Rachel Pieh Jones's Blog, page 6

Stronger than Death Book Tour

Come on out, bring a friend! I would LOVE to see you in person.

Mostly, I’m in Djibouti and if you live here and want to host a book event, WOW and AWESOME and please get in touch!

But, for the next month, I’ll be in the USA and if you are near these cities, I would so much love to see you. Come on out and bring a friend and let’s meet IN PERSON and with our actual faces and voices, what a pleasure that would be.

As more events are added, I’ll try to keep you updated.

All events listed are free and open to the public.

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October 9, Washington D.C. 6:00-8:00 pm In conversation with the writer Kimberly Burge. At The Potter’s House 1658 Columbia Road, NW.

October 10 Washington D.C. 6:30-8:00 pm In conversation with Heather Rice-Minus. At the American Enterprise Institute 1789 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

October 14 Colorado Springs, Colorado, Glen Eyrie HQ building: 3820 N. 30th St, room 256C, books will be available in the bookstore.

October 15 Chicago, Illinois, at Wheaton College. In conversation with Professor Drew Bratcher 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Todd M. Beamer Center Lower Level, Phelps Room

October 18 Minneapolis/St. Paul LAUNCH PARTY at Afro Deli 6:00 pm 5 West 7th Place. St Paul, MN

There will be a Q/A time, books for sale, I’ll be signing them, there will be fun door prizes, and great food by Afro Deli, be sure to order more from the menu, too, you’ll want to try all the deliciousness. I can actually say: Djiboutiliciousness because the owner is Djiboutian! We have changed places: me, the Minnesotan in Djibouti and him, the Djiboutian in Minnesota. Come on out, enjoy a night of good food, friends, and celebration.

Books will be for sale, through Maegers and Quinn bookstore.

October 24 St. Olaf, Minnesota I’ll be speaking with students 8:00 a.m. This is the only event that is just for the students, but if you are nearby, let me know and we can connect after the class.

October 26 St. Paul, Minnesota Location and time TBD, MinneSLIFE event

October 27 Moundsview, Minnesota

Back to the Horn of Africa…

Publication Day(!!!!) and Why This Story Matters Right Now

I used four exclamation points in the title.

Let that be a sign unto you.

Publication date…today!

Find Stronger than Death at Amazon,  Barnes and Noble,  and IndieBound

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Why this book, why right now?

Has anyone else noticed how broken and sad and angry the world feels lately?

I feel it in my bones, a hunger for hope, love, compassion, goodness.

But, I don’t want those if they come through avoiding the hard things like racism, elitism, cruelty, harassment, oppression, diseases, stigmas.

This story required me to write straight into the hard.

Like being a white woman in Africa. Like engaging in violence on female bodies and fighting violence on female bodies. Like war and poverty and humanitarian failures.

But also, this story showed me the way to finding that hope and goodness I’m desperate for. It isn’t in sweeping hard conversations under the rug, it is in diving right into them with humility and humanity.

That is why now. Because I believe you are also desperate for hope, goodness, and light. You don’t want to retreat into the corner, surrounded by people just like you. You’re willing to cross boundaries and to learn how to love and live better in the diverse world that is our real world.

You’re willing to go to hard places and be changed there.

You want a love that is stronger than fear.

You want a life that is stronger than death.

Find Stronger than Death at Amazon,  Barnes and Noble,  and IndieBound

Books Are Not Babies and Will You Have a Party for Me?

I cringe at the comparison of books to babies.

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I am not pushing a book out. No one is cutting a book out. Ebook, paperback, hardcover, donn’t matter. Not coming out my body.

I do not expect my books to call me even after they have existed for 18 years or more.

If I put a book on the roof of the car and forget it there and drive away, I won’t really care.

I don’t need to buy my books a passport or hold their hair back while they barf when they have the flu.

Unless I get a world record size paper cut, I do not expect my books to leave scars on my skin.

Still.

Let me tell ya something.

When I realized I would not be anywhere near my book on the day it officially publishes, I had a one second flash, one second, of the moments after I gave birth to twins. I had the not-awesome experience of birthing one child vaginally (with no pain medication) and one child via c-section (with all the pain medication) because of an emergency.

I glanced at the first baby as I was getting a spinal tap and then she was gone. I glanced at the second baby while I was getting sewn up and then he was gone. And then my husband was gone. I had just pushed out a baby and the docs chopped out a baby, doubling the size of my family in the span of 42 minutes and I was all by myself. I didn’t even know where they were. (Later I found out, one was in the NICU with my husband and one was in a crib in the nursery).

So, as annoying and utterly insufficient as the books to babies comparison is, I confess I thought of it as my book’s publication date looms.

There are loads of copies of the book out in the world. People are reading it. People will be reading it as of October 1.

And I HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN IT.

I haven’t touched it.

I haven’t cracked that lovely hardcover spine.

I haven’t held it up and danced around the room.

I haven’t taken any photographs with it.

I haven’t cut into a box of books and laugh-cried while my family rolled their eyes.

And yet you, if you’ve ordered it, will have it in your hands! I’m so jealous.

You know how people say publishing a book doesn’t change your life? Well for me, it literally will not change my life. I will go for a run, go into the office at school, hang out with my husband, miss my kids, and wonder what you’re thinking as you crack open that spine and start to read.

I have a favor to ask.

I will have a launch party (and it will be super fun and in Minnesota and please come if you live nearby, I’ll send all the details later and I’ll have another in Djibouti and if you live nearby please come) and I will get my hands on a book. Eventually. But not yet.

 

Will you launch for me?

Will you party for me?

Will you take a photo with the book for me? And post it in all the places so we can celebrate together?

Will you put a review up on Amazon or Goodreads for me?

I need you guys to celebrate pub day for me.

That would be super duper amazing.

If you’re the hashtagging type, use #strongerthandeath

Love, Fear, and Vocation

Quick link: A Love Stronger than Fear

Plough Quarterly published a condensed excerpt from Stronger than Death for their issue on vocation.

Did you know:

“A person being treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis typically swallows up to 14,600 pills & endures 240 painful injections. After all that, the chance of being cured is only 50%. Join our patients and doctors in asking for shorter, more tolerable treatments to be developed.”

Annalena Tonelli worked for decades to treat tuberculosis among Somali nomads and before that, treatment required even MORE pills and LONGER treatment times.

You can read a bit about her experience with TB and her struggle between feeling a call to care for the sick and a desire to be alone with God in this article.

Amid a volatile mix of disease, war, and religious extremism in the Horn of Africa, what difference could one woman make? Annalena Tonelli stayed anyway – and found a way to beat history’s deadliest disease.

C heck out the full piece here.

 

Find the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble,  and IndieBound

 

Tools for Evaluating Aid Organizations

How can you evaluate the organizations who ask for donations? Or to whom you want to donate? Here are some practical questions to ask before donating, joining, promoting, or judging that I hope you’ll find helpful.

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Are they a registered public 501(c)(3)?

Search the organization on Charity Navigator to see their ranking.

Search them on Google and explore their work, the ways they report and tell stories, the images they use.

Contact staff members if you would like to make a personal connection. Use the email addresses and phone numbers provided. Legitimate charities would love to hear from potential donors.

What are the organization’s goals?

Are they clearly stated? Could you repeat them to someone else?

Are they measurable, qualitatively and quantitatively?

What are their specific objectives?

How will they be implemented in reaching the goals?

What impact will they have on achieving the goals? Why are these specific objectives chosen?

Who or what is the organization targeting?

What need are they aiming to meet? Why?

Have they included the community in reaching their goals and objectives?

What has the organization accomplished historically?

Did they accurately measure their outcomes?

Were they transparent in reporting?

If they failed to meet a stated objective, have they adjusted their input and goals? Did they learn from previous mistakes? Have they identified potential obstacles and how to overcome them?

Who reported on these goals and outcomes in the past? Is it only staff members or do they have field reports from their targeted people?

Does the organization have sufficient capacity to reach their goals?

In terms of personnel, expertise, connections and networks, finances and gifts-in-kind?

Does the organization measure both outputs and outcomes?

Outputs are usually numerical. Numbers of books donated, numbers of children fed, numbers of wells built, number of people served in an addiction program.

Outcomes represent the actual benefit experienced by a community.

For example: an output is: 15 people went through the addiction recovery program. An outcome is: 9 people quit drinking after completing the addiction recovery program.

According to Shoshon Tamasweet, an NGO fundraiser and consultant, “Most NGOs measure inputs like, “We distributed 1,000 mosquito nets,” or activities, “We conducted 3 health camps.” They don’t measure outcomes, let alone impact. A simple way to think of it is from the perspective of the recipient: How did their life get better?  If all they got was a hand-out, there probably is not much impact.”

He concludes with, “While cost/expense ratios are sort-of meaningful, (wasteful overhead, too much spent on administration and marketing), if an organization does not or cannot measure impacts, or at least outcomes, then they are not a good place to invest for change.”

 

 

General Tips:

Don’t be fooled by fancy marketing.

Don’t give in to pressure that you must hand over your credit card information NOW!

Do be proactive in following your passion. Find an organization doing work you believe in. This will help you feel more engaged and interested in their work.

Do follow-up with the organizations you donate to. Ask about their goals and progress, check-in with staff members you might know personally.

 

 

Sexual Harassment. Here We Go Again.

I was going to just put this on Instagram. But it got long.

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Real talk about life in Djibouti.

Last night, while walking with a friend, we were assaulted not once, but TWICE, by boys. Using the word “assault” feels extreme, but what else do you call being followed, surrounded, insulted, and ass-pinched by 8-10 people?

I have developed the ability, out of sad and infuriating necessity, to shout and shame like you might not believe. I can turn it on and off, because I have to, on a regular basis. It doesn’t make a difference. I, and other women both local and foreign, continue to be assaulted.

It does not matter where we are, who are with, or what we are wearing. It has happened to me in all manner of scenarios. It has happened to me while with my husband.

I feel angry enough when this happens to me. But when it happens to one of my kids or to one of the people we have brought here to work, I rage.

Here is what I mean. If you’ve followed me long, you’ve heard it before:

Rock thrown and hit me in the head.

Rocks thrown and hit me in the back, legs, ankles, arms, scatter at my feet.

Cars and motorcycles and bikers swerve at me, intentionally.

Breast squeezed through an open car window.

Groped.

Blocked on my bicycle.

Butt punched by two man on a motorcycle. Hard.

Breast grazed by man on bicycle reaching out sideways.

Hair pulled by girls in market.

My daughter’s butt pinched.

My butt pinched. How many times? I’ve lost count.

Insulted with hand gestures, facial gestures, and words.

Words like: whore, slut, prostitute, sex, talk about my underwear and what movements various body parts are doing. I understand it. I wish I didn’t.

Bottle of liquid dumped on me at a stoplight.

Chased by men and boys.

Followed.

Attempted tripping.

Mocked.

Heard people tell other people to chase me.

Told my uterus would fall out.

Told I belonged in the kitchen.

Birthday presents snatched out of my daughter’s hands while walking literally around the corner from our house.

My daughter’s bike being pushed and chased and surrounded.

This is a partial list.

Many of these things have happened multiple times.

These are things that happen on regular days, while I do regular things. I refuse to cower in my house, that’s not a life. So I refuse to be kept down by this. But also? It sucks.

Assault and harassment feel like shame to women. It makes us feel ashamed and gross and vulnerable. But you know what? No.

Shame on the assaulters, the harassers. Shame on the people who see it or hear it and do nothing. Shame on the educators and parents and elders and friends who don’t model or teach better behavior.

I mostly enjoy living in Djibouti. When people hear how long we’ve been here, they say, “Oh! You must really love it.” And I do, most of the time. But this is a long list and it wears on a person. We actually moved out of our last house because I had developed so much anxiety about simply going outside the front door.

At that time, we involved our landlord, the police, the school director of the school across the street. Nothing changed.

Look, I know worse things happen. Bad shit does not make this stuff less bad. One bad thing does not erase another bad thing. I know it isn’t everyone. I know it happens in other countries too. Great. Fine. Still. Whatever. All of it needs to stop. I know rape and violent assault happen. I don’t hear people talk about it here, but we live in the world. And the world is violent toward women.

So maybe raising a stink about the bad stuff that happens to me will someday encourage someone to raise a stink about the worse stuff happening to them.

If someone says, “This list is nothing compared to the rapes that occur,” then I will respond with, “Oh really? Let’s talk about the rapes, then.” And the conversation will start.

Enough. I’m not asking for anything radical. I’m asking to be treated like a human. I’m asking to be freaking left alone.

Enough.

Writing about it feels satisfying and dissatisfying. My little angry posts aren’t going to make someone say, “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t reach for that breast.” I don’t expect this to change a thing. I even get told to shut up when I talk about this, so the opposite of what I would hope.

I’m taking it up a notch. Next time? I’ll snap a photo and go to the nearest police officer. I am going to report. Report. Report. Maybe no one else does. Maybe no one else talks about it. Well, I will. Probably, the reports will lead to nothing. Fine. I’ll still report it and maybe, after years, there will be some action.

Yeah, I’m angry. I should be.

 

Here are my other public posts about this. I also wrote one exclusive essay in a past newsletter about the most violent incident that happened to me. Maybe I will make that one public later this week.

The Story Women Need to Tell

What Happens Every Time I Write about Sexual Harassment

This is My Body. Thou Shalt Not Break It.

Talking to Third Culture Kids about Sexual Harassment

Going Crazy

Going Crazy and Jesus

Stronger than Death Book Trailer

Annalena Tonelli spent 34 years living and working in the Horn of Africa. Somalis loved her, and still talk about her with great affection, still carry on her legacy, still continue her work.

But someone killed her. Why?

Why did she stay so long as a foreigner, in the face of massacres, famine, tuberculosis, terror, and war? How did she build a strong local community across religious and racial boundaries, boundaries that today often divide communities?

This is not the story of a white savior, or is it? It isn’t the story of a saint either, or is it? Annalena was far from perfect but her example challenges us all to be a little braver. A little more loving. A little more willing to reach out to someone with empathy, faith, and action.

 
 
 
 

Available from Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, and Amazon.

Thanks to Matt Erickson for providing video clips and photographs and to the Plough Publishing video team!

Stronger than Death Endorsements

Here is what some early readers are saying about Stronger than Death: How Annalena Tonelli Defied Terror and Tuberculosis in the Horn of Africa.

I am blown away by the generosity and kindness of these people who agreed to endorse the book. They are people I respect, admire, am inspired by, and have learned so much from.

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Rachel Pieh Jones has given us the unforgettable story of a servant of the sick and poor who demonstrated, to an almost incomprehensible degree, what it means to love the least of these. Few of us will ever come close to Annalena Tonelli’s devotion and bravery. But thanks to this remarkable book, we can be acquainted with one of history’s great and unheralded exemplars, and inspired to give more of ourselves to those without. —Tom Krattenmaker, USA Today columnist, author of Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower

A fascinating, powerful and extremely moving true story that needs to be shared with the rest of the world.–Jordan Wylie, author of Citadel and Running For My Life

My life has been shaped by the examples of faith heroes: Dorothy Day, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X. In this book, Rachel Pieh Jones introduces me to one more – Annalena Tonelli. Her example of immersive, selfless service combined with learning from different traditions should inspire us all.–Eboo Patel, author of Acts of Faith, founder and president, Interfaith Youth Core

A stunning meditation on love and service, this book has given me a new hero: Annalena Tonelli, a woman of faith who crashed through boundaries and dodged bullets in her mission to heal the sick. Author Rachel Pieh Jones has done justice to an extraordinary person, crafting a story every bit as vivid, relentless, and surprising as her subject. Jason Fagone, national best-selling author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes

A meticulously detailed and empathetic work on a woman whose life should not be forgotten.–Mary Harper, BBC World Service, author Getting Somalia Wrong?

As well as telling a compelling story with great skill, this absorbing and clear-eyed examination of the work of one of East Africa’s greatest humanitarians, based on her letters and interviews with her closest associates, also highlights the cultural challenges faced by even the most dedicated worker. Rachel Pieh Jones raises questions about motive and consequence, as well as perception and jealousy, that resonate well beyond the fascinating life she describes.–Richard Barrett, director of the Global Strategy Network and former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6

Annalena Tonelli’s story challenges readers to believe in themselves and reminds us that we can choose acts of kindness and love even during difficult circumstances. Her courage inspires us to challenge evil: everyone can make a difference.–Mariam Mohamed, former First Lady of Somalia

“Jones explores the life of Italian aid worker Annalena Tonelli in this gripping biography... …Tonelli’s example of humility, asceticism, and loving with abandon will be a revelation…” –Publisher’s Weekly 

 

You can preorder your own copy here. Publication date is October 1, less than one month away!

*post contains affiliate links

 

The Bookshelf, September 2019

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The Time is Now, by Joan Chitister.I only kinda liked this book. I wish I had loved it. I love some of her other work. But it felt repetitive and political and I just don’t want to read that right now. At the same time, that might make it the perfect book for someone else, for another time. Because she is wise and prophetic and writes about the necessity, especially now, for prophets.

The Prophetic Imagination, by Walter Brueggemann.Sense a theme? Prophets.

A Life’s Work, by Rachel Cuska memoir of early motherhood.

Black Death at the Golden Gate, by David K. Randall.Oh.My.Word. We have rats in my house. We kill them as soon as we can and I hate them! This book made me hate them even more. Holy cow, what a great read. It is horrifying to read about the revolting filth of large cities at and before the turn of the century. Though, I hate to say it, but there are many similarities still in parts of the world. Sewage in streets, ramshackle and unsafe housing, rats, disease…And, I thought bubonic plague had disappeared. It has NOT. As early as 2015, two people contracted it in Yosemite National Park! Lord have mercy. Anyway, about the book, I really enjoyed it. Historical, true, great characters, little known facts. If you like Erik Larson or Laura Hillenbrand, you’ll love this book.

 

Kindle Deals:

Grateful, by Diana Butler Bass

The Next Right Thing, by Emily P. Freeman

 

What are you reading?

*links go to my amazon associates page

The Bookshelf, August 2019

[image error]The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, by Elaine Aron.Any HSPs out there? Pretty sure there’s one right here.

The Blue Jay’s Dance: a memoir of early motherhood, by Louise Erdrich

The Butterfly Mosque,by G. Willow Wilson, a young American woman converts (reverts) to Islam, moves to Egypt, and falls in love with an Egyptian. I appreciated hearing her story of faith and her story of adjusting to all that she gained and lost, by embracing Egypt.

I confess, that’s it.

I’m in the USA, land of no peace or quiet, land of breakneck pace of life, land of no end of things to do or people to talk to, land of just one more person I want to get coffee with, land of no darn time to read. This, for an HSP, is stressful, but I know a breather is coming. We’ll go back to Djibouti and then I’ll complain about nothing interesting to do and feeling lonely. #expatlifetruth

 

Kindle Deals

(all links go to my Amazon Associates page)

Help, Thanks, Wow, by Anne Lamott

Blue Nights, by Joan Didion

Two powerhouse female writers, right there. I loved both of these books.

What are you reading?