Lessons Across Latitudes: An Alaskan Memoir - Paperback

by Patrick Pillai (Author)

As a child in apartheid South Africa, Patrick Pillai dreamed of living in an impossibly different place: the Bering Strait in Alaska. But he was of Indian descent, and opportunities rarely went to people like him. So, he sought a life of fun, working random jobs-from switchboard operator to dock worker-until a moment on the job convinced him he could no longer remain in an unjust system. The field of deaf education and a gift for connecting with people became his ticket to world travel and that childhood dream: work that took him to the remotest villages of Alaska. Along the way, he faced immigration difficulties, forged friendships and started a family-his sense of humor and wonder paving his way. Part adventure travelogue, part history lesson, and part meditation on living in multiple cultures, this memoir chronicles Patrick's unlikely journey and the people who made it possible.