Wow! What a wonderful testament to the power of education and the human condition! Highly recommend it! ( )

I feel like this book is a must-read for those of us who want to see change in the world and how we can make it happen.

On its surface, this is a book about how one woman started a crusade to help many groups in Africa bring an end to female genital cutting. But really, it's a book about the process through which she made those changes. It's a book about how social capital works, and how change can happen within an entrenched system. ( )

I have read this book for a book club discussion and I really loved it. I am left breathless by the sheer courage of Molly Melching who created Tostan. Others have succinctly described the story so I will not repeat it, suffice to say, it is a wonderful story and although the subject is harrowing at times in the end so much is achieved and will continue to be achieved because of Molly. ( )

an exceptional woman, molly melching created the "tostan" program that educated women and girls in senegal - she surrounded herself with empowered local women and supported them in learning and eventually teaching human rights, health and literacy; but tostan's most powerful undertaking was in rejecting the culturally embedded practice of female genital cutting which has caused extreme pain and long term medical issues for women in northern africa for many generations. there would have been no way of shifting such a long-term unquestioned practice without the respect and honoring of local women - this program has performed miracles by starting with human rights education, including religious leaders, and empowering women -

i studied international public health and was moved to tears by the respectful methods used by the tostan program - this is the epitome of what good public health programs are all about - and i loved every minute of reading this book. ( )

Short and Sweet Summary

Through Tostan classes, human-rights based education, Molly Melching was able to guide a generation of African women to become aware of their potential as human beings and to encourage them to have a voice in their life choices and those of their daughters and granddaughters.

What I Liked

The Sengalese/Wolof words paired with the chapter names...in some ways I felt Molloy sought to immerse us in the culture just as much as Molly always felt it was important to do.

FGC - FGC was not a new "concept" for me. In the back of my mind somewhere I had heard the "legends" of the barbaric rituals some cultures still practice today. But, as far as my mind was concerned, these happenings were distant drums far off somewhere and maybe something I would read about in National Geographic or on a History Channel program from time to time. Reading Molloy's book, there was enough detail of the 4 variations of the process for me to seek out further information via the Internet and yes, even Youtube. I'm going to be brutally honest here...I spent a lot of this "discovery" time with my legs clenched together or crossed tightly. I think every woman should spend a little time educating herself about FGC and just how big of a problem the cultural practice is, and not just in Sengal either. I don't recommend this as a way to "shock" someone into outrage...but as a means of education, knowledge, awareness. Who are we really if we choose to close our eyes and turn our heads in the face of humanitarian need.

Human rights...to walk away from Molloy's book exclaiming a victory in the fight against FGC in Senegal would be (as cliche as it sounds) missing the forest for the trees. The Tostan classes taught the women in these African villages that they had rights, responsibilities, and gifts as human beings. They were not "taught" to reject FGC; they rejected it themselves using their own decision making processes while embracing the true nature of their culture. Wow.

Just as Molly respected the Sengalese and their culture so does she and Molloy respect the Westerners or European people who might be reading However Long the Night. While for most American women, the idea of submitting ourselves to a debilitating procedure like FGC and/or that our mothers would do this "for us" thinking that they were doing what was best for us...even loving us by forcing "the tradition," is abominable at best. We can't even conceive it. But, somehow Molloy makes us conceive it. The reader doesn't come away with the idea of the villagers as "ignorant" but comes away with more of an understanding of the WHY behind the practice. NOT that the reader comes away with a justification for FGC...please don't misunderstand...but an understanding as to actually HOW the practice continues and WHY the people who practice FGC defend it so fully. I found myself even comparing FGC to some Western cultural differences that we defend with every fiber of our being.

The details of the Tostan classes and educational theory behind the classes. The social norm theory, other educational theories that consider individual needs, and dynamics behind and within the classes really are valuable for every aspect of education....which is why, of course, the Tostan programs were able to be developed for literacy programs, marriage expectations between husband and wife, early childhood communication and cognitive stimulation programs, child forced marriages and childbearing, and foot binding in China, etc.

What I Didn't Like

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was adopted by the United Nations in 1993. 1993 is the year my oldest daughter was born. 1993.
1993.
There is obviously still much work to be done in human rights.

Overall Recommendation

I read this book without much of a foundation for the content except an interest in human rights, and especially rights for women. I am no expert in this geographical region nor the culture within which most of this book takes place...but I was blown away. My brain keeps churning and working out what I've read...finding places where the information fits and even places where the information replaces pre-conceived ideas or notions about change and how to facilitate growth in communities.
I would recommend this book for every woman but also men. Just like the Sengalese village husbands, I think there are certain aspects of women that men just don't talk about...and as Molloy so effectively points out in However Long the Night, silence is a large part of the problem. ( )