The book on Africa and the HIV/AIDS crisis is due at the end of this month and will release in September ’07. Whew! I’m tired just thinking about it! At this point, the working title is Red Letters: Responding to the Words of Jesus. Would love your thoughts about this.

I wanted to share a story with you from the book about a little African girl named, "Adanna." She will also be the main character in the fiction book entitled, "Scared." I’d like to introduce you to her:

"Adanna’s name is a beautiful
African word meaning ‘father’s daughter.’ But she won’t live until the next
harvest season unless something drastic happens. In her country, there are no jobs to be
found, there is no money, and the only thing that is certain is the death
surrounding her.

The life span for people in her country
of Zimbabwe has been cut by 25 years. The life expectancy is only 33 years old. She has watched her mother, her father and her sister waste away because of AIDS. At
only 10 years old, Adanna is now in charge of her family. She is the head
of the household.

Her parents left no way for her to
care for herself and the rest of the family. She has exhausted every favor from her neighbors, every form of assistance
from surviving relatives, and sold her last possession for food. Even after all of that, she and
her brother and sister woke up this morning, starving again. 

There is only one way for them to
survive. Adanna has heard about a group of local men who will trade food for
sex. Dare she even consider such a thing? Her entire life she has dreamed of a
family and of children. She has saved herself and protected her purity because
she wants the one man she marries to be the only lover she has ever known.
That’s what her mother taught her was more important than anything. But if she
doesn’t eat soon, there will never be a chance to realize either of those
dreams. What good will her dreams be if
she is dead? What should she do?"

More tomorrow….