by Melissa Fay Greene (Author)
In a dusty tin-walled compound on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a middle-class woman named Haregewoin Teferra suffered back-to-back losses: first her husband died of a heart attack; then her beloved 23-year-old daughter was consumed by an unnamed sickness. In grief, Haregewoin turned to the church and asked to be taken into seclusion. Instead of allowing the bereft woman to leave the world, the church presented her with two teenage orphans and asked her to house them. Over the startled protests of her friends and family, Haregewoin said yes. Once she opened her gate to the first two children, she never really managed to close it again. Her compound became known as a haven: here was a woman who did not run away from HIV-positive individuals and AIDS-orphaned children. From across the country, children were brought to Haregewoin on foot, by bus, or by donkey cart. There are a million AIDS orphans in Ethiopia; "There is No Me Without You" shares the remarkable stories of a few of them, through the eyes of an author whose own life was altered while researching Haregowin's story.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 02 Oct 2006
ISBN 10: 074758057X
ISBN 13: 9780747580577
Book Overview: Melissa Fay Greene is a highly acclaimed journalist and writer: every one of her books have had superlative reviews and won numerous awards. Details in her website www.melissafaygreene.com Melissa Faye Greene's New York Times Sunday Magazine piece (December 2002) on the plight of the AIDS orphas inspired many adoptions and generated $75,000 in donations for Africa's orphanages This is a timely book, in the wake of the Make Poverty History campaign. The film rights have been optioned by Dreamworks