This is an amazing memoir about one man's dedication to helping other people. Michael Meegan has spent his life in the third world fighting poverty and disease and in 1978 he founded the International Community for the relief of Starvation and Suffering. Surprised By Joy tells of his work in East Africa and explores the early experiences which led him to devote his life to such causes. It's a profound and moving book that will make you reflect on the things we all take for granted.
Surprised by Joy, is more than the autobiography of an extraordinary man, it is a manifest for a better world. It follows Dr Mike Meegan's remarkable journey to the poorest places on Earth where he encounters passion and love amidst death, disaster and corruption. Even in the most deprived places, he finds grace and the victory of gentleness over cruelty.
Surprised by Joy is an inspiring adventure full of passion, tragedy and drama. It is a book about Africa, about friendship and tears; it is an honest, sometimes brutal, meditation of what it means to live, to live here, now. His words are born of tears, but mostly tears of joy, tears of wonder. They speak with a passion and sincerity, sharing a message the world urgently need to hear. If there is a book that will touch you, this will be it.
All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to ICROSS, which funds long term development, education, training and disease control, currently reaching over 300,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
For those of us infected with cynicism, sometimes weary of a broken World. Meegan’s life offers more than inspiration. It points us towards a cure. – Stephen Sackur, HARDtalk, BBC Television.
‘Surprised by Joy isn’t a breath of fresh air—it’s a fierce, passionate, tender sirocco blowing straight from the beating heart of Africa. It tells the story of one man’s extraordinary journey from suburban Dublin to the African bush, and his spiritual quest for fulfillment. Michael Meegan practices what so many only preach: how to show compassion, feel love, give hope. This book blasts through our preconceptions of poverty and suffering and explains ways to help Africa help itself. Both humbling and inspiring, it leaves you wondering who really are the poor of this earth: those who have nothing, or those who do nothing to help.’ - Lise Hand, The Irish Independent
Author
About Michael Meegan
Dr Michael Meegan was born in Liverpool and has spent the past 25 years living and working in Africa amongst some of the poorest people on Earth.
In 1978 he founded the International Community for Relief of Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS) with Dr Joe Barnes, an international charity that is now working in several developing countries. He still lives among the Maasai people in the Great Rift Valley, where he manages one of the largest terminal care programmes in Africa.
Surprised by Joy, is more than the autobiography of an extraordinary man, it is a manifest for a better world. It follows Dr Mike Meegan's remarkable journey to the poorest places on Earth where he encounters passion and love amidst death, disaster and corruption. Even in the most deprived places, he finds grace and the victory of gentleness over cruelty.
Surprised by Joy is an inspiring adventure full of passion, tragedy and drama. It is a book about Africa, about friendship and tears; it is an honest, sometimes brutal, meditation of what it means to live, to live here, now. His words are born of tears, but mostly tears of joy, tears of wonder. They speak with a passion and sincerity, sharing a message the world urgently need to hear. If there is a book that will touch you, this will be it.
All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to ICROSS, which funds long term development, education, training and disease control, currently reaching over 300,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Surprised by Joy features in the following genres: Biographies & Autobiographies, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Travel, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Recommendations, Lifestyle, Hobbies and Leisure
Surprised by Joy is available in Paperback
Surprised by Joy was written by Michael Meegan and published by Maverick House
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