FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—Toronto, ON, Thursday, January 5, 2026 — Ingenium Books is proud to announce the signing of Canadian educator and humanitarian Spencer Sekyer to publish his forthcoming memoir—a powerful, true story of courage, friendship, and hope amid the chaos of war.
Raana: Darkness to Light (working title) chronicles Sekyer’s harrowing experiences helping an Afghan family escape during the fall of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) to Taliban rule. More than a high-stakes rescue story, the memoir explores the moral complexities of doing good in desperate circumstances, the deep bonds that form across borders, and the enduring belief that one person’s compassion can change the world.
“This is not just a story I want to tell,” Sekyer says. “It’s a story I need to tell. It is the story of friendship, loyalty, and the moral tightrope of helping others where the stakes are life and death. When news of the suffering of others can become overwhelming, this story cuts through the noise and reminds us that when one person takes action, lives change. It is proof that even in the darkest moments, hope and humanity can survive.”
A lifelong adventurer raised in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Sekyer has spent decades teaching in places like Sierra Leone, the West Bank, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Haiti, rescuing animals, and aiding families in crisis zones across four continents. His humanitarian work has taken him from the streets of Kabul to the African savannah, and his memoir Saving Manno: What a Baby Chimp Taught Me About Making the World a Better Place was first published in 2019.
For Sekyer, this latest memoir marks a turning point. “A vision during a psilocybin journey showed me my own death and the devastating impact it would have on my young son, forcing me to find a safer way to keep fighting for what matters,” he explains. “This book allows me to keep my promise to my son, to the friends I’ve fought for, and to the people and animals whose lives depend on voices like ours, by inspiring action on a scale far beyond anything I could achieve alone.”
“This memoir is a testament to humanity at its most raw and resilient,” says Boni Wagner-Stafford, publisher at Ingenium Books. “Spencer’s story reminds us that courage and compassion are not opposites; they’re two sides of the same coin.”
Raana is slated for release in the fall of 2026.
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