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15th out of 71 books
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There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children
Two-time National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene puts a human face on the African AIDS crisis with this powerful story of one woman working to save her country's children. After losing her husband and daughter, Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian woman of modest means, opened her home to some of the thousands of children in Addis Ababa who have been left as orphan...more
Paperback, 480 pages
Published
September 4th 2007
by Bloomsbury USA
(first published 1900)
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Having completed the book, here are my thoughts. Everybody should read this book. When you say millions of AIDS orphans, it doesn't really mean anything. When you come to know a few, their thoughts, their experiences, their fears and dreams, the numbers take on a face and they mean something. It is much better to understand one individual in depth than millions without faces.
You fall in love with some of these children. Most parents wanted to adopt baby girls....more
Having completed the book, here are my thoughts. Everybody should read this book. When you say millions of AIDS orphans, it doesn't really mean anything. When you come to know a few, their thoughts, their experiences, their fears and dreams, the numbers take on a face and they mean something. It is much better to understand one individual in depth than millions without faces.
You fall in love with some of these children. Most parents wanted to adopt baby girls....more
This book really taught me a lot both intellectually and personally. It taught me that I haven't the first clue about poverty, the orphan crisis, about Africa and about AIDS. The author writes in a journalistic style about a current day Ethiopian woman who after the death of her husband and later her daughter decides to enter a life of hermitude. As she goes to say her good byes to a priest friend he asks her to take in a street girl and care for her. She reluctantly says yes. With in a few m...more
This is the book that is causing me to rethink my life and try to decide if I am living a meaningful life. Am I doing enough good or should I sell my possessions, move to Africa or India and dedicate my life to something more useful than having a socially conscious job and owning a home.
Haregewoin Teferra was a middle class woman in Ethiopia, a professional woman with an husband who was a teacher and two beautiful and beloved daughters. After her husband passes away she raises her da...more
Haregewoin Teferra was a middle class woman in Ethiopia, a professional woman with an husband who was a teacher and two beautiful and beloved daughters. After her husband passes away she raises her da...more
This is an eye-opening book about AIDS orphans in Ethiopia. Melissa Fay Greene particularly focuses on the efforts of one woman who cares for those orphans. Haregewoin Teferra was one of the few refuges for AIDS orphans in the earlier days of the pandemic. Greene's tale doesn't seek to make Haregewoin into a saint, but shows her in all her courage and also her limited ability to handle the incredible task she takes on. When the Western world begins to laud Haregewoin for her deeds, Greene al...more
Much like Half the Sky, this was one of those books I often found myself wishing everyone would read. Briefly speaking, in There is No Me Without You, journalist Melissa Fay Greene explores the history of HIV/AIDS, the subsequent plight in Africa (more specifically, Ethiopia), and how one woman reached out and tried to bring about change. Insightful, educational and inspiring.
After reading Melissa Fay Greene's funny No Biking in the House Without a Helmet, I picked up this earlier book about the woman who runs the orphanage from which some of Green's children came. Somehow I missed it when it came out, despite its winning a slew of awards that year. It is a powerful book, and it took me a long time to finish it because I needed time to absorb its impact. The book is not maudlin nor manipulative, but its subject, AIDS orphans, is tragic.
Greene is an exc...more
Greene is an exc...more
OK, I admit I only read up to chapter 17 before I put the book down. Noble an act as Haregewoin's decision was to open her home to AIDS orphans and as much as I appreciated the author's facinating inclusion of the history of how AIDS came to be spread in Africa, it was Haregewoin's backstory that troubled me. Something was left out. Why did she even get married in the first place? Why was she so blase about who her daughter married until that daughter was suddenly on her deathbed?
It just b...more
It just b...more
This is one of the most profound, informative, and life-altering books that I have ever read. If I could give it six stars, I would.
I started reading this book because I’m a prospective adoptive parent, looking to adopt from Ethiopia. I could not have picked a better book to explain the history and reality of HIV as well as the impact on the children of Ethiopia.
This non-fiction work is a story told in two parts. The first aspect of the book covers the history of the deve...more
I started reading this book because I’m a prospective adoptive parent, looking to adopt from Ethiopia. I could not have picked a better book to explain the history and reality of HIV as well as the impact on the children of Ethiopia.
This non-fiction work is a story told in two parts. The first aspect of the book covers the history of the deve...more
A little dry/slow at times but still worth reading. A true story about an Ethiopian woman in Addis who ends up turning her house into an orphanage unintentionally after her daughter dies and homeless children start showing up at her door. She learns that a majority of the children have been orphaned by AIDS and some are HIV positive as well. I liked it because Greene doesn't try to make her sound like Jesus or invincible...she's a real person and there are real problems and complications along t...more
A very powerful story of a middle-class woman who began to take in orphans and abandoned children in Ethiopia before it was a culturally acceptable thing to do! This book is moving on a number of levels - reading the individual sagas of these orphans is gripping, but hearing their stories set against the staggering condition of children in a country ravaged by poverty and HIV/AIDS is almost incredible. The need is so massive (in many cases, unnecessarily so - from dictators who orchestrated fami...more
I wasn't anticipating the emotional journey this book would take me on. I've been sad, angry, happy, bereft, indignant, heartbroken, despairing, hopeful, and just about every other emotion you can imagine while I've been reading it.
I'm so moved by the true-life heroine of this book, Haregewoin Teferra who turned her grief after losing her husband and a daughter into a mission to rescue as many of the thousands of AIDS orphans in Ethiopia as she could handle, and then some. The author doe...more
I'm so moved by the true-life heroine of this book, Haregewoin Teferra who turned her grief after losing her husband and a daughter into a mission to rescue as many of the thousands of AIDS orphans in Ethiopia as she could handle, and then some. The author doe...more
This is an excellent read about the HIV epidemic in Africa. Melissa Fay Greene weaves in and out facts and research about the HIV epidemic with info on one woman's life, Heregewoin Tefera.
Heregewoin Tefera is an everyday Ethiopian woman. She loses her adult daughter to HIV and decides to accept a couple of children from the local Catholic Charities group to stay with her out of kindness since their parents died of HIV. Soon, she accepts more and more. Heregewoin eventually grow...more
Heregewoin Tefera is an everyday Ethiopian woman. She loses her adult daughter to HIV and decides to accept a couple of children from the local Catholic Charities group to stay with her out of kindness since their parents died of HIV. Soon, she accepts more and more. Heregewoin eventually grow...more
So very wonderful so very sad, and so very important to read. As an adopted child, I am aware of a dim, everpresent sense of absence, of loss before self awareness ever happened. However, I do feel very blessed that my adoption was out of Malaysia, rather than Ethiopia, or Uganda or the Congo. This book is full of horrific stories of children orphaned by AIDS, children who became parents to their younger siblings, at the age of 4 or 6. It's unimaginable, but it happens every day. The story of th...more
I had a difficult time putting this book down. It is the story of an Ethiopian woman (Haregewoin), who is modestly comfortable (financially) for the first half of her life, experiences a great personal loss and ends up taking in an orphaned child. Six weeks later, Haregewoin takes in another orphan, then another, until she finds herself unable to say "no" to requests for help. An orphanage results, she struggles to make ends meet and her life is no longer her own. Despite this, Greene ...more
Melissa Fay Greene read an article about the incredibly high incidence of orphans in Ethiopia, a country riddled with AIDS which was killing adults and destroying families. She and her husband decided to adopt one of the children. In traveling to Ethiopia to arrange for an adoption she discovered that there were very, very few orphanages, but that one of them was run by a widow from her tiny house without any government support or aid from anyone. Out of her investigation arose this book.
...more
This star-rating system always confounds me, because whether I "like" it isn't the issue in the case of a book like this. I DID like it, and Greene does a fantastic job of striking a balance between journalism and drawing out precious and haunting stories of real people and raw suffering. My eyes have been opened to the plight of orphans in Ethiopia, the realities of the history of the AIDS crisis in Africa and the chastening we in the West should rightfully receive (though Greene is s...more
This was a wonderful book. It is moving and mind boggling at the same time. The book focuses on Haregewoin, a woman who saved many, many orphans in Ethiopia single handedly. Her life is tragic and triumphant at the same time, and I felt such an affection for her. However, there are also chapters about the spread of HIV in Africa, which were no less fascinating. They were also horrifying. It suggests that it may have been in large part due to mass campaigns to vaccinate when there were not ...more
This book was wonderful. I have adopted two children from India, one of whom showed a false HIV+ from her bio-mom upon entering her orphanage. So this book really hit home for me. The author did a wonderful job of taking the overwhelming numbers regarding adults and children sick, dead and orphaned by AIDS and making it personal. I didn't give the book 5 stars because I thought the author sugar-coated the struggles adoptees have after they enter their families. Most post-institutionalized childr...more
There Is No Me Without You tells the story of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian woman who lost her daughter and husband to AIDS, and then turned around and became a foster mother to one, two, ten, fifty, eighty children. Her home evolved into an orphanage and she began helping families from the US and Europe to adopt her beloved children. It then tells the stories of families who have adopted from Ethiopia--their lives back in the US, and the connections that these unique families make to one ano...more
Like some other readers, I was a little disappointed by some of Greene's more obvious emotional manipulations. Also, I was little annoyed that she didn't really reveal her own involvement in the story, beyond just that of a journalist, until at least halfway through the book. She spends more time than really makes sense defending herself against the claim of having failed to meet Haregewoin at the airport, which makes me wonder what else about their relationship she hasn't revealed. Overall,...more
Now I'm obviously more emotionally invested in this book having adopted a child from Ethiopia, but this book is incredible. It tells the tale of one woman who found herself an unlikely hero by bringing in AIDS orphans to her home. She does an amazing job of telling the horrible story of the spread of AIDS in Africa. She blends statistics with the story of this woman seamlessly. I cried multiple times reading this book. It was often very hard to read. Our Western sensitivities don't like to...more
I randomly came across this book on the New Releases shelves in the library. Its an emotional read, but every educational at the same time. As someone who was a child when AIDS hit the US, how the disease was originally spread and treated went right over my head. Reading this book now really taught me a lot about the struggles of AIDS patients in Africa, and how it doesn't have to be this way. The story of the matriarch in this story and how she loved and cared for the children in her charge is ...more
When I was young, I thought people died of Ethiopia. I thought it was a disease, rather than a place. Since then, I'm ashamed to say, my knowledge hasn't grown too far beyond being able to find it on a map. This book has changed that. It taught me about Ethiopian history, as well as a great deal about the history of HIV/AIDS and ARVs.
There Is No Me Without You will break your heart into pieces. The end of the book, with a small number of orphans beginning ARV treatments and the li...more
There Is No Me Without You will break your heart into pieces. The end of the book, with a small number of orphans beginning ARV treatments and the li...more
This is one of those books that helps me feel more grateful for all that I have and for the stability and health of our society (at least our society in general). It was inspiring to read about people who have given so much of their lives to support orphans in Ethiopia and to read about some of the families who have adopted children from Ethiopia. It was also interesting to learn about theories of the history of AIDS in Africa (especially the theory relating to the administering of penicillin ...more
The only reason I gave this book four stars was because I was angry when it was over - Melissa Fay Greene spoiled me with her unflinching follow ups on some of the very children she witnessed being left at Haregorewoin's doorstep. Her honest and balanced look at the personal toll of the AIDS crisis among other issues in Africa is unflinching, unromantic and without a prescription for change that doesn't inspire each of us to do what we can in some way to make right the horrible injustices infli...more
A moving, heartlifting account of how an Ethiopian woman handles AIDS, orphans and adoption.
Amazing story of an Ethiopian woman who takes in an AIDS orphan, and thus begins one of the only orphanages to accept HIV positive children. A broader look at the nation's history, socio-political culture, and the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Heart wrenching stories of the children that pass through Haregoin's doors and ultimately her heart. It's easy for someone like me in America to classify AIDS in Africa as a "major world issue" lumped together with all the other things... but after re...more
This book was mentioned in an article in the Church News about a humanitarian couple who went to Africa after reading this book. It is pretty life changing. It is about the AIDS crisis in Ethiopia. I'm not sure I realized there was one. I learned a lot and especially learned that I knew nothing and the things I did know or had heard were wrong or at least misguided. This book was sad, inspiring, hopeful, and had funny moments. I am going to encourage Carol and Major to read it. Then we wi...more
Very compelling. The science & economical sections can get tedious, but the information is need-to know. The story of Haregwoin & the children will move you to tears. How is it okay for greed to dictate the destruction of humanity? Why do we as a nation allow it? Because it is our fault as a country. We had/have the power to save lives and yet we deemed them unworthy. As I say we, I acknowledge that many of us had no idea what was/is happening in other countries. We do not always know what ...more
I heard Melissa Fay Greene speak to the American Society of Journalists and Authors. I'd read her book Praying for Sheetrock and knew how remarkable a storyteller she is, but when I learned that she is a white Jewish woman living in Atlanta with her own four birth children and a husband and that they also adopted five (?) other youngsters, several from Ethiopia, (one whom delighted his siblings by spearing frisbees mid-air, I knew There is No Me Without You would be the book for me. I'm dreaming...more
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Melissa Greene has been a contributor to NPR, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, LIFE, Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Readers Digest, Ms., The Wilson Quarterly, Redbook, and Salon.com. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Don Samuel, a criminal defense attorney. They have been married for 28 years and are the parents of nine children: Molly, Seth, Lee, Lily, Jesse (adopted ...more
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Mar 11, 2011 05:46pm
updated Mar 11, 2011 08:31pm