When Penny Akahloun was a child growing up in Onset, she had a dream she would see the world. After traveling to all seven continents and spending decades living abroad as a U.S. diplomat, it’s safe to say she’s realized that dream.

Now, Akahloun, 71, has realized another dream: writing a book that chronicles the struggles and obstacles she and fellow Cape Verdeans have overcome on the way to success.

“The Magic of Dreams: An American Diplomat’s Journey” is Akahloun’s memoir that she began researching and writing, after her retirement in 2008.

“I wrote it, because I wanted to give Cape Verdean people a voice and to show the struggle that they faced,” she said. “I wanted to share the lessons I’ve learned: to never quit, that obstacles can be overcome, and that dreams come true.”

Akahloun said that writing the book is her way of giving back to the people who helped her throughout her life, and also teaching her children about their cultural history.

“I wanted them to understand the present by reaching back into the past,” Akahloun said.

Her history started in a truly unusual spot. Her grandfather came to America from Cape Verde in 1903 on the ship, Vera Cruz VII. The Vera Cruz VII shipwrecked off the coast of Portsmouth, North Carolina, far from the ship’s original destination of New Bedford. Her grandfather, one of the more than 400 rescued immigrants, then made his way to Onset without speaking English and with no money.

Akahloun said she remembers growing up in a close-knit community in Onset. She said her grandfather opened his doors to the neighborhood, and her grandmother always had countless pots on the stove to feed the less fortunate in the community. She said this instilled in her a desire to help others with her life.

Akahloun graduated from Wareham High School in 1961. She said as a young woman of color, there were many hardships and prejudices she faced growing up. What she did, and one of the messages in her book, was to channel that anger into something positive.

When she became age eligible, at 21, Akahloun took the exam to join the U.S.Department of State Foreign Services, and failed. Not discouraged, she analyzed where she went wrong, studied hard, and passed the following year.

Akahloun spent years working in countries including as Morocco, Philippines, Kenya, Tunisia, Uruguay, China and Venezuela. She started out as a clerk, then became secretary, and worked her way up to becoming a foreign service officer at the age of 40. Her responsiblities ranged from monitoring political activities and labor relations in foreign lands, to working with U.S. businessmen abroad, among a host of other duties.

Akahloun will always remember how far creativity, kindness, and determination were able to take her in life. She met her husband two weeks into her stay in Morocco. She fondly remembers taking a trans-Siberian train through Russia and Mongolia and seeing nomads herd camels the Gobi desert.

“I want people to know that obstacles can be overcome and dreams can come true with courage and perseverance,” she said. “If I’ve done it, anyone can do it.”