Hamida Ghafour was born in Kabul and grew up in Toronto after her parents fled the Russian invasion when she was a small child. She returned to her homeland in the summer of 2003 to cover the reconstruction era for the London Daily Telegraph and Globe and Mail. Her experiences and her family’s unique history are the basis of The Sleeping Buddha. Hamida was a reporter for the Globe and Mail’s London bureau. She now lives in Amman, Jordon.