Mary Terzian

Politically Homeless: a Five-year Odyssey Across Three Continents Mary Terzian

Publisher Marketing: In this memoir, Terzian's aspirations to attend college meet parents' refusal, flaring her yearnings even more. Consequently she quits her home in Cairo to work with the United Nations (UN) World Health Organization in Alexandria. Five years later she accepts a UN assignment in Congo, where civil war is rampant. She endures the rigors of expatriation, meanwhile saving funds for her college tuition. She also travels to eighteen countries across three continents for vacation and to visit her scattered family: cousin in Holland, brother in Armenia, and new relatives there, descendants of survivors from the Armenian genocide during World War I. While she is still in Yerevan, Comrade Khrushchev is overthrown. She leaves safely and visits several countries in Africa on her way back to Congo. She returns to Leopoldville on board a plane commandeered by mercenaries! Terzian transfers to Lome, Togo, in 1965, but her appointment turns sour. She resigns and seriously thinks about immigrating to where she can peacefully pursue herinterests. Her tenacity pays off. A universal struggle revealed in a personal story, this memoir is told against the backdrop of strict cultural upbringing, political turmoil, and a young woman's love of education propelling her toward independence. - Sherry Barber, Journalist, Editor. Terzian's story continues as her extraordinary autobiography, Politically Homeless - an Odyssey across Three Continents - unfolds with more adventures in her always honest and humorous voice. - M. L. Schubert, Author of The Silence and Beyond."