Sometimes it's hard for me to write about things that are overwhelming me. My thought haven't organized themselves in a nice and neat fashion in my brain. I can sit at the keyboard, and type and delete, type and delete. Overload.
This is one of those things.
But my urge to tell you about this books is too strong. I have to try!
So I got this book recommendation from my brother Brian and his wife Amy who are RIGHT NOW, as I type, in Ethiopia, adopting the newest Seay kids.
This book is BIG. I was intimidated. Not because I don't like to read. But because my reading time is limited to after I get in bed at night and am exhausted. So I read things very slowly these days.
But I could tell five pages into this book it was going to change my life.
It is. I am thinking about what I've read about half of the time. I'm dreaming about it.
It is so well written, pouring out the personal story of a woman who rescues AIDS orphans in Ethiopia, but is laced with a wealth of information, most of which I did not know.
I can't believe how ignorant I was about the AIDS crisis in Africa. I'm ashamed that I participated in the indifference by ignorance of what was happenning in real life for millions of orphans.
It's too easy to read statistics and feel disconnected from them.
But it's real now. My niece and nephew live in the city that this book takes place in. What is happenning in Ethiopia is personal to me now. I wish it didn't take that for me to get here, but it did.
You can click here to read a book excerpt. I know buying a book, especially a big one, it's kind of a commitment, and it's a longshot that anyone is going to after reading this post, but maybe if you read this amazingly-written excerpt from the book, you will be won over.
Someone, share this journey with me! There's so much to digest. I would love to hear your thoughts.
7 comments:
We are definitely getting this book. I am so thrilled and excited to read someone else's story. I am beyond words so grateful for this book and that it presents this situation in a way that is changing people's lives! Since the day we have set out on this journey we have felt alone, so praise the Lord that this book is enlightening not only with the story but with the facts! I feel like I'm rambling but my emotions are haywire right now lol, I don't know how to put everything into words (like you said in your post.) Anyways, I'll let you know when we get the book.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing!
I am always looking for books. I am a library person so I just reserved a copy online. All 13 copies are on the shelf so I should have it today or Saturday. I am in the middle of another book and will start reading it after that.
I love this book! I can't even form an articulate sentence when I try to describe it. I just want to say, "It's so, so, so, so, good - and eye-opening!" This woman amazed me and challenged how I look at my own life. We are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia and that is how I found out about this book.
Thanks for sharing!
I definitely want to be involved in this conversation! I'm not sure if I have time to read this book right now (unfortunately)... but I have read lots of others and seen a lot firsthand... so, I would love to hear what you are learning and to listen when you are processing through it all.
I'm excited that you are bringing this to the light as well.
Ryan
I'm part way through the book and completely agree. Because I've lived and worked in Africa, I forget that people here don't know how bad it really is. The book is fantastic at giving people who'll probably never see what AIDS has done in person the reality of the crisis. It's also a call to action. You just can't sit by and do nothing when you know these things are going on. If Matthew 25 shows us nothing else, it's that we WILL be held to account for how we treat people suffering from this crisis.
For families for whom the idea of international adoption is a little overwhelming right now, you might consider sponsoring a child who's been affected by HIV/AIDS. Compassion has that as an option when you search for a child to sponsor. I sponsor an HIV+ twelve-year-old orphan in Congo through another Christian organization. His parents died and he was on the streets dying before a the group took him in and found him a foster family. We sponsor the foster family to help them out with the cost of feeding him and keeping him in school. He's probably going to die soon because his HIV was diagnosed too late, but I am so thankful that the last years of his life won't be as miserable as the earlier ones.
By the way, Buckner (a Baptist group in Texas) has foster family sponsorships in Africa as well. It's a great way to help grandparents or older siblings care for their family's children so they can stay together as a family.
Thank you SO MUCH, for all of you who have commented. All of you ahead of me in this journey! Sometimes when you post about serious things, you get a big goose egg on comments. I was shocked and pleased to find your responses!
I immediately added the AIDS initiative to my Compassion sponsorships, because I knew that was one real thing I could do to contribute.
Thanks for the helpful info guys!
jenn
I'm with you babe. The book has totally changed my way of thinking and it makes me want to go there and help.
love you,
mom
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