Harold Bergsma, a son of medical missionaries, grew up in Northern India in Taxila, an area which is today in Pakistan. He speaks Urdu (Hindustani) and graduated from Woodstock High School in the Himalayas. He returned as an adult to live and do developmental work in Lahore, Pakistan. He traveled widely in Pakistan to most of the places mentioned in this novel. He lived and worked in Nigeria for twelve years as an educational administrator. He speaks Tiv and Hausa. Later, his work took him to Swaziland and Namibia, where he lived and worked as an educational consultant for USAID. He is an Emeritus Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, where he was actively involved in teaching, research and publication, as well as in administration of a variety of international projects including the Yemen Arab Republic Agricultural Education Project, The Pakistan On Farm Water Management Project, The Belize Teacher Education Project, the Namibian Primary Teacher Education Project, the Swaziland Headmaster Management Training Project, among others. Bergsma now lives with his wife Lily Chu, a writer, in downtown San Diego near the bay.
