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Wait for God to Notice
"To live in Uganda today is hell," declared Uganda's Finance Minister after escaping to England. It was 1975, and Idi Amin had declared himself president for life, the economy had crashed, and people were disappearing. One year later, the Fordham family arrived as missionaries.
With humor and empathy, Fordham narrates her remarkable childhood in Uganda. She describes her family’s peculiar faith, her mother’s Scandinavian practicality, Uganda's dangerous politics, the growing conflict between her parents, and the magic of living in a house surrounded by jungle. Driver ants stream through their bedrooms, mambas drop out of the stove, and monkeys steal their tomatoes.
Fordham's vivid, unsentimental narration observes how it's possible to love someone you disagree with and how a place that doesn't belong to you can turn you into who you are. Reminiscent of The Poisonwood Bible and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Wait for God to Notice, explores the complex terrain of being a mzungu in East Africa, and ultimately being a stranger everywhere on Earth.
With humor and empathy, Fordham narrates her remarkable childhood in Uganda. She describes her family’s peculiar faith, her mother’s Scandinavian practicality, Uganda's dangerous politics, the growing conflict between her parents, and the magic of living in a house surrounded by jungle. Driver ants stream through their bedrooms, mambas drop out of the stove, and monkeys steal their tomatoes.
Fordham's vivid, unsentimental narration observes how it's possible to love someone you disagree with and how a place that doesn't belong to you can turn you into who you are. Reminiscent of The Poisonwood Bible and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Wait for God to Notice, explores the complex terrain of being a mzungu in East Africa, and ultimately being a stranger everywhere on Earth.
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2021
13 people are currently reading
4,570 people want to read
About the author
Sari Fordham
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Sari Fordham is a writer, professor, and environmental activist. She has lived and worked all over the world, including Thailand, South Korea, Austria, Kenya, and Uganda. Her essays have appeared in Chattahoochee Review, Brevity, Wrath-Bearing Tree, Booth, Green Mountains Review, Passages North, and Baltimore Review. She has been the recipient of a fellowship at Djerassi Resident Artists program and a grant in nonfiction at Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Wait for God to Notice is her first book.
Sari Fordham is a writer, professor, and environmental activist. She has lived and worked all over the world, including Thailand, South Korea, Austria, Kenya, and Uganda. Her essays have appeared in Chattahoochee Review, Brevity, Wrath-Bearing Tree, Booth, Green Mountains Review, Passages North, and Baltimore Review. She has been the recipient of a fellowship at Djerassi Resident Artists program and a grant in nonfiction at Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Wait for God to Notice is her first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
April 25, 2021
Sari Fordham’s Waiting for God to Notice blew me away. This book is lyrical and poetic. The story itself is so intriguing, and the author’s ability to tell it is beyond skillful. This book is so incredibly rich in place—Uganda—and the family bonds and experiences the author describes are gripping, urgent, and engaging.
I felt as if I traveled with the narrator and her family, and experienced their adventures first hand. I could feel every moment in such a visceral way. The title and cover are among my very favorites, and the writing is pure music. I read this book in one blissful day. I am amazed by the journey this family took—I admire the grit, humanity, and authenticity of these characters, and I thank Sari Fordham for letting me into her world. I can’t wait to read her next work of art.
I felt as if I traveled with the narrator and her family, and experienced their adventures first hand. I could feel every moment in such a visceral way. The title and cover are among my very favorites, and the writing is pure music. I read this book in one blissful day. I am amazed by the journey this family took—I admire the grit, humanity, and authenticity of these characters, and I thank Sari Fordham for letting me into her world. I can’t wait to read her next work of art.
February 18, 2021
Wait for God to Notice is author Sari (rhymes with Mary) Fordman's poignant love story about her family and a land far away—Uganda. Her parents, Kaarina (who is Finnish) and Gary (American) Fordham, are Seventh Day Adventist missionaries sent to Africa for six years during the terror reign of Idi Amin. They bring along their two daughters, Sonja, 5, and Sari, 2.
Twenty years later, while perusing letters written by her now-deceased mother, an avid letter-writer, a grown up Fordham reflects on her childhood spent in Uganda, and how her parents—and by osmosis, their daughters—adapted to the unfamiliar environment. Fordham knits together a heartrending story of familial connections that root her to her heritage from both parents and extended family in Finland and America; and passion that bonds her to Ugandan people, lifestyle, wildlife, and fantastic landscape of perpetual green. There was life all around, and Fordham relishes in fascination at what she saw right outside the door in the constant sweltering heat: a real jungle, lush and thriving, waiting to be explored by adventuresome, fearless children. There were monkeys, civet cats, mongooses, black mambas, and the persistent driver ants.
Swarms of carnivorous driver ants invaded their little “home on the hill� on their first night in Bugema, Uganda. Driver ants “can eat through a trapped hen, leaving bones as clean as porcelain,� explained Fordham. Yet her parents observed more in wonder than fear as the six-inch-wide column streamed from their bedroom and into toddler Sari's bedroom.That sense of fearless wonder permeates throughout the many adventures Fordham relates in her book.
Through contemplative reflection, Fordham becomes a keen observer of settings and personalities, especially that of her mother, Kaarina. Before Uganda, Kaarina considered herself as matter-of-fact, practical, confident, determined and driven. But speaking of her, Fordham says, “Ever since she arrived in Uganda, she had been overwhelmed by her incompetence. This must have surprised her.�
In spite of this, Fordham comes to see her mother as one who never flinched in the face of fearsome encounters, be they jungle creatures or the jungle guerillas of Idi Amin. She always stood her ground, protecting her own. From this, Fordham comes to see the sheer bravery and resilient competence exuded from her mother. She could handle anything tossed her way.
Fordham's memoir reads like a beautiful melodic love poem, a river sweetly laced with the passage of time, ripe with imagery, unexpected changes, and meditative insight. Hers is a story of magical wonder in a foreign land, a sense of belonging to her family and to the shifting lands she inhabits—whether in Finland, America, or Uganda. Reading her memoir is a journey into a young girl's life as she interprets the world around her and matures into an inquisitive young woman, full of hope, full of questions, and most importantly, full of familial love.
I didn't want her story to end. Neither will you.
Story Circle Book Reviews thanks Paula Robertson for this review.
Twenty years later, while perusing letters written by her now-deceased mother, an avid letter-writer, a grown up Fordham reflects on her childhood spent in Uganda, and how her parents—and by osmosis, their daughters—adapted to the unfamiliar environment. Fordham knits together a heartrending story of familial connections that root her to her heritage from both parents and extended family in Finland and America; and passion that bonds her to Ugandan people, lifestyle, wildlife, and fantastic landscape of perpetual green. There was life all around, and Fordham relishes in fascination at what she saw right outside the door in the constant sweltering heat: a real jungle, lush and thriving, waiting to be explored by adventuresome, fearless children. There were monkeys, civet cats, mongooses, black mambas, and the persistent driver ants.
Swarms of carnivorous driver ants invaded their little “home on the hill� on their first night in Bugema, Uganda. Driver ants “can eat through a trapped hen, leaving bones as clean as porcelain,� explained Fordham. Yet her parents observed more in wonder than fear as the six-inch-wide column streamed from their bedroom and into toddler Sari's bedroom.That sense of fearless wonder permeates throughout the many adventures Fordham relates in her book.
Through contemplative reflection, Fordham becomes a keen observer of settings and personalities, especially that of her mother, Kaarina. Before Uganda, Kaarina considered herself as matter-of-fact, practical, confident, determined and driven. But speaking of her, Fordham says, “Ever since she arrived in Uganda, she had been overwhelmed by her incompetence. This must have surprised her.�
In spite of this, Fordham comes to see her mother as one who never flinched in the face of fearsome encounters, be they jungle creatures or the jungle guerillas of Idi Amin. She always stood her ground, protecting her own. From this, Fordham comes to see the sheer bravery and resilient competence exuded from her mother. She could handle anything tossed her way.
Fordham's memoir reads like a beautiful melodic love poem, a river sweetly laced with the passage of time, ripe with imagery, unexpected changes, and meditative insight. Hers is a story of magical wonder in a foreign land, a sense of belonging to her family and to the shifting lands she inhabits—whether in Finland, America, or Uganda. Reading her memoir is a journey into a young girl's life as she interprets the world around her and matures into an inquisitive young woman, full of hope, full of questions, and most importantly, full of familial love.
I didn't want her story to end. Neither will you.
Story Circle Book Reviews thanks Paula Robertson for this review.
May 31, 2021
Wanting to love a book brings with it a fear of not liking it enough, or even at all. But as I finished the last page of Fordham's memoir, how much I did love it surpassed what I had wanted.
I felt spoken to for I was once a child who, like Fordham, grew up in a far-away place. I was born in the US of immigrant parents who took me overseas before my first birthday. I later lived in East Africa as a just-married (but barely) adult person, so the writer's summoning of red dirt, lush vegetation, and geo-specific wildlife in the context of mission service hummed me back in time.
However, these parallels are not requisite for delighting in . If you appreciate personal essay, memory, word craft, and generous honesty simply told, you too are the intended reader and will find here a deeply satisfying read.
Sadness comes with loving a book: as a reader there is the sadness that comes when finishing it; as a writer there is the sadness that comes when the writing is fine, the voice singular and winsome. As I read, I wondered why I try to write at all. But now I hope that some of Fordham's warmth, wisdom, and courage will stay with and inform me when next I gather the wisps of my memories and weave them into words.
I felt spoken to for I was once a child who, like Fordham, grew up in a far-away place. I was born in the US of immigrant parents who took me overseas before my first birthday. I later lived in East Africa as a just-married (but barely) adult person, so the writer's summoning of red dirt, lush vegetation, and geo-specific wildlife in the context of mission service hummed me back in time.
However, these parallels are not requisite for delighting in . If you appreciate personal essay, memory, word craft, and generous honesty simply told, you too are the intended reader and will find here a deeply satisfying read.
Sadness comes with loving a book: as a reader there is the sadness that comes when finishing it; as a writer there is the sadness that comes when the writing is fine, the voice singular and winsome. As I read, I wondered why I try to write at all. But now I hope that some of Fordham's warmth, wisdom, and courage will stay with and inform me when next I gather the wisps of my memories and weave them into words.
May 7, 2022
This was a buddy read. . . .and hence something that wouldn't have landed on my shelves without the gentle adherence to buddy rules, and I'm glad it happened, because it took me somewhere I never would have gone on my own!
A Seventh Day Adventist family, devout and passionate in their missionary efforts, offer themselves up to a mission that many families who, when offered, turned and ran. No running for this author's family - for when you read of the two little girls in this book, the littlest is the author who is living her life and will remember later and tell you all about it. About monkeys who stole her mother's hard won just fruited tomato plants, temptation itself in the mangos hanging all about their missionary house on the hill - white people isolated so everyone could keep track of them. About military - scary military - Idi Amin's military who disappeared people with an expertise of terrifying suddenness and stealth. And avocados - they had so many they came to hate them. ?How can anyone not love avocadoes? Baffles the mind. They even met the man. Idi, I mean.
But the story really is about their family - their Dad who's off proselyting and serving others, and Mom who mans the hilltop and keeps her little girls safe from snakes, spiders and things that drop from the trees. She pushes back when the army stops by and decides they'd like to have her silverware. She thinks not.
All that said, I must admit, my favorite part was when they landed back in the US, safe and sound. I come from a missionary sending tradition, and can tell you for certain a mother never really sleeps well until the missionaries return. I'm only a reader of this sweet family's real life adventures, but I've gotta say, knowing they made it back was a relief.
If you want something completely different. . . .pick this one up. I kindled, and my notes are included.
A Seventh Day Adventist family, devout and passionate in their missionary efforts, offer themselves up to a mission that many families who, when offered, turned and ran. No running for this author's family - for when you read of the two little girls in this book, the littlest is the author who is living her life and will remember later and tell you all about it. About monkeys who stole her mother's hard won just fruited tomato plants, temptation itself in the mangos hanging all about their missionary house on the hill - white people isolated so everyone could keep track of them. About military - scary military - Idi Amin's military who disappeared people with an expertise of terrifying suddenness and stealth. And avocados - they had so many they came to hate them. ?How can anyone not love avocadoes? Baffles the mind. They even met the man. Idi, I mean.
But the story really is about their family - their Dad who's off proselyting and serving others, and Mom who mans the hilltop and keeps her little girls safe from snakes, spiders and things that drop from the trees. She pushes back when the army stops by and decides they'd like to have her silverware. She thinks not.
All that said, I must admit, my favorite part was when they landed back in the US, safe and sound. I come from a missionary sending tradition, and can tell you for certain a mother never really sleeps well until the missionaries return. I'm only a reader of this sweet family's real life adventures, but I've gotta say, knowing they made it back was a relief.
If you want something completely different. . . .pick this one up. I kindled, and my notes are included.
December 20, 2021
This beautiful memoir explores the life of the author, Sari, as a missionary kid growing up in Uganda. You do not need to have this experience to enjoy this beautifully written book, from a very turbulent time in history. Since I am a former missionary kid myself, it did hold extra meaning. If you are a child growing up in a family in the field, well, your needs come after the people your parents are supposed to help and always, always, after God. I am not sure what the Adventists were thinking, sending any family to a country governed by such a volatile dictator at the time.
Not only was Uganda unsafe, the most basic things in life were scarce on non-existing: such as enough food, clothes and even soap. This family, half Finnish, was in the field in some concurrence with my own. I wonder whether the people who then sent soap, clothes and shoes from Finland to us in Thailand thought we were in the same situation, and having heard of the Fordhams? It's quite likely, I will have to ask. Thailand was safe by comparison, even despite regular coups and guerilla fighting along the border. The world is full of wars and conflict that don't make the media.
Sari tells of the trials and tribulations, and how she and her sister Sonja grew up in Uganda and considered it home. The smell of the earth and the jungle, the snakes that were everywhere, the song birds and monkeys. She also tells of moving back to the United States, to Texas, and how completely out of place she and her sister were to start with. This is the story nobody tells and most never consider. If you are a child of parents with nationality X and grow up in country Y (W, Z), you will invariably be out of place when they return to their home country with you. Talk about being a flamingo among pigeons. Sari and her sister adapted - but they too moved around as adults, as the nomad you often become, having had to make home in yourself rather than in some external capacity.
No adults in my vicinity every took any consideration to the fact that I had such an unusual childhood. They did not consider the fact that I was moved back and forth between continents, I lost and gained languages and friends - it was just taken for granted that I would adapt and be happy. Of course, like Sari, I am grateful for the experiences and I would not trade my childhood for anyone else's because I have no idea who I would be then. If I had never waited for the monsoon to arrive, never seen what was parched desert explode into jungle, never fished for crabs and gubbies in the nearest brook. Never had a friend whose father was shot for being in the wrong place, never seen people lost to drugs, never seen children barefoot in rags, never lost my childhood languages or friends.
Read this book and let Sari take you through her early years and her adaptation to life in the west. Read about her mother's struggles to compromise between her husband's dreams and the lives of her children. It's well worth it.
Not only was Uganda unsafe, the most basic things in life were scarce on non-existing: such as enough food, clothes and even soap. This family, half Finnish, was in the field in some concurrence with my own. I wonder whether the people who then sent soap, clothes and shoes from Finland to us in Thailand thought we were in the same situation, and having heard of the Fordhams? It's quite likely, I will have to ask. Thailand was safe by comparison, even despite regular coups and guerilla fighting along the border. The world is full of wars and conflict that don't make the media.
Sari tells of the trials and tribulations, and how she and her sister Sonja grew up in Uganda and considered it home. The smell of the earth and the jungle, the snakes that were everywhere, the song birds and monkeys. She also tells of moving back to the United States, to Texas, and how completely out of place she and her sister were to start with. This is the story nobody tells and most never consider. If you are a child of parents with nationality X and grow up in country Y (W, Z), you will invariably be out of place when they return to their home country with you. Talk about being a flamingo among pigeons. Sari and her sister adapted - but they too moved around as adults, as the nomad you often become, having had to make home in yourself rather than in some external capacity.
No adults in my vicinity every took any consideration to the fact that I had such an unusual childhood. They did not consider the fact that I was moved back and forth between continents, I lost and gained languages and friends - it was just taken for granted that I would adapt and be happy. Of course, like Sari, I am grateful for the experiences and I would not trade my childhood for anyone else's because I have no idea who I would be then. If I had never waited for the monsoon to arrive, never seen what was parched desert explode into jungle, never fished for crabs and gubbies in the nearest brook. Never had a friend whose father was shot for being in the wrong place, never seen people lost to drugs, never seen children barefoot in rags, never lost my childhood languages or friends.
Read this book and let Sari take you through her early years and her adaptation to life in the west. Read about her mother's struggles to compromise between her husband's dreams and the lives of her children. It's well worth it.
August 15, 2022
This was an interesting memoir of the author's childhood in Africa (Uganda) and I gave it 4 stars simply because I am fascinated by the type of life portrayed. Would have liked the chapters to have years/dates inserted, there was a bit of skipping around instead of a straightforward chronology of events. Even after reading about their faith, it was hard for me to fathom the Adventists' strong beliefs and missionary goals.
May 3, 2021
I was fortunate enough to read an advanced review copy of this memoir. From the first page, I was completely captivated. Seriously, I could not put it down. This is a truly self-reflective and riveting story of the legacy of colonization and the dangers of misguided good intentions, but above all it is the story of a person finding herself and her mother, and coming to understand their identities against a backdrop of conflicting narratives and secrets. I highly recommend this beautiful and moving book.
May 18, 2021
“My parents do not try to make connections between what has happened and what could happen. They do not see the ants as a warning, that peril can slip through the smallest of openings ... that we should pack up and leave. Nor do they see my escape as a miracle ... They are not seeking metaphor or prophecy. They are too practical."
*
I'm so grateful to have read an early copy of Sari Fordham's generous, suspenseful memoir about her childhood living with Seventh-day Adventist missionary parents in Uganda. Since Fordham and her family were in Uganda during the time of Idi Amin, there were many instances where her family -- even as visitors who experienced certain protections -- faced heart-stoppingly dangerous situations. Nature, too, could be dangerous. The book opens with a parade of dangerous driver ants crawling across Fordham's bed while she sleeps peacefully, unaware.
*
And yet, the overwhelming impression I was left with is comfort and courage. The obvious love between family members is so deftly drawn that I almost feel like I was an honorary part of their family. Fordham is also respectful and thoughtful about her family's role as missionaries, and how complex that can be: how many stories about Africa have been told from the perspective of those who aren't from there. She's always acknowledging and thinking about that, and her genuine respect for Uganda shines through.
*
I left organized religion behind when I was younger, and still grapple with how to reconcile some of the aspects of religion that I don't love with the aspects that are beautiful. Fordham is contemplative and thoughtful and sometimes gently tongue-in-cheek about her beliefs. It feels like a gift to get a glimpse into the mind of someone who lives her religion with an open heart and mind. I never once felt overlooked as a non-religious person, and actually came away with a deeper understanding of my own religious background. In case it’s not obvious, I highly recommend this beautiful memoir.
*
I'm so grateful to have read an early copy of Sari Fordham's generous, suspenseful memoir about her childhood living with Seventh-day Adventist missionary parents in Uganda. Since Fordham and her family were in Uganda during the time of Idi Amin, there were many instances where her family -- even as visitors who experienced certain protections -- faced heart-stoppingly dangerous situations. Nature, too, could be dangerous. The book opens with a parade of dangerous driver ants crawling across Fordham's bed while she sleeps peacefully, unaware.
*
And yet, the overwhelming impression I was left with is comfort and courage. The obvious love between family members is so deftly drawn that I almost feel like I was an honorary part of their family. Fordham is also respectful and thoughtful about her family's role as missionaries, and how complex that can be: how many stories about Africa have been told from the perspective of those who aren't from there. She's always acknowledging and thinking about that, and her genuine respect for Uganda shines through.
*
I left organized religion behind when I was younger, and still grapple with how to reconcile some of the aspects of religion that I don't love with the aspects that are beautiful. Fordham is contemplative and thoughtful and sometimes gently tongue-in-cheek about her beliefs. It feels like a gift to get a glimpse into the mind of someone who lives her religion with an open heart and mind. I never once felt overlooked as a non-religious person, and actually came away with a deeper understanding of my own religious background. In case it’s not obvious, I highly recommend this beautiful memoir.
June 18, 2021
I wasn't prepared for just how brilliant and fascinating this memoir proved to be. It's wise and unflinching in its probing of the personal and political, the secular and religious. Luscious in its vivid prose; and striking in its people, honesty, compassion, family dynamics, wry humor, and transportative powers. What a terrific, moving tribute to a mother, father, sister, and the many selves. What an ode and lament to a time, place, and institution that capture the worst and best of humanity.
May 24, 2021
Rich imagery and flowing prose underscores this tribute to Sari Fordham’s mother, who nurtured and protected her family during a six-year missionary trip to Uganda during its historic “reign of terror�. Fordham describes her childhood with a vibrancy that brings her past once again to life. A beautiful and original book.
May 31, 2021
Having just finished this book moments ago, I'm still reeling and teary-eyed and wishing it could go on for another hundred pages, and yet marveling at how perfect it is, how expertly it circles through time, emotion, and landscape. WAIT FOR GOD TO NOTICE is a love letter to a mother and to Uganda. It's immersive, both in the way it puts readers in another time and place and in the way it allows readers to live its protagonists' emotions, fears, joys. It's funny � you'll laugh out loud when you aren't expecting to. It's gripping —I started it last night and finished it today. I literally could not stop reading it. Even at stoplights, I pulled it out and read what I could before the green light came. This book asks questions and is comfortable not knowing the answers. And if you grew up shaped by a place and a person and you are missing Home, this book will make you cry.
I highly recommend this book. It's the type I'll proudly keep on my shelf and read again and again.
I highly recommend this book. It's the type I'll proudly keep on my shelf and read again and again.
May 27, 2021
An upsidedown missionary memoir about a childhood in Uganda, under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. This is a book about snakes, monkeys, growing up Seventh Day Adventist, being white in a post-colonial society, about having a Finnish mother and American father, but mostly about Fordham's mother Kaarina, making a way out of no way, in a situation she would not have chosen for herself.
June 4, 2021
A stunning memoir about a childhood spent partially in Uganda, and of learning to understand what drove her Adventist family to raise their daughters there for several years despite the clear danger. Fordham's book is also an elegy to her mother, delving into what it means to be a mother (both from Fordham's view as a child and now as a mother herself).
December 14, 2021
The author’s use of letters written by her parents during their time in Uganda and her own poetic prose create a vivid picture of the Ugandan landscape and the family’s experience living there. I recommend this book to readers of memoirs with an interest in learning about the lives of missionaries.
Thank you the author and @letstalkbookspromo for a gifted copy.
Thank you the author and @letstalkbookspromo for a gifted copy.
June 2, 2021
When I reached the end of Part I, I nearly pulled an all-nighter. But it was 1 a.m. The second time I picked it up, I could not stop until I'd finished far past midnight, and I wasn't sorry at all. Fordham navigates themes of risk vs. safety, strangeness and familiarity, taking us along with her to places of both privilege and danger. Although I've never visited Uganda and know very little about the Fordham family religion, I am both a mother and a daughter. As she navigates the tensions inherent in those relationships, I could enter her story, too. Best of all, Fordham allows the humans in her story be as complicated as we actually are. Highly recommend.
July 7, 2021
Sari Fordham’s memoir—about her childhood in Uganda under Idi Amin and with her Seventh-day Adventist missionary family—captures place, time, and characters masterfully. Her story is about the jungle, politics, faith, and family, especially Fordham’s no-nonsense Finnish mother. “Each time someone told me I was just like my mother, my chest constricted,� Fordham writes. “I didn’t want to be a scaredy-cat. I hadn’t seen that all along, the inheritance she had passed on to her daughters had been one of courage.�
July 13, 2022
Take the time to read the description of this book. It says it all beautifully, and accurately. Except this: Sari Fordham's 'Wait for God to Notice' is one of my favorite books of the year. As if poetic prose and a griping tale aren't enough, Fordham adds historical and geographical details that give the reader a solid context of time and place in the world. It's a joy to find a book so beautifully written and so well researched.
May 26, 2021
A literary stylist at the sentence level, Sari Fordham’s language is precise, lyrical, and richly detailed. At its center, Wait for God to Notice is less about the particulars of missionary work and the tenets and artifacts of faith—though these are affectionately explored—and more about the adventures (and missteps) of Fordham’s childhood and how her deep love for both place and family have shaped her into the compassionate, intelligent, socially aware woman she has become.
January 14, 2022
I loved this memoir. Sari Fordham has a wonderful writing style. It was easy to see her as a child, experiencing life as the second daughter of a missionary couple. I found the details she shared to be interesting and looked forward to reading each chapter with eagerness. I loved how Sari captured the details of life in Uganda, focusing on the merits rather than the obvious deficits of war, poverty, and the ever-present danger in more than just snakes or driver ants. I was sad when the book, her story came to an end. I was left with the feeling that there was so much more to learn, so much more that I wanted to know. I was especially focused on her perspective of her parents - particularly her mother, and how Sari was shaped into who she is today by her takeaway of their life as a missionary family. Wait For God To Notice is a book I would recommend to anyone, and one which I will read again.
July 6, 2021
An Affirmation of Faith
A review of:
Sari Fordham, Wait for God to Notice, Etruscan Press, Wilkes-Barre, PA (2019).
Robert G. Buice, Ph.D.
Sari Fordham is the daughter of a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Rev. Gary Fordham. When Rev. Fordham was assigned a missionary post in Uganda, Sari, her sister Sonja, and her Finish mother Kaarina accompanied Rev. Fordham to his new post. “We carried with us the historical baggage of missionaries: the colonialism, the racism, the imposition of one culture over another, of one religion over another.�
There were initial problems and fears, especially by Ms. Fordham’s mother “� she became more and more convinced that one of us would die in Uganda. There were so many soldiers, so many guns, so many fevers and snakes. She did not think she could protect us.� The Fordham family did indeed face numerous problem: lack of gasoline, monkeys destroying their garden, the threat of malaria, the dreaded black mamba [arguably the world’s deadliest snake], Rev. Fordham’s teaching multiple classes at the Bugema school, despite numerous limitations [e.g. he had to ride a bike to class], and his moderate theological views that brought on an accusation of heresy. And then there was Idi Amin’s terror: threatening radio addresses every evening, revolutions, public executions, US President Carter’s statements and actions that inflamed Amin, Amin’s announcement that Americans couldn’t leave Uganda and were to report for a personal meeting with Amin, a visit to the Fordham home by a Ugandan soldier [while Rev. Fordham was away], to assess the Fordham’s property [but was somewhat tamed by Mrs. Fordham’s kindness], the period of house arrest [however temporary], the ban on the Adventist Church, the revision of the school’s curriculum due to the ban, the secret worship services in private homes, and the bloody civil war that resulted in Idi Amin’s overthrow. And all this was followed by the adjustments involved in their move to Kenya and subsequently to Texas.
In “Wait for God to Notice�, Ms. Fordham chronicles the above events and situations in a clear and concise manner. She expresses the nature of life under Idi Amin and works in a brief discussion of the history and theology of the Adventist Church. Her clear writing style draws the reader into the day to day life of the Fordham family; their appreciation for Uganda [“It was always beautiful here; even the rains, stern and lashing, were beautiful.”], the occasional joy the family felt, the emotional pain they endured. This work is well researched, well written, and easy to read. I strongly recommend this writing to all who have an interest in theology, regardless of their individual faiths. The Fordham family’s work in Africa was truly an affirmation of faith.
A review of:
Sari Fordham, Wait for God to Notice, Etruscan Press, Wilkes-Barre, PA (2019).
Robert G. Buice, Ph.D.
Sari Fordham is the daughter of a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Rev. Gary Fordham. When Rev. Fordham was assigned a missionary post in Uganda, Sari, her sister Sonja, and her Finish mother Kaarina accompanied Rev. Fordham to his new post. “We carried with us the historical baggage of missionaries: the colonialism, the racism, the imposition of one culture over another, of one religion over another.�
There were initial problems and fears, especially by Ms. Fordham’s mother “� she became more and more convinced that one of us would die in Uganda. There were so many soldiers, so many guns, so many fevers and snakes. She did not think she could protect us.� The Fordham family did indeed face numerous problem: lack of gasoline, monkeys destroying their garden, the threat of malaria, the dreaded black mamba [arguably the world’s deadliest snake], Rev. Fordham’s teaching multiple classes at the Bugema school, despite numerous limitations [e.g. he had to ride a bike to class], and his moderate theological views that brought on an accusation of heresy. And then there was Idi Amin’s terror: threatening radio addresses every evening, revolutions, public executions, US President Carter’s statements and actions that inflamed Amin, Amin’s announcement that Americans couldn’t leave Uganda and were to report for a personal meeting with Amin, a visit to the Fordham home by a Ugandan soldier [while Rev. Fordham was away], to assess the Fordham’s property [but was somewhat tamed by Mrs. Fordham’s kindness], the period of house arrest [however temporary], the ban on the Adventist Church, the revision of the school’s curriculum due to the ban, the secret worship services in private homes, and the bloody civil war that resulted in Idi Amin’s overthrow. And all this was followed by the adjustments involved in their move to Kenya and subsequently to Texas.
In “Wait for God to Notice�, Ms. Fordham chronicles the above events and situations in a clear and concise manner. She expresses the nature of life under Idi Amin and works in a brief discussion of the history and theology of the Adventist Church. Her clear writing style draws the reader into the day to day life of the Fordham family; their appreciation for Uganda [“It was always beautiful here; even the rains, stern and lashing, were beautiful.”], the occasional joy the family felt, the emotional pain they endured. This work is well researched, well written, and easy to read. I strongly recommend this writing to all who have an interest in theology, regardless of their individual faiths. The Fordham family’s work in Africa was truly an affirmation of faith.
July 14, 2021
This beautifully written memoir details the experience of a missionary family in 1970’s Uganda from the point of view of one of two daughters.
Fordham’s ability to access the perspective of her younger self while also maintaining a clear narrative of a world complicated by the political climate and “adult knowledge� of cruelty and fear is admirable. Her presentation of the mother-daughter relationship is authentic and her love for her Ugandan home evident and profound.
I could not put this book down, drawn in by the superb details, exquisite description of place, and the palpable often heart-wrenching moments of tenderness, frustration, longing, and devotion experienced within a family.
(And being that I read most of it during back-to-back 6-hour-long boat voyages, I completed this gem in three days!)
May 5, 2021
I finished Wait for God to Notice feeling like I’d made a dear friend, a testament to the warmth and humor in this memoir. Sari Fordham’s prose style is, when I think about it, a combination of the cultures she grew up in—both crystalline and brisk like jumping into a Norwegian lake while also brimming with the lush, vibrant warmth of the Ugandan jungle, all topped with a dash of American humor. On one level, Wait for God to Notice explores Fordham’s Seventh Day Adventist family’s missionary life in Idi Amin’s Uganda, but it’s also a dive into the author coming to understand and ultimately identify with her mother. I love a book that really captures a sense of place, and though I’ve never been to Uganda, I could feel it in my bones. Similarly, I haven’t stopped thinking of Kaarina Fordham, the life she lived, the choices she made, and the relationships she forged. This is a book I fell in love with from the first page and didn’t want to put down.
November 20, 2021
I loved this book. The author writes about her mother, about family relationships, about living in Uganda during the reign of Idi Amin, about faith. The writing is beautiful, the language so descriptive that you feel as though you are right there living each moment, too. I didn't want this book to end.
March 26, 2022
I absolutely loved this book! What an amazing story! I had a hard time putting it down!
June 20, 2021
In the interest of transparency, I should note first that Sari is a friend. I tell my students to use last names only when referencing writers. “They’re not your friends,� I say. How marvelously weird that I can sassily retort to my inner editor, “Oh, but she IS!�
I went into this book wanting to love it and to be proud of Sari and have some small claim of familiarity with one of the great writers I have long admired, but felt so distant from. Books have been my most treasured escapes since I was reading age. Authors, though, have always seemed like cartoon characters—you can admire them and, in many ways, even “know� them, but they exist on another plane that you couldn’t ever hope to understand, let alone cohabitate.
As I say, I went into this book wanting to love it, but I’m also a born cynic. I’ve read books by distant acquaintances in the Adventist world and they read like a Hallmark Christmas film. “How precious,� I’d think. “Good for them.� It was hardly literature, though. Wait For God to Notice is no Hallmark movie. Sari is an artist.
As an English teacher, I consider myself fairly widely read. I don’t know much, but I know books. I’m confident that I would have enjoyed this book if I’d never heard Sari’s name and never set foot into an Adventist church. I needed no threads to tie us together to love it. The fact that I do know her and I do share the cultural connection that she weaves through much of her memoir made the book something deeply familiar. Still, it was also a unique and personal look into HER family and their experience. Each character was so well developed that by the end I felt like I knew them all rather than just Sari.
Beyond our common faith culture, the loss of a parent was another theme familiar to me. The way she wrote about her grief and navigating the precious memories and even the faults of a parent after they’re gone echoed so much of my own experience. She comes just short of anger at her mother’s inaction about her cancer, just short of blame, and it feels like the hope for a healthier, more resolved grieving process for a daughter who has pulled herself out of expectation and into reality with faith and self in tact. I’m still on the journey of finding that for myself.
I must admit that writers never seemed like they could be “real people.� Who can weave such beautiful, transporting narratives and be a normal person with a life and friends and responsibilities? I chalked it up in my head to a production shared with a myriad of editors and revisions or productions by antisocial mountain hermits and, even still, the end result being a shinier, more shapely version of what the ungainly original had been. As a cynic and an attempted writer myself, I suppose this was a way of comforting myself for never being able to write the way my favorite authors can. Sari has blown that theory. She is a real person with a job she does well and a kid she doesn’t neglect and she wrote a beautiful book that I will be buying as a Christmas present for everyone I know for the foreseeable future.
Bravo, Sari!
I went into this book wanting to love it and to be proud of Sari and have some small claim of familiarity with one of the great writers I have long admired, but felt so distant from. Books have been my most treasured escapes since I was reading age. Authors, though, have always seemed like cartoon characters—you can admire them and, in many ways, even “know� them, but they exist on another plane that you couldn’t ever hope to understand, let alone cohabitate.
As I say, I went into this book wanting to love it, but I’m also a born cynic. I’ve read books by distant acquaintances in the Adventist world and they read like a Hallmark Christmas film. “How precious,� I’d think. “Good for them.� It was hardly literature, though. Wait For God to Notice is no Hallmark movie. Sari is an artist.
As an English teacher, I consider myself fairly widely read. I don’t know much, but I know books. I’m confident that I would have enjoyed this book if I’d never heard Sari’s name and never set foot into an Adventist church. I needed no threads to tie us together to love it. The fact that I do know her and I do share the cultural connection that she weaves through much of her memoir made the book something deeply familiar. Still, it was also a unique and personal look into HER family and their experience. Each character was so well developed that by the end I felt like I knew them all rather than just Sari.
Beyond our common faith culture, the loss of a parent was another theme familiar to me. The way she wrote about her grief and navigating the precious memories and even the faults of a parent after they’re gone echoed so much of my own experience. She comes just short of anger at her mother’s inaction about her cancer, just short of blame, and it feels like the hope for a healthier, more resolved grieving process for a daughter who has pulled herself out of expectation and into reality with faith and self in tact. I’m still on the journey of finding that for myself.
I must admit that writers never seemed like they could be “real people.� Who can weave such beautiful, transporting narratives and be a normal person with a life and friends and responsibilities? I chalked it up in my head to a production shared with a myriad of editors and revisions or productions by antisocial mountain hermits and, even still, the end result being a shinier, more shapely version of what the ungainly original had been. As a cynic and an attempted writer myself, I suppose this was a way of comforting myself for never being able to write the way my favorite authors can. Sari has blown that theory. She is a real person with a job she does well and a kid she doesn’t neglect and she wrote a beautiful book that I will be buying as a Christmas present for everyone I know for the foreseeable future.
Bravo, Sari!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2022
If I had to choose one word to describe Sari Fordham’s memoir, Wait for God to Notice, it might be generosity. Writing about one’s family is tricky at best. Families may be loving, but they all have their issues, and all individuals have their problems and quirks as well. If chroniclers portray them with too much attention to the latter, what emerges (whether intended or not) may be trivial misunderstandings or resentments that have become overblown by being put on paper. If they are portrayed with too much loving attention, they may appear static and uninteresting, one-note, unreal. The Fordhams, however, are real people, and Sari is both loving and clear-eyed as she recounts how her parents faced life in Uganda during Idi Amin’s dictatorship. Their attitudes and reactions sometimes were dramatically different, but Sari is unfailingly generous to both parents, noting their faults but celebrating their efforts to be true to themselves, each other, their children, and their faith as they navigate ever-present dangers from both the natural world and the political arena.
Wait for God to Notice, is a wonderful book, filled with gorgeous prose and sprinkled with perceptive insights. The descriptions of place, action and character are so sharply defined, the reader almost becomes a participant, moving with the Fordhams through their years of mission service where beauty and jeopardy are served out in equal portions. When I finished reading, I did not shelve it in the garage bookcase where I put books I want to keep, but don’t necessarily plan to read again. Instead, I put it in the pile of books that will definitely be read again; Wait for God to Notice contains far too much knowledge and far too many insights to absorb in a single reading.
Wait for God to Notice, is a wonderful book, filled with gorgeous prose and sprinkled with perceptive insights. The descriptions of place, action and character are so sharply defined, the reader almost becomes a participant, moving with the Fordhams through their years of mission service where beauty and jeopardy are served out in equal portions. When I finished reading, I did not shelve it in the garage bookcase where I put books I want to keep, but don’t necessarily plan to read again. Instead, I put it in the pile of books that will definitely be read again; Wait for God to Notice contains far too much knowledge and far too many insights to absorb in a single reading.
August 13, 2021
Waiting For God To Notice is the author’s (Sari Fordham) memoir of her time in Uganda. Imagine living in the middle of the jungle while the country was under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Sari was a young girl living with her missionary family during this time. Her family dealt with so many dangers. In this book Sari tells of her childhood matter of fact and with such authenticity. Nothing seems embellished, the truth was enough to scare! This story though is about so much more than telling about black mambas dropping in, it is also a beautifully written story of her mother. Now imagine being a mother of small children living in a foreign country...in a jungle....
This is just a beautiful story, I applaud the author for sharing it with us. I normally give books to friends after I am finished with them. However Waiting For God To Notice is a keeper, I highly recommend getting yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed. I received this book in a gracious giveaway on ŷ.
This is just a beautiful story, I applaud the author for sharing it with us. I normally give books to friends after I am finished with them. However Waiting For God To Notice is a keeper, I highly recommend getting yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed. I received this book in a gracious giveaway on ŷ.
November 19, 2021
Wait for God to Notice by Sari Fordham is a beautiful memoir about family, love, loss, grief, and growing up in a missionary family. She had such an interesting and fascinating childhood, and her descriptive and vivid prose transported me to Uganda, though I am grateful I didn’t have to experience the snakes and other dangers she encountered firsthand. Sari’s love for her family, especially her strong and courageous mother, shines through as she recounts memories from her childhood. I really enjoyed the inclusion of her parents� letters and information about the political situation in Uganda, which provided greater insight into what it must have been like to live there. I highly recommend this moving, emotional, and insightful memoir!
*I received a gifted ecopy of this book from the author and Let’s Talk Books Promo. All opinions are my own.
*I received a gifted ecopy of this book from the author and Let’s Talk Books Promo. All opinions are my own.
June 18, 2021
Wonderful! Brought me out of a reading slump, the highest praise. Rich and luscious descriptions of everything: characters, setting, all the details we tend to neglect until we regret we cannot remember them. This book also brought about an understanding of Adventism I did not have previously despite growing up in the system/church. Adventism without evangelism, just explanation, which was actually very personally fulfilling for me to do my own further examinations of the faith. Truly, just terrific and I am so excited for its author!
November 15, 2021
This book is a compelling read that beautifully balances the drama of living as a foreigner in Uganda during the time of Idi Amin, with the author's astute observations of her family and home life. In early chapters Fordham captures the wonder, intelligence, and clarity of her childhood self. I appreciated the way the book explores (with curiosity rather than judgment) the family dynamics that challenged her parents and kept her family together. An excellent read for anyone interested in stories of childhood, family, and place.
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