Modesta at her international school in India.

Readers of A Girl Called Problem often ask me about my friend Modesta, the woman I dedicated the novel to and whom I introduce at the end of the book in my author’s note. Modesta was one of many village kids I met in Tanzania. We first got acquainted because she sold fruit door to door to earn money to help out her mom. Modesta and I eventually became great friends–she taught me most of my Swahili and how to get by in general in Tanzania–and when I later moved to India to teach at an international school, Modesta ended up joining me there.

But before she moved to India, Modesta had never visited a big city, let alone stepped on an airplane. As you can imagine, deciding to leave her rural village took an immense amount of courage. I flew to Tanzania to accompany Modesta on that first journey, but even with my help, Modesta just barely made it out of East Africa.

Fifteen years later, Modesta lives in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam. She’s also flown on many international flights. But we still laugh about our first nail-biting trip out of East Africa together. The Christian Science Monitor recently published my essay describing the journey.

I hope you enjoy reading our story!