My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman
February 22, 2010
The subject of a recent New York Times
column by Nicholas Kristof, Shannon details how she left her comfortable life in Portland, Ore., to aid women in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffering abuse and death in what has been termed “Africa's First World War.” Running a successful business with her fiancée (who would leave her), Shannon is still “hungry for something all own” and after seeing a show on Oprah
about Congolese women, she establishes the Run for Congo Women to raise money to help those suffering. From meeting Congolese women she's sponsored to learning that 90% of the women in one village have been raped, Shannon is exposed to a world remote from her own affluent life. Her painful firsthand accounts of the violence inflicted upon Congolese women by Hutu militants will most interest readers, but the book lacks a detailed overview of the political circumstances surrounding this long war. Shannon provides a much-needed view of how one inspired American can act with hope, drive, and courage to aid women in a part of the world too often overlooked.
January 15, 2010
Unable to grieve the death of her father but unwilling to admit depression, photographer Shannon spent her time numbly watching television. Then an episode of "Oprah" changed her life. A report on "the worst place on Earth to be a woman"the Congoawakened her from emotional sleep. She writes here of taking action, forming the Run for Congo Women foundation, which began as a one-woman effort yet eventually grew into a national organization, with races taking place across the United States. Shannon left behind her comfortable life in Portland, OR, to visit the Congo and the sponsored women whom she calls her "sisters." She is admirably honest about her travels there, a place consumed by instability and violence, with an overwhelming need for assistance. The sponsored women all ask for more money, the children are often jaded after hearing so many promises of help from outsiders, and the personal testimonies of violence are so abundant that they seem to run together. Yet Shannon is able to see the good that has been done by "Run for Congo Women" and encourages others to support their own Congolese "sisters." VERDICT A worthwhile read for those with a nagging feeling that there is something more that they can do for those in need.Veronica Arellano, Lexington Park, MD
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from April 1, 2010
At 29, Shannon was living a fairly contented life. Her fathers death from cancer, an ensuing depression, and an Oprah episode on the atrocities of the genocide in the Congo launched her life in a totally different direction. She created a foundation called Run for Congo Women, eventually sponsoring 1,000 women. In 2006, she visited the Congo, called the worst place on earth to be a woman because of the brutal rapes and physical and psychological damage women have suffered there. As a professional photographer, Shannons objective was to film the women telling their stories. What she found was horror almost beyond endurance, an area still overrun by armed militia, women afraid to return to their villages and trying to get on with their livesraising their children and hundreds of orphans. Trying not to feel ridiculous delivering hugs and trinkets, she is overwhelmed by the requests for money from women who think she is rich because she is white and American. This is a profoundly moving account of a woman who tried to make a difference and struggled with the painful limits of what she could do.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)