. I went into Auma’s Long Run looking for more, but not knowing what I’d get out of it.This book is full of death, especially for MG fiction. Odhaimbo doesn’t gloss over what is happening–the lesions, the weakness, the bodily functions. As an educator, her goal is to educate, and so that is what she does. She grew up in Kenya in the 80s, like Auma, when “Slim” was still so unknown, where children learned in school about the disease and then had to try and talk to their parents about it. Could you even imagine? We have a hard enough time trying to explain how the new iPhone works to them!But there IS hope in Auma. So much hope. That’s what makes this story so compelling, and why I finished it so quickly. Even as so many people in her Kenyan village were dying, that only drove her forward to find out what was causing it. At 15 she has to balance so much–school, work, family…starvation. That’s so much for a teenager to have on her plate! Her focus just impresses me so much.We learn about HIV/AIDS in school now, but there’s still so much stigma around it, especially when it comes to how we view the epidemic in African countries. Maybe Auma’s story can help reduce that stigma, and show us the human side.