WANDERLUST

Could an American woman, already a grandmother, enjoy living her life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a country known as one of the world's most repressive societies? A country with a vision of women and their freedoms different from what she was accustomed to? What the author found there, instead, were magical days, sand dunes reaching to the sky, unforgettable encounters, renown Bedouin hospitality, and a new love. All these new experiences led to a path of awareness and self-confidence that gave a new color to the life of a woman who wasn't finished exploring the world and learning from it. Find in these pages a new perspective on Saudi Arabia and a woman's rebirth in the beauties of a country too often considered devoid of wonders. As a child, Ava Kabouchy was fascinated by world maps, which later turned into travels to many parts of the world. She has worked in several African countries, created a microcredit group for women in Honduras, and did a volunteer photography gig for a clinic for a Mayan community in a remote mountainous region of Guatemala. Recently, she hiked along the Camino de Santiago in Spain and in France, and traveled in Morocco, fulfilling a childhood dream of walking barefoot in the Sahara. Saudi Arabia was never on Ava's list of travel destinations, but when she was offered a teaching position in Riyadh, she immediately knew that she would accept it. Already a grandmother when she left for Riyadh, she found new friends, adventures she could never have imagined, love, and a new lease on life. Ava is the author of the recently published Where in the World is Grammie Now?, a book for young readers to teach them about Saudi Arabia, a country not often studied in middle school curricula. The book also encourages other Grammies not to listen to what they say, but to go see. Ava makes her home in southwest France and on a remote island off the coast of Maine, USA.