"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Martin Luther King Jr.

Again, a mothers perspective

It is a rainy and dismal day in New England as we get the "tail end" of yet another storm. It is somewhat dismal in my mind as well as I plunge into the news coming out of Africa that I have missed in these past few weeks. Africa does not often dominate the news or even find much of a place there unless it is having to do with Piracy off the coast of Somalia or within it's region. I don't want to dismiss or ignore this tragic phenomenon I just feel it is sufficiently covered and needs to be addressed by governments rather than missionary's or civilian's.

News of Africa has to be mined from article after article to find it's place here after pulling just the right way on my heart. Once something gets close to my heart I start feeling what it is I need to be writing about and often I can even connect what resonates to current happenings in my life as I write.

All that I do passionately is felt on what I consider to be a divine level from my creator and generally comes in rushes which is probably good.

The overflowing of emotion that I feel as a human being would if it could surely harness enough wind power to light a Village.

Although It is a beautiful thing to feel pure joy fully the other side of it is that is you must also possess the strength and the faith to get you through the most grievous of pain

The article I posted earlier was one of about five that I have read today about the never ending battle against malaria and the politics that foreshadow the topic. It seems every time there is progress made there is that undertow that pulls it all back to the mud and the mire that I have spoken of before as spoken in the Bible.

Many people have no idea that Malaria is one of the world's deadliest diseases, killing nearly 900,000 people a year, most of them children in tropical Africa.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation along with "WHO" {the world health organization} have gained ground recently with insecticide treated mosquito netting and bedding alone.

Astonishing to realize we live in a society where people regard so highly who makes our handbags that we don't stop to consider what it would be like to pray for a mosquito repellent treated net to cover us and our babies. If I dwell on this concept I can literally feel the bile rise in my throat. I'm back and as usual I am not mincing words.

The dreams and the visions of these children that have the odds so stacked against them from birth haunt me on this miserable, rainy day. To me the sky is weeping for humanity...

There is news in the article I posted today as you may have read, out of Cambodia that there is a new resistant strain of Malaria out that will of course be bound for Africa in no time at all. Everything migrates to Africa...to prey upon the most helpless and vulnerable people the world knows. The young children and their mother's seem to be the front line that evil goes directly to the heart of as it marches forth relentlessly.

I would be amiss if I did not also mention there is much talk of a new malaria vaccine that has shown some limited success in Mozambique and a few other places in Africa. The results have shown it to be 30-50% effective when given to infants at around 10-12 weeks of age. Health experts are said to be optimistic that the malaria vaccine could be made available to African governments by the year 2012. They are also hoping with continued aggressive research that they can bring these numbers up to 70-80% effectiveness in the coming years.

So again...one step forward, two steps back. As we finally find a possible vaccine for this killer malaria, a new strain is born.

There is intense and thorough research being done by a brave African Doctor named Fredros Okumu, a Kenyan researcher at the Tanzania-based Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Dr. Okumu believes a breakthrough in the search for a cure for the killer disease lies in a deeper understanding of the outdoor behaviours of the parasite.

His research is in fact so profound and positive as well as innovative that he has been backed by The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. He believes the answers lie in the behaviour of the insects themselves which seems to me to make a lot of sense. This is news out of Arusha in Northern Tanzania where my heart keeps returning to time and time again.

When I stop and contemplate the obvious connections between disease, poverty and violence it seems to me that disease MUST be tackled head on in order to address the remaining issues. Imagine if you can choosing between combatting disease, poverty, hunger or violence to try and delay the inevitable...

I still would like to advocate treated mosquito nets as a small personal cause to any of you, right now they are an immediate and fairly effective means of protection. www.netsforlife.com is an effort I have a profound respect for as family by family they DO make a difference. For as little as $12 a month each of us can play a real part in bringing support and change to these people that expect so little from life.

All pettiness falls away when I become immersed in this heartbreaking reality of African mothers. I say it again and again, we are all one.

Innate in every woman is the "mother"... I know woman that are not mother's in the recognized sense of the word but trust me, they are very much, mother's. These woman give such love to their friends and family I dare anyone in my presence to argue this point. Whatever the circumstance that stopped them from having biological children is simply that, circumstance. These women in their own way of mothering have at times picked me up from the depths of darkness, usually unknowingly and unselfishly.

Suddenly anything that felt weighty to me upon waking up this morning has become almost an embarrassment. This mothers heart feels so heavy as I try to imagine not being able to protect my child from insects that will almost surely take her life. The basics that even the most mindful of us take for granted are dreams and hopes for the women of Africa. Food, shelter, safety from violence and disease should not be dreams...they should be the right of every human being.

Mimi Nakupenda,

Malaika~

Matthew 25:37 "Lord when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or visit you in prison? And the King will tell them, "I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me".

"Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar"Ralph Waldo Emerson...

Unbearable blow in the fight against Malaria...

Malaria Drugs: Artemisinin-Resistant Strain Appears By CHRISTOPHER SHAY Every year, thousands of workers arrive at the sapphire and ruby mines of Pailin, Cambodia, risking their lives to unearth gems in the landmine-ridden territory. Soon, however, they could be the ones to put millions of others at risk. On the Thai-Cambodian border, a rogue strain of malaria has started to resist artemisinin, the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain, Plasmodium falciparum. For six decades, malaria drugs like chloroquine and mefloquine have fallen impotent in this Southeast Asian border area, allowing stronger strains to spread to Burma, India and Africa. But this time there's no new wonder drug waiting in the wings. "It would be unspeakably dire if resistance formed to artemisinin," says Amir Attaran, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa who has written extensively on malaria issues. Malaria strikes about 250 million people around the world every year and kills nearly a million. The mosquito-borne parasite is the third deadliest infectious disease in the world, after HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and most of its victims are children. With the help of tens of millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and various governments, the global health community - from biochemical engineers in Berkeley, Calif., to village volunteers in Battambang, Cambodia - is racing to eliminate the increasingly resistant parasite before it's too late. This week, the Global Fund signed off on a $220 million–plus project called the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm), a controversial two-year program that will drop the price of the recommended malaria treatment in nine malarial countries. In Cambodia, the only country in Asia participating in the program, the price of malaria medication will fall to only $0.05 per dose for distributors. Even with markups down the supply chain, the best malaria medicine will, for the first time in Cambodia, also be the cheapest. (See pictures of the Global Fund's work.) Diseases have been stamped out before. The last case of naturally occurring smallpox was in 1977, after the disease killed about 300 million people earlier in the century. But finding a cure for malaria has proven more elusive. Artemisinin, which is still considered the most effective malaria treatment today, is derived from sweet wormwood, an herb native to Asia. It's been used to fight the disease in China for more than 2,000 years, but it wasn't until 1965 that the cure was isolated and purified by the Chinese military after its soldiers started falling ill during the Vietnam War. The treatment caught on in Vietnam as a crushed powder, and after the drug reduced the malaria death toll in Vietnam 97% from 1992 to 1997, it was touted as the miracle drug that could save people everywhere from the disease. A nonprofit drugmaker in San Francisco hopes that by 2012, it will help put a synthetic artemisinin on the market at a fraction of the cost of harvesting the wormwood herb. But artemisinin has been taken in Southeast Asia for more than 30 years - more than two decades longer than in most of the world - which has given the parasite more time to adapt. Getting people to take the right treatment has also proven to be a public-health challenge. As a fast-acting drug that typically clears out the parasite in less than 72 hours but doesn't remain in the body, artemisinin is prescribed with a slower partner drug to clean out any straggler parasites that might have developed resistance. Taking a partner drug with artemisinin, called combination therapy, is required by law in Cambodia and Thailand, but it's difficult to enforce. Since the partner drug - typically mefloquine in Southeast Asia - has more side effects, some people take only the artemisinin pills. This may work to clear out the parasite for one person, but it leads to rapid drug resistance when the practice is widespread. Globally, only 3% of malaria patients receive the proper artemisinin combination therapy. (Read about the search for a vaccine.) It's not random that dangerous new strains of malaria continue to crop up on the Thai-Cambodian border. In addition to having longer years of exposure to the miracle drug, residents like the gem-mine workers rely on an unregulated, informal health sector, rife with cheap counterfeits and improper treatments. Last month, a Gates-funded study found that 60% of malaria drugs in the area were substandard or counterfeit. Many of the counterfeits contain a small amount of artemisinin so they can pass authenticity tests, and some fake drug containers have holograms logos more sophisticated than the ones on the genuine boxes. Even for experts, it can be impossible to tell the difference between the fakes and the real article just by looking at them. What's so important about this is that when you have thousands of people taking improper or low dosages, the malaria parasite develops resistance more quickly. The Global Fund's new plan proposes to solve this public-health crisis with a market-based solution. To undercut sales of counterfeits and alternative treatments, the Global Fund initiative will spend more than $220 million to subsidize genuine, effective combination-therapy drugs, and in Cambodia, it will spend an additional $10 million to ensure good distribution around the country. The idea was first proposed in 2004 by a committee of the Institute of Medicine headed by Kenneth Arrow, a winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics. The idea is that if the market is relied on to root out fake pills and bad treatments, the real drugs will come to dominate the supply. Supporters say competition between private pharmacies would keep prices low and prevent middlemen from simply pocketing the subsidies and continuing to sell fakes. "No one will want to sell counterfeits when the real doses are 5 cents," says Duong Socheat, director of Cambodia's National Malaria Center. Not everybody, however, is convinced. Bernard Nahlen, the deputy coordinator of the U.S. Malaria Initiative, says spending hundreds of millions before there's any proof that the plan will work is an ill-advised investment of finite malaria funds. "In the absence of evidence, it's a little difficult to make that leap," he says. Last year Congress specifically forbid any of the $48 billion the U.S. government slated for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from going to the AMFm program until it proved successful. "The biggest bang for the buck is prevention," says Nahlen. So far, the fund's market-based strategy has been tested only in two districts in Tanzania and in a small pilot in Uganda, but the results were encouraging. In Tanzania, the number of families who bought genuine artemisinin combination-therapy drugs jumped from 1% to 44% after one year, and in Uganda, the proportion of people buying the recommended drugs went from 0 to 55%. Nahlen, however, points out that local health infrastructure varies greatly, and success in one place does not necessarily mean success in another. Arrow, 88, a professor emeritus at Stanford, says he is "baffled" by the U.S.'s refusal to support the plan. The cost of global artemisinin combination-therapy subsidies, he says, would run only about $300 million a year, a relatively small amount compared to campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Drug subsidies alone won't eliminate malaria, he admits, but combined with indoor mosquito spraying, bed nets and proper monitoring of what different areas need, Arrow says, "the world can eliminate malaria." Whatever the tactics, everybody can agree on one thing: time is running out. Modeling by the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit published in the Malaria Journal in February predicts that if nothing is done in the next two decades, "resistance to artemisinins will be approaching 100%." And if that happens, it won't be long until the resistant strain spreads from Cambodia's precious gem mines to Africa, putting half the world's population at risk of catching what would be an untreatable, deadly disease.

It is late, I am into the next day here at my keyboard. My thoughts tonight are accompanied by an overwhelming sadness, a sadness reserved for these times. As we age we witness so very much, the older we get the more we are a part of. Being a part of Life in it's truest form brings with it unimaginable joys and at times like these deep sorrows.

I received news yesterday of a dear friend's terminal illness. I have taken this past 36 hours or so to really sit with the reality of this. I am, as you all know by now a woman of Faith, a strong and certain Faith. The inescapable fact is that my friend will before too long be home with the Lord. Although I believe fully how peaceful and beautiful that is, I ache for him and for those whose very lives he has impacted with his love and graciousness.

My heart is used to a bit of heaviness as I have always felt deeply for the collective whole, even as a child. When I was a child it was my secret, now I bring it forth...I bring it forth to the Lord and I bring it forth to you my friends. This I know we have in common, we all know this ache. Saying goodbye is so incredibly hard and yet with a deep awareness, love as well as a respect for life, we do. I pray the Lord will give me the words to say to this warm and loving friend. I also pray that those that are closest to him will have the courage it takes to comfort him and be by his side.

I have come to realize that this "Blog" is ALWAYS divinely inspired, it's content may shift a bit from time to time. My Passion and my desire as stated on that very first page remain very much intact. My resolve in fact grows deeper as the roots keep extending into God's earth only equaled by the branches that will one day bear fruit.

This journey, this Pilgrimage is to my soul and my love for humanity runs passionately through my veins.

I ask that you pray for my friend, that his suffering be brief, his moments remaining be lived fully and when he is ready Our Loving and compassionate Father take him home.

Mimi Nakupenda,

Malaika~

The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right. Psalm 34:15

But I am like an olive tree.thriving in the house of The Lord. I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever. I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will wait for your mercies in the presence of your people. Psalm 52:8-9

Swing the Pendulum...

Prior writing mistakenly put aside...

It has been far too many days away from here and away from Africa... Spiritual warfare takes place for me as it does for everyone, I too am tested constantly. It's okay and I have learned to be greatful for it as it helps me to conform to my true path, it is perhaps a bit of healthy criticism from HIM and isn't that what is at the root of all my praying? In solitude my connection to God is at it's highest level and I am very open to his teachings and to the instincts he has fine tuned inside of me. My desire grows to be face to face with people with such depth of spirit that expect so little. If I can raise that bar for a few with my hands and my heart I will be Spiritually full up. A team of us can do much good, this I know. I'll know when it is time to proced with what it will require to pull a ministry together. There are many, many things that need doing here before we can put cement onto blocks to build a Camp there...Learning to discipline myself and accomplish these tasks will be harder for me than caring for sick children. Discipline will ultimately help to get that first cement block in place and keep it there.

Africa is waging some very heavy Spiritual Warfare right now and it at times weighs on me. I have come to realize it can make my heart heavy and tire me. It makes it very hard to not simply board a plane. It is probably good right now I can't afford to do that as I have a lot of work to do in the immediate future in preparation. There have been a few coups in the last few months making it seem that it is as a nation suffering spiritual aftershocks and I believe it in fact is.

The desperation, that need that runs so deep has in an absolute form, turned to evil in the weaponry of Piracy, oppression and rampant murder. The entire Country seems impervious almost to any attempt at making and keeping laws in place. Yes of course there are parts of the Nation that are more stable than others but overall when one place starts to unravel yet again, another soon follows. WHAT can possibly fix this broken Country other than the power of Hope and Faith placed in the hands and the hearts of these people? My impossibly naive heart wants to believe that we can swing the pendulum if we band together in numbers as foot soldiers of God. FIRST...we must overcome our own obstacles whether they be that of apathy, fear, greed or countless other flaws that are seemingly contagious. Seems much of civilization has forgotten that a full and meaningful life is one that affects the world for the better, we surely were born knowing this intrinsically. How is it we forget? Mimi Nakupenda, Malaika~ “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

On my knees...

It is so easy at times to lapse into a place of "easy rest" a place where you actually forget what it is we are and where it is we came from.

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It is with a bittersweet sadness I tell you I wrote the paragraph above on October 11th. What that tells me as I make my way back onto these pages is that I have been allowing other things to take presidence over something very important and central for me, this Blog.

This is of course not even close to the only time I have been sidetracked or even in a place where I find myself saying to the Lord, I am sorry.

I am being moved to look back to the day I was privileged to see past here...to perhaps look through or behind the veil. Before I go forth I want you to know I tell you all of this with the deepest and most profound respect and appreciation...

When I think of that day I remember vividly every sense...sight, sound, touch, taste and of course feel... I will be as candid as I am comfortable being with this deeply personal account.

I habe resisted before but it is time apparently that I allow this part of my story to unfold as is.. it's natural inclination is now...it is time.

It was the sixth of June in the year 2006...6/6/06 written in it's true form, many were entertained writing it differently that day, I'm reasonably sure.

I had a seizure in my home that day, a serious one. Seizures are or were for me a frequent rather than infrequent occurrence for that year and the previous year after being struck by a car as a pedestrian. A life altering event...

The ambulance arrived, I have little recollection of this other than having to help with names for someone to stay with my child, I do remember being concerned about that. The police and medical personnel were able to use my cell phone to reach someone and as they arrived I was on my way down the stairs on a stretcher.

Within minutes inside the ambulance I remember a lot of rushing about, far more than any other time and I remember knowing I was going to die. Mind you I had been through this several times prior, something was very different this particular time.

I remember an odd smell and taste and then I had another Grande Mal seizure...as I lost consciousness I remember saying "please don't let me die, I have five children, one little one." The EMT's answer was "Not on my watch" but I heard something in her voice...then I vividly remember a raised voice saying something about "Tachardia"and that's all I remember for a bit...other than the sirens that sounded very far away.

When I came to again I was stacked gurney to gurney inside triage's ambulance entrance with nobody in sight...seems those numbers I mentioned brought out something especially mischievous in this hazy raining week that particular Summer.

My first thought was that perhaps I was dead...? As the minutes passed I realized I was very much alive as every bone in my body was in excruciating pain, surely this is not the hereafter I thought.

Two Grande Mal seizures back to back puts a person in grievous danger for Status Epilepticus I now know and yet there I was laying with 5-7 others not even in front of medical personnel, insanity even through my haze...

I eventually did yell out after what felt like forever, I'm sure it was more like 20 minutes? I don't know.

A very pretty but rather unsuitable nurse called an attendant over to put me somewhere so I didn't "upset anyone"...and soon I was behind a curtain where I thought perhaps I was actually being recorded as a person rather than another number in the hall. There was in a very short amount of time a young nurse trying to draw blood from my very unwilling arm, in fact I literally couldn't move it. I could feel her frustration as if it were my own and forgive the honesty, I know it's hard...I could hear many of her thoughts. She wasn't getting blood and she was afraid, there are more very private details that I will spare you for the moment as far as my body and what it was and was not doing...

I closed my eyes as I felt a warmth unlike anything I have ever felt or knew to imagine that engulfed me at that moment.

My journey was at hand...I was not shocked nor surprised, in fact I was very much at ease, happier than I had ever known.

Other than the feeling of warmth and intense comfort I was immediately very much aware of a presence, a loving and all knowing brilliant presence. I was assured immediately that I was not going anywhere although there was not a fiber of my very light being that was even contemplating it, this feeling was far too wonderful to do anything BUT bask in it.

I still today close my eyes at times and try to feel it again but of course I can't, the trying causes me to tear up at times and those are for me, moments of sheer bliss as it does cause me to feel that much closer to the Lord.

The beautiful truth is, I now live in the light of the Lord and am always aware...lapses or no lapses...he is with me and I feel it.

My eloquent messenger had never uttered a sound and yet...I was instilled with a sense of peace and a sense of knowing. I was reminded that I have a purpose and had lost track of what it was...it was crystal clear to me that I was brought to this place to be reminded in a very concise but gentle way that I was to use my compassion and love of words and to share and teach selflessly. I had as a child wanted to go into the Peace Corps yet lacking conviction and discipline I allowed it to be pulled from my grasp.

So, back to June, I was then returned in a small moment in time by a love I could never have imagined or dreamt up. There in the room again, the nurse struggled for just a second now..the blood was flowing. As I now peed all over the stretcher {sorry} the nurse told me my color was back.

My hysterical laughter scared the heck out of this poor girl so I did my best to calm myself.

Within seconds I could hear several conversations going on all over the Emergency room and my head felt as if it was under complete attack by hand grenades! The nurses' until now unnoticeable perfume made me nauseous to the point that I did vomit, thankfully not on this shell shocked young thing....The words all over the room were blocked somewhat by what I will always know deep in my heart was some encouragement and comfort from my Mother in my left ear as my crying sister appeared in the doorway to have me announce "it's okay, I'm back!"

This is in part funny now, it was truthfully somewhat funny then in a very elated kind of way. There were absolutely no medications in my system at the time of all of this for those that may be wondering.

I don't want to veer too far from where I started so I will leave what is left for a later date. The rest of my story is not vital information after all you have just heard from me with my hand on my Bible beside me.

Some of what I am trying to convey here is just how reckless drifting away from the Lord really can be, it is something that happens to all of us. I believe that when Jesus said "all those who conspired against me" even Judas was included... GOD not only knows we will sin but expects it...he is molding us and testing us. We should if we are Christians be able to embrace these valleys or perhaps simply what seems to us to be a state of limbo...I have recently come to the conclusion that this place of confusion where nothing is seemingly happening is not limbo but the very place we are being placed so that we may pay closer attention to HIM, to go deeper into our Faith...deeper into knowing him and his desires for us.

Do not confuse temptation with testing please...God will give you what you need that you need not move beyond and into temptation, should you seek it in earnest. It is in your Bible...

See Matthew 4:1-11

Forgive me my human shortcomings as I work my way onto some very solid ground with a great deal of prayer and a deeper God given understanding of humility. I will take the time I need for prayer and continue to work very hard on a story I have started concerning the people of Rwanda.

Nothing has changed in my desire to get to Africa and minister on many levels but what I am finding is that this Blog is helping me to grow in my Faith in the degree of Truth I am able to share with you. I feel accountable to you my reader and I feel a strong desire to have you know me as a Christian and as a human being. I entered this undertaking with only the certainty that I needed to "show up" and the Lord would help me to find my course. The fact that it has turned into somewhat of a Christian blog is far from lost on me and I can only pray that among my readers there will be many of you that will draw from this something you need.

Of Rwanda, these brave and gracious survivors have overcome absolutely insurmountable odds and are edging forward thanks in large part to International aide and volunteerism. All of these people are in my prayers tonight and I would like to ask you to please pray for them as well.

Be kind to yourself and be kind to one another, we are his foot soldiers after all...

Deep Love,

Malaika~

2 Timothy 2:3

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

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John 15:1-8

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Am I not My Brothers Keeper?

I am once again here and humbled, it has been a rocky time. I have allowed myself to be pulled from my Path...drawn to the perimeter in many ways as of late. I have welcomed into my inner circle.. my comfort zone if you will, what I said I never would again. I had started to sway from my unqualified commitment to this Christian Life that I hold so dear. The comfort I had found here writing of Africa and equally of my journey of the soul has finally taken a firm grip on me and planted my feet back upon the Path. The Path I walk with HIM. My thoughts today are based upon the writings of Genesis...the thought of being "My Brothers Keeper" and just what that can mean. The world we live in today is one that is so packed with stress and strife, it is far beyond anything I would have thought possible in my lifetime. Who would have thought thirty years ago we would have such a thing as a "PC" a "Net book"or a "Blackberry". Who would have thought that children disappearing from within the safety of their own home would become almost commonplace. Thankful I do not have television, I choose to teach my young daughter about things like love, kindness and a sense of fairness. I have been ostracized for my use of the word God on many occasions in the last few years. These are simply not the days of Lassie and Timmy and family block parties, no instead these are the days of "Reality television" and random massacres in schools. Society has become enchanted with Voyeurism and most parents spend 15 to 45 minutes a day with their Children. It's sobering and it's true, I checked. America is obsessed in huge numbers with watching several people {strangers} thrown into a house together that go on to live every day life. Apparently the thing is, to predict which ones will have sex and which ones will tear another to shreds behind their backs on National television. This is our entertainment and motivation? Families have grown inordinately apart and yet the Country keeps moving and... progressing. There was a time when people watched out for one another, I remember it. I was free to walk down the street in my neighborhood without my Mother being all that concerned for my safety other than perhaps due to the remote possibility of being hit by a car. My daughter asked me yesterday when she will be able to go outside alone and I was at a complete loss for words. My response was, sadly "not for quite a while." We don't have a backyard due to the fact that we are apartment dwellers in a big city. The streets even in this fairly upper middle class area are not an option. The decay of society is at everyone's door, it is on everyone's mind in one way or another...So, my question is this...Are we and should we not BE our "Brother's keeper"? Should we NOT BE watching out for one another? What WILL it take people, what will it take? I ask in desperation, I ask in the hope that we can start a ripple before we all drown in our preoccupation with self... It is as you all know by now, my deepest desire to evolve on to Africa through all of my daily work towards transitioning. I am having a horrendous time getting my arms around what I will be leaving behind. For all the times I may have heard "Why Africa ?" I am left to ponder how it is people that show no apparent sign of regard for people in their own neighborhood should care if I choose to help women and children in Africa. In all the research I have done and all of the amazing people that have been put in my path I will tell you what I have found. Repeatedly I find the common denominator in African people appears to be a sense of gratitude...a graciousness we as Americans have seemingly outgrown. For all that we have and all that we cling to in our culture, all over Africa people are concerning themselves with the very real threats of daily survival. In fact such a vast number of Africans very survival is so shattered by violence and heinous crime's perpetuated against them, I refer to it as that only out of lack of a better term. Here in America and in every part of the world it seems so painfully obvious to me that it is TIME we start to be our "Brother's keeper" before it is too late. Let us pay attention, step up to the proverbial plate and instead of talking about change, actually DO IT ourselves...reach out, step away from your comfort zone and be bold. Reach inside... Surely you will find the wellspring is in there even if it has been stagnant. I pray for peace for all people and know that in God's world we truly are interconnected, we truly are brothers... and sisters. Mimi Nakupenda...In light always, Malaika~ My command to you is this: love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:12

Returning to Self...

The brisk Autumn air is awakening my senses once again although this time feels incredibly unique to me.

So many Autumn's in my life have been faced with dread and a sense of sadness. I believe they have a term for it, it is referred to as "Seasonal Affective Disorder" I have it or so I've been told.

What I had was actually a lack of Faith. There is in fact a name for that as well, though it is far less acceptable to use and also neglected to be written about in any Medical journals..."Spiritual Bankruptcy". I think I'm safe in saying it is past it's "flu" stage and now it is most likely a "Pandemic" in the world. A word that can send millions of intelligent people into a frenzy of buying vast amounts of surgical masks, rubber gloves and bottles of sanitizer in bulk. Yet when was the last time you heard of a rush on Bibles?

For me Autumns turning leaves signify a crisp, colorful and magnificent call from nature that is saying look at me, take a last glance before I go to rest for a season. It has already started and is being framed for me as a time of Spiritual renewal. A time to nourish and yet slowly release this process here openly, my passion for The Lord and everything that emanates from there, for that is my home and my very soul.

I have allowed myself enough of a laziness over the middle of Summer to be pulled away from my process a bit more than I had anticipated. Discipline comes hard to me as I have mentioned a few times before, it is something that i am being taught because it is a necessity to see this dream become a reality one day. I can talk my passion here but I can not live it on these pages unless I am summing up a day for you a day spent doing my life's work. Oh how I pray and wait for that day. The waiting has become less difficult because I am learning to move at my God directed speed. I have also achieved a patience I never had for patience is possible when you walk in true faith...On a wing and a prayer has always struck me as a beautiful term even before I consciously understood the meaning of the phrase.

I had hoped to be in Africa by now. I have spent countless hours looking in to how that might happen with the many, many issues facing me as a single Mother of a six year old child.

Much to my chagrin and at times what can only be described as a deep disappointment, the blues would settle in as if to stay. There have been weeks where I put little into what had become my well formed dream and complete commitment to the work of my heart, the journey that would lead me home one day. I have been sidestepping the work I had started here. I found myself for financial reasons without a telephone for nearly three weeks this past month...not too far into this period I realized it was truly God's will. I know now to call upon that newly shaped discipline to step in and keep me patient, to envelope me in the certainty of HIS love. It is he that has full knowledge of my purpose. I am simply trying to live within that beautiful Peace he has created for my soul.

As of now it looks like we are a few years from Africa, I have absorbed the pain this brings and it is in fact a big part of what has kept me away.

I have through prayer and many insightful and enriching conversations with Maji, my "Anam Cara" in Gaelic {I'm Irish and it's a beautiful term besides!} talked non-stop about Africa and possibilities. Maji is a scientist and an all around radiant Christian that loves everyone and in turn she is greatly loved and respected. Maji also happens to be my soul's sister...together we have grown in our Faith in leaps and bounds and had days of laughter that would make anyone's ribs ache.

When we meet the person in our life that comes accompanied by a mirror from which to view your most authentic self, hold on and don't let go...it is one of the keys to the Kingdom. I thank the Lord I had those "eyes to see".

So we will go forward from here and I will resume blogging and discussing the tragedies, the sufferings and the joys of the people of Africa. They, just like us have all of these moments...The joy of a birth still exists in the human heart even if there is no food eventually to keep that child alive. Africa is at the absolute heart of so many matters and we can all be at once a part of the sadness and a part of the joy. It is still and with even more fire in my heart, where I long to bring my unique gifts. Every time I drink water from my faucet I am reminded what a privilege it is.

I missed these pages deeply, I missed sharing and I missed calling out from what at times feels "the wilderness" for deep human contact within the honesty of who you are...

Mimi Nakupenda,

In great Love,

Malaika~

*With great thanks to Maji, when I write you come through my fingers as well~

Blog will resume on September 9th 2009

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for coming back or if this is your first time I would like to extend my welcome to you. The Summer is wrapping up and I can hardly wait to devote much of my time to these pages once again. God has been so very good to me and it has been a glorious Summer, filled with joy and wonder. I hope and pray your's has been enriching as well.

See you soon,

Love and Light,

Malaika~

AIDS Vaccine Trial...

SAfrica stops funding for AIDS vaccine research By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jul 20, 9:23 am ET CAPE TOWN, South Africa – South Africa has stopped funding research on an AIDS vaccine, a leading scientist said Monday, even as a major vaccine trial on humans began in the country ravaged by the world's worst AIDS epidemic. Anna-Lise Williamson, an AIDS researcher at the University of Cape Town, told The Associated Press that the clinical vaccine trial that began Monday would continue with U.S. money. But she said South Africa's Department of Science and Technology had stopped funding her research this year and the utility Eskom's contract for funding ended last year and was not renewed. Even though South Africa's science minister appeared at a ceremony launching the vaccine trial with Williamson and lauded her research, neither he nor Eskom immediately returned calls seeking comment about funding. At the ceremony, one of 36 healthy volunteers was injected Monday before officials and journalists in Cape Town's Crossroads shantytown. The event was also attended by American health officials who gave technical help and manufactured the vaccine at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. "For vaccine development presently, the South African AIDS Vaccine initiative has no money," Williamson said. "If we do not continue working on this, we will never have a vaccine... it's incredibly important that we keep working." The South African vaccine, developed at the University of Cape Town, targets the specific HIV strain that has ravaged South Africa. During nearly 10 years of government denial and neglect, South Africa developed a staggering AIDS crisis. Around 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year — the highest number of any country in the world. Young women are hardest hit, with one-third of those aged 20-to-34 infected with the virus. AIDS vaccine researchers have met so many disappointments some activists are questioning the wisdom of continuing such expensive investments, saying the money might be better spent on prevention and education. A new report says HIV vaccine research funding worldwide decreased for the first time since 2000, with investments of almost $1.2 billion in 2008, down 10 percent from 2007. South Africa was also the site of the biggest setback to AIDS vaccine research, when the most promising vaccine ever, produced by Merck & Co. and tested here in 2007, found that people who got the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV than those who did not. South African scientists working on the latest vaccine had to overcome deep skepticism from their political leaders, who had shocked the world with their unscientific pronouncements about the disease. Williamson said South Africa, at the heart of the epidemic, must press ahead with trials to test the safety of the vaccine. "We have got the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) rollout in the world and still hundreds of people are dying every day and getting infected everyday," she said. Williamson's vaccine also is being tested at a trial of 12 volunteers in Boston that began earlier this year, said Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa's government-supported Medical Research Council that shepherded the project. "It is being very well tolerated, no adverse events, so it is going very well," Williamson said Monday. The trial started in the U.S., partly to allay any criticism that the United States was collaborating in an AIDS vaccine that would use Africans as guinea pigs. The government decided it was important to develop a vaccine specifically for the HIV subtype C strain that is prevalent in southern Africa "and to ensure that once developed, it would be available at an affordable price," Mbewu said. Some 250 scientists and technicians worked on the latest vaccine project. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a leading AIDS researcher, said the South African scientists received more money from his institute's research fund than any others in the world except the U.S. The U.S. had paid to produce the vaccine. He called it "the most important AIDS research partnership in the world." But he warned "There are extraordinary challenges ahead," referring to the years of testing needed now that South Africa has reached the clinical trial stage. At an international AIDS conference in Cape Town, Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe emphasized Sunday night that the clinical trials were being held "under strict ethical rules." Mbewu said the crisis in South Africa more than justifies the expenditure on AIDS research. AIDS strikes men and women alike in Africa, where the epidemic is fueled by the many people who have sex with several people at the same time. In the 1990s, South Africa's then-President Thabo Mbeki denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, mistrusted conventional anti-AIDS drugs and made the country a laughing stock trying to promote beets and lemon as AIDS remedies. Williamson, a virologist, said the scientists had to fight constant controversy, including international organizations that tried to stop the state utility Eskom from funding the project. Eskom gave "huge amounts" regardless, she said. "International organizations told Eskom that this was a terrible waste of money, that putting money into South African scientists was like backing the cart horse when they need to be backing the race horse," she said. Even her research director told her she was wasting her time. "Most of them just made us more determined to prove them wrong," Williamson said. ___

Strip away the worldly...

Right up until the time Jesus died on the cross he was clear and resolute, he had no fear. Not only was he without fear but he willingly took the cross when he could easily have asked his Holy Father to intervene. As I grow in my Faith there is a push pull that occurs sometimes it starts out subtly other times, I don't have a minute to think...my Faith is put to the test . My blind and unqualified acceptance of this process is an integral part of defining what Faith actually means to me. Saying the Lord is my beginning, my end and everything in between is one thing. Saying that my love and reverence for him is the single most important ingredient in my life is still yet another. Alas without action and courage these words ring hollow. In following my God I must take responsibility for my actions not only toward another but toward myself as well as the world as a whole. This is what God expects of me and it is, at times incredibly hard. As the entire world spirals downward with such swiftness it is nearly impossible to avoid it's pull completely, my convictions must remain strong and every bit as resolute as that of Jesus. When I kneel and pray at night I pour out my heart, every trespass whether against me or perpetrated by me I give to God with deep sadness and remorse. The fact that I know he will not turn his back on me regardless of my transgressions often humbles me to the point of tears. This love for my Father is far beyond what I knew one could feel. It colors my entire world and lets me know all things are possible through him. I am in this human vessel full of imperfections by his design, this I know. Learning to hold my head high and trust myself has been a long time coming and encompasses a life time's worth of lessons. Only when I surrendered to the Lord in total Faith knowing that anything put in my Path is put there to either test or reward me and that the two are synonymous...only in this have I found peace. I thank him for the trials as I thank him for the rewards. Yes, today's world is harsh and it is equally twisted as well. Reality TV has become an obsession and the churches are near empty and many are even closing. THIS is a very frightening reality. This is a world in need of love and yet wars are waged often due to greed and ego carrying all kinds of elaborate excuses and disguises. Peace and kindness are seemingly hard to come by. I make it a point as I have mentioned before to be a foot soldier for Christ rather than to give in to this apathy that permeates the thread of communities. So the personal tests come and they go much like the tide and I often feel the swiftness of what feels like a massive ocean wave. When I choose to fight this powerful force it is like that of scraping against sharp rock and blinding sand...when I let go and let the roll of the wave carry me, trusting the Lord I soon find I have been brought to the surface for air as the wave uncurls and calms as promised. It is not always this simple, there are times I falter, times I am tempted but for me there is no turning back now. I can turn things around again and again in my head even making what I know is wrong seemingly right, this is Satans snare and I know it. Often times my beloved Father will even throw a gentle reminder my way...most recently it was a gentle little ladybug that landed just above my heart while inside there was a battle waging. My eyes now see and Ican not look away from my Fathers gentle guidance. Every day these private battles wage some are won and then there are those that are lost. As difficult as it is, I choose to do my very best to remain steadfast and true to the Lord that has loved me so. As his child I have had every opportunity to succeed and every opportunity to fail, my success has been a gift to him, my failures as well for they brought me to my knees where he has surely witnessed and wiped away my tears. I am indescribably grateful to bring it ALL to him now as he is forever my loving and forgiving Father. It is with this strength of spirit and love for him I venture forth each day for now in the city and later in Africa if he see's fit. It is a wonderful feeling to know I can strip it all away,worldly goods that weigh me down and distract me from what is important. I have decided to get deep into Bible study and see where that takes me. Through prayer and with open ears and eyes as well as a fully open heart I am being urged to "root" for a bit longer until my path is crystal clear. Readying my mind and disciplining myself further will make me more prepared and also enable me to bring more teaching to this project that I see in my head every day, yes the colors are every bit as vibrant and the lovely Duma still calls to me as well. Project Shepherd, Project Maji and more lie ahead... Mimi nakupenda as always, Malaika~ Teach me your decrees O Lord; I will keep them until the end. Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart. Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found. give me an eagerness for your decrees; do not inflict me with love for money! Turn my eyes from worthless things and give me life through your word. help me abandon my shameful ways; your laws are all I want in life. Psalm 119: 33-37, 39

A truly beautiful song that I feel helps put things in perspective, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDSh5wUtXt4

SWAHILI....ASANTE!

We have managed to learn 29 words in Swahili in just a little over a month!

I don't know about you but we are feeling quite proud of ourselves and having a great time with this fun and spirited language!

We will be FLUENT by the end of the Summer!

Wewe Nakupenda,

Malaika & Pesa Ndege {little bird}

as she now prefers to be called ;)

What can I say the child knows her mind...

SWAHILI words of the Day with Madison and I...

Mother is...Mama

pronounced- MAH-mah

Father is...Baba

pronounced- BAH-bah

Practice makes perfect!

SWAHILI Words of the Day with Madison and I...

"God bless you" is....Mungu Akubariki

Pronounced- moongoo akoo bahreekee

"God" is Mungu

pronounced-moongoo

Asante sana Mungu!

Mimi nakupenda,

Malaika~

Please take a few minutes and watch...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/06/19/ac.angelina.jolie.intv.cnn

Murk...

I am at my barest self a Christian a Mother and a writer. Although I have dabbled in photography, I am surely NOT a photographer.

Being a writer, I write...I write because it is my way of truth telling, my way of speaking. I speak for, against and mostly out!

This is the first time a photograph has moved me to write...a somewhat backwards process for me. Generally I write as moved and then find the right picture to express my emotion and hail you the reader with an image to go with the string after string of words.

This photo has changed me yet again, as a profound photo will do, the photographers job is to do just that and he has done it well.

This image will not ever leave me for it has brought even more urgency to what we are hoping to accomplish here. Let us bring the ugliness out of the shadows, let us allow ourselves some real truth. Let us be moved to act as the kind and compassionate human beings we were created to be.

I am a single mother and have been for many years. I am stubborn in many things I do and stubborn about my convictions so I do not do well married. I do better as a mother than a wife.

I know poverty and I know pain. I know the frustration of loving a child that needs shoes that have to wait a bit too long at times and snacks that aren't there but hopefully dinner is. I am in comparison to so many a very fortunate human being and I never lose sight of that.

I have a roof over my head and that of my child, I have food in my refrigerator 90% of the time, I am spoiled in comparison to millions upon millions. I thank God for my food at night and again in the morning. I take nothing but his love for me for granted and truth be told I don't take that for granted either, I rather trust in that.

The concept of people wearing $600 shoes while this boy drinks from a filthy, mosquito infested puddle is one I will never come to terms with, I am not capable.

Material things that held allure for me years ago had threatened to rob me of my sense of what is right and eventually of my soul had I let it. I am an enormously grateful and wealthy woman living well below the poverty level.

The tug on my heart becomes more ingrained and stubborn for every disturbing photograph, article or piece of information that finds me. There is not the thought of turning back ever as Africa has it's hands on my heart now.

God Bless us all...

Malaika~

"A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair"

ARTICLE from Huffington Post by Jim Luce

In 1995 I visited an orphanage in Indonesia and was so moved by the need to provide better care for orphans in the developing world that I went on to found Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW). I also brought home a ten-month old son, Mathew James. I did not know then that a parallel effort was underway by an extraordinary woman whose path I would not cross for another decade: Dr. Jane Aronson, founder of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO, 1997). Jane Aronson, a renowned specialist in pediatric infectious diseases and adoption medicine, has dedicated her life to working with orphaned children. WWO's parallel mission is "to transform the lives and enhance the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual well-being of orphaned children throughout the world." Hers is a holistic approach, attending to the needs of the whole child - Medical, social, developmental, educational. I first met Jane last summer over brunch, and then heard her speak at my organization's World Congress at NYU Medical Center in the fall. She is a dynamic woman as cheerful as she is bright and dedicated. Her organization's programs are addressing the needs of the most vulnerable children from Azerbaijan to Viet Nam. Whereas I have one adopted son at home, Mathew, Jane has two: Des and Ben. Matt is ethnically Chinese from Indonesia. Des is from Ethiopia and Ben from Viet Nam. My son, Mathew James and Jane's two sons, Ben and Des. Jane's Early Intervention ("granny") programs in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Viet Nam, and Ethiopia match retirees from communities with orphans in local institutions. These "grannies" work under the direction of a psychologist, one-to-one with a child - five hours a day, five days a week. They play with, sing with, hold, feed and encourage their child, and the little ones respond with tremendous developmental advances, better growth, and most importantly, by learning how to love and be loved. The missions of our organizations are similar. OIWW's is "Raising Global Citizens," while WWO's is "To transform the lives of orphaned children by taking them out of anonymity and helping them to become healthy, independent, productive members of their communities and the world." But neither our organizations is involved with international adoptions. In addition to leading WWO, Jane is herself an international adoption medical expert with a private practice. Adoption, we both agree, is not the solution for the world's needy orphans. According to UNICEF, there are 133 million orphans in the world. She views adoption as a "small option, not a solution." The number of children adopted in the U.S. from international countries, less than 20,000 per year, is miniscule: 0.02%. Jane states, "Work with orphans is for and with the local community. Adoption is not the solution, community support is." Jane was born in Brooklyn in 1951 and grew up on Long Island. She attended Hunter College in New York City and taught school for ten years. At 30, she fulfilled her life's dream to become a physician and entered the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at 35. Jane completed several residencies, including a pediatric residency and chief residency in New Jersey, and a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Columbia Presbyterian/Babies Hospital in New York City. "The Orphan Doctor" Jane Aronson seeing patients around the world. Between 1992 and 2000, she was the Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Director of the International Adoption Medical Consultation Services on Long Island. Since July 2000, Dr. Aronson has been in private practice as Director of International Pediatric Health Services, in New York City. She is Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and has evaluated well over 4,000 children adopted from abroad as an adoption medicine specialist. She has traveled to orphanages in Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Romania, Russia, Vietnam, and throughout Latin America. Jane's Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) documents the medical and developmental conditions of children living in orphanages abroad in order to identify their immediate health care needs and to advocate for their well-being. The WWO's Orphan Ranger Program acts as a "Peace Corps" for orphanages by commissioning university students and healthcare professionals to live and work in orphanages. 'Rangers' who speak the native tongue work with staff to improve the nutritional and emotional health of abandoned children. Those without a native language travel, contributing their skills in medicine, physical therapy, psychology, etc. The new Global Arts Ranger program integrates arts, music, theater, and dance to the children's lives. Since 1997, Jane's Orphan Rangers have worked in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, India, Ecuador, Viet Nam, China, Serbia, Montenegro, and Ethiopia. To encourage American youth in the habits of philanthropy, the Service Ranger program sends families with teens to work in project requested by various orphanages. Recently, E.J. Graff, a journalist, wrote a series of articles in Foreign Policy and other prestigious journals claiming that international adoptions are somehow fueling an underground baby-trading industry. This is counter to everything I myself know to be true as founder of Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW), with over fifty humanitarian trips to visit orphanages in the developing world. Jane's response: "The recent media coverage of E.J. Graff's investigative reporting is a gross mischaracterization of thousands of legal adoptions that take place worldwide every year." "International adoption is an enormously complex issue. It is emotional and highly personal and should not be dismissed in the broad generalizations and harsh tones of these various articles and interviews." "Behind every question that involves children or orphans," she adds, "the main objective should always center on how to help those children in question to become successful, productive, socially inclined individuals. Due diligence must be taken by investigative reporters not to generalize a system on the basis of a few bad seeds." "Simply indicting and criticizing selected parties on various issues only results in undermining the very children who were already in crisis. The issues then are no longer centered on them. They become faceless and arbitrary in a battle of wits and interpretation, where even if one side wins, the children all lose." I agree that accusations and indictments concerning the definition of "orphan" are not constructive, either for the kids or for those advocating on behalf of them. It makes no difference, I believe, if there are 133 million orphans, 13.3 million, or 1.3 million. However many there are, we must all do 100% of what we can to help improve the lot of all of them, and work cooperatively towards ways to improve future generations of orphanages. To begin with, even the best orphanages are a second-tier solution Family care - or 'in-family' foster care - is a far better solution. My own goal, stated at OIWW's World Congress last fall and in a recent HP blog, is to see an eventual end to orphanages in the developing world - akin to the end of orphanages in North America, Europe, Israel, and Japan several decades ago. I have stated that 2050 is our target date. Dr. Jane Aronson with Dr. Sophie Mengistu, WWO Country Director, Ethiopia. In our most recent discussion, Jane and I outlined the enormous task before humanity: caring for the orphans of the world. Jane immediately referenced the 'Starfish Analogy.' Two men walked along a beach strewn with floundering starfish, dumped by the tide. One man was throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one at a time, the other was thinking he was crazy. Finally, the amused man says, "What you are doing does not begin to solve the problem! Your actions do not matter!" To which the first replied, "It matters to the starfish." "Too many orphans? Actually, there are probably far more than 133 million, anyway," Jane said. "The question is not," I interjected, "can we really grasp the idea of 133 million orphans?" "Right," Jane responded, "The question is: How do we, in a thoughtful way, organize ourselves to be able to work collaboratively to create models - 'tool kits' - to make orphan care culturally appropriate and replicable?" As a child advocate, Jane has decided to become more public in her thoughtfulness, producing policy papers on orphans, their care and future. "President Obama rose from grassroots advocacy," she noted. "The old-fashioned way is efficient and can be modernized with Web 2.0 applications. The field of child advocacy needs to be modernized." Early intervention is key, says Jane. "To hire 'grannies' - retired school teachers and child care professionals - to come into our orphanages, helps to increase developmental skills, to move our kids from 'outcast' into general society." Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs are as important to Head Start and No Child Left Behind as to orphanages in Ethiopia, Bulgaria, and Viet Vietnam. Although "orphans" are often seen as "bad" or "other." Jane's goal - through therapy, education, and enrichment - is "to transform orphaned children into our world's future Thought Leaders." I hope the orphans we are Raising as Global Citizens in my own organization grow up to be as thoughtful as Dr. Jane Aronson. Edited by Ethel Grodzins Romm