28 stories of AIDS in Africa
by Stephanie Nolen
(Random House)
REVIEW BY Wendy Glauser
With her new book, 28 stories of AIDS in Africa, Globe and Mail Africa reporter Stephanie Nolen has something to prove. “When I talk to people at home about the pandemic,” the Montreal native writes, “I get the sense that they feel a dying African is somehow different from a dying Canadian, American or German—that Africans have lower expectations or place less value on their lives.”
She challenges this notion by introducing 28 individuals affected by AIDS in Africa, including Winstone Zulu. One of the first Zambian AIDS activists to publicly announce his positive status, he tells Nolen about his married friends who can’t afford antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for both of them. “They’re trying to figure out which one will take the drugs. Will their kids keep a mother or father? What kind of choice is that?” he asks.
Nolen has a knack for capturing emotion in its raw form, isolating it from the maudlin verbiage other writers might find tempting in such situations. Her stories are compelling and urgent, told with a directness that makes it resoundingly clear who she’s after, from looting officials in Zambia to fatally moralistic policy-makers in the U.S. Buoyed by a tender understanding of humanity, Nolen’s book is not only one you should read, it’s one you’ll want to.
