Troubling Inspiration

I recently finished reading the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by husband and wife team Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn. I am deeply conflicted about this book. It is filled with stories of women who have suffered greatly and those who have triumphed greatly. Many of the women have done both. Some of the accounts involve female infanticide, kidnapped women who were sold into brothels, women who had no prenatal care and developed fistulas, women who were raped and other horrific things. What is most troubling is that these are not isolated events, but examples of widespread abuses. It's heartbreaking that so many people suffer because of culture or ignorance. It is certainly not a book for the faint of heart.

That said, however, it is a deeply inspirational book. Yes it details many of the problems in the developing world, but it also proposes solutions. It tells of women who have built hopitals and schools, women who have created microlending businesses and women and men who have given of themselves to better the lives of others. It is extremely motivational and it would be difficult to read this book and sit by and do nothing.

I love that this book describes many of the aid projects and evaluates their effectiveness. It provides information on how to find out what charities are available and how to find evaluations yourself at www.charitynavigator.org. It includes charities that allow you to give of your time or energy and not just your money.

The authors have a website that includes most of the charities they highlight in the book. Also, the last few pages of the book is a section entitled "What You Can Do in the Next Ten Minutes". It includes things like browsing charity projects on www.globalgiving.org and microlending projects on www.kiva.org. The website also includes some of the stories of the women in the book.

Even before I was halfway though the book I felt absolutely compelled to donate to something to help others. I decided to donate to the Perpetual Education Fund because I wanted it to be a charity that helps people help themselves and then lift those around them.

Because of the troubling content of this book, I cannot recommend it to everyone. I do hope, however, that you will be inspired to help others in whatever way you can. I know that I have been changed by Half the Sky and will continue to look for ways to help.