No Place Left to Bury the Dead – Book Review
Last night I finished, “No Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic” by Nicole Itano.
Incredible book. Itano, an American journalist, focuses on the issue of AIDS in Africa not by just being a distant reporter of facts. Instead she lived among people suffering from the disease and thereby weaves facts, history and personal accounts to tell the story.
The book is divided into three sections. ’Denial’ is centered around a lady and her son living in Lesotho. ’Despair’ focuses on a family of AIDS orphans being raised by the grandparents in rural South Africa and ‘Hope’ takes us to Botswana again to a single mom and a child living with AIDS. I have to say I experienced more ’despair’ as I read this book. (Maybe why it took me so long to finish it.) There is hope in terms of Botswana providing antiviral drugs free to her citizens but the lives of these people living in extreme poverty and facing certain a life of despair seems hopeless nonetheless.
I personally liked how Itano would set aside her journalistic approach at times and get involved in the lives of these people. It showed the author was truly human as she cared. It invites the reader to do the same.
This is a book we should all read. Itano brings home the need for the world community to act on behalf of Africa. Compassion should drive us to care for these people facing a life of hopelessness. Justice should drive us to look for ways to stem the tide of death.
