The Winds of Fate

About the Book

The Winds of Fate Micronesian Love Story is an adventurous story about a brave, young, ambitious African American woman and university professor, who accepted the challenge to train teachers in Micronesia during the 1970s on how to educate children with handicaps in their classrooms. The obstacles she faced were enormous and the lessons she learned were immeasurable. She traveled and worked alone in places she had never heard of; each island was very different, undeveloped and undergoing major political changes. She discovered that special education concepts and practices were not part of the natives' cultures, languages, vocabulary or understanding in the societies where she worked. She had to learn how to train teachers using their cultural norms, learning styles, languages and experiences. She learned immediately that the training agenda and materials from the U.S. mainland would not work in Micronesia. She learned that the teachers used storytelling, their ancestral medium, to teach and learn; therefore, she had to change her approach overnight. She created stories every night in her hotel room to be able to train the teachers. During her seven year assignment on the islands, a riveting love story was born between her and a Micronesian man. They were two people from two different worlds, cultures, languages and ways of life but their romance became an enthralling, passionate, powerful love affair that seemed destined to happen.

About the Author

Jean E. Roy van Keulen, Ph.D., Professor Emerita in Special Education at San Francisco State University in San Francisco lives with her husband on the Central Coast of California. She has worked extensively in her respective fields of general and special education, and education administration in the U.S. and abroad. The Winds of Fate Micronesian Love Story is her first fiction, part nonfiction novel and it is full of emotional surprises.