An enthusiastic crowd of forty residents of the Penobscot Shores community in Belfast, Maine gathered to hear author Brenda Smith read sections from her newly published memoir Becoming Fearless: Finding Courage in the African Wilderness. The group enjoyed ice cream and a crocodile-shaped cake specially created for the event while they heard how Brenda became part of an expedition through a perilous stretch of uninhabited Tanzanian wilderness.
After reading excerpts from the beginning chapters of the book, Brenda signed print copies of her book for people who wanted their own copies of the book to read. It amazed many of the attendees that Brenda gave up a secure, risk-free job as a CPA to join the band of Sobek daredevil explorers. "I never could have done what you did!" remarked one woman in line to buy a book.
Brenda said it brought her joy to share her story and to see the crowd react so positively to the passages she chose to introduce the reader to the adventure she reluctantly found herself taking 42 years ago. She hopes her book will inspire people to risk stepping outside their own comfort zones to discover things they've never experienced. Brenda also hopes this story will serve as a warning that the changes humans are making to the planet in the name of progress, might instead be placing the earth in peril.
Photo Credit - John Cole
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