I have worked for nearly a decade with brilliant, dedicated Africans who are either climate activists or orphanage managers or both! Most are men, but not all. In spite of the fact that my book on violence focuses on males’ violence, I love the men I have worked with electronically over the years. They are not violent. They are working with limited resources at the community level to improve the lives of everyone, including women, children, orphans, widows, and the disabled. Most of them are a lot younger than me and many call me “Mom.” I have heard their stories and published those which fit into the themes of my newspapers. I have learned how terribly hard life is for them. Some are excellent fundraisers but they live in countries where there is civil war or other unimaginable situations which make their work all the harder. Most of them, men and women, are grossly underfunded for their idealistic, humanitarian, environmental, compassionate, social justice work. There are orphans and street children everywhere; that’s why I published Herbert’s “Mindset Change” article at the end of this book.

If you want to know more about my spirit and the vision which keeps me going, please be sure to read Surnai’s “Revolution,” also at the end of my book. I’m pretty sure that if the world population would adopt these two philosophies, our global troubles would be over in a flash; however, I must add that David Pinto’s book Fulcrum: Generational World Transformation seems to have enormous potential, too, though I have only begun reading it and don’t quite understand his Ecological Economics (Ecosquared) but I have never understood economics, or even balancing my checkbook.

My ultimate hope is that somehow my work and all the great stories from around the world, as found in this website, will be an unputdownable repository of ideas and inspiration for you wherever you are and whatever you’re trying to do to make this world a better place. 

With love,

Iona