Done Finished

It's only taken, like, forever, but I finally finished Half the Sky.

Please read it.
I need to talk to someone about this.

"More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.

The equivalent of 5 jumbo jets worth of women die in labor each day... life time risk of maternal death is 1,000x higher in a poor country than in the west. That should be an international scandal." 


 "Microfinance has done more to bolster the status of women, and to protect them from abuse, than any laws could accomplish.  Capitalism, it turns out, can achieve what charity and good intentions sometimes cannot" (p. 187)




"One of the most cost effective ways to increase school attendance is to deworm students.  Intestinal worms affect children's physical and intellectual growth.  Indeed, ordinary worms kill 130,000 people a year, typically through anemia or intestinal obstruction, and the anemia particularly affects menstruating girls.  When deworming was introduced in the American South in the early twentieth century, school teachers were stunned at the impact:  The children were suddenly far more alert and studious.  Likewise, a landmark study in Kenya found that deworming could decrease school absenteeism by a quarter" (p. 171)


"The average American spends fifty dollars a year to deworm a dog; in Africa, you can deworm a child for fifty cents," says Peter Hotez of the Global Network for neglected Tropical Disease Control, a leader in the battle against worms. (p. 171)




This book is rich with hope and ideas. 
It is full of statistics and truth.
The stories of suffering will mess you up.


Go.
Buy it.
Read it.
Then call me.
We'll talk.


Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Private deck off the master bedroom where I hung out with God this morning. Reading the bible is so much better when overlooking a lake, no?


2. Writers and researchers who share their passion to bring about change. 


3. Lawnchair in lakes. Book in hand. Breeze on face. 


Shalom,