What do you think?
Rate this book
I Am Because We Are: An African Mother’s Fight for the Soul of a Nation
In this innovative and intimate memoir, a daughter tells the story of her mother, a pan-African hero who faced down misogyny and battled corruption in Nigeria. Inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu ― the importance of community over the individual ― and outraged by injustice, Dora Akunyili took on fraudulent drug manufacturers whose products killed millions, including her sister. A woman in a man’s world, she was elected and became a cabinet minister, but she had to deal with political manoeuvrings, death threats, and an assassination attempt for defending the voiceless. She suffered for it, as did her marriage and six children. I Am Because We Are illuminates the role of kinship, family, and the individual’s place in society, while revealing a life of courage, how community shaped it, and the web of humanity that binds us all.
392 pages, Paperback
Published January 4, 2022
17 people are currently reading
351 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 6, 2022
I started this book and could not put it down until I finished reading; it was a Sunday afternoon well spent, and of course, my face was tear-stained as I turned the last page.
Akunyili-Parr wrote a beautiful story of her mother, Dora, whose integrity, uncompromising principles, and sheer hard work cleaned up the billion-dollar fake drugs business in Nigeria and consequently saved millions of lives.
I was raised in Nigeria, right when Dora Akunyili became a national treasure. "I want to be like Dora Akunyili, when I grow up" - that's what I told everyone. So, reading this book reminded me of my childhood and how proud "little me" was of Dora (the protagonist).
Please read this book; it's a beautiful story of a phenomenal woman you may have heard of or maybe never heard of, but would come to know intimately through her story. This book was intricately woven, each word is so carefully chosen, and raw emotions from the pages call on your inner feelings as you read. It's a story of our complexity as humans, mortality, shared humanity, and incredible strength.
Thank you, Akunyili-Parr, for generously sharing your mother's story with us.
Akunyili-Parr wrote a beautiful story of her mother, Dora, whose integrity, uncompromising principles, and sheer hard work cleaned up the billion-dollar fake drugs business in Nigeria and consequently saved millions of lives.
I was raised in Nigeria, right when Dora Akunyili became a national treasure. "I want to be like Dora Akunyili, when I grow up" - that's what I told everyone. So, reading this book reminded me of my childhood and how proud "little me" was of Dora (the protagonist).
Please read this book; it's a beautiful story of a phenomenal woman you may have heard of or maybe never heard of, but would come to know intimately through her story. This book was intricately woven, each word is so carefully chosen, and raw emotions from the pages call on your inner feelings as you read. It's a story of our complexity as humans, mortality, shared humanity, and incredible strength.
Thank you, Akunyili-Parr, for generously sharing your mother's story with us.
March 27, 2022
The book is the story of the author's mother, Dora Akunyili; it's also the story of what shaped her, her family, of people, and of a country. The story also feeds into a bigger narrative about how she impacted millions at the helm of Nigeria's food and drug regulatory agency, NAFDAC. By the end of her tenure, Dora had an eighty percent reduction in the circulation of fake drugs in Nigeria.
This is a memoir, but it ultimately feels like an autobiography. It was a gift to step into Dora's shoes and track the story of her family history and of her country. The writing is powerful and strong. The book educates readers not only about community and Nigeria, but also about a history that's not often taught in U.S. schools.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/chi...
This is a memoir, but it ultimately feels like an autobiography. It was a gift to step into Dora's shoes and track the story of her family history and of her country. The writing is powerful and strong. The book educates readers not only about community and Nigeria, but also about a history that's not often taught in U.S. schools.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/chi...
January 10, 2022
A daughter's tale about a mother who experienced civil war, corruption, and doubt to be a voice for equal treatment and drug advocacy for the people.
A touch dramatic at turns, but the love and inspiration is felt throughout.
A touch dramatic at turns, but the love and inspiration is felt throughout.
January 15, 2022
I finished reading this magnificent book yesterday, and it is still circulating vividly in my head. It left a strong and positive impression on me.
Akunyili-Parr has done her mother a great honour by writing her story so beautifully, with so many insights and with such power. Her use of the first person narrative, telling the story through her mother's voice, was a bold step that worked magnificently. It drew me in at once, and gave me as a reader the sense that she was confiding in me.
It is a story of a life, of a mission, but also very much the story of a child and then a woman making sense of a complex and changing world, learning about herself, and then changing both herself and her world. At its core, therefore, at least from my perspective, this is about who she was and became, rather than what she did (although obviously, as the story indicates, the two are intertwined). As a “human interest story” this goes way beyond biography and is a fascinating presentation of the joys and the pains of the human struggle. It has genuine psychological depth. It was especially powerful for the author to write it in such a way that it did not present her mother as being omniscient about herself, but as having her own blind spots, some of which her children saw whereas she did not. In other words, she was just like us in that regard. We are not the omniscient observers of our own stories!
One of the most interesting things for me in reading the book was to ponder, again and again, that in writing her story, the author is in fact continuing and expanding on her mother's legacy and that by telling her story she is creating ripples in the pond that will keep growing as others read it and react to it. Dora's mission is being given renewed energy by its being told in this book.
I could not say that I had a “favourite” part of the book, but I can say that among the most powerful chapters were the initial ones dealing with Dora's childhood, and her life in the village and as a young girl. They gave me a glimpse of Nigerian village life - something I was totally ignorant of - through the eyes of a girl who was sent there by her parents (something that I found harsh and hard to understand, and it seems that so did Dora, but she dealt with it courageously and hopefully). My heart really went out to her as I got some sense of the determination that she must have had, and how even though she was loved by her grandmother and others, it was nonetheless a harsh environment.
Those early years seem to have contributed to the beautiful “complexity” the author refers to in the prologue. She did not present Dora as an idealized image/some fictionalized hero, rather, she presented her in her complexity by her including so much of her own struggles, which seemed to me never to be judgemental. Akunyili-Parr let us see things for what they were, but included enough of the context that it was a gentle telling of the story. We are all complex creatures, taking what we have been given, which is often what our parents had been given by theirs, and learning as we go.
My own world, growing up in Toronto, was one of privilege, of whiteness, of a rather stunning arrogance in terms of the rest of the world and certainly in terms of Africa. My culture needs to read this book, and I am so grateful that I have been given that opportunity.
Akunyili-Parr has done her mother a great honour by writing her story so beautifully, with so many insights and with such power. Her use of the first person narrative, telling the story through her mother's voice, was a bold step that worked magnificently. It drew me in at once, and gave me as a reader the sense that she was confiding in me.
It is a story of a life, of a mission, but also very much the story of a child and then a woman making sense of a complex and changing world, learning about herself, and then changing both herself and her world. At its core, therefore, at least from my perspective, this is about who she was and became, rather than what she did (although obviously, as the story indicates, the two are intertwined). As a “human interest story” this goes way beyond biography and is a fascinating presentation of the joys and the pains of the human struggle. It has genuine psychological depth. It was especially powerful for the author to write it in such a way that it did not present her mother as being omniscient about herself, but as having her own blind spots, some of which her children saw whereas she did not. In other words, she was just like us in that regard. We are not the omniscient observers of our own stories!
One of the most interesting things for me in reading the book was to ponder, again and again, that in writing her story, the author is in fact continuing and expanding on her mother's legacy and that by telling her story she is creating ripples in the pond that will keep growing as others read it and react to it. Dora's mission is being given renewed energy by its being told in this book.
I could not say that I had a “favourite” part of the book, but I can say that among the most powerful chapters were the initial ones dealing with Dora's childhood, and her life in the village and as a young girl. They gave me a glimpse of Nigerian village life - something I was totally ignorant of - through the eyes of a girl who was sent there by her parents (something that I found harsh and hard to understand, and it seems that so did Dora, but she dealt with it courageously and hopefully). My heart really went out to her as I got some sense of the determination that she must have had, and how even though she was loved by her grandmother and others, it was nonetheless a harsh environment.
Those early years seem to have contributed to the beautiful “complexity” the author refers to in the prologue. She did not present Dora as an idealized image/some fictionalized hero, rather, she presented her in her complexity by her including so much of her own struggles, which seemed to me never to be judgemental. Akunyili-Parr let us see things for what they were, but included enough of the context that it was a gentle telling of the story. We are all complex creatures, taking what we have been given, which is often what our parents had been given by theirs, and learning as we go.
My own world, growing up in Toronto, was one of privilege, of whiteness, of a rather stunning arrogance in terms of the rest of the world and certainly in terms of Africa. My culture needs to read this book, and I am so grateful that I have been given that opportunity.
March 28, 2024
This was an interesting and effective way to present the life of a courageous Nigerian woman. Dora Akunyili is famous in Nigeria, but probably not many other countries and hopefully this book will bring her inspiring life to the attention of a wider audience. It was written by one of her daughters who has a personal prologue and epilogue, but chose to write the body of the book, the story of Dora's life, in first person. That choice made Dora's life so much more vivid than any biography could, even though it sounds like Chidiogo did all the research and interviews that a biographer should to flesh out the life of such an unusual woman.
Dora fought a corrupt government to give her people a fair chance and what they were entitled to in a culture that was dominated by men. She became a regional official and gave away the fertilizer and seed to the farmers that was to be given to them, rather than sell it and make a tidy profit for herself. Her colleagues kept trying to explain how it was done, but she kept repeating, this is how it is done now. Dora lived the traditional philosophy of Ubuntu in a remarkable way.
Eventually Dora, with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, became the head of the drug regulatory agency, like our FDA. Here her battle with corruption, with the blessing of the president, was against fake drugs. The majority of drugs in Nigeria at the time were counterfeit, so doctors never knew if they were prescribing something that would heal their patients or that would kill them due to ineffectiveness or toxicity. Her own sister died as a result of fake insulin. Dora motivated a moribund agency, educated and empowered the public, and brought in other agencies such as the police to eradicate fake drug sellers who were making millions of dollars.
Chidiogo spends much of the story on Dora's unusual childhood, which included a period of civil war, to show how Dora became the person she was. I loved how these chapters began with sayings of African wisdom. Somehow in all of her activity, Dora had six children and even though her love for them comes through, it is clear she could not have given them the attention another mother might have because of all she did for her nation. Part of the theme of the book was Chidiogo coming to terms with that, which for me enhanced the story. Dora was a great woman, but she was not a saint. Dora was also a devout Catholic, and this comes through strongly in her decisions in life, including during her struggles with cancer.
I also very much like that Chidiogo got her father's blessing on this manuscript before publication, even with family details that were not the most flattering. I listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. It enhanced the story to hear the pronunciations with a Nigerian accent, the Ebu dialogue accurately read and also the emotion of a narrator who knew the subject so intimately.
Dora fought a corrupt government to give her people a fair chance and what they were entitled to in a culture that was dominated by men. She became a regional official and gave away the fertilizer and seed to the farmers that was to be given to them, rather than sell it and make a tidy profit for herself. Her colleagues kept trying to explain how it was done, but she kept repeating, this is how it is done now. Dora lived the traditional philosophy of Ubuntu in a remarkable way.
Eventually Dora, with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, became the head of the drug regulatory agency, like our FDA. Here her battle with corruption, with the blessing of the president, was against fake drugs. The majority of drugs in Nigeria at the time were counterfeit, so doctors never knew if they were prescribing something that would heal their patients or that would kill them due to ineffectiveness or toxicity. Her own sister died as a result of fake insulin. Dora motivated a moribund agency, educated and empowered the public, and brought in other agencies such as the police to eradicate fake drug sellers who were making millions of dollars.
Chidiogo spends much of the story on Dora's unusual childhood, which included a period of civil war, to show how Dora became the person she was. I loved how these chapters began with sayings of African wisdom. Somehow in all of her activity, Dora had six children and even though her love for them comes through, it is clear she could not have given them the attention another mother might have because of all she did for her nation. Part of the theme of the book was Chidiogo coming to terms with that, which for me enhanced the story. Dora was a great woman, but she was not a saint. Dora was also a devout Catholic, and this comes through strongly in her decisions in life, including during her struggles with cancer.
I also very much like that Chidiogo got her father's blessing on this manuscript before publication, even with family details that were not the most flattering. I listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. It enhanced the story to hear the pronunciations with a Nigerian accent, the Ebu dialogue accurately read and also the emotion of a narrator who knew the subject so intimately.
July 18, 2022
This book is easily a 5⭐️ for me!
I don’t even know how to feel right now, I’m a changed woman after reading this book, Thank God for making this book exist, Imagine not having experienced this book? Tragic.
This book for me was an emotional roller coaster, it awoke things in me that I never knew existed, this book for me was very personal. Too personal infact. I would assume that a person from the north wouldn’t truly immerse themselves in the experience that is this book. Me on the other hand? It felt like home.
Any book that is mostly set in Eastern Nigeria and in Enugu especially is already an automatic YES from me, having this book talk about Enugu in such clear images was…Something. I can’t even articulate my thoughts right now because I can literally feel this book changing something in me.
I remember I was in secondary school when I heard that Dora Akunyili had died, I never followed up with politics as I was in a very strict Catholic school, so, Outside information was very limited but I remember telling my mum.”Amaróm nwanyi a personally but her death is paining me like someone I know “ Which loosely translates to “I don’t know this woman personally but her death really hurts”
I had heard of all her fights against fake drugs, she was literally saving lives in Numbers!
That was why I didn’t think twice when I saw this book at the bookstore, To personally experience her this way is a blessing and a testimony and I hope she is genuinely at peace and I’m so grateful for her daughter Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr for making this book a reality.
I’ve never experienced something this beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time.
I thought I was irrational for not easily giving books 5⭐️ because I was always looking for a “feeling” that I never seemed to find, this book has reminded me of that feeling of deep emotional bliss that I always look for in my 5 start books and I will never reduce my standard for any book again.
This book was perfect; the writing, storytelling, sequence! Everything was perfect! I’m so thankful for this book and I’m so thankful for the tears I shed while reading this book, I’m truly a changed woman.
I’m so grateful to have this personal insight on her life and even though I cannot truly form my own original opinion about Mrs Dora Akunyili, now I have the most honest opinion out there of her and I can form my own opinions instead of the thwarted and mostly untrue headlines written about her.
I don’t even know how to feel right now, I’m a changed woman after reading this book, Thank God for making this book exist, Imagine not having experienced this book? Tragic.
This book for me was an emotional roller coaster, it awoke things in me that I never knew existed, this book for me was very personal. Too personal infact. I would assume that a person from the north wouldn’t truly immerse themselves in the experience that is this book. Me on the other hand? It felt like home.
Any book that is mostly set in Eastern Nigeria and in Enugu especially is already an automatic YES from me, having this book talk about Enugu in such clear images was…Something. I can’t even articulate my thoughts right now because I can literally feel this book changing something in me.
I remember I was in secondary school when I heard that Dora Akunyili had died, I never followed up with politics as I was in a very strict Catholic school, so, Outside information was very limited but I remember telling my mum.”Amaróm nwanyi a personally but her death is paining me like someone I know “ Which loosely translates to “I don’t know this woman personally but her death really hurts”
I had heard of all her fights against fake drugs, she was literally saving lives in Numbers!
That was why I didn’t think twice when I saw this book at the bookstore, To personally experience her this way is a blessing and a testimony and I hope she is genuinely at peace and I’m so grateful for her daughter Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr for making this book a reality.
I’ve never experienced something this beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time.
I thought I was irrational for not easily giving books 5⭐️ because I was always looking for a “feeling” that I never seemed to find, this book has reminded me of that feeling of deep emotional bliss that I always look for in my 5 start books and I will never reduce my standard for any book again.
This book was perfect; the writing, storytelling, sequence! Everything was perfect! I’m so thankful for this book and I’m so thankful for the tears I shed while reading this book, I’m truly a changed woman.
I’m so grateful to have this personal insight on her life and even though I cannot truly form my own original opinion about Mrs Dora Akunyili, now I have the most honest opinion out there of her and I can form my own opinions instead of the thwarted and mostly untrue headlines written about her.
July 23, 2025
I first heard of Dora Akunyili recently during one of our hours-long phone conversations with my friend Chisom. When I finally finished listening to her book, I didn’t just finish it; I immediately listened to it again, and I know this is one of those books that I will revisit again and again.
This biography, written by her daughter Chidiogo after Dora’s death, is remarkable not just for the life it recounts but for how closely it echoes Dora’s own voice. It is astonishingly posthumous yet intimate, like sitting across from Dora herself as she tells you the story of her life.
Dora was a force. A rare kind of force. She brought moral clarity and unflinching courage to a system that often swallows such qualities whole. Her work in ridding Nigeria of counterfeit drugs was not only monumental, it was deeply personal; her sister died because of fake medication. Her mission was driven by grief, love, and a fierce commitment to justice. That she did this in a system not only corrupt but also profoundly misogynistic makes it all the more extraordinary.
The book does not sanitize her life. We learn of the betrayal of her husband’s infidelity. "I thought he was different," she says, and I smiled sadly, because what woman hasn’t whispered those words at some point? We follow her as a professor, a businesswoman, as Minister of Information (though her heart had longed for the Health Ministry), and through her contentious Senate race, which she won, only for the seat to be snatched through familiar machinations of political theft.
And then there is her cancer: her fight, her hope, her faith. The final chapters are heartbreaking, especially the account of the indignity she endured in her final moments.
Chidiogo has done something beautiful and necessary. It is only near the end, when she writes about the moment she heard of her mother’s passing, that we are reminded this was not Dora writing. Yet it felt like she was. This is a daughter’s love letter, but it is also a historian’s reckoning and a Nigerian woman's tribute to another who dared to live with integrity.
This biography, written by her daughter Chidiogo after Dora’s death, is remarkable not just for the life it recounts but for how closely it echoes Dora’s own voice. It is astonishingly posthumous yet intimate, like sitting across from Dora herself as she tells you the story of her life.
Dora was a force. A rare kind of force. She brought moral clarity and unflinching courage to a system that often swallows such qualities whole. Her work in ridding Nigeria of counterfeit drugs was not only monumental, it was deeply personal; her sister died because of fake medication. Her mission was driven by grief, love, and a fierce commitment to justice. That she did this in a system not only corrupt but also profoundly misogynistic makes it all the more extraordinary.
The book does not sanitize her life. We learn of the betrayal of her husband’s infidelity. "I thought he was different," she says, and I smiled sadly, because what woman hasn’t whispered those words at some point? We follow her as a professor, a businesswoman, as Minister of Information (though her heart had longed for the Health Ministry), and through her contentious Senate race, which she won, only for the seat to be snatched through familiar machinations of political theft.
And then there is her cancer: her fight, her hope, her faith. The final chapters are heartbreaking, especially the account of the indignity she endured in her final moments.
Chidiogo has done something beautiful and necessary. It is only near the end, when she writes about the moment she heard of her mother’s passing, that we are reminded this was not Dora writing. Yet it felt like she was. This is a daughter’s love letter, but it is also a historian’s reckoning and a Nigerian woman's tribute to another who dared to live with integrity.
June 6, 2022
It took me a while to finish, but that was really more about me and my schedule than the book itself. I had never heard of Dora Akunyili prior to seeing this book in the library, but I was so intrigued by this larger than life woman that was described. I feel like I learned so much about Nigeria and its history, struggles and of course the people. I really enjoyed all the proverbs and sayings that opened each chapter. Dora Akunyili seemed like such a powerhouse and virtuous woman, Nigeria was lucky to have her and the US could use a few hundred Doras. She lived such an interesting life and while I know it brought great acclaim to her professionally, it was obvious from this story that she missed (and missed out on) her family, which is often the case for people who experience great success in life - something is always going to suffer. While I liked that the chapters were short and told the story in manageable bites, I felt like, I was sometimes confused by the storytelling because they jumped in time and I couldn't always nail down the timeline - like when she left her post in 2010/2011 after she wasn't named Health Minister, I wasn't sure when she stepped down because it said he was elected in 2011, but she was offered the role in 2010... There were a few other moments like that throughout the book where the storytelling and timing were a little at odds or were confusing to me. However, I did like this style of storytelling for a biography, and Dora's life is so very interesting so it made for easy reading. I'm glad that I took a chance and learned more about this giant of a woman.
March 23, 2022
I Am Because We Are is described as an innovative and intimate memoir. This was my first experience reading a memoir told in a first-person narrative on behalf of subject and I must admit that I was unsure of this approach. Innovative it was because it worked flawlessly. This is such a beautiful way for Akunyili-Parr to honour her mother, a woman who was such a powerhouse and an inspiration to so many.
Inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu — the importance of community over the individual — and outraged by injustice, Dora Akunyili took on fraudulent drug manufacturers whose products killed millions, including her sister. Dora Akunyili faced down misogyny and battled corruption in Nigeria. As someone who grew up in a country riddled by corruption, her stories of resisting the ever-present opportunities to fall into the habit of her predecessors made my heart smile.
The positions she took to elevate the reputation of her country and fight against injustice meant that she received death threats, and even an assassination attempt. This not only impacted her negatively but also her marriage, the way she parented and her relationship with her children.
The stories followed Dora from childhood, navigating the situations that shaped her into the women she became and ultimately the sacrifices that came with her wanting to leave the world a better place than she saw it. The underlying message of hope and our capability to do great things when we work as a collective is one that needs to be heard.
The writing style and stories were engrossing, and the short chapters made this an easy book to get through. Each chapter started with an African proverb, and I found myself looking forward to the proverbs in the upcoming chapters. The proverbs ranged from well know ones such as “It takes an entire village to raise a child” to new to me ones like “A child who is carried on the back will not know how far the journey is”.
Something that will stay with me was when she talked about the years of her life that perfected her adaptability. She talked about her ability to fit anywhere, her ability to morph effortlessly to fit. This is extremely relatable to me because so much of my experiences during my formative years gave me this exact ability. This is not something that a lot of people have had to contemplate.
Akunyili-Parr wrapped up this tribute to your mother with a refreshing prologue. She presented an image of a complex and flawed woman who had her own shortcomings even while changing the world in which she lived. A far from perfect woman but a great one none the less. The ability to honour someone while gently showing their humanity is not often easy to do.
The world described in I Am Because We Are is so far removed from the world that is familiar to many. For that reason and the fact that this is so beautifully written, I highly recommend this book.
Thanks to Anansi Press for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
Inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu — the importance of community over the individual — and outraged by injustice, Dora Akunyili took on fraudulent drug manufacturers whose products killed millions, including her sister. Dora Akunyili faced down misogyny and battled corruption in Nigeria. As someone who grew up in a country riddled by corruption, her stories of resisting the ever-present opportunities to fall into the habit of her predecessors made my heart smile.
The positions she took to elevate the reputation of her country and fight against injustice meant that she received death threats, and even an assassination attempt. This not only impacted her negatively but also her marriage, the way she parented and her relationship with her children.
The stories followed Dora from childhood, navigating the situations that shaped her into the women she became and ultimately the sacrifices that came with her wanting to leave the world a better place than she saw it. The underlying message of hope and our capability to do great things when we work as a collective is one that needs to be heard.
The writing style and stories were engrossing, and the short chapters made this an easy book to get through. Each chapter started with an African proverb, and I found myself looking forward to the proverbs in the upcoming chapters. The proverbs ranged from well know ones such as “It takes an entire village to raise a child” to new to me ones like “A child who is carried on the back will not know how far the journey is”.
Something that will stay with me was when she talked about the years of her life that perfected her adaptability. She talked about her ability to fit anywhere, her ability to morph effortlessly to fit. This is extremely relatable to me because so much of my experiences during my formative years gave me this exact ability. This is not something that a lot of people have had to contemplate.
Akunyili-Parr wrapped up this tribute to your mother with a refreshing prologue. She presented an image of a complex and flawed woman who had her own shortcomings even while changing the world in which she lived. A far from perfect woman but a great one none the less. The ability to honour someone while gently showing their humanity is not often easy to do.
The world described in I Am Because We Are is so far removed from the world that is familiar to many. For that reason and the fact that this is so beautifully written, I highly recommend this book.
Thanks to Anansi Press for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
January 28, 2022
A journey to the soul of Dora Akunyili
Chidiogo not only writes about the life of Dora as a public servant, administrator and minister known in Nigeria and in the world as a woman of integrity and courage, she also takes the reader on a journey through the Dora we never knew. Mother and daughter become one in this spiritual journey as Chidiogo immerses herself and the reader into the most intimate moments in Dora's life. Dora's struggles as a child surviving the Biafran war, as a wife navigating her immediate household and the extended family, and at her final moments, become real, raw and palpable.
Chidiogo not only writes about the life of Dora as a public servant, administrator and minister known in Nigeria and in the world as a woman of integrity and courage, she also takes the reader on a journey through the Dora we never knew. Mother and daughter become one in this spiritual journey as Chidiogo immerses herself and the reader into the most intimate moments in Dora's life. Dora's struggles as a child surviving the Biafran war, as a wife navigating her immediate household and the extended family, and at her final moments, become real, raw and palpable.
January 15, 2022
I got to meet the most courageous woman I never knew.
It made me wonder if I could be this true in face of adversity. Dora’s story felt ylike a gentle guide, leading me to this power.
Chidiogo travels through time to share the rich tapestry of one of Africas and the worlds greatest heroes, so we could celebrate and heal with her.
In a world that desperately needs integrity and compassion, allow this book to guide you.
It made me wonder if I could be this true in face of adversity. Dora’s story felt ylike a gentle guide, leading me to this power.
Chidiogo travels through time to share the rich tapestry of one of Africas and the worlds greatest heroes, so we could celebrate and heal with her.
In a world that desperately needs integrity and compassion, allow this book to guide you.
January 18, 2023
I'm glad that this book exists and that many people will read about the force that was Dora Akunyili. The book introduces us to the human/ personal side behind the National Hero we all knew, and gives great insight into her upbringing, family life, wins, setbacks, and her heartbreaking final moments. It was both moving and fascinating, and the fact that it was written in 1st person means it read like an autobiography, which was powerful.
January 11, 2022
A wonderful read! Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr captured the story of her mother’s determination to forge a path uniquely hers, but also her struggle and sacrifice. And through this story, Chidiogo weaves a thread of hope; hope not only in an individual’s capacity to do good, but the greater, stronger hope that lies in the experience of the collective. We are stronger together. I am, because we are.
January 19, 2022
Chidiogo pulled no punches in the authenticity of her voice with zero tolerance for rigmaroles but delights her readers with this stunning page-turner. A fascinating story of a mother's undying love for a nation full of potentials but bedeviled by irregularities to the detriment of the common man and humanity as a whole.
January 19, 2022
This book follows Chidiogo's mother's story from childhood to the Nigerian Heroine she became. It does a good job of capturing the complexities of carrier, family, love and sacrifice that exist in a complex world. I loved every page and will bring a lot of readers to see Dora Akunyili and her story in a wholly different light.
February 16, 2022
A beautifully told story. The author writes in her mother’s voice recounting her life and the obstacles she faced and how she persevered despite it all. I also really admired how the act of writing the book was ultimately a healing process which was such a beautiful way to approach it.
March 24, 2022
Hello Netflix Nigeria, I'm going to need you to jump on this real quick because this is a story that deserves to be seen in 4k. It is so important that we shine a light on our heroes - people of integrity and substance and this book did just that. Whew!! I loved every bit of this book
Read
September 7, 2022Just finished reading this interesting book about an exceptional Nigerian woman. So much to learn from her personality and her humanitarian projects, her struggle to fight corruption and her role as a mother.
June 27, 2024
I read this memoir without reading anything about the book, and I’m glad I did. The experience I had, trusting in that voice making those last little chapters an incredible voice and shift to actually hear.
January 15, 2022
A daughter's beautiful story of reverence for her incredibly inspiring mother.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews