read every book I own

I had written a post on this book, and somehow LOST it by some flick of a wrist or brush of sleeve on this laptop mousepad… UGH… here I go, again.

this book brought more to me than just another story about the horrors of the rwanda genocide as a single event. it brought to me the inside of HIV/AIDS in africa, in everyday people, and from the point of view from one inside it. it tells of the people who live to report abroad. it tells of the gradual encroachment of the killings that now shock the world.

i would recommend reading this book AFTER reading Lte. General Romeo Dallaire’s “Shake Hands With the Devil – The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.” mainly since courtemanche portrays the man in an abrasive light, something i completely disagree with.

so that’s it. it’s raw, it’s telling. read it :)

I loved this book. A true account of the travel impossibilities of sub-Saharan Africa, into what Kurtz simply summarized with “the horror, the horror”. What I also enjoyed was the telling of each country’s history, current political state interspersed with the daily accounts of military checkpoints, poverty, disease and true joy. The quest for a matriarchial society that was based on peace and love and coexistence in itself was worth the read.

I highlighted the hell out of it, will use it as a reference book for specific research topics. Right now, the Women of Eritrea, is the topic of choice. I would consider it a must read for anyone looking to really travel Africa. I want to do parts of it now!

Just finished this amazing collection of Stephen Lewis’s Massey Lectures broadcast late in 2005 by CBC. I think the back cover best summarizes this book about AIDS, Africa, lost generations, millions of orphans, and how urgently the status of women and AIDS has to be addressed. A sad reminder of the UN and global community’s inability to follow up on it’s promises, even the latest ones, the MDGs or Millenium Development Goals.

Read it!

Here is an excerpt from the Chapters website (www.chapters.ca):

From Our Trusted Advisor
Stephen Lewis’s 2005 Massey Lectures are an eloquent cry for more help for Africa. He deplores the gap between the self-satisfied rhetoric of wealthy countries and the hard reality on the ground. As the UN Security General’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Lewis speaks to the world’s conscience.

From the Publisher
With Race Against Time, Stephen Lewis offers compelling insight into the problems that continue to threaten humankind – poverty, hunger, gender and class inequality – and a hopeful glimpse of a solution on the horizon. This is a heartfelt plea, an examination of the depth of these challenges and a recipe for banishing them.
About the Book

“I would like to throttle . . . those who’ve waited so unendurably long to act, those who can find infinite resources for war but never sufficient resources to ameliorate the human condition.” – Stephen Lewis

Allow Lewis, the 2005 Massey Lecturer, to introduce you to the Millennium Development Goals, the most ambitious targets for human betterment ever laid out by the international community. Among the relevant issues is the universal and fundamental concern for human rights, from primary school education to the reduction of infant and maternal mortality. The goals, to be achieved by 2015, address the problems of egregious poverty and hunger, and come equipped with a road map for overcoming them.

About the Author

Stephen Lewis is the United Nations’ Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He has extensive experience as a politician, diplomat, and humanitarian, and in particular is a passionate advocate for the rights and needs of children.

Stephen Lewis has been awarded the Pearson Peace Medal and was named by Maclean’s in 2003 as inaugural Canadian of the Year and by Time in 2005 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Stephen Lewis lives in Toronto.