Belonging

Shortly after the end of WWII, Switzerland asked its citizens to take in children from Europe’s war-torn countries, helping to restore them to health and stability.

For Andrea, a six year old German girl, the mountain village of Malix becomes her home. Thriving in this Heidi-like setting, nevertheless her longed-for playmates are slow to offer acceptance. She is a child of the enemy, a fact they are not likely to forget.

Years later Andrea copes in her determined and unique way with new challenges of exclusion, as the only Lutheran student in a Catholic boarding school. And when she is sent to school in England, aware of the damage that Germany inflicted on Great Britain, she is apprehensive about living there. Instead of rejection she encounters acceptance, friendship, and love that will alter her life.

Description

Doris Platt

The Republic of Georgia – Sakartvelo – ancient land of the Golden Fleece, of Jason and the Argonauts – is a place where history and legend blur together. Once known as the “end of the world”, it became my world for a time. My involvement there began with single, simple things that created something far greater. Curiosity about the country of Georgia turned into a love of its people, followed by an extraordinary twist of fate that found me appointed Special Advisor to a President on the other side of the globe. And her experiences during the fall of the USSR.

Within my experiences are woven bright recollections of the people I met, their uniqueness like strands of gold enfolded in wool. Some of these friends are still with us. Others have gone but their names, faces, and fearless generosity remain memorable.