Unlikely way to make friends

[Shelly Rosenberg]

In the year 2020, during the pandemic I read a book called A Little Life. It is a very heavy, serious, and rather depressing story. When I finish the book I wanted to find the person who had recommended it to me because I wanted to discuss it. When I could not find out who it was who suggested I read the book, I went to GoodReads and posted a question asking if anybody had read the book and if they would like to discuss it with me.
In another part of the world, someone else read the same book. She wrote a review on Goodreads and also wanted to discuss it with someone. A couple of weeks later, I received a message on Goodreads from THAT someone - her name is Preety. From the name I believe that she was Indian and from the way she wrote her English I assumed that she was American and not British. We continued to have a couple of Goodreads discussions. I really enjoyed sharing with her so I decided I would like to get to know Preety. I told her a little about myself - what I do - where I live - my activities - my background (retired, from NY, live in TN, play tennis, late 70s in age, and asked her to tell me about her. We also exchanged e-mail addresses and began communicating via e-mail.
When she replied to me I found out that, no she was not American; she does not live in the United States; but she was born and brought up in Nairobi Kenya and she is 30 years old. So two rather unlikely people met and became friends. We continued to e-mail back and forth about books and just actually social emails to each other. We even had one zoom call to meet.
I travel a lot on photography tours all over the world. In the years following the onset of the COVID epidemic I traveled several times to Africa – to Morocco and to Namibia for instance. One day Preety sent me a message saying “Shelly you’re in Africa. When are you going to see me? When are you going to visit me in Kenya?”
In October of 2023 I was on a photo trip in Uzbekistan and the tour leader said, “Shelly I think you would really enjoy the Uganda trip early next year.” Well I was reluctant because the trip was only a 10-day trip and I thought going all the way to Africa for just 10 days doesn’t really make sense. But then I looked at a map and saw that Kenya is right next to Uganda. So I thought if I could combine the trip to Uganda with a visit to Preety in Kenya and she could show me around Nairobi for a couple of days that would make it worthwhile going to Africa. So I sent Preety an e-mail that night and told her about the possibility and asked if she would be willing to show me around Nairobi at the end of my trip to Uganda. The next morning I received an e-mail from Preety. She was very excited. She said, “Yes yes come. If I’m working I will change my schedule.”
So I started looking at flights to Uganda and then Kenya and Preety started looking at possible places to show me around in Nairobi. We also started looking at possible hotels where I could stay that are close to where she lives. Then I started looking at Nairobi and realized that if I go to Nairobi I must plan a trip to Masai Mara for perhaps three days. How could I go to Nairobi without visiting Maasi Mara? I told Preety about this and asked if she would join me. She said that she visited there when she was 11 but her brother goes frequently.
Over the next couple of weeks, and after numerous emails, the plans evolved. Preety and her family invited me to stay in their home instead of a hotel. Wow, how great is that to stay in the home of a Kenyan family, sit around their dinner table and share, get to know the family members, and especially Preety! She lives in a family home with her mom, dad, grandfather, and brother. However her mom was not there during my visit as she was in Italy with some of her family members.
Preety organized and arranged for us to visit numerous local places and along with her best friend, Chandni, we visited factories, malls, restaurants, walks, parks, and fascinating areas in Nairobi. Preety’s brother helped her arrange for us (Preety, Chandni, and me) to be transported to Masai Mara, to stay in a luxury safari resort, and go on two game drives in a private safari vehicle each day. Wow.
On my last day in Kenya, Preety and I looked up our original and subsequent discussions and found that we first “met” on GoodReads on July 23, 2020.
In the tech age, we hear of people making friends online all the time – on various social media sites… but have you ever heard of two people, thousands of miles apart, and ages apart, becoming friends through GoodReads, and eventually meeting?