The Awake Project, Second Edition: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis

Finally...a book with real people talking about a real issue. the 2nd aWAKE project book is better than the first! And the essay by the 11 year old, Ellie Ambrose - such a sweet girl! Ellie helped raised close to $30 thousand dollars for africa at her race in Nashville, TN the weekend of September 24th. You can (...)

This book revolutionized my thinking about the AIDS crisis in Africa. I mean, I knew it was bad, but 5,500 Africans die from AIDS each and every day - that's 2,007,500 people evey year in Africa alone. When this is happening and we sit idly by doing nothing to help, not even noticing the plight of these poor people, it's disgusting. Children are born to parents with AIDS, are themselves infected and then orphaned when their parents die of the disease. They end up in ophanages with terrible living conditions, consigned to thier fate. No one wants to adopt a child that they know will die.The book is not written in novel format, rather it is a compilation of letter from great minds worlwide: Nelson Mandela, George W. Bush, not to mention my new personal hero Bono of U2, and the list goes on forever. Though it is broken into letters, it is still very readable, though I would only recommend it for teenagers and up.If you don't want to have your heart broken for the African people to the point of inability to remain silent and still, don't read this book. It will change you; it will mark you, and you will be compelled to respond to the call to action.

This book changed my life. The facts about what's really going on in Africa shocked me. The stories of women, men, and children suffering from the disease broke my heart. I've now made this my personal crusade!