Description
Magical Moments – In order to bring you this collection, Nenia has gotten serious with a camel, was kissed by a giraffe, escaped from a prisoner, lost her hair, was attacked by an unknown wild beast, encountered a giant, peed with the cockroaches, had a domestic with an elephant, has eaten a tarantula, endured an earthquake, escaped a tsunami but survived to tell her tales.
Poem on my book
At 15 I’m embarrassed, after Op I’ve no hair
Causing many others, to stop and to stare
In Israel with a camel, I gave mouth to mouth
To get to its knees at my level, down south
In Cambodia, a spider of which I would learn
Was a delectable feed, but which made my gut churn
I encountered a giant, while in Phnom Penh
As everyone does, now and again
In Burma I fought, an elephant in zoo
It gave me a fright, and I thought I was through
I’ve peed with the cockroaches in an African ‘loo’
Well one has to go, so what does one do?
Was kissed and was tongued, on the first day away
So with my new boyfriend – what did hubby say?
I escaped a prisoner, my life isn’t a bore
And within this book is so much, much more!
Meryl Brown Tobin –
Magical Moments of an adventurous life by Nenia Tavrou
Someone once said each of us has a book in us.
FAWVic member Nenia Tavrou proves this and more. An ‘ordinary person’, she has a big heart and a great sense of adventure and is always looking for challenging things to do.’ Typically, she sets herself a goal, often with a strong religious motivation behind it, and goes out and achieves it.
In ‘Magical Moments of an adventurous life’ Nenia Tavrou divided her adventures into geographical sections. The Africa section covers Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, and there are also sections on Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Israel, Myanmar, South America which includes Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, and Vanuatu.
Whether Nenia Tavrou relates being kissed by a giraffe, eating a tarantula or defusing a tense situation during a meeting with a just-released prisoner to whom she’d been writing in gaol, it’s always of interest.
Throughout her book the threads that unify her stories and poems are her sense of humour, her love of people, of adventure and of life and her religious beliefs.
A story such as ‘African Security Guard’ shows how fortunate we are to live in a country like Australia. The guard, who worked at a hotel where Nenia Tavrou and her husband Neil were staying, tells how he worked 16 hours a day seven days a week from 4 pm until 8 am and often worked longer. To explain why, Nenia Tavrou uses his own words: ‘I’m never sure of the time and I want to make sure my boss doesn’t have anything to complain about. So I work extra to avoid any hassles. You see, I need this job.’
Nenia went straight out and bought him a watch. Also, because he wanted them to meet his wife and family, Nenia and her husband drove him home, not to his sleeping quarters, an hour’s walk from his job, but to his village 30 km away. The guard had seen his family only twice in the eight months he’d been working at the hotel.
The Australians were so moved by the situation they bought a supply of basic provisions for the family before they left. The following morning they found the guard had said thank you to them in a very practical way. As Nenia Tavrou wrote: He thought we had touched his life, but looking back, he, with the little he had, had blessed us so much more.
If you enjoy reading entertaining books by ‘ordinary people doing adventurous things’, this is one for you.
Meryl Brown Tobin