“Busara” is a Swahili word for wisdom, insight, perception, and common sense. My hope is that, over time, this Busara Blog will live up to its name.
Busara is also the name of a fictional dirt road that runs through my novel, titled Busara Road, published by New Door Books in 2019. The novel is set at a Quaker mission in the mountain rain forest of western Kenya. It takes place in the mid-sixties, shortly after independence, and it’s a coming-of-age story for both the young nation and the main character, an 11-year-old boy named Mark who is the son of one of the American Quakers.
I envision this blog as being a bit like Mark – curious, reflective, meandering, and easily distracted. Quite likely it will just sit for stretches of time doing seemingly nothing at all.
But now that you’ve found me, let me tell you a bit about myself and my writing. I’ve had my short fiction and novel excerpts published in a variety of literary magazines that include The Hong Kong Review, Big City Lit, Woven Tale Press, Sycamore Review, The Laurel Review, Baltimore Review, Philadelphia Stories, Cleaver Magazine, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Talking Stick Review and others, as well as the anthologies Philly Fiction, The Best of Philadelphia Stories, and 2000 Voices. As a novel-in-progress, Busara Road was shortlisted as a finalist for the 2013 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Prize, and as a screenplay it was named a semi-finalist for the Cinequest Screenwriting Competition. I was also a winner of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Autobiography Project, the Third Coast national fiction competition, and the Dwell/Glass House Haiku Competition; and I was a finalist for the Crescent Review’s Renwick-Sumerwell Prize, the SLS International Fiction Contest (twice), and the New Letters National Fiction Award. Excerpts from my novel-in-progress have been broadcast on public radio and anthologized, and I’ve had a couple of short plays produced. I was also the founding director and host of Writing Aloud, an award-winning fiction performance series for stage and public radio based at Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Company. In addition, I run an independent communications consulting practice called David Sanders Communications.
For more information about me, and to see some samples of my work, check out DavidHSanders.com.
So, that’s about it for About. Thanks for checking in.
Busara Blog 
Hello,
Congratulations on your works. I’m considering schooling a child at Braeburn Kisumu. Did you hear parents’ views of the school or how some children from there have turned out careerwise? Thanks
Hi Eva. Thank you for your note. I’m afraid I don’t know any specific information about Braeburn Kisumu, but the Braeburn Schools have a very good reputation overall. mumsnet.com appears to have some parent reviews of the Braeburn schools, which you may want to look at. Good luck!