Desta and The Great Mystery

Desta never imagined such a heart-wrenching loss and journey into a strange land and an unknowable future. An old compass and wooden rod had turned Desta's life upside down and propelled him into the unknown.

Desta is an Ethiopian student prophesied to earn a modern education and find a missing ancient Coin of Magic and Fortune. After high school, he was set to study medicine in Bulgaria and search for the shekel. But at the last minute, his devices instead directed him to follow the sun west to pursue his goals.

A friend hastily finds him a college and a benefactor for a year, and Desta travels westward across the globe from Ethiopia to America.
Alone in a strange culture and land, plagued with fear and doubt, Desta struggles at first, but as his new life unfolds, he wins the hearts and minds of his benefactors, fellow collegians, and those who may help him in his life quests.

The divining tools that disrupted his life plans have yet to bring him near the missing shekel, but new tantalizing clues from the strangers and mysterious spirits he meets give Desta hope that his coming year at a prestigious new university will lead him to it.