Women with a mission.

34 Million Friends of the Women of the World Jane Roberts (LadybugPress, 2005, 149pp) 1-88940934-0, $17.95

WHY IS IT THAT SOME people hear that clarion call for justice louder than others? Some see injustices and choose not to act, while others move forward with zeal. Jane Roberts is one of those movers. I met Jane in 2002 and recall that encounter with great fondness. Jane bubbled, was unabashedly relational and was, and without question is, a woman with a mission. Her new book reveals her exuberance, spirit and compassion.

Jane and Lois Abraham founded the organization 34 Million Friends in 2002 in response to President Bush's de-funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a long-standing agency dedicated to providing family planning and reproductive health information and services, plus HIV/AIDS prevention. Lois and Jane's dream is to restore the $34 million to UNFPA, and they are counting on US citizens to make their dream come true.

Women in the developing world, with little to no access to power, health care, education and economic sustenance, are the beneficiaries of 34 Million Friends. These women are the disenfranchised, the "throwaways," the ones who suffer and die due to, in this case, misinformation and ideological extremism. It all began when the US Congress passed a budget bill that included $34 million for UNFPA, representing 13 percent of the agency's budget. The president signed the bill, and then reversed his decision in response to political persuasion by those who claimed that UNFPA was, by its mere presence in China, complicit in China's coercive family planning policy. (This connection was disputed by the president's own fact-finding team and, subsequently, by at least two other teams.)

To this day, President Bush continues to deny funding to UNFPA. It is estimated that the US contribution could prevent two million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and nearly 60,000 serious maternal illnesses, as well as over 77,000 infant and child deaths each year. (Source: UNFPA)

Jane's newly published book shares an action-packed journey of activism that reads like a personal journal. One finds stories of tragedy and hope interlaced with Jane's Erma Bombeck-style of humor. 34 Million Friends is replete with statistics, information on how the money raised has been spent, illustrations of how to build a constituency base for action and challenges to engage the media. Readers receive a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the challenges and joys of such a movement.

Lives of courageous women are highlighted throughout the book, one such woman being Kakenya Ntaiya. Kakenya is a young Kenyan woman who defied the cultural tradition of child marriage to secure an education. Kakenya now serves as a role model for young girls in her village. The heart-wrenching story of 22-year-old Sissoko from Mali aptly illustrates the plight of many women in developing nations. Sissoko gave birth to a dead baby and suffered an obstetric fistula--a condition rarely experienced in the United States. Obstetric fistula develops when the blood supply to the tissues of the vagina and the bladder (and/or rectum) is cut off during prolonged obstructed labor. The tissues die, and a hole forms through which urine and/or feces pass uncontrollably. Women who develop fistulas are often abandoned by their husbands, rejected by their communities and forced to live an isolated existence. (Source: Fistula Foundation) Today more than two million women live with fistula.

The book's final chapter includes a quote from Lois expressing frustration over the plight of millions of poor women: "Why aren't we screaming?" And Jane responds: "Well I hope this book is a gentle scream, a gentle push to say ENOUGH!" 34 Million Friends bears witness to the power of two people who want to make the world a better place. Use of this resource for small group discussions in local congregations or other settings is highly recommended.

LINDA BALES is the program director of the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project and Children's Concerns at the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church in Washington, DC.