Fabulous book! How could I not love it, when it combines Africa and midwifery - two of my greatest passions (the other broad category being adoption, of course)?!

This little gem, published earlier this year, are the memoirs of a young Peace Corps volunteer and the midwife she worked with in a village in Mali. (A country that is easy to confuse with Bali, a tropical island, but is in fact a land-locked country in western Africa.) I couldn't put it down - I even read it through one child's soccer game and another's concert - it was that gripping.

Author Kris Holloway writes a compelling story that clearly shows the harshness of life in sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. "Death", she says, "was skulking behind every calabash of dirty water, untreated burn, or mosquito bite.” It is a frequent visitor in a country where the average life expectancy is 49 years. But, it also shows the human side of love and friendship that can and do exist everywhere and that are so critical to us as human beings.

I loved her evocative descriptions of the heat, the smells, the bugs - even the giardia - all things familiar to me. If they are not familiar to you, her descriptions will let you feel and see life in a west African village in a very real way.

Monique Dembele is a midwife in the little village of Nampossela, Mali. At age 24 - only 2 years older than the author - she is doing almost all the births for the women in her community. There are never enough supplies, never enough time, never enough money, but Monique does a remarkable job in caring for the women and their babies that live within walking distance.

Because of Monique's care and skill, babies start to thrive, moving from the undernourished or even malnourished category, into the "healthy, happy baby" category. Women safely carry and deliver their babies. The village decides to dedicate a portion of ground to growing a community baby food garden of beans and peanuts, rich in proteins, to help nourish babies after they are weaned.

Because of Kris's help and involvement, Monique's birthing clinic gets rebuilt and education about FGM (female genital mutilation) begins. Their friendship spans time and space and continues long after Kris returns to the US, marries and has her own children - also delivered by midwives - a true tribute to women around the world and their relationships with each other.

I am buying copies to give to some of my closest friends, so we can all discuss it together. I put this one in the "must read" category.