Audio book narrated by Julie Fain Lawrence.


Consumed by grief at the loss of her husband and daughter, Haregewoin Teferra, a middle-class Ethiopian woman, finds solace in attending daily church services – regardless of denomination – and becomes known to other regular church-goers as a very devout woman. One day the director of the Catholic Church charity surprises her when he asks if she might do a favor for the priest. A 15-year-old orphan is living on the streets; perhaps Haregewoin might be willing to take the girl into her home? A few weeks later they ask her to take in another teen; and then a pair of six-year-old girls. And in this way Haregewoin begins to foster the AIDS orphans of Ethiopia.


Greene is a journalist and has clearly done extensive research. She writes Haregewoin’s story in a compassionate and balanced way, backed up with considerable information on the history of Ethiopia, its culture and religions, as well as the history of HIV/AIDS. For my own tastes, I wish she had concentrated on Haregewoin’s story, which I found compelling. I was far less interested in a research piece on epidemiology.


Still, the book is well-written and held my interest. Julie Fain Lawrence does a very good job narrating the audio version. I’m glad I had a text version as well, however, or I would have missed all the photographs.