“As more girls show Fulamatu’s courage, we can some day break taboos about sexual violence and inch toward a global recognition that it is more shameful to rape than to be raped.”

Summer Book List

“The single state of North Carolina uses more antibiotics for livestock than the entire United States uses for humans.

This cavalier use of low-level antibiotics creates a perfect breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The upshot is that ailments can become pretty much untreatable.”

“He understood from his experience that every conflict has to end at the negotiating table.”

Absolutely true, the U.S. needs more diplomacy…not massive debt-inducing/fatal/devastating war.

“He was right about the need for American outreach in the Muslim world. He was right that building schools tends to promote stability more than dropping bombs. He was right about the transformative power of education, especially girls’ education. He was right about the need to listen to local people — yes, over cup after cup after cup of tea — rather than just issue instructions.”

Let me preface by saying this woman is a BAMF (I save this designation for a selected, golden few) and we need more women/men like her in the world.

“Dr. Hawa, a 63-year-old ob-gyn who earned a law degree on the side…running a 400-bed hospital…supplies these 90,000 people with drinking water…start(ed) a school for 850 children, mostly girls…as well as programs to discourage female genital mutilation. And she operates a tiny jail — for men who beat their wives…and confronted armed militias.”

“Over the next decade, some astonishing new technologies will spread to fight global poverty. They’re called contraceptives…The situation is particularly dire in poor countries, where some 215 million women don’t want to get pregnant yet can’t get their hands on modern contraceptives, according to United Nations figures. “