Books with category Humanitarian Efforts
Displaying 2 books

There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children

There Is No Me Without You is a compelling narrative of tragedy and hope set against the backdrop of AIDS-torn Ethiopia. When Haregwoin Teferra loses her husband and daughter within a few years, her life shatters, plunging her into reclusion. However, life takes a transformative turn when a priest entrusts an orphan to her care. Then another, and another... and together, they thrive.

Esteemed author Melissa Fay Greene, a two-time National Book Award finalist, brings a human face to the AIDS crisis in Africa. Haregwoin's middle-class life in Addis Ababa is devastated by personal loss, but her self-imposed exile near her daughter’s grave ends when orphans in need of care arrive at her doorstep. These children, ranging from infants to teenagers, find solace and a nurturing home with Haregwoin. Her modest compound becomes a haven where ailing parents and impoverished families can safely leave their children.

Haregwoin's story is one of struggle and despair, yet it is also a triumph of saved lives. Her journey from despair to becoming a caretaker for sixty children, running an unofficial orphanage and school, is both inspiring and heartwarming. Greene’s narrative highlights the AIDS pandemic’s impact, leaving millions of children without parents, and showcases Haregwoin’s remarkable efforts in providing love and care.

This book is about the renewed happiness of children welcomed by adoptive parents in Ethiopia, America, and around the world. It convincingly argues that the crisis in Africa touches us all in fundamental ways. At its heart, this book is about children and the parents they need.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

2004

by Tracy Kidder

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most.

Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"—a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners in Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world.

At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

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